-------- Original Message --------
Subject: [cc-commonerletter] Commoner Letter #2 - Renata Avila, CC
Guatemala project lead
Date: Mon, 03 Nov 2008 10:47:21 -0800
From: Melissa Reeder <meli...@creativecommons.org>
To our community - we are honored and proud to present the second
letter in this year's Commoner Letter series, written by CC Guatemala
Project Lead, Renata Avila. In addition to her passionate work heading
off the successful launch last month of Creative Commons licenses in
Guatemala, Renata is also a human rights lawyer and a frequent author
for Global Voices Online, an international citizen journalism
project. As you will see in this letter, some of CC's most inspiring
stories come from our international community; they help remind us why
CC and the Commons are vital and how they have the power to effect
positive change in ways that may never have seemed possible.
======================
Dear Commoner,
The Creative Commons enables us to connect with people from other
cultures, share ideas, and solve problems together. It is a tool that
gives voice to creativity, and allows us to share symbolic space
within society, charting alternative routes to inclusion across the
continents, in all languages.
My country, Guatemala, is an amazing place where indigenous
communities and Spanish speakers share a diverse cultural space. The
diversity extends from the culture to the landscapes, right down to
the way we communicate. There are 22 indigenous languages in active
use by Guatemalan communities across mountains, two oceans, and 33
volcanoes. Sadly, our country was affected profoundly by more than 30
years of civil strife until the mid-90s, and is only now emerging from
a long period of violence and racism, exclusion and social disparity.
Poverty in Guatemala is high and deep, and the country has remarkably
unequal distributions of income, resources and opportunities. In my
work as a human rights lawyer, I have experienced in a very personal
way that the potential of our cultural commons and national heritage
is disconnected and unrealized.
Each of our indigenous communities treasures a legacy of scientific
and technical knowledge, artistic and aesthetic values of their own,
but they need the tools to open their culture to others and share both
ways. We need to find ways to overcome linguistic, technical and
social barriers, and build connections with Spanish-speakers
completely disconnected from their reality. To create a common culture
is a challenge and a necessity to improve living conditions and assure
peace. As in many other developing countries, basic necessities such
as food, potable water and medical care certainly have priority. But
how can we communicate to the world that we are in fact a rich
country, in the sense of how we create and preserve culture? How do we
connect different visions of the world within the same country?
I decided to spearhead the launch of Creative Commons Licenses in
Guatemala as a tool to help connect our cultural commons. Now the
Guatemalan Ministry of Education is using cc for a Schools of the
Future project with books and materials with Creative Commons licenses
to help breach the digital divide. One of the most prestigious
universities in the country, Franscisco Marroqu?n University, have
released their online educational resources to the Commons too.
Internationalization and localization of the Creative Commons licenses
is more than just a technical, legal process. It enables creative,
verbal and nonverbal forms of expression as a vehicle to share and
learn from one another. Through human connections we can discover
treasures that reshape our understanding of concepts like
"development", "wealth" and "others". We can begin to cross the mental
and geographic borders that divide us.
As an author for Global Voices Online, one of the most successful
examples of global cultural exchange using Creative Commons licenses;
and as a lawyer dealing with the complexities of multilingual,
developing countries in transition to peace, I believe that open tools
such as the Creative Commons are essential for creating better
societies. We have a lot to learn from each other. With this letter I
challenge you to allow yourself to be embraced by another world.
Please support the creation of our Global Commons.
=======
We rely on our supporters to continue our work enabling
stories like those listed above. Check it out --
Donate:
http://support.creativecommons.org/join
CC Store:
http://support.creativecommons.org/store
Events:
http://wiki.creativecommons.org/Events
ccNewsletter:
http://creativecommons.org/about/newsletter
Creative Commons was built with and is sustained by the
generous support of organizations including the Center for the
Public Domain, the Omidyar Network, The Rockefeller Foundation,
The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, and The
William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, as well as members of
the public.
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