web@opendemocracy.net's blog

Amnesty International have launched a new campaign on Internet freedom. At their new website you can sign a pledge and read on about examples of Internet censorship around the world. Amnesty state by signing your voice will be heard at the UN's November 2006 conference on the future of the Internet.

http://irrepressible.info/pledge 

 

What would you like to read about? Given that you're seeing this on the openDemocracy website, the chances are high that you're interested in the serious issues of the day - those that relate to war and peace, humanitarian crises, justice and human rights, the environment, globalisation and development, democracy, governance and law, and much more.

Getting these important topics before the general public - and keeping them there, in clear focus - isn't an easy task, as Solana Larsen has recently written in regard to climate change and the Ankelohe Converations. Many journalists - both print and broadcast - have been sorely frustrated by editors unwilling to devote greater page-space or air-time to subjects that matter more to this rapidly warming planet's future than the latest "hot" thing - whether it be in entertainment, fashion, travel, technology or just middle-class angst.

The Net Neutrality movement is gaining momentum - Moby, R.E.M and others have grouped together to form Artists and Musicians for Internet Freedom in support of savetheinternet.com - but so is the movement to turn the Net into a system channelled by ISPs.

"large phone companies like AT&T have unleashed a million-dollar-a-week spending spree to influence Washington decision-makers, pass telco-friendly regulations and change the Internet forever."

here 

Friday 12 May, evening

So the summit is over and the heads of state and government have departed for their dinner at the Schwarzenberg Palace. I got my dose of sunshine early this morning watching them all arrive in a stream of glossy convoys. Each delegation had at least four motorbikes and two security cars all with flashing lights accompanying the main vehicle. The flags of the countries flew from the wing mirrors and the Austrian chancellor, Wolfgang Schüssel, stood with others on the red carpet to meet them.

The rest of the day I’ve spent inside, going from one briefing to another, and listening to the plenary sessions through the computer in-between. I guess the main news of the day is probably energy. The Bolivian president, Evo Morales, came out strongly yesterday saying that he was not planning to compensate foreign companies affected by his decision to nationalise his gas reserves. A lot of attention has focused on the reactions of the companies affected and of the governments of the countries in which they’re based. The summit declaration steers carefully clear of making any polemical statement on energy ownership, focusing instead on the need to look at alternative sources of energy and renewables as part of the fight against climate change.

Thursday 11 May, late afternoon

It has been a beautiful day in Vienna. Perfect for hanging out in parks. Which is what I have been doing. Well, this morning anyway.

After an early breakfast meeting with the team in which we discussed yesterday’s events and went through the day’s schedule, we all headed down to the park near the alternative summit where we staged a photo stunt for the press along with two other civil-society organisations, the Transnational Institute (TNI) and the Hemispheric Social Alliance. (Pictures available here and here)

When I get to Parliament Square on this hot May morning, the signs hit me right in the face. From the sidewalk, indistinguishable pictures wiped out by the rain, obscure objects covered in red paint and pompous sentences written in big black letters create a bizarre scenery. On the square, Brian has built his own headquarters of signs, dolls with missing limbs, protesting teddy bears and pictures of atrociously mutilated babies and children.

A few other people, just like me, are here to get a few words from Brian, 24 hours after the Court of Appeal ruled against him and made his protest outside the Houses of Parliament illegal.
Unfortunately, I’m told that, today, “he’s not in a talking mood”. A bit surprising for someone who is trying to get his message across, I think to myself. But actually, although he is not in a one-on-one talking mood, but he is still up for shouting, ringing his bell at people across the road, and asking them to “come and see!”.

Wednesday 10 May, late

This is turning into the tale of two summits. This morning I went to pick up my accreditation for the official event. The tram pulled up alongside an open plaza lined with tall brightly-coloured banners, symbol of the Austrian presidency of the European Union. The modern glass Messe Wien conference centre glinted in the sun, as did the motorbikes of the policemen lining up to be photographed by an early journalist. A couple of sniffer-dogs investigated the undersides of the unoccupied benches.

Tuesday 9 May, late

Walking through the sliding doors into our hotel lobby half an hour ago two things hit me at once: the buzz of Spanish conversation and the smell of cigarettes. The place was full of people here for the alternative summit – Enlazando Alternativas 2 (EA2) – which starts tomorrow morning. Mexican men in cowboy hats, Peruvian women with long plaits, earnest Austrians with woolly jumpers. All talking, many reaching across to great each other - one kiss on the cheek, two, three – and laughing. There were a few half-drunk cervezas on the side tables, but mostly the energy seemed to come from the pleasure of being together, and a strong sense of solidarity.  

A few weeks ago, I was invited as a 'Young Professional' in London to two contiguous lectures, both emphatically entitled 'The Future of the United Nations'.

It's a familiar theme, and has been covered here at openDemocracy in the past – peer into our archives from three years ago and ponder re-establishing the UN as 'an essential actor', or 'rediscovering the role of the United Nations'. Today, the future of the UN takes another historic step as its Member States prepare to elect the new Human Rights Council.

Hey girls - shut up and put up. 

With Jacob Zuma's accuser being allegedly sent away into exile for being a naughty, HIV-positive girl and with the retrospect of Famous Naughty Girl/ Afghani female MP Malalai Joya's incredibly (in)humane treatment at the multiple back ends of numerous plastic bottles, one wonders seriously at the state of democracy in an increasingly gender-imbalanced world.

Both stories took place in/around the courtroom - i'm not even trying to gauge a symbolic meaning here in describing this area as the one rightful place that (judicial) decorum would exist.
 
All the South African media will supposedly hear from now on is how this is the latest in a long line of trials that poor Zuma has had to face in his 'life of struggle'. What kind of world is it when the integrity, dignity and whatever else-ity of a 'fine' (not corrupt) politician can take precedence over the issue of rape. Of course when he claims that it didn't happen, and everyone believes him. Perhaps what irritates me more, even if this is true, is the media statement that was released upon Zuma's acquittal, appropriately published on the Friends of Jacob Zuma website. He extends a different body part this time - namely his hands - to the women and organisations who demonstrated against him, and who he hopes will accept the court's ruling. The maddening politeness of his verse makes it sounds as if he had just been acquitted for something as banal as having been caught taking an icecream out of his accusers hand. All you who are against that kind of behaviour, sweet sorries. Why isn't there more coverage being given to the issues at hand - rape, which has been analogised to the peeling of onions - and which in turn throws up even more exasperation about this man's inane ideas about contraception and prevention - 'If you've been in the kitchen peeling onions, you clean your hands'.

Amy Barry, senior press officer at Oxfam International, reports from the 4th European Union – Latin America / Caribbean summit in Vienna, taking place on 11-13 May 2006

Tuesday 9 May 2006

Today at 6.30am I am taking a bus from Oxford to Heathrow airport to catch a plane to Vienna for the 4th heads of state and government summit between the European Union and Latin America. Leaders expected to attend include Evo Morales, Hugo Chávez and Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva from Latin America and Peter Mandelson, Bertie Ahern, and Jose Luis Rodríguez Zapatero from Europe.

The agenda of the summit is wide-ranging. Delegates will discuss a number of thorny issues including drugs and terrorism; development and aid; bi-regional cooperation; and the challenges facing small-island states. Oxfam is going because trade is on the agenda and we are concerned that the EU may use the opportunity to try to push for more free-trade agreements (FTAs) with Latin America. Our experience suggests that north-south FTAs rarely promote development and often leave poor people in developing countries worse off.

There is also an alternative summit taking place on the sidelines of the official meeting this week. Linking Alternatives 2 (Enlanzando Alternativas 2) brings together NGOs, trade unions, womens' groups and others from all over Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean. The last one took place in Guadalajara in May 2004 and the reunion in Vienna aims to advance the process of communication and collaboration in search of alternative models for development and solutions to some of the challenges faced by the continent. Oxfam will attend a number of sessions and workshops with other civil-society actors. There will also be a tribunal on the behaviour of transnational corporations (TNCs) in Latin America and their impact on development and human rights.

Trade negotiations at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) are floundering and in this context many developed countries are looking to regional or bilateral negotiations as a way of achieving more rapid and dramatic liberalisation than is happening multilaterally. The United States has historically been more aggressive in its pursuit of FTAs but as the WTO Doha round fails to deliver, the EU is increasingly turning its attention to regional pacts as well. This is worrying because developing countries tend to have less negotiating clout in regional agreements and often end up making more radical concessions than they would multilaterally. The necessary flexibility for developing countries and the special and differential treatment at least in theory offered at the WTO is not part of north-south FTAs.

The Vienna summit offers the EU a platform to pursue a free-trade agenda but Oxfam believes that this would be in direct contrast with its stated aim of promoting development, social cohesion and regional integration. Trade rules should be negotiated at a multilateral level and the summit should be used to address pressing issues such as the growing inequality in Latin America. According to the World Bank, the richest 10% of the population in Latin America earn 40-47% of all income in most Latin American societies, while the poorest 20% only earn 2-4%. Inequality is recognised as one of the main obstacles to promoting development, and gender equality as well as democracy and governability.

The EU should make better offers at the WTO – specifically in terms of cutting its agricultural subsidies and offering increased market-access opportunities, and should stop putting pressure on developing countries to radically reduce tariffs on industrial goods and decrease regulation of services. Only this way will it contribute to a new set of trade rules that promote rather than undermine development.

Away from trade, a number of other fascinating issues will be discussed in Vienna, including the ownership of natural resources in Latin America and the perceived "shift to the left" currently happening in the continent. It is welcome that as part of this complex political debate, the rights of the poor and marginalised in Latin American society are receiving greater attention than they have in the recent past. I’m sure it's going to be an interesting week.

Amy Barry, senior press officer at Oxfam International, shares her personal take on events at  the 4th European Union – Latin America / Caribbean summit in Vienna, taking place on 11-13 May 2006

Tuesday 9 May 2006

Today at 6.30am I am taking a bus from Oxford to Heathrow airport to catch a plane to Vienna for the 4th heads of state and government summit between the European Union and Latin America. Leaders expected to attend include Evo Morales, Hugo Chávez and Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva from Latin America and Peter Mandelson, Bertie Ahern, and Jose Luis Rodríguez Zapatero from Europe.

The agenda of the summit is wide-ranging. Delegates will discuss a number of thorny issues including drugs and terrorism; development and aid; bi-regional cooperation; and the challenges facing small-island states. Oxfam is going because trade is on the agenda and we are concerned that the EU may use the opportunity to try to push for more free-trade agreements (FTAs) with Latin America. Our experience suggests that north-south FTAs rarely promote development and often leave poor people in developing countries worse off.

There is also an alternative summit taking place on the sidelines of the official meeting this week. Linking Alternatives 2 (Enlanzando Alternativas 2) brings together NGOs, trade unions, womens' groups and others from all over Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean. The last one took place in Guadalajara in May 2004 and the reunion in Vienna aims to advance the process of communication and collaboration in search of alternative models for development and solutions to some of the challenges faced by the continent. Oxfam will attend a number of sessions and workshops with other civil-society actors. There will also be a tribunal on the behaviour of transnational corporations (TNCs) in Latin America and their impact on development and human rights.

Trade negotiations at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) are floundering and in this context many developed countries are looking to regional or bilateral negotiations as a way of achieving more rapid and dramatic liberalisation than is happening multilaterally. The United States has historically been more aggressive in its pursuit of FTAs but as the WTO Doha round fails to deliver, the EU is increasingly turning its attention to regional pacts as well. This is worrying because developing countries tend to have less negotiating clout in regional agreements and often end up making more radical concessions than they would multilaterally. The necessary flexibility for developing countries and the special and differential treatment at least in theory offered at the WTO is not part of north-south FTAs.

The Vienna summit offers the EU a platform to pursue a free-trade agenda but Oxfam believes that this would be in direct contrast with its stated aim of promoting development, social cohesion and regional integration. Trade rules should be negotiated at a multilateral level and the summit should be used to address pressing issues such as the growing inequality in Latin America. According to the World Bank, the richest 10% of the population in Latin America earn 40-47% of all income in most Latin American societies, while the poorest 20% only earn 2-4%. Inequality is recognised as one of the main obstacles to promoting development, and gender equality as well as democracy and governability.

The EU should make better offers at the WTO – specifically in terms of cutting its agricultural subsidies and offering increased market-access opportunities, and should stop putting pressure on developing countries to radically reduce tariffs on industrial goods and decrease regulation of services. Only this way will it contribute to a new set of trade rules that promote rather than undermine development.

Away from trade, a number of other fascinating issues will be discussed in Vienna, including the ownership of natural resources in Latin America and the perceived "shift to the left" currently happening in the continent. It is welcome that as part of this complex political debate, the rights of the poor and marginalised in Latin American society are receiving greater attention than they have in the recent past. I’m sure it's going to be an interesting week.

Amy Barry, senior press officer at Oxfam International, shares her personal take on events at  the 4th European Union – Latin America / Caribbean summit in Vienna, taking place on 11-13 May 2006

Tuesday 9 May 2006

Today at 6.30am I am taking a bus from Oxford to Heathrow airport to catch a plane to Vienna for the 4th heads of state and government summit between the European Union and Latin America. Leaders expected to attend include Evo Morales, Hugo Chávez and Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva from Latin America and Peter Mandelson, Bertie Ahern, and Jose Luis Rodríguez Zapatero from Europe.

The agenda of the summit is wide-ranging. Delegates will discuss a number of thorny issues including drugs and terrorism; development and aid; bi-regional cooperation; and the challenges facing small-island states. Oxfam is going because trade is on the agenda and we are concerned that the EU may use the opportunity to try to push for more free-trade agreements (FTAs) with Latin America. Our experience suggests that north-south FTAs rarely promote development and often leave poor people in developing countries worse off.

There is also an alternative summit taking place on the sidelines of the official meeting this week. Linking Alternatives 2 (Enlanzando Alternativas 2) brings together NGOs, trade unions, womens' groups and others from all over Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean. The last one took place in Guadalajara in May 2004 and the reunion in Vienna aims to advance the process of communication and collaboration in search of alternative models for development and solutions to some of the challenges faced by the continent. Oxfam will attend a number of sessions and workshops with other civil-society actors. There will also be a tribunal on the behaviour of transnational corporations (TNCs) in Latin America and their impact on development and human rights.

Trade negotiations at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) are floundering and in this context many developed countries are looking to regional or bilateral negotiations as a way of achieving more rapid and dramatic liberalisation than is happening multilaterally. The United States has historically been more aggressive in its pursuit of FTAs but as the WTO Doha round fails to deliver, the EU is increasingly turning its attention to regional pacts as well. This is worrying because developing countries tend to have less negotiating clout in regional agreements and often end up making more radical concessions than they would multilaterally. The necessary flexibility for developing countries and the special and differential treatment at least in theory offered at the WTO is not part of north-south FTAs.

The Vienna summit offers the EU a platform to pursue a free-trade agenda but Oxfam believes that this would be in direct contrast with its stated aim of promoting development, social cohesion and regional integration. Trade rules should be negotiated at a multilateral level and the summit should be used to address pressing issues such as the growing inequality in Latin America. According to the World Bank, the richest 10% of the population in Latin America earn 40-47% of all income in most Latin American societies, while the poorest 20% only earn 2-4%. Inequality is recognised as one of the main obstacles to promoting development, and gender equality as well as democracy and governability.

The EU should make better offers at the WTO – specifically in terms of cutting its agricultural subsidies and offering increased market-access opportunities, and should stop putting pressure on developing countries to radically reduce tariffs on industrial goods and decrease regulation of services. Only this way will it contribute to a new set of trade rules that promote rather than undermine development.

Away from trade, a number of other fascinating issues will be discussed in Vienna, including the ownership of natural resources in Latin America and the perceived "shift to the left" currently happening in the continent. It is welcome that as part of this complex political debate, the rights of the poor and marginalised in Latin American society are receiving greater attention than they have in the recent past. I’m sure it's going to be an interesting week.

Amy Barry, senior press officer at Oxfam International, reports from the 4th European Union – Latin America / Caribbean summit in Vienna, taking place on 11-13 May 2006

Tuesday 9 May 2006

Today at 6.30am I am taking a bus from Oxford to Heathrow airport to catch a plane to Vienna for the 4th heads of state and government summit between the European Union and Latin America. Leaders expected to attend include Evo Morales, Hugo Chávez and Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva from Latin America and Peter Mandelson, Bertie Ahern, and Jose Luis Rodríguez Zapatero from Europe.

The agenda of the summit is wide-ranging. Delegates will discuss a number of thorny issues including drugs and terrorism; development and aid; bi-regional cooperation; and the challenges facing small-island states. Oxfam is going because trade is on the agenda and we are concerned that the EU may use the opportunity to try to push for more free-trade agreements (FTAs) with Latin America. Our experience suggests that north-south FTAs rarely promote development and often leave poor people in developing countries worse off.

There is also an alternative summit taking place on the sidelines of the official meeting this week. Linking Alternatives 2 (Enlanzando Alternativas 2) brings together NGOs, trade unions, womens' groups and others from all over Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean. The last one took place in Guadalajara in May 2004 and the reunion in Vienna aims to advance the process of communication and collaboration in search of alternative models for development and solutions to some of the challenges faced by the continent. Oxfam will attend a number of sessions and workshops with other civil-society actors. There will also be a tribunal on the behaviour of transnational corporations (TNCs) in Latin America and their impact on development and human rights.

Trade negotiations at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) are floundering and in this context many developed countries are looking to regional or bilateral negotiations as a way of achieving more rapid and dramatic liberalisation than is happening multilaterally. The United States has historically been more aggressive in its pursuit of FTAs but as the WTO Doha round fails to deliver, the EU is increasingly turning its attention to regional pacts as well. This is worrying because developing countries tend to have less negotiating clout in regional agreements and often end up making more radical concessions than they would multilaterally. The necessary flexibility for developing countries and the special and differential treatment at least in theory offered at the WTO is not part of north-south FTAs.

The Vienna summit offers the EU a platform to pursue a free-trade agenda but Oxfam believes that this would be in direct contrast with its stated aim of promoting development, social cohesion and regional integration. Trade rules should be negotiated at a multilateral level and the summit should be used to address pressing issues such as the growing inequality in Latin America. According to the World Bank, the richest 10% of the population in Latin America earn 40-47% of all income in most Latin American societies, while the poorest 20% only earn 2-4%. Inequality is recognised as one of the main obstacles to promoting development, and gender equality as well as democracy and governability.

The EU should make better offers at the WTO – specifically in terms of cutting its agricultural subsidies and offering increased market-access opportunities, and should stop putting pressure on developing countries to radically reduce tariffs on industrial goods and decrease regulation of services. Only this way will it contribute to a new set of trade rules that promote rather than undermine development.

Away from trade, a number of other fascinating issues will be discussed in Vienna, including the ownership of natural resources in Latin America and the perceived "shift to the left" currently happening in the continent. It is welcome that as part of this complex political debate, the rights of the poor and marginalised in Latin American society are receiving greater attention than they have in the recent past. I’m sure it's going to be an interesting week.

openDemocracy writer Ramin Jahanbegloo was arrested late last week in Tehran airport as he returned from India with his family. No official explanation for his arrest has been given, although the Fars News Agency has reported an unnamed official as saying that he faces espionage charges.

Jahanbegloo is a political philosopher, the author of twenty books and head of the department for contemporary studies at the Cultural Research Bureau, Iran. In a recent article for El Pais
he challenged President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's claim that the Holocaust was a myth.

In recent years Iranian authorities have clamped down heavily on freedom of expression, closing down newspapers and imprisoning and torturing editors, journalists and bloggers. The Envin prison where Jahanbegloo is now held is known for the torture of political detainees.

At a meeting of the Association of Iranian Journalists yesterday speakers condemmed Jahanbegloo's arrest. Akbar Ganji, who was recently released after six years in prison for articles linking Iranian leaders with a series of political killings in 1998, said:
 "What is happening to the newspapers in our country is by no means acceptable…Today, our newspapers are facing their worst-ever situation,"

www.savetheinternet.com is a timely US-based coalition seeking to save the neutrality of the Internet as changes in the law pass through Congress. Gun Owners of America, MoveOn.org, and many others have joined forces to stand against what could ultimately channel and subvert the expansive, progressive tool the net has grown to be.

The Bill causing all the concern is the Telecom Bill.

 

To quote Timothy Garton-Ash in today's Guardian's comment piece, and who rates openDemocracy alongside other noteworthy and live publications in British intellectual life:

"We have first-rate intellectual journals: Prospect, the TLS, Guardian Review, the London Review of Books, opendemocracy.net, to name just a few".

Glad to do our bit.

Viva el debate! 

 

Fox News Radio host Tony Snow has been named as the new White House press secretary. Some analysis from Alternet. ABC. And while I'm on the subject go see Outfoxed if you haven't already.

 

Hi-tech Korean activists have bombarded the US President with emails protesting plans for a Free Trade Agreement between their two countries. Members of the Korea Federation of Information Technology Workers’ Union (KITU) are amongst many raising their voices against moves many South Koreans fear will damage vital industries.

Jacques Chirac has announced that the French government is to scrap the controversial CPE law that would have made it easier for employers to sack young workers, after a month of protests that saw between one and three million people take to the streets.

Evidence of democracy in action, perhaps? Or maybe it's something to do with the latest opinion polls that show Chirac and his prime minister Dominique de Villepin rapidly losing public support.