<nettime> thin.c - This Is Not WSIS

[startx <startx@plentyfact.org>]

thin.c - This is Not WSIS
16-18th november 2005
http://thinc.plentyfact.net


thin.c abstract: while the united nations organise a so-called "world summit on information society" in tunis, we invite to gather in a virtual
space to discuss aspects of information exchange, tools for free communication and how to make physical and digital borders history for a free
movement of people.


Just a few weeks ago, the second week of july 05, we sat together with some people in the improvised independent media center in Glasgow, in a
huge warehouse where we stayed during the G8 in Scotland.

Discussing our experiences during the G8-summit protest in scotland, we looked into the future and soon the Tunis WSIS conference came up.
Almost 10 months ago, during the ESF in London, some people had the idea of starting a self-organised conference (call it a
___counter-conferen= ce___ or whatever) in Tunis in November 2005, when the UN is organising the offical ___world summit on information
society___.

Reading the agenda of the WSIS its obvious that ___freedom of communication= ___ and ___free access to knowledge___ is only considered to be
managed accordi= ng to the needs of the so called global market and the interests of governments. that means according to a capitalistic
economy and the intention of governments to control, while our aim is a free flow of inform= ation and communication and movement without
digital or physical borders.

Tunisia, where the official wsis takes place, is a good example for that: An open market and a very restrictiv policy on communication. that
is, by the way, why the location of wsis is very cynical.

After some months of discussion, it seemed unlikely that a physical meeting in Tunis will happen. Most of us media activists don___t have
enough money and resources to travel to Tunisia, nor would it possible to organise such a conference in Tunis itself as most of us live and
work in rather precarious situations.

Therefore we invite people to gather for a "virtual" conference at the same time as the official WSIS (16-18th november 2005).

To discuss how freedom of communication and movement can be achieved, to analyse where we are now and how to go on.

Right now we don___t know if this will become a big project or just a ___d= iscussion/workshop___ with a few people. But does this really
matter?

The name, a working title more or less, is "thin.c", basically meaning ___this is not wsis - conference___. Well, it___s just a name...  So
since the internet is - for most of us - the main tool for communica= tion, the idea of a virtual conference came up (actually "virtual" is not
a c= orrect label, we will meet real, only the location is virtual ).

There is lots of work to do:

    *collecting the issues we want to discuss
    *to work out how we want to communicate in this conference (knowing that our
     technical resources are limited)
    * some people had the idea of connectin physical gatherings all around the world.
    *to collect ideas of where to go and how to go on after the conference.

There was also the idea of organising some "virtual action day" or some kind of "protest" for free communication and movement, but this
hasn___t been worked out in any way yet.

If in addition to this, people want to meet physically in Tunis in November, they are welcome to join the virtual conference from there.

You will find a small sketch for a website at
http://thinc.plentyfact.net

There is also a mailing list for those who like to get involved in the prep=
aration
http://lists.riseup.net/www/info/thinc

(The old wiki for the Tunis-Project can be found at http://05fs.plentyfact.net )

That___s all we have so far,this is the point from where we start.

startx.


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