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isflist-input4
last modified April 15, 2015 by facilitfsm
Text circulated by ISF workshop organizers as a consensus call from participants in tunis workshop
http://www.alainet.org/en/articulo/168669
Also see:
A Social Forum to build a people’s Internet
http://www.alainet.org/en/articulo/168670
Tunis Call for a People's Internet
We, participants of the Workshop “Organising an Internet Social Forum – A Call to Occupy the Internet”, held in Tunis as part of the World Social Forum, declare our commitment to a common goal of building a people’s Internet from below and beyond borders: an Internet that works in the public interest and solidarity, where control is in the hands of people; an Internet based on human dignity, equality, social justice, freedom and people's communication rights.
We join our voices to the Call to hold a global Internet Social Forum as a space to debate the Internet we want and how to build it, before the knowledge and access-to-information revolution is irretrievably captured by corporate interests and security agencies that will deepen the nexus of corruption between politics and money.
The Internet today has become an integral and essential part of our daily lives; more and more of our activities are organized through and around the virtual spaces, the networks, online services and the technology it comprises. It has restructured the very way in which we live, work, play and organize our societies. In many aspects, this is so even for people who at present have no direct Internet access.
At the same time, we are alarmed to see how both our private and public spaces are being co-opted and controlled for private gain; how private corporations are carving the public Internet into walled spaces; how our personal data is being manipulated and proprietised; how a global surveillance society is emerging, with little or no privacy; how information on the Internet is being arbitrarily censored, and people's right to communicate curtailed; and, how the Internet is being militarised. Meanwhile, decision-making on public policy matters relating to the Internet remains dangerously removed from the mechanisms of democratic governance.
We hereby launch a call to all those who share these goals to participate in drafting a People’s Internet Manifesto over the coming months, with the goal of seeking consensus on the basic principles that must underpin an Internet oriented to social equity, human solidarity and justice.
The Internet is an indispensable tool and workspace for building social struggles and interconnections among movements. We call on social movements and organizations gathered here in Tunis to take on this issue as an essential part of their action agendas, including, among others, the following goals:
We demand decisive action to curb the indiscriminate mass surveillance being implemented by corporations, security agencies and governments.
We defend decentralization --to the greatest extent possible-- of the Internet's technical, data and economic structures; and access to a net-neutral Internet, as a right, which would include support for community-owned networks and public infrastructure. We also defend the freedom of people-to-people communication.
We are committed to harnessing the Internet revolution to build global solidarity among people's movements, and enable them to share their experiences globally and learn from one another.
A people's Internet must be driven first and foremost by the people. An Internet driven by big business, hand-in-hand with big government does not represent the public interest. We will defend the right of grassroots organizations and social movements, alongside other civil society actors, to have a seat at any global negotiations on the governance of the Internet.
- Document presented as a consensus of the workshop Organising an Internet Social Forum – A Call to Occupy the Internet, WSF 2015, Tunis, March 26.
This is a final revised Spanish version of the call from the Tunis workshop.
Aquí la versión final revisada del llamamiento de Túnez.
Llamamiento de Túnez para la Internet de la ciudadanía
Nosotras y nosotros, participantes del Taller "La organización de un Foro Social de Internet - Un llamamiento a ocupar Internet", realizado en Túnez en el marco del Foro Social Mundial, afirmamos nuestro compromiso con el objetivo común de construir la Internet de la ciudadanía desde abajo y más allá de las fronteras: una Internet en función del interés público y la solidaridad, donde el control esté en manos de la gente; una Internet basada en la dignidad humana, la igualdad, la justicia social, la libertad y los derechos de comunicación de las personas.
Unimos nuestras voces a la convocatoria de celebrar un Foro Social Mundial de Internet, como un espacio para debatir sobre la Internet que queremos y cómo construirla antes de que la revolución del conocimiento y del acceso a la información sea secuestrada irremediablemente por los intereses corporativos y las agencias de seguridad, incrementando el nexo de corrupción entre la política y el dinero.
Hoy en día, Internet se ha convertido en una parte integral y esencial de nuestra vida cotidiana; cada vez más, nuestras actividades se organizan a través de o en torno a los espacios virtuales, las redes, los servicios en línea y las tecnologías de Internet. En torno a la red se ha reestructurado el modo en que vivimos, trabajamos, jugamos y organizamos nuestras sociedades. En muchos aspectos, esto es así incluso para las personas que en la actualidad no tienen acceso directo a Internet.
Al mismo tiempo, nos preocupa constatar cómo nuestros espacios, tanto privados como públicos, están siendo cooptados y controlados en beneficio privado; cómo las corporaciones privadas están transformando la Internet pública en espacios cerrados; cómo manipulan y se apropian de nuestros datos personales; cómo está emergiendo una sociedad global de vigilancia que niega la privacidad; cómo se está censurando la información en Internet de manera arbitraria y se restringe el derecho de las personas a comunicar; y cómo se está militarizando Internet. Mientras tanto, la toma de decisiones en materia de políticas públicas relativas a Internet se mantiene peligrosamente alejada de los mecanismos de la gobernabilidad democrática.
Hacemos un llamamiento a todas y todos quienes comparten estos objetivos, a participar durante los próximos meses en la elaboración del Manifiesto de la Internet de la ciudadanía, con el objetivo de buscar un consenso sobre los principios básicos de una Internet orientada a la equidad social, la solidaridad humana y la justicia.
Internet es una herramienta y espacio de trabajo indispensable para la construcción de las luchas sociales y las interconexiones entre los movimientos. Hacemos un llamamiento a los movimientos sociales y organizaciones reunidas aquí en Túnez a asumir esta propuesta como parte esencial de sus agendas de acción, incluyendo, entre otros, los siguientes objetivos:
Exigimos medidas decisivas para frenar la vigilancia masiva indiscriminada que implementan las corporaciones, agencias de seguridad y gobiernos.
Defendemos la descentralización --en la mayor medida posible-- de las estructuras técnicas, económicas y de manejo de datos de Internet; y el acceso a una Internet basada en el principio de neutralidad de la red como derecho, que debe incluir apoyo a redes comunitarias y a infraestructura pública. También defendemos la libertad de la comunicación para las personas.
Nos comprometemos a explotar la revolución de Internet para construir la solidaridad global entre los movimientos populares, para permitirles compartir experiencias a nivel mundial y aprender unos de otros.
La Internet de la ciudadanía debe ser impulsada ante todo por los pueblos. Una Internet dirigida mano a mano entre las grandes empresas y los gobiernos hegemónicos no representa el interés público. Defenderemos el derecho de las organizaciones de base y movimientos sociales, junto con otros actores de la sociedad civil, a participar en las negociaciones mundiales sobre la gobernabilidad de Internet.
* Documento presentado para expresar el consenso del taller La organización de un Foro Social de Internet - Un llamamiento a ocupar Internet, FSM 2015,Túnez, 26 de marzo.
Just one comment: the declaration is focusing on the idea of elaborating an Internet Manifiesto, without opening too much to a broader narrative in term of how to change the Internet governance for and by the peoples. For this we will clearly need to be more than ISF(converge and debate globally), but also local-global transformative movement, grassroots organized, claims and pledges at regional and national level, allied with key social and political actors...etc. I understand that the ISF will define collectivelly this strategy and the content of this "transformative subject".
But it would be interesting to have a large projection in our imaginary, learning from the experience of the World social forum which has to be more than the WSF 1.0 we know right now (large antisystemic mobilization, fragmented debate and convergences with low organicity). The WSF 2.0 being something closer to transversal organic articulations at local and regional levels, global systemic debate and deep political call in reaction of the new cycle of capitalism and lack of world governance.
Smiles,
Francois
I agree, Francois. Our attempt here is just to sow the first seeds, or put the first few strokes to the canvas, for what must really be a people's conception of the Internet - or as close to that as we can get through humanly possible processes :) . And we must begun to work on those best humanly possible processes, in the directions that you indicate.parminder
Also, I think we must recognize that the Internet has been transformative in many of the areas and including the tactics in which we are working.
Many of those with the most interest and knowledge (and concerns) in the Internet Governance sphere undertake many or most of their activities (including their political activities and interventions) online in the virtual sphere—thus much of the political campaigning that we are seeing these days including some of the most effective in certain areas is taking place on the Internet. Precisely what that means or how it should impact strategies and tactics going forward re: the ISF and its ultimate goals (as Francois correctly questioned) is something I think that we must recognize is still very experimental and exploratory and viewing the Tunis WSF from an unfortunate distance it appeared to me that at least some of the self and particularly public questioning on the conduct of the event was based on precisely this issue.
Michael