October 2014 - P2P-Foundation - lists.ourproject.org

Fwd: Avaaz - A "Petrolhead" as the next Climate Commissioner?
by Michel Bauwens 04 Oct '14

04 Oct '14

---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: RUCHE Alain (EEAS) <Alain.RUCHE(a)eeas.europa.eu> Date: Sun, Oct 5, 2014 at 2:24 AM Subject: Avaaz - A "Petrolhead" as the next Climate Commissioner? To: Bauwens Michel <michel(a)p2pfoundation.net> https://secure.avaaz.org/en/canete_climate_pa_uk/ Alain Ruche -- Check out the Commons Transition Plan here at: http://en.wiki.floksociety.org/w/Research_Plan P2P Foundation: http://p2pfoundation.net - http://blog.p2pfoundation.net <http://lists.ourproject.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/p2p-foundation>Updates: http://twitter.com/mbauwens; http://www.facebook.com/mbauwens #82 on the (En)Rich list: http://enrichlist.org/the-complete-list/

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Fwd: [Networkedlabour] Hong Kong: Cartalucci, Global Research, Treats Activists only as pawns
by Michel Bauwens 03 Oct '14

03 Oct '14

---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: peter waterman <peterwaterman1936(a)gmail.com> Date: Fri, Oct 3, 2014 at 10:02 PM Subject: [Networkedlabour] Hong Kong: Cartalucci, Global Research, Treats Activists only as pawns To: networkedlabour(a)lists.contrast.org *This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only.* Weekend Edition October 3-5, 2014 Hong Kong Should Decide Its Own Fate On Occupy Central and the NED by MING CHUN TANG Numerous alternative media outlets, including WikiLeaks <https://twitter.com/wikileaks/status/517593582153519104>, have pointed out the connections between Occupy Central and the United States government <http://revolution-news.com/occupy-central-us-state-dept-funding-of-hong-kon…> through an organization called the National Endowment for Democracy (NED). I am not surprised at this, nor do I welcome it, given the United States’ questionable record (to put it nicely) at bringing “democracy” to countries where it has intervened in the past. It is most likely in Hong Kongers’ best interests that the US withdraw its monetary support for Occupy Central, as unlikely as this is to happen. The same outlets, however, have been openly hostile towards Occupy Central for these reasons alone. Tony Cartalucci recently claimed <http://www.globalresearch.ca/us-openly-approves-hong-kong-chaos-it-created/…> that the protests “masquerade as a “pro-democracy” movement seeking “universal suffrage” and “full democracy,” but are really backed by “a deep and insidious network of foreign financial, political, and media support”. This assessment doesn’t do Hong Kong justice for two reasons: firstly, it portrays Hong Kongers’ grievances at the status quo as fictional and illegitimate, when they are in fact real, and it treats the protesters as pawns, when many in fact are taking to the streets of their own accord. Secondly, by treating the US as the sole independent actor in the movement and focusing entirely on analyzing and criticizing its actions in other countries, it only strengthens a United States-centred worldview that the mainstream media likewise seeks to disseminate. None of the support provided by the NED for Occupy Central changes the reality of the economic situation facing middle- and working-class Hong Kongers today, brought about by the most extreme form of capitalism that the world has ever seen – to the extent that the extreme-right-wing Heritage Foundation dubs it “the world’s freest economy <http://www.heritage.org/index/ranking>” year after year. It is poor journalism to even attempt to analyze the roots of discontent in Hong Kong while paying no attention to the structural factors involved, and yet the alternative media, like the mainstream media, have been guilty of doing so. Foreign writers who claim the movement is orchestrated purely by Americans are naive to believe Hong Kongers can simply be co-opted by an external force to demonstrate. This type of thinking is unfortunately symptomatic of a neocolonial conviction that somehow only “Westerners” are capable of thinking for themselves and acting of their own accord. Hong Kongers, like the Ukrainians, Syrians, Iraqis, Libyans and Venezuelans, are merely being manipulated by the “West”. Of course they are. After all, only those protesting against regimes in the “West” or backed by the “West” are legitimate – the rest are mere agents for “regime change”! I will admit that I am not at all optimistic about the prospects of Occupy Central bringing genuine social change to Hong Kong. These prospects are only diminished by the involvement of the United States, with its own neoliberal and far-less-than-democratic agenda. They are further diminished by the absence of any radical groups calling explicitly for a more equitable distribution of income and wealth and end to the state’s collusion with established local and Chinese elites. But what is evident is that the status quo leaves no room for Hong Kongers to decide on how their territory is run, and that attaining the vote provides the opportunity, though far from a guarantee, for genuine socioeconomic reform, by deposing the established political and economic elite from their position of power. Who we will replace them with must be ours to choose, and that is precisely why the United States, as with China, must step back and allow Hong Kongers to decide their own fate. *Ming Chun Tang is a Hong Kong-born writer and a student at Hamilton College (New York), currently at the London School of Economics. He blogs at Clearing the Rubble <http://clearingtherubble.wordpress.com/>.* -- 1. *EBook, November 2012: Recovering Internationalism <http://www.into-ebooks.com/book/recovering_internationalism/>. [A compilation of papers from the new millenium. Now free in two download formats] <http://www.into-ebooks.com/book/world_social_forum/> <http://www.into-ebooks.com/book/world_social_forum/>* 2. *EBook (co-editor), February 2013: World Social Forum: Critical Explorations http://www.into-ebooks.com/book/world_social_forum/ <http://www.into-ebooks.com/book/world_social_forum/> * 3. *Interface Journal Special (co-editor), November 2012: For the Global Emancipation of Labour <http://www.interfacejournal.net/current/>* 4. *Blog: http://www.unionbook.org/profile/peterwaterman. <http://www.unionbook.org/profile/peterwaterman.> * 5. *Interface Journal Special (Co-Editor) Social Movement Internationalisms. See Call for Papers <http://www.interfacejournal.net/>, (Deadline: May 1, 2014). * 6. *Needed: a Global Labour Charter Movement (2005-Now!) <http://interfacejournal.nuim.ie/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/Interf…>* 7. *Under, Against, Beyond: Labour and Social Movements Confront a Globalised, Informatised Capitalism <http://www.into-ebooks.com/book/under-against-beyond/>(2011) Almost 1,000 pages of Working Papers, free, from the 1980 <1980>'s-90's.* 8. *Google Scholar Citation Index:* *http://scholar.google.com.pe/citations?user=e0e6Qa4AAAAJ <http://scholar.google.com.pe/citations?user=e0e6Qa4AAAAJ> * - _______________________________________________ NetworkedLabour mailing list NetworkedLabour(a)lists.contrast.org http://lists.contrast.org/mailman/listinfo/networkedlabour -- Check out the Commons Transition Plan here at: http://en.wiki.floksociety.org/w/Research_Plan P2P Foundation: http://p2pfoundation.net - http://blog.p2pfoundation.net <http://lists.ourproject.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/p2p-foundation>Updates: http://twitter.com/mbauwens; http://www.facebook.com/mbauwens #82 on the (En)Rich list: http://enrichlist.org/the-complete-list/

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Fwd: Want to join me at the #StartingGood Digital Summit?
by Michel Bauwens 03 Oct '14

03 Oct '14

---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Tom Dawkins <tom(a)startsomegood.com> Date: Fri, Oct 3, 2014 at 8:10 AM Subject: Want to join me at the #StartingGood Digital Summit? To: Hi there, You’re getting this because you’re in my address book, so hopefully we actually know each other J I don't normally do big email blasts like this but I'm so excited about this I want everyone to know. The *#StartingGood Digital Summit* <http://bit.ly/tomSGDS> is ten hours of live content featuring some of the leading thinkers in technology and social change globally. As we're connected I assume we share an interest in at least one of social change, social enterprise or social media. If so, I think you'll love this event. Speakers include: *Clay Shirky*, much-celebrated NYU professor and author of *Here Comes Everyone* and *Cognitive Surplus*; *Beth Kanter*, the most-read non-profit technology blogger and author of *The Networked Nonprofit*; *Liam Barrington-Smith* from the UK, author of *Anarchists in the Boardroom* ; *Amy Sample-Ward*, CEO of NTEN, the Non-Profit Technology Network; *Luke Pearson*, founder @IndigenousX, online indigenous activist; *Simon Sheikh*, founder and CEO, Future Super, former CEO of GetUp!; and many, many more, including me! Learn more at www.starting.gd <http://bit.ly/tomSGDS>. This is a really exciting new initiative for us and I’d love you to be part of it! With ten hours of content featuring great thinkers and inspiring entrepreneurs, all available afterwards on-demand, there’s a lot to learn and gain from the event. Tickets are as cheap as we can make them, starting from $25, but as a friend or contact of mine please use the code FRIENDOFTOM for $5 off. Why not grab yours now? <http://bit.ly/tomSGDS> And please don’t share that code, it’s just for you guys. I hope everything is rocking in your world! Onwards and upwards. Cheers! Tom PS. I would really appreciate if you could spread the word about this unique event. You can help by signing up to our Thunderclap <https://www.thunderclap.it/en/projects/16331-startinggood-digital-summit> or just share www.starting.gd <http://bit.ly/tomSGDS> via Facebook or Twitter. Here’s a couple of sample tweets you can use if you like: Check out the #StartingGood Digital Summit, an online event in Oct w/ great speakers on social media & social change www.starting.gd – OR – The #StartingGood Digital Summit looks awesome! Clay Shirky, Beth Kanter and so many more. Check it out www.starting.gd -- ------------------------------------------------------------------ Tom Dawkins Co-Founder StartSomeGood.com @tomjd <http://www.twitter.com/tomjd> about.me/tomjd <http://www.about.me/tomjd> Request a meeting: meetme.so/tomjd "You don't need eyes to see, you need vision." - Faithless *Check out the #StartingGood Digital Summit <http://bit.ly/a4n893YI>, with Clay Shirky, Beth Kanter and many more, October 20/21, online.* -- Check out the Commons Transition Plan here at: http://en.wiki.floksociety.org/w/Research_Plan P2P Foundation: http://p2pfoundation.net - http://blog.p2pfoundation.net <http://lists.ourproject.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/p2p-foundation>Updates: http://twitter.com/mbauwens; http://www.facebook.com/mbauwens #82 on the (En)Rich list: http://enrichlist.org/the-complete-list/

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Fwd: [Networkedlabour] Call to forums and networks for a pre-meeting on October 24-26 in Istanbul: Let's organize the 3rd Agora99 in Istanbul in 2015!
by Michel Bauwens 03 Oct '14

03 Oct '14

---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Örsan Şenalp <orsan1234(a)gmail.com> Date: Fri, Oct 3, 2014 at 3:28 PM Subject: [Networkedlabour] Call to forums and networks for a pre-meeting on October 24-26 in Istanbul: Let's organize the 3rd Agora99 in Istanbul in 2015! To: "networkedlabour(a)lists.contrast.org" <networkedlabour(a)lists.contrast.org > *Open Letter to Gezi Forums and networks on the idea of organizing the 3rd Agora99 in Istanbul in 2015* Starting in 2011, the world witnessed a wave of truly transnational and global grass-roots uprisings. In Tunisia, Egypt, Iceland, Greece, Spain, Israel, Chile, the UK, the US, Turkey, Brazil and in many other places people took to the streets to protest against injustice and inequality and for democracy. Struggles that had been ongoing for years gained new visibility and new movements and struggles formed. These uprisings spread from on place to another ignited by distinct local issues. However, self-organisation, connectivity and horizontality have become characteristics of all of these uprisings: They practice new forms of democratic decision making and do not have leaders. They organize through assemblies, working groups, and convergence spaces and allow mass participation grounded in social networks and online meetings. Also, transnational and translocal ties that connect groups, movements and individuals on regional, national and international levels have allowed to spread and continue these uprisings, creating networks of dignity across the world. Larger assemblies allowed for self-reflexion and exchange. One of them has been Agora99. What is Agora99? The idea of Agora99 emerged in the transnational general assembly held at the end of the first Blockupy action in May 2012, in Frankfurt. An open working group was created to coordinate and organise the efforts to set up a transnational and transversal space for the autumn of the same year. The first Agora 99 took place in November 2012 in Madrid, Spain. As an open meeting, made up of transversal assemblies and thematic workshops, Agora99 allowed collectives, networks and individual activists who had joined 15M, Occupy, Blockupy and other grassroots uprisings to come together, meet face to face, exchange, support each others actions and consider the relevance of the 15M uprising in the European context. The second Agora99 was organised in November 2013 in Rome. It was similarly organized in occupied factories and self-organised social spaces. There we met and updated each other about the ongoing struggles at all levels, with the energy received from the Gezi protests in May–June 2013. The Rome Agora99 was participated by comrades from Germany, Italy, Spain, Romania, Bulgaria, Greece, Poland, the UK and other parts of Europe. Uprisings in Brazil, Bosnia and Bulgary brought fresh air to Rome. Turkish comrades delivered a message from Gezi forums. In Madrid and Rome, the Agora99 was organized along three thematic axes of struggles: Debt, Rights and Democracy. In this way, many diverse struggles could be brought together – struggles for the commons, for the right to housing and the right to the city, against precarious labour and neoliberal urbanism as well as struggles against war and militarization and for the right to citizenship and free migration, and many more. Alongside with the thematic workshops we reflected upon technopolitics to find and develop practicies of organisation capable of linking together the local and global struggles with new technologies. We organize through open local and international meetings, but mostly through the email list transcollab(a)lists.so36.net (in English) and regular online voice chats (using the Skype-like Mumble software). In the organizing process itself, we thus also tried to invent a democratic space for all that would go beyond the traditional organizational forms and cannot be controlled by a few. Agora99 thus is neither “just another academic conference” nor a meeting of delegates of various political organizations. Instead, the aim is to bring activists across countries and across thematic topics together in order to share strategies and experiences, contacts and ideas, tools and tactics. Towards a new Agora99 Recently the idea of holding the third Agora99 in Istanbul was suggested. The idea was widely welcomed by the people who collaborated in the organisation of previous Agora99 events: Istanbul is located in a space and a time where struggles are active and intense. Agora99 is an open process that should go beyond the limits and boundaries of Europe. A meeting in Istanbul could give us this opportunity and spread connections. However attractive the idea of creating the next Agora space in Istanbul is, we are well aware of the practical and political difficulties as well as the massive ground work and local as well as transnational collaboration required. Therefore we are calling on you to evaluate the possibility of organising this together, bearing in mind that strong local participation is needed. On the other hand, we know that we are capable of achieving bigger aims through participation, distribution of tasks and swarm-wise collaboration. Also, teams that participated in the previous Agoras would help out with the organisation process. We wrote this text in order to share this initial idea with you comrades who live, fight in and know the city of Istanbul: Is the idea to create and organise this meeting interesting for social movements around Turkey and beyond? Could local and international forums, assemblies, collectives collaborate in mutual recognition and comradeship to make it happen? What are the topics and political issues that we need to discuss together? Which struggles demand to be exchanged and spread in a transnational context of movements? Can we bring the chapullers of the world together around a large open agora for the 99% holding forums and exchanging ideas? We need to decide together! That’s why we propose to hold a pre-organisation meeting in Istanbul on the 25th of October, 2014, to share views and opinions about this process and decide if we can do this bet together. We are whole-heartedly looking forward to walk with you on the international road to dignity! In comradeship and solidarity Please let us know, if you want to participate at: transcollab(a)lists.so36.net. Agora 99 website: http://99agora.net Information and reports on previous Agora99 meetings: “Steps towards considering, participating and rebooting democracy” (report from the Madrid Agora99): https://www.diagonalperiodico.net/blogs/diagonal-english/steps-towards-cons… “Democracy and technopolitics in the European space” (reflections after the Rome Agora99 by the hosting node): http://www.dinamopress.it/multilanguages/democracy-and-technopolitics-in-th… “Message to Agora99 Rome from Müştereklerimiz”: http://99agora.net/materials/message-to-agora99-from-mustereklerimiz Other links Live streamings: http://99agora.net/on-line/ Consensus on debt axis: http://bit.ly/SyAiwR [EN] Photogallery by Doriz Gutiérrez: http://bit.ly/TvdZGZ Occupied social centres hosting Agora99 (Map: http://99agora.net/maps-mapas ) La escalera karakola: http://www.sindominio.net/karakola/ [SP] Traficantes de sueños: http://www.traficantes.net/ [SP] La Morada: http://csoalamorada.wordpress.com/ [SP] Eko: http://eslaeko.net/ [SP] Patio Maravillas: http://patiomaravillas.net/ [SP] Ecologistas en acción: http://www.ecologistasenaccion.org/rubrique7.html [SP] Articles An account of Agora99: http://occupylondon.org.uk/24521/, Madrid: Dreams Becoming Reality http://bit.ly/TzbmpV [EN] Barcelona debates Blockupy´s next steps: Agora 99 : NL#27, 2 http://bit.ly/OIPdCi [EN] Twitter account: @99_agora Hashtags: #Agora99 #A99Assembly #A99Debt #A99Rights #A99Democracy _______________________________________________ NetworkedLabour mailing list NetworkedLabour(a)lists.contrast.org http://lists.contrast.org/mailman/listinfo/networkedlabour -- Check out the Commons Transition Plan here at: http://en.wiki.floksociety.org/w/Research_Plan P2P Foundation: http://p2pfoundation.net - http://blog.p2pfoundation.net <http://lists.ourproject.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/p2p-foundation>Updates: http://twitter.com/mbauwens; http://www.facebook.com/mbauwens #82 on the (En)Rich list: http://enrichlist.org/the-complete-list/

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Fwd: Session Commons from a Long-Term Perspective - IASC Conference 2015
by Michel Bauwens 03 Oct '14

03 Oct '14

dear Kevin, can you publish this call for papers on our blog ? thanks, Michel ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Laborda Peman, M. (Miguel) <M.LabordaPeman(a)uu.nl> Date: Fri, Oct 3, 2014 at 3:44 PM Subject: Session Commons from a Long-Term Perspective - IASC Conference 2015 To: "Laborda Peman, M. (Miguel)" <M.LabordaPeman(a)uu.nl> Dear colleague, Between 25-29 May of 2015 the 16th Biannual Conference of the International Association for the Study of the Commons (IASC) will take place in Edmonton, Alberta (see http://www.iasc2015.org) With this mail, we would like to invite you to take part in a session on commons from a long-term perspective that we intend to organize for the occasion of that meeting. As you probably know, the IASC has been now working for more than thirty years to improve our understanding of the governance of natural and other shared resources. Ever since the IASC has provided scientists with very diverse backgrounds a great forum to bring our knowledge on cooperation and institutional diversity one step forward. But we believe there is a clear need for a better understanding of the real long term functioning of commons in order to understand how institutions for collective action in general can be designed and managed in a resilient way. A Conference held under the motto of *‘The Commons Amidst Complexity and Change’* should be, we think, the appropriate occasion to add more knowledge on commons from a long-term perspective. To this purpose, we have designed a session proposal for the IASC Conference aimed at bringing together historians and other scientists approaching the study of the commons from a long-term perspective. You can find it attached to this mail. We have kept it open enough as to accommodate any scholar with a genuine interest in the topic. Therefore, we will be really glad to welcome your individual proposals (500 words max.) by the *27th October 2014* to M.LabordaPeman(a)uu.nl. Feel free to contact us in case of further questions. We hope to see you in Edmonton next year! Sincerely, Miguel Laborda-Pemán - Utrecht University Tine de Moor - Utrecht University -- Check out the Commons Transition Plan here at: http://en.wiki.floksociety.org/w/Research_Plan P2P Foundation: http://p2pfoundation.net - http://blog.p2pfoundation.net <http://lists.ourproject.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/p2p-foundation>Updates: http://twitter.com/mbauwens; http://www.facebook.com/mbauwens #82 on the (En)Rich list: http://enrichlist.org/the-complete-list/

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Fwd: [Networkedlabour] Fwd: Violent Eviction of refugees from occupied DGB-Union-headquarters in Berlin
by Michel Bauwens 02 Oct '14

02 Oct '14

---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Orsan Senalp <orsan1234(a)gmail.com> Date: Thu, Oct 2, 2014 at 8:58 PM Subject: [Networkedlabour] Fwd: Violent Eviction of refugees from occupied DGB-Union-headquarters in Berlin To: networkedlabour(a)lists.contrast.org, squares < squares(a)lists.takethesquare.net>, transcollab(a)lists.so36.net Begin forwarded message: *From:* kb <kendrabriken(a)YAHOO.DE> *Date:* 2 Oct 2014 15:27:50 GMT+2 *To:* CRITICAL-LABOUR-STUDIES(a)JISCMAIL.AC.UK *Subject:* *Violent Eviction of refugees from occupied DGB-Union-headquarters in Berlin* *Reply-To:* kb <kendrabriken(a)YAHOO.DE> Hi, today, German Unionists called the police to evict the refugees which occupied their office since last week. The refugees are struggling for over two years now, and neither Government nor the church or any party did legalize their status in Germany. The Unions were their last resort after failing in so many other places and inhumanitarian bureaucratic structures. Again, (German) Unionists failed to send a message and to show solidarity with illegalized, non-working, non-white people. By now, there isn't a lot of media coverage in english, but for those on facebook see https://www.facebook.com/refugeestruggle. For a video, see also http://ruptly.tv/vod/view/15209/germany-chained-up-refugees-resist-police-e… Spread the word. Kendra Dr Kendra Briken | Chancellor’s Fellow | +44 (0)141 548 4074 | kendra.briken(a)strath.ac.uk Department of Human Resource Management University of Strathclyde Graham Hills Building, GH 8.34 50 Richmond Street GLASGOW G1 1XU _______________________________________________ NetworkedLabour mailing list NetworkedLabour(a)lists.contrast.org http://lists.contrast.org/mailman/listinfo/networkedlabour -- Check out the Commons Transition Plan here at: http://en.wiki.floksociety.org/w/Research_Plan P2P Foundation: http://p2pfoundation.net - http://blog.p2pfoundation.net <http://lists.ourproject.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/p2p-foundation>Updates: http://twitter.com/mbauwens; http://www.facebook.com/mbauwens #82 on the (En)Rich list: http://enrichlist.org/the-complete-list/

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Fwd: [Networkedlabour] Fwd: [WSF-Discuss] Fwd: Hong Kong rises, China cannot beat people down (for now), democracy + class struggle, Tutu solidarity call
by Michel Bauwens 02 Oct '14

02 Oct '14

---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Örsan Şenalp <orsan1234(a)gmail.com> Date: Thu, Oct 2, 2014 at 2:52 PM Subject: [Networkedlabour] Fwd: [WSF-Discuss] Fwd: Hong Kong rises, China cannot beat people down (for now), democracy + class struggle, Tutu solidarity call To: "networkedlabour(a)lists.contrast.org" <networkedlabour(a)lists.contrast.org > ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Jai Sen <jai.sen(a)cacim.net> Date: 2 October 2014 08:50 Subject: [WSF-Discuss] Fwd: Hong Kong rises, China cannot beat people down (for now), democracy + class struggle, Tutu solidarity call To: Post WSFDiscuss <WorldSocialForum-Discuss(a)openspaceforum.net>, Post Social Movements Riseup <social-movements(a)lists.riseup.net>, Post Activism News Network <activism-news-network(a)googlegroups.com>, Post Seizing Building Commoning <Seizing_Building_Commoning(a)lists.riseup.net> Cc: Jai Sen <jai.sen(a)cacim.net> Thursday, October 2, 2014 Worlds in movement, worlds of movement… HONG KONG NOW - please circulate widely : A compilation and update – countesy Patrick (Bond), with thanks : Hong-Kong : Occupy Central—What’s Next for the Democracy Movement ? A Brief Observation on the Current Movement AU Loong-Yu Statement by Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions : HKCTU strongly condemns the police crackdown of people’s protest by Hong Kong government * Sign the HKCTU petition Students Unfurl the “Umbrella Revolution” in Hong Kong Sean Starrs Tutu calls for support of Hong Kong protesters JS fwd Begin forwarded message: From: Patrick Bond <pbond(a)mail.ngo.za> Subject: [Debate-List] (Fwd) Hong Kong rises, China cannot beat people down (for now), democracy + class struggle, Tutu solidarity call Date: October 2, 2014 at 8:31:55 AM GMT+5:30 To: DEBATE <debate-list(a)fahamu.org>, "safis-solidarity-platform(a)googlegroups.com" <safis-solidarity-platform(a)googlegroups.com>, progeconnetwork(a)googlegroups.com, Campaign_DPE(a)googlegroups.com Reply-To: pbond(a)mail.ngo.za (China Labour Net editor Au Loong Yu, an occasional visitor to SA: "student leader Alex Chow already mentioned the issue of economic inequality. A few days ago twenty-five trade unions and civil society groups also issued a joint statement not only demanding genuine universal suffrage but also regulations on working hours and a universal pension. The occupation of the last two days has also given the general public the chance to discuss their opinions, and amongst these one frequently hears discussions of the extreme inequality.") Hong-Kong : Occupy Central—What’s Next for the Democracy Movement? A Brief Observation on the Current Movement AU Loong-Yu 1 October 2014 Monday 29th September 2014/Occupy Central Day 3 - Occupy central continues to grow by leaps and bounds. I. The Situation The general public has come out to support the students, and with their own bodies have resisted the tear gas to defeat the offensive of the regime of Leung Chun-ying, better known as C.Y. Leung, the Chief Executive of the Executive Council of Hong-Kong, sparking a new generation of people’s democracy activists. This movement has the following characteristics: 1. The students and the public have shown that they have the ability to think for themselves, to take bottom-up direct action, without relying on the leaders. It is within a context where the movement displays deep distrust of not only the Pan-Democracy parties, but also of the Trio of three leading liberal academics and clergymen who suggested the occupation a year earlier. Even the Hong-Kong Federation of Students, which was for a while the vanguard of the movement, saw its proposal to withdraw on September 28 in view of escalation of crackdown was rejected by the masses. 2. The students and young people, whose actions have led to the upsurge in the movement, are now the driving force of the movement, rather than the middle-aged and middle-class Pan-Democracy supporters whom the Trio relied on as their constituency for their occupation plan, a fact which reflects the deep distrust towards young people and working people toward the Trio. 3. The Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions (HKCTU) has called for a workers’ strike and there are some responses; in addition to this there is strong sympathy for the movement among working people. And the occupation of main streets also makes possible a slowdown in workplaces, which in turn allows lots of discussion among colleagues. 4. A desire for social equality has also become part of the movement. In his speech to the student boycott on September 22, student leader Alex Chow already mentioned the issue of economic inequality. A few days ago twenty-five trade unions and civil society groups also issued a joint statement not only demanding genuine universal suffrage but also regulations on working hours and a universal pension. The occupation of the last two days has also given the general public the chance to discuss their opinions, and amongst these one frequently hears discussions of the extreme inequality. Because of this strong movement from below the C.Y. Leung government has now been forced to stop its offensive, permitting space for the movement to grow even larger. The issue now is how to take advantage of the situation fully and to seek the biggest victory. It means that we have to overcome the movement’s weaknesses: 1. The old democracy movement’s former leaders are no longer able to lead, however the new leaderships of the new democracy movement is still in formation. This is a danger. Although spontaneity has been a great factor in advancing the movement, now—with all the sabotage taking place and a crackdown quite possible sometime in the future by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the Leung government—the movement will soon require more organising and leaderships, and I use plural here deliberately. 2. Although the students’ organization is comparatively better, the general public lacks the organization and networks to support each other. This is especially so for the strike call. Although there were some early responses to the strike call, a broad strike wave has yet to happen. The HKCTU is not yet strong enough to fully implement the strike call, let alone to organize the solidarity alliance now in preparation. Strengthening movement will require great effort and also new initiatives II. Aims and slogans 1. The Leung Chun-ying regime must surrender Civic Plaza and Tamar Garden to the people and to withdraw all police from there, so that these two places can be a focal point for the movement. If the government does not promise this then the movement should certainly not withdraw from the streets, and, if they do promise, then the decision to withdraw or stay on will depend on the circumstances and the wishes of the people. 2. The Leung Chun-ying regime and its officials must apologise. 3. The Leung Chun-ying regime must step down. 4. The National People’s Congress (NPC) resolution must be withdrawn; genuine universal suffrage and civic nominations must be implemented. 5. Regulations on working hours, a universal pension and collective bargaining rights must be implemented. 6. We must win regime change and the self-determination over political reform. 3. The Way Forward 1. Working people need more encouragement to strike. One way is to encourage each company or unit to organise and set up a small group for solidarity with the movement and to establish a strike committee. Only with this foundation, is it possible to discuss the issue seriously. Slogan: Students and workers unite together to achieve regime change. For self-determination over political reform! 2. Adhere to nonviolence. 3. Proposing self-determination over political reform is appropriate. However if anyone proposes Hong Kong independence then we (the democratic left/progressives) can respond that we cannot agree to this, although we respect the right to express this opinion. Also it is an issue worthy of discussion later, but not for now, or it may be harmful to the movement. Updated on the early morning of 30th September Last night when I went to the scene, I found that the movement had again expanded in scale and it was very moving. However this also increases the risk of direct intervention by the CCP—although this does not necessarily mean dispatching the Peoples Liberation Army (PLA) from the outset. Nevertheless it is necessary to avoid provocations and excesses. In the case of escalation of the crackdown from tear gas to shooting—or even worse the mobilization of the PLA—there is no way we can fight that, given the present level of organisation.Therefore we should retreat from the streets when this moment comes, but keep the strike going – no one can force working people to work normally even with guns. In addition to this we will need a deepening of the non-cooperative movement in all areas. Au Loong Yu, October 1, 2014 *** Calling for international support for democracy in Hong Kong! #DemocracyNowHK #OccupyCentral - By 李成康 Li Shing Hong, Samuel HONG KONG, a small dot on the map, is standing up against what is arguably the most capable and successful authoritarian regime of our time - the Chinese Communist Party, and its representatives in the Hong Kong government. For days, citizens and students with nothing more than their bodies have been battling the city's increasingly violent and brutal police force. Tear gas, anti-riot police and pepper spray have already been used on defenceless students and citizens, amongst other brutal violence. The Hong Kong Federation of Students have declared an indefinite class boycott for all universities in Hong Kong, and the Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions have declared an indefinite strike across the city. Read more Sign the HKCTU petition here Please show that you are on the side of all that stands for human rights, freedom and democratic values, because in this battle between David and Goliath, this small but defiant city cannot win without international support. Hong Kong students, workers and people will strive on even if it means facing the wrath of the Chinese and Hong Kong governments. If we succeed, this will be the first truly democratic political regime in the whole of authoritarian China. We are making history with every step we walk. Please walk with us. Sign the HKCTU petition Take a picture of yourself and your comrades with a sign expressing solidarity with people in Hong Kong, and share it on social media using the #DemocracyNowHK and #OccupyCentral hash tags Share this story! Statement by Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions HKCTU strongly condemns the police crackdown of people’s protest by Hong Kong government Calling all workers in Hong Kong to participate in a general strike tomorrow Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions (HKCTU) strongly condemns the police for their violent attack on unarmed students and people. We strongly condemn the government for suppressing the freedom of speech and the freedom of assembly in Hong Kong. HKCTU calls for all workers in Hong Kong to strike tomorrow, in protest of the ruling of the National People’s Congress, as well as the brutal suppression of peaceful protest by the Hong Kong government. Workers and students must unite to force the totalitarian government to hand state power back to the people. Since the peaceful assembly outside the Government Headquarters on September 26th, thousands of people join and support the assembly. The ever growing number of people maintained peace and order. Yet, the police attacked the protesters heavily with pepper spray, baton and riot squads armed with shields and helmets, while people who only had towels and umbrellas to protect themselves. In face of several rounds of suppression, protesters only raised their hands up without fighting back. In the evening of September 28th, the police furthered their attack with several rounds of tear gas. Many peaceful protesters were injured. Workers must stand up against the unjust government and violent suppression. Workers must stand up, as the totalitarian government has to back down when all workers protest in solidarity. To defend democracy and justice, we cannot let the students fight the suppression alone. HKCTU hereby announces and calls all workers to participate in a general strike tomorrow. We demand: Police must release the arrested protesters immediately. They must guarantee the basic human rights of the arrested protestors during retention. The government and police must stop suppressing the peaceful assembly and apologize to the people. National People’s Congress must withdraw the ‘fake universal suffrage’. The Hong Kong government must restart the consultation of political reform. Workers have been demanding a fair election system to rectify the long standing problem of the business-leaning government. However, the ‘fake universal suffrage’ framework proposed by NPC is merely ‘old wine in a new bottle’. Chief Executive Leung Chun Ying must step down to bear the responsibility of violent suppression of protest. Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Union September 28th, 2014. ITUC report *** The B u l l e t Socialist Project • E-Bulletin No. 1042 October 1, 2014 Students Unfurl the “Umbrella Revolution” in Hong Kong Sean Starrs The largest student demonstrations and occupations in Hong Kong's history is currently unfurling – what is increasingly being called the “Umbrella Revolution” in reference to the sea of umbrellas being used as cover against both pepper-spraying riot police and the rays of the sun (the latter a common practice in Northeast Asia). What began as a Hong Kong-wide class boycott on Monday September 22 with around 10,000 university and college students congregating on the Chinese University of Hong Kong campus for speeches and volunteer lectures on civil disobedience – moving across town to a sit-in on Wednesday the 24th in front of the main Hong Kong government buildings in the district of Admiralty – by the night of Monday September 29 morphed into an unprecedented occupation of four major districts in Hong Kong involving at least 80,000 people, predominantly students. Three major arteries running through Admiralty, Central, and parts of Wan Chai (a roughly 2.5km by 500 meter area) – constituting the core business and government skyscrapers in Hong Kong, and encompassing the headquarters of the 6,000-strong People's Liberation Army (PLA) of China Hong Kong garrison – in addition to the largest intersection in Causeway Bay (Hong Kong's busiest shopping neighborhood) and the main thoroughfare in Mong Kok and Jordan (Nathan Road) across the harbor in Kowloon (one of the most densely populated districts in the world), are in complete lock-down with multiple barricades and throngs of students blocking all traffic. Students, Umbrellas and Occupiers This stunning accomplishment that has shocked everyone (including the students themselves) follows violent police repression on Saturday and Sunday of an intensity not seen on the streets of Hong Kong since 1967, when the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) tried to spread the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution (GPCR) to the then-British colony. The main organizer of the week-long boycott of classes, the Hong Kong Federation of Students (HKFS), had planned on ending the strike and sit-in in front of the government buildings on Friday evening, but late that night some 200 or so students stormed a police line and fence to occupy a square within the government complex. The police reacted violently with batons and pepper spray, making over 70 arrests, including one of the most high profile student leaders, 17 year-old Joshua Wong, co-founder of the mostly high school student group Scholarism. As news of the violent police repression swiftly spread, masses of students and other supporters poured into the whole area, eventually blocking major roads (on Monday afternoon there were still some abandoned BMWs and public buses in the middle of the road surrounded by throngs of students). On Saturday, the three co-founders of the group Occupy Central with Love and Peace announced the commencement of Occupy Central, moved forward from its initial start-date of Wednesday October 1 (a public holiday in China, including Hong Kong, commemorating the 65th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic). Two professors and a clergyman initiated plans in January 2013 to occupy what is now a comparatively tiny section of Central, the downtown core of Hong Kong. Some students accused the co-founders of Occupy Central of opportunism and hijacking the student-initiated mass sit-in, but others welcomed the extra support. By Monday the three co-founders moved out of the main government building area, with at least one moving to the occupation in Kowloon across the harbor – hence the epicenter of Admiralty remains almost entirely student-driven. On Monday scores of businesses could not open due to being in the occupied zones, and over 200 public transportation lines were either cancelled or heavily diverted, the former including the iconic double-decker trams. According to the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (the territory's de facto central bank), “23 banks including HSBC and Standard Chartered had closed a total of 44 branches, offices and cash machines.” Both the Hong Kong dollar and the Hang Seng stock index fell on Monday morning. Hong Kong air and noise pollution plummeted from the absence of traffic, with eerie scenes of major thoroughfares several blocks from the epicenter being virtually empty on Monday afternoon (before being filled again with students and supporters by Monday evening). The City Hall was forced to shut down for the first time since Typhoon Wanda in 1962. Screw Us and We Multiply In the aftermath of Sunday's violent police repression of peaceful and unarmed students (many of them teenagers) – according to the police themselves firing tear gas 87 times in nine separate areas – support has been broadening and deepening, with thousands more on the streets from the after-work crowd on Monday and Tuesday. The Confederation of Trade Unions and the Professional Teachers Union both called on its members to strike in support of the students. At least 1,000 social workers, high school and university teachers joined the strike, as well as pupils from at least 31 schools. HKFS extended the student class boycott indefinitely. The Chairperson of Swire Beverages Employees General Union, distributor of Coca Cola in Hong Kong, announced to cheering students in Admiralty that more than 200 workers joined the strike, while 100 more reduced their hours. There were also reports of some taxi drivers striking. Even certain chief executives supported the strike, with for example CEO Spencer Wong of the McCann advertising firm informing employees: “It's up to you whether you come to work of [sic] not. The company will not punish anyone who supports something more important than work.” This is a sharp turnaround from July when the Big Four global accounting firms published a joint warning against Occupy Central of impending chaos if they had their way. A number of legislators, especially from the Civic and Democratic Parties, have also expressed support, with some even being arrested on Saturday and Sunday. But the vast majority of the initiative, leadership, and involvement remains with the students, many of them protesting for the first time. There is a constant stream of supplies pouring into the occupied zones, from water bottles to sodium chloride (first-aid against tear gas) and surgical masks to food and sleeping mats. Support and donations arrive from all walks of life and ages, from a pre-teen helping with cleanup to a 92 year-old lady chanting on the frontlines. There is no centralized chain of command, with the occupations now far beyond the control of either the leadership of the HKFS or Occupy Central with Peace and Love, with many spontaneous actions sprouting across the occupied zones (such as small groups bringing large objects from afar to construct more and increasingly elaborate barricades along the streets). Perhaps most significantly, even more students poured onto the streets after the leadership of HKFS and Occupy Central on Sunday night urged students to return home, as rumors swirled of the impending use of rubber bullets by riot police and increasing fears of a Tiananmen Square-like crack-down in which at least 2,600 students were massacred in 1989 (while many riot police brandished military-style rifles before being taken off the streets by Monday afternoon, thankfully none were used). The core demand is for universal suffrage to decide Hong Kong's Chief Executive Officer (what is essentially its mayor), rather than the changes proposed by Beijing on August 29th that would render it impossible for any anti-CCP candidate to run for office. From Monday morning, another demand being increasingly shouted is for the current Chief Executive C.Y. Leung to step down, and initiate a new reform proposal committee. What is clear is that the ramped up police repression on Sunday failed spectacularly, echoing a sign popular in Madison, Wisconsin in spring 2011: “Screw us and we multiply.” There was widespread outrage over the violent police tactics on unarmed, overwhelmingly peaceful and non-aggressive students, many of them simply quietly sitting around. Yet, as mentioned above, the police fired tear gas 87 times in nine separate areas, according to their own estimate. Incidentally, the stockpile and use of tear gas is banned by the 1993 UN Chemical Weapons Convention, of which China is a signatory. Apart from using tear gas against South Korean farmers during the 2005 WTO protests, the streets of Hong Kong have not seen this chemical weapon since 1967. The riot police were formally taken off the streets by noon Monday, officially because the “illegal protesters” have “mostly calmed down.” In reality, the riot police were the ones that calmed down once they realized they could not defeat the students. During the climax of repression on Sunday night, I was in one area that was tear gassed around 4-5 times (each barrage with multiple canisters) in only two hours. The police formed two lines and fired tear gas in order to advance toward the epicenter in Admiralty, after which most of the crowd would flee and then quickly regroup, surrounding the police on both sides with hands in the air to show non-violent intent. On another note, while unprecedented for Hong Kong, the violent police repression was still relatively tame compared to the demeanor, equipment, and tactics now often employed by the heavily militarized police in North America, from the 2010 Toronto G20 protests to Ferguson, Missouri last month. By Monday afternoon, there was only a heavy police presence around the government buildings, the PLA HQ, and the police HQ (all within a few blocks of each other). Vast areas had no police presence at all, of which many students took ample advantage, extending the barricades several hundred meters to the five-star Mandarin Oriental Hotel in the west, into the heart of the poshest shopping district of flagship luxury brands (a significant advancement of occupied territory from Sunday night). The expanding Umbrella Revolution is no doubt a momentous conjuncture for Hong Kong, and possibly for China itself. All local news outlets are of course doing live and ongoing coverage, but this has also received much international attention. The New York Times, Financial Times, Wall Street Journal, and others have their Asia headquarters in Hong Kong, and all have given this their front page. There also happen to be a number of veteran China reporters that have been deported from the Mainland in the past year or two (especially from Bloomberg and the New York Times), and most have relocated to Hong Kong – from where they are all too happy to write less than enthusiastically on the CCP and the heavy-handed and disproportionate repression of the Hong Kong police. A common chant heard on the streets is “the world is watching.” Nothing short of the future of Hong Kong is at stake. Officially, Deng Xiaoping's promise of “one country, two systems” is supposed to last until 2047 (half a century after the 1997 handover), but many in Hong Kong fear that Beijing is gradually moving toward “one country” much sooner. The CCP's attempt to change the security law in 2003 and standardize the education system to emphasize “love of China” in 2012 were both defeated due to hundreds of thousands taking to the streets. The latter incident is the context in which Joshua Wong, then 14 years old, co-founded Scholarism to protest Beijing's attempted interference in Hong Kong's school curriculum. But this time is different. We are currently in the midst of by far Hong Kong's largest civil disobedience ever. Students have pledged to maintain the occupied zones, vastly larger than Occupy Wall Street or any of its global spawns ever were, until Beijing reneges on its August 29th proposal and grants Hong Kong universal suffrage. Students are so far incredibly successful, unimaginably more than anyone could have predicted even on Sunday morning. Perhaps most importantly, momentum is far greater on the side of the students, as we begin two Chinese public holidays (including in Hong Kong), tomorrow and Thursday. Whatever the eventual outcome, at the very minimum the Umbrella Revolution will have politicized a new generation of Hong Kongers. Of course, this doesn't mean everyone will be radicalized, as for example numerous veterans of 1989 Tiananmen Square after being exiled to the West became investment bankers or Silicon Valley capitalists. Nevertheless, others became critical scholars or full-time activists, perhaps most prominently Han Dongfang, the number one most wanted man by the CCP in the aftermath of June 4, 1989, who gave himself up and was tortured for 22 months in a Chinese prison, and subsequently exiled to Hong Kong where in 1994 he founded China Labour Bulletin, which is still going strong today. Students and Workers Stand up, Fight Back Moreover, by far the largest act of civil disobedience in Hong Kong history comes at a very awkward time for the Chinese Communist Party, which at least partly explains the unprecedented and swift but spectacularly failed attempt by the Hong Kong Police to violently repress the students and prevent their momentum from growing. With President Xi Jinping's “anti-corruption campaign” so far targeting only his rival factions, the CCP is currently in the midst of the one of the most serious tests to its unity in decades. More broadly vis-à-vis the Chinese people, the CCP is increasingly using nationalism and China's “glorious” past, including reviving Confucianism, once reviled by the CCP as a product of feudal and patriarchal authoritarianism, in order to replace “communist” ideology. Indeed, the CCP announced that class struggle was officially over in China, and therefore removed the right to strike from the constitution in 1982. Yet, since especially the Nanhai Honda strike in 2010, there have been hundreds if not thousands of increasingly daring strikes across China, the largest of which was earlier this year when 40,000 workers at a Dongguan shoe factory went on strike, less than 100km north of Hong Kong. And certainly after 1989, it is clear that the tenets of freedom of assembly and speech do not jive well with this CCP hegemonic project, yet are very dear to the hearts of many Hong Kongers. At the time of the handover, Hong Kong's GDP accounted for almost a fifth of China's, yet today it is only 3 per cent. The central government in Beijing will likely do much in its now considerable imbalance of power to prevent any demonstration effect in Hong Kong that might spread to the Mainland. And there is certainly the basis for an Occupy Shenzhen and others across China, as many grievances range from high labour exploitation to severe air pollution, from food safety scandals to rural and urban land seizures, from widespread corruption to increasing violent crime and one of the highest inequality rates in the world. Hence, especially over the past ten years, burgeoning social unrest in China seems to be increasingly rattling the upper echelons of the CCP. Since 2009 China spends more on domestic security than external military defense. And the CCP has reacted to the Umbrella Revolution with record Internet censorship on the Mainland, banning many search words such as “Class boycott,” “Occupy Central,” “Hong Kong police,” and “Hong Kong tear gas,” while deleting relevant posts on Weibo, China's Twitter-like social network, including all posts with the hashtag #HongKong. Meanwhile, for the first time, China completely blocked Instagram on Sunday morning, as pictures from Hong Kong started to go viral around the Mainland. There is already contagion internationally, as hundreds of supporters in Taiwan (a country with its own misgivings concerning Beijing's increasing encroachment, as witnessed by its “Sunflower movement” earlier this year when students occupied the Taiwanese parliament) occupied the lobby of the Hong Kong Trade Office. Solidarity demonstrations are also planned across the world over the next couple days, from Paris to Sydney, from San Francisco to Vancouver and Toronto. China, of course, has a massive diaspora abroad, much of which is still deeply connected with the Mainland (as well as Hong Kong). But back in “Asia's world city,” Beijing is in a real damned if they do, damned if they don't situation. Granting universal suffrage to Hong Kong would be a significant setback for the authority of the CCP, with highly uncertain consequences both in Hong Kong and the Mainland concerning the CCP's paramount goal: the longevity of its power. But at least at the time of writing, tens of thousands of students and their supporters remain more entrenched in the three main occupied zones than on Sunday. Seventeen year-old Joshua Wong of Scholarism has said that most do not expect Beijing to back down, but that was last week. Similarly, many a week ago expected Occupy Central to fail in occupying only a tiny square in Central; even the co-founders did not dare to dream of maintaining a complete lock-down of vast swathes of Hong Kong spanning three of its most important neighborhoods. As of Tuesday night Hong Kong time, the possibility of what would be an historic retreat by the Chinese Communist Party with unknown consequences is at least slightly higher than it was only a few days ago. And very few seriously give any likelihood to a bloodbath on the scale of the Tiananmen Square massacre. There would simply be too big a risk that Hong Kong would be rendered utterly ungovernable if such a tragedy occurred. Beijing also signaled on Sunday that it would not intervene, and praised the Hong Kong police for handling the situation well. That was, however, before the massive student success and advancements on Monday that have continued into Tuesday. If the student-led occupations cannot be defeated soon, each day that goes by increases the risks for Beijing of contagion. In the immediate short-term, the students have this Wednesday and Thursday on their side, as both are public holidays in China, including Hong Kong. The annual fireworks celebrating the coming to power of the CCP on October 1, 1949, usually scheduled for tomorrow has been cancelled by the Hong Kong government. An average 800,000 Mainlanders cross the border into Hong Kong every day, and this will see a sizable increase tomorrow and Thursday due to the national holidays. One problem, however, is that the vast majority of students have very little political experience, let alone an awareness of the incompatibility of capitalism and democracy, not to mention the environment. Some make the connection between increasing inequality in Hong Kong, with universal suffrage as a means to counter the power of tycoons, the majority of whom are pro-Beijing and of course favour the status quo. But I have argued in an opinion piece that will be published by Hong Kong's main English-language newspaper, the South China Morning Post, that too few discuss whether political democracy is possible without economic democracy. Regardless, this is certainly a giant first step in politicizing a new generation of Hong Kongers, a populace more known for shopping in gleaming malls rather than occupying vast swathes of the third most important financial center in the world. Also, from my own very limited one-month experience so far teaching at City University of Hong Kong, many students are extraordinarily receptive to criticism of capitalism at large, more so than my former students at York University in Toronto. The Umbrella Revolution and the Global Cycle of Protest As should be clear, the Umbrella Revolution is shaped by specific local conditions in Hong Kong. With that said, it must be placed in the broader context of occupations and popular uprisings the world over that have been inspired by the Arab Spring, especially the occupation of Tahrir Square in early 2011. The occupation of Tahrir Square inspired the occupation of the State Capitol building in Madison, Wisconsin and the indignados of Madrid, Spain – both of which inspired Occupy Wall Street in September 2011 and the subsequent blossoming of Occupies around the world, including the original Occupy Central, one of the longest-lasting camps, until September 2012. And as the Umbrella Revolution and other recent protests around the world reveal, the conditions continue to be ripe for politicizing the masses of especially young people for the first time (as well as occasionally breathing fresh air into the spirits of 1968 Paris and 1999 Seattle veterans, among others). The ranks of those receptive to radical system change around the world continues to swell as the twenty-first century progresses, even if some also drop out and/or need greater encouragement. In any case, in regard to the largest civil disobedience ever in Hong Kong, anyone's crystal ball as to how this will end is as uncertain as anyone else's. What is certain, however, is that the humble umbrella will forever have a new significance in Hong Kong: to protect not only from rain and shine, but also from the instruments of state repression. • Sean Starrs is Assistant Professor of International Relations at the City University of Hong Kong and received his Ph.D. in June 2014 at York University, Toronto. I thank Jordy Cummings for encouraging me to write this. &&& *** Tutu calls for support of Hong Kong protesters Tutu says he salutes the courage of the Hong Kong citizens who have taken part in mass demonstrations. Eyewitness News & Reuters | about 12 hours ago CAPE TOWN - Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu has called on all who believe in democracy to support the people of Hong Kong. There was little sign of momentum flagging on the fifth day of the mass campaign, whose aim has been to occupy sections of the city and express fury at a Chinese decision to limit voters’ choices in a 2017 leadership election. In a statement, Tutu says he salutes the courage of the hundreds of thousands of Hong Kong citizens who have taken part in mass demonstrations in recent days. Many had feared police would use force to move crowds before Wednesday’s start to celebrations marking the anniversary of the Communist Party's foundation of the People’s Republic of China in 1949. Those fears proved unfounded. The crowds have brought large sections of the Asian financial hub to a standstill, disrupting businesses from banks to jewellers. Overnight thunderstorms failed to dampen spirits and the protesters woke to blue skies on Wednesday. Riot police had used tear gas, pepper spray and baton charges at the weekend to try to quell the unrest but tensions have eased since then as both sides appeared prepared to wait it out, at least for now. Protests spread from four main areas to Tsim Sha Tsui, a shopping area popular with mainland Chinese visitors. It would usually do roaring trade during the annual National Day holiday. Underlining nervousness among some activists that provocation on National Day could spark violence, protest leaders urged crowds not to disturb the flag-raising ceremony on the Victoria Harbour waterfront on Wednesday morning. Proceedings went ahead peacefully, although scores of students who ringed the ceremony at Bauhinia Square overlooking Hong Kong harbour booed as the national anthem was played. A beaming Hong Kong Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying, who was appointed by Beijing, shook hands with supporters waving the Chinese flag even as protesters who want him to stand down chanted: “We want real democracy”. “We hope that all sectors of the community will work with the government in a peaceful, lawful, rational and pragmatic manner ... and make a big step forward in our constitutional development,” Leung said in a speech. The Hong Kong and Chinese flags billowed in the wind at the completion of the ceremony but one of the main protest groups said they marked the occasion “with a heavy heart”. “We are not celebrating the 65th anniversary of China. With the present political turmoil in Hong Kong and the continued persecution of human rights activists in China, I think today is not a day for celebrations but rather a day of sadness,” said Oscar Lai, a spokesman for the student group Scholarism. SOLIDARITY Hundreds of demonstrators had gathered outside luxury stores and set up makeshift barricades from the early hours of Wednesday in anticipation of possible clashes. As in most parts of Hong Kong, the police presence was small. Protesters have set up supply stations with water bottles, fruit, crackers, disposable raincoats, towels, goggles, face masks and tents. M. Lau, a 56-year-old retiree, said he had taken to the streets of Hong Kong to protest in the 1980s and wanted to do so again in a show of solidarity with a movement that has been led by students as well as more established activists. The protests are the worst in Hong Kong since China resumed its rule of the former British colony in 1997. They also represent one of the biggest political challenges for Beijing since it violently crushed pro-democracy protests in Tiananmen Square in 1989. Cracking down too hard could shake confidence in market-driven Hong Kong, which has a separate legal system from the rest of China. Not reacting firmly enough, however, could embolden dissidents on the mainland. China rules Hong Kong under a “one country, two systems” formula that accords it some autonomy and freedoms not enjoyed in mainland China, with universal suffrage an eventual goal. However, protesters reacted angrily when Beijing decreed on 31 August that it would vet candidates wishing to run for Hong Kong’s leadership. Leung has said Beijing would not back down in the face of protests and that Hong Kong police would be able to maintain security without help from People’s Liberation Army (PLA) troops from the mainland. CENSORSHIP Communist Party leaders in Beijing worry that calls for democracy could spread to the mainland, and have been aggressively censoring news and social media comments about the Hong Kong demonstrations. Cybersecurity researchers in the United States said they had found a computer virus that spies on Apple Inc.’s iOS operating system for iPhones and iPads that they believe is targeting the protesters in Hong Kong. Researchers from Lacoon Mobile Security said the code used to control the server was written in Chinese by “really sophisticated guys”. Hong Kong shares fell to a three-month low on Tuesday, registering their biggest monthly fall since May 2012. Markets are closed on Wednesday and Thursday for the holidays. The city’s benchmark index has fallen 7.3 percent over the past month, and there are few indications that the protests are likely to end any time soon. Mainland Chinese visiting Hong Kong had differing views on the demonstrations, being staged under the “Occupy” banner. A woman surnamed Lin, from the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen, however said the protesters’ demands for a democratic election were “disrespectful to the mainland”. *** Hong Kong’s Protesters Say Peaceful Resistance Is Key By Lucy Westcott Filed: 9/29/14 at 10:24 PM | Updated: 9/29/14 at 10:59 PM Filed Under: World, Hong Kong, Hong Kong Protests, Occupy Central, Occupy Central with Peace and Love Hong Kong’s pro-democracy protests have seen tens of thousands of demonstrators take to the streets to demand universal suffrage from the Chinese government. What started as a student-led campaign for democracy last week evolved into a standoff with police, who lobbed tear gas at the growing crowds and made arrests Sunday and Monday. But one group taking part in the movement says protesters are focused on maintaining a “peaceful resistance.” “We are seriously upholding the principle of nonviolence,” Chan Kin-man, co-founder of democracy group Occupy Central with Love and Peace (OCLP) and a professor of sociology at the Chinese University of Hong Kong tells Newsweek. “We are fighting a non-democratic regime, we don’t have as many resources as them, we don’t have weapons,” said Chan. “The only thing we rely on is our spirit. We spend a lot of time explaining the importance of having a movement that can express our love to the community,” he said. OCLP started in March 2013 as a way to put pressure on the governments of Beijing and Hong Kong to allow fair and open elections in Hong Kong. Chan said the group is inspired by other peaceful movements that have fought “against systems, not individuals,” he said, speaking from a square next to the central government office in Hong Kong on Monday, where protests were continuing. The protests partly have their roots in an unofficial referendum earlier this summer which called on Beijing to allow for free elections in which Hong Kong residents could nominate their own candidates for local government positions. Beijing has said voters can choose from a list of pre-determined candidates. Chan compared the 2017 elections to an election in authoritarian regimes such as North Korea or Iran. “All the candidates have to be screened by Beijing before they’re put forward,” Chan said of the movement's impetus. “As an international city we don’t think this is acceptable,” he said. “We want a genuine universal suffrage by the end of 2017.” “We learned from examples like Gandhi in 1940s and Martin Luther King in the 1960s,” said Chan. “[We were] also inspired by Nelson Mandela in fighting for democracy.” Pro-Democracy Protesters Face Police in Hong Kong Pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong, many of them students, faced tear gas and arrests as they took to the streets in massive numbers to call on China to allow free elections for territory’s next leader VIEW GALLERY The movement has been dubbed the “umbrella revolution” by some, with protesters using umbrellas to protect themselves from tear gas and the sun. The protests saw Hong Kong police firing tear gas into crowds for the first time in nearly a decade, since protests erupted outside the 2005 World Trade Organization talks, The Telegraph reports. The action has brought “shame” to the city, said Anson Chan, former chief secretary of Hong Kong said in a statement. “What we need now is leadership and accountability, not violence and repression,” the statement read. Photos and videos with the hashtag OccupyCentral have been widely shared over social media, despite the Chinese government’s decision to block Instagram on Sunday. Some praised protesters for organizing supplies, handing out water and tidying up after themselves. Chan said this were examples of the movement’s strategy of nonviolence. Protests are expected to continue through October 1, which is China’s National Day, according to local media. "We hope that Hong Kong people can hang on and occupy the several spots that we are now having our demonstrations [until] at least October 1…to show our dignity and our determination to fight for democracy," Chan told local media on Monday. *** Hong Kong leader believes protests could last weeks Students spearheading the protest movement ratcheted up pressure on Leung Chun-ying. Pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong. Picture: Bridgette Hall. Reuters | about 9 hours ago HONG KONG - Hong Kong authorities will not immediately move to clear tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters occupying large areas of the city, and will let them stay for weeks if need be, a source with ties to leader Leung Chun-ying said on Wednesday. In contrast, students spearheading the protest movement ratcheted up pressure on Leung, saying they would occupy more government buildings unless the Beijing-backed chief executive stepped down by Thursday night. Hong Kong protesters are angry about China's decision to limit voters' choices in a 2017 leadership election, and, in a major challenge to Beijing's authority in Hong Kong and beyond, have brought much of the financial hub to a standstill. As the mass action approached its sixth day on Wednesday evening, the number of people on the streets remained high. Fears among demonstrators that police might try to remove them forcibly ahead of the National Day holiday marking the establishment of the People's Republic of China in 1949 proved unfounded, and the atmosphere was calm but defiant. Hong Kong student leader Lester Shum issued an ultimatum to Leung: step down or else face wider protests. "We will escalate the action if CY Leung doesn't resign by tonight or tomorrow night. We will occupy more government facilities and offices," he told protesters. "I believe the government is trying to buy more time. They want to use tactics such as sending some people to create chaos so that they would have a good reason to disperse the crowd." Riot police had used tear gas, pepper spray and baton charges at the weekend to try to quell the unrest, but tensions have eased since then as both sides appeared ready to wait it out, at least for now. Protesters have dug in, setting up supply stations with water bottles, fruit, disposable raincoats, towels, goggles, face masks and tents. Leung has said Beijing would not back down and that Hong Kong police would be able to maintain security without help from People's Liberation Army troops from the mainland. According to a government source with ties to Leung, the chief executive appeared ready to allow the anger to subside, and would only intervene if there was looting or violence. "Unless there's some chaotic situation, we won't send in riot police ... We hope this doesn't happen," the source said. "We have to deal with it peacefully, even if it lasts weeks or months." Leung could not be immediately reached for comment. _______________________________________________ NetworkedLabour mailing list NetworkedLabour(a)lists.contrast.org http://lists.contrast.org/mailman/listinfo/networkedlabour -- Check out the Commons Transition Plan here at: http://en.wiki.floksociety.org/w/Research_Plan P2P Foundation: http://p2pfoundation.net - http://blog.p2pfoundation.net <http://lists.ourproject.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/p2p-foundation>Updates: http://twitter.com/mbauwens; http://www.facebook.com/mbauwens #82 on the (En)Rich list: http://enrichlist.org/the-complete-list/

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Fwd: [opennetcoalition] Open Letter To The Council Of The European Union on Net Neutrality
by Michel Bauwens 02 Oct '14

02 Oct '14

---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: La Quadrature du Net <contact(a)laquadrature.net> Date: Thu, Oct 2, 2014 at 3:33 PM Subject: [opennetcoalition] Open Letter To The Council Of The European Union on Net Neutrality To: opennetcoalition(a)laquadrature.net Themes: NETWORK NEUTRALITY, EUROPEAN UNION, TELECOM SINGLE MARKET, OPEN LETTER La Quadrature du Net – For immediate release Permanent link: https://www.laquadrature.net/en/open-letter-to-the-council-of-the-european-… Open Letter To The Council Of The European Union on Net Neutrality *** Paris 1 October 2014 — In the wake of the debate on the Telecom Single Market, which is becoming quite intense within the Council of the European Union, La Quadrature du Net, along with other organisations, consumers groups and industry representatives, has sent the Council an open letter in order to draw its members’ attention to issues related to Net neutrality in the European Union. *** On April 3rd, the European Parliament took a historic step [1] for the protection of Net Neutrality and the Internet commons in the European Union, becoming the worldwide champion of the founding principle of the Internet, as we know it today. The legislative resolution voted by the European Parliament guarantees in fact a high level of protection against discriminations on the Internet, ensures a fair competition between every single player on the telecom market, defends the freedom of users to access services and contents of their choice and protects the European citizens’ right to freedom of expression and information. The battle within the European Parliament mainly pivoted on the regime to be applied on specialised services, which is a crucial issue to prevent telecom operators from jeopardizing Net Neutrality. The Council cannot ignore the wonderful outcome the European Parliament – supported by thousand of citizens actively involved in the process – achieved last April, placing the European Union on the front line for the protection of the most powerful instrument of freedom and democracy ever seen, which is the Internet. The full letter and list of the signatories can be found below: Dear Ambassadors, Please make your relevant Ministers aware of this call to support net neutrality rules in the proposed Telecommunications Single Market Regulation. We understand that you are currently involved in the Council of Ministers discussions on the proposed European Telecommunications Single Market Regulation. We, the undersigned organisations, are committed to an open, transparent and secure Internet and would like to call on you to support strong open Internet provisions as part of this proposal. The open nature of the Internet is a key driver for innovation and economic efficiency and for fostering informed citizenship and plurality of opinions, creating a vital need for effective rules on net neutrality at EU level. Providing a clear EU regulatory framework on net neutrality would bring much needed certainty for sustained investment in innovative online content and applications that are available to everyone equally and boost consumers’ trust in the Internet and the digital society. Net neutrality allows consumers and citizens across Europe to enjoy unfettered access to the Internet, regardless of the content, services and applications they use. This principle enables everyone, including innovators and entrepreneurs, to communicate with everyone, both in Europe and globally. Net neutrality is indispensable for innovation and growth, for the fundamental right to receive and impart information and for investment in next generation broadband. We now call on the Council to take a strong stance on net neutrality. Studies by regulators have unequivocally demonstrated that clear rules are necessary to halt discriminatory practices. Sound rules on net neutrality should include a clearly stated non-discrimination principle for Internet access providers. These rules allow Internet access providers to manage traffic but it should neither be prioritized nor discriminated against based on the content, services, applications, or devices that are being used. Internet access providers should clearly be able to offer customers internet access packages with different speeds and volumes – as long as they treat services and applications in a non-discriminatory manner. Such rules should not prevent Internet access providers from offering “specialised services” if they wish, as long as they do not degrade or impair internet access services and are not discriminatory. National regulators must have both effective tools and clear obligations to prevent this from happening and should analyse and address each case on its merits. EU-wide rules that include these principles will ensure that users, not Internet access providers, decide what applications and content they use, and enable entrepreneurs to market their services across the Union. It will be a significant step towards a true digital single market and avoid individual countries adopting different, perhaps incompatible legislation. Finally, it will demonstrate a commitment by Member States to respond to the demands of citizens, the European Parliament, and businesses across Europe. The upcoming negotiations between Telecoms Ministers are an opportunity to send a clear signal to the other EU institutions and the European public that there is a political will to establish an EU framework which enables the EU to take up its role as a champion of the open Internet. We therefore call upon you to work towards the inclusion of robust net neutrality provisions in the Telecommunications Single Market Regulation proposal which would provide certainty for providers of innovative online content, applications and services, enhance transparency for end-users, and boost consumers trust in the Internet. The contributors of this open letter are: - Access - Bits of Freedom - BEUC, The European Consumer Organisation - CCIA, The Computer and Communications Industry Association - CDT, The Center for Democracy & Technology - EBU, The European Broadcasting Union - EDRi, European Digital Rights - Greenhost - La Quadrature du Net - OpenForum Europe * References * 1. https://www.laquadrature.net/en/net-neutrality-a-great-step-forward-for-the… ** About La Quadrature du Net ** La Quadrature du Net is an advocacy group that defends the rights and freedoms of citizens on the Internet. More specifically, it advocates for the adaptation of French and European legislations to respect the founding principles of the Internet, most notably the free circulation of knowledge. In addition to its advocacy work, the group also aims to foster a better understanding of legislative processes among citizens. Through specific and pertinent information and tools, La Quadrature du Net hopes to encourage citizens' participation in the public debate on rights and freedoms in the digital age. La Quadrature du Net is supported by French, European and international NGOs including the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the Open Society Institute and Privacy International. List of supporting organisations: https://www.laquadrature.net/en/they-support-la-quadrature-du-net ** Press contact and press room ** contact(a)laquadrature.net, +33 (0)972 294 426 https://www.laquadrature.net/en/press-room _______________________________________________ Opennetcoalition mailing list Opennetcoalition(a)laquadrature.net https://laquadrature.net/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/opennetcoalition -- Check out the Commons Transition Plan here at: http://en.wiki.floksociety.org/w/Research_Plan P2P Foundation: http://p2pfoundation.net - http://blog.p2pfoundation.net <http://lists.ourproject.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/p2p-foundation>Updates: http://twitter.com/mbauwens; http://www.facebook.com/mbauwens #82 on the (En)Rich list: http://enrichlist.org/the-complete-list/

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Fwd: Housing without building: News From Doors of Perception
by Michel Bauwens 01 Oct '14

01 Oct '14

---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Doors of Perception <mailing(a)list.doorsofperception.com> Date: Wed, Oct 1, 2014 at 9:01 PM Subject: Housing without building: News From Doors of Perception To: michelsub2004(a)gmail.com [image: logo] >From John Thackara CONTENTS - Housing without building - On regarding the pain of the planet - a reader - Forthcoming events HOUSING WITHOUT BUILDING The family of swallows that spent the summer in the eaves behind my office here in France have headed south for the winter. Soon, as Christmas beckons, they’ll reach their destinations: Botswana, Namibia or South Africa. After just two months gorging on insects, they’ll begin the epic journey back. The strongest among them will make it back in just five weeks, traveling 200 miles a day. And I thought my air travel was profligate. As an artefact, the swallows’ nest is not exactly the Taj Mahal. It’s a ramshackle structure, made of mud pellets and straw, stuck crookedly to the wall. But it seems to suit them well - or rather, the surrounding habitat does. Their physical abode is a safe enough place to park their young - but it’s not a gated community. What brings the swallows back every year is not their house but the surrounding environment as whole: open air for easy flight; fresh water from the river; flying insects to feed their ravenous young. I have come to envy how lightly they manage to live. We humans burn through billions of tons of resources to support our our own structures and lifestyles. Swallows throw their nests together from found materials. Preoccupied by swallows, I posed the following question last month to a meeting of Nordic Housing Association managers: Do we really need to build more boxes? Is it beyond our creativity to provide our fellow humans with shelter and sustenance without covering more of the world in concrete? To be candid, I did not expect an easy ride from this group of experts. They have a ton of financial, legal and political issues to deal with in managing 2.4 million housing units across the Nordic countries. In the event, I was surprised: Many of these housing professionals shared my concern at the baleful influence of the Real Estate Industrial Complex. Manufacturing boxes may be good for GDP and construction firms, some agreed, but we can surely meet the social need for shelter in ways that that improve the habitat, not wreck it. We discussed how to re-use the millions of empty buildings out there <http://www.doorsofperception.com/locality-place/the-ecozoic-city/>: the potential of food hubs <http://www.doorsofperception.com/infrastructure-design/food-as-a-commons/> to improve a community’s health; the need for a micro-brewery in every neighbourhood <http://www.doorsofperception.com/food-systems-design/shoe-town-to-brew-town/>; the benefits of pollinator pathways through built-up areas; the potential of de-paving <http://depave.org/> to improve a town’s porosity to rain; how citizen action is improving the health of rivers, creeks and watersheds; how to de-motorise the movement of freight <http://www.doorsofperception.com/notopic/caloryville-the-two-wheeled-city/> through towns and cities. This regenerative concept of place development was in stark contrast to a newsletter I received this morning. It announced that “60% of the area projected to be urban in 2030 has not yet been built”. This submissive and widespread acceptance of unchecked urbanisation has become tiresome. Sure, yes, urbanisation will devour the biosphere if no alternatives are on offer - but that’s not the case. There are thousands of ways to improve life <http://www.doorsofperception.com/sustainability-design/a-wild-mirror-for-de…> - and not just human life - in the cities we already have. So I have a modest proposal: let’s draw a line in the (de-paved) sand and agree that the real-estate model of ‘development’ <http://www.doorsofperception.com/category/development-design/> is over and focus instead on design for life. ON REGARDING THE PAIN OF THE PLANET - A READER Why is it that shocking stories and images fail to change things for the better? Are there different ways of knowing the world, than merely looking? I’ve posted a list here <http://www.doorsofperception.com/handouts/on-regarding-the-pain-of-the-plan…> of the wise people who have helped this writer understand this overarching dilemma. Susan Sontag’s conclusion stays with me: “People don’t become inured to what they are shown — if that’s the right way to describe what happens — because of the quantity of images dumped on them. It is passivity that dulls feeling". WILD LEARNING “Our ancestors’ children didn’t go to school: School surrounded them. Nature was a living teacher”. Under the umbrella title of Wild Learning <http://www.doorsofperception.com/learning-institutions/wild-learning-ecolog…>, I’ve also posted a rough-and-ready list of of the nature-based education, biodiversity initiatives, and edible school gardens that are trying in diverse ways to reconnect children - and the rest of us - with the living systems of which we are a part. FORTHCOMING TALKS & EVENTS - Oslo, 15 October System Oriented Design <http://www.systemsorienteddesign.net/> - Dundee, 22 October Chiasma, Sustaining Rural Scotland <http://www.dundee.ac.uk/research/main/news/20140811110459/> - Amsterdam, 20 November, Pakhuis de Zwijger, De energieke samenleving <http://www.dezwijger.nl/104618/nl/joint-venture-2014-dag-1-de-energieke-sam…> - New Delhi, 12-14 December: UnBox Festival <http://www.unboxfestival.com/>. For this year's UnBox I'll be joining Mansi Gupta <http://www.core77.com/blog/kickstarter/trmtab_how_buckminster_fuller_and_on…> in a workshop to develop the plan for a Lab, situated at the heart of India's largest leather-producing region, that will combine clean forms of leather making with direct connections between between producers and customers. I'll also re-visit the subject of cycle commerce <http://designobserver.com/feature/cycle-commerce-as-an-ecosystem/37905/> and my proposal for the de-motorisation of Delhi. DOORS OF PERCEPTION TALKS AND XSKOOLS My talks and Xskool workshops - which you can read more about here <http://www.doorsofperception.com/talks/> and here <http://www.doorsofperception.com/xskool/> - explore opportunities where social and ecological systems meet: food systems, housing, sustainable infrastructure, mobility, the care economy. What are the key social-ecological systems in this place? how night one design in them? and, how does one get started? CONTACT Contact me (John Thackara, Doors of Perception) by Email john(a)doorsofperception.com *Blog* *doorsofperception.com* <http://www.doorsofperception.com/> *Twitter* *@johnthackara* <https://twitter.com/johnthackara> *LinkedIn* *www.linkedin.com* <http://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=139933&trk=tab_pro> * Unsubscribe * To unsubscribe please visit http://list.doorsofperception.com/unsubscribe/be9d04d2-bed1-4d2e-8a92-f8073… / <http://list.doorsofperception.com/unsubscribe/be9d04d2-bed1-4d2e-8a92-f8073…> -- Check out the Commons Transition Plan here at: http://en.wiki.floksociety.org/w/Research_Plan P2P Foundation: http://p2pfoundation.net - http://blog.p2pfoundation.net <http://lists.ourproject.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/p2p-foundation>Updates: http://twitter.com/mbauwens; http://www.facebook.com/mbauwens #82 on the (En)Rich list: http://enrichlist.org/the-complete-list/

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Fwd: [opennetcoalition] Recommendations On The Right To Be Forgotten By La Quadrature du Net and Reporters Without Borders
by Michel Bauwens 01 Oct '14

01 Oct '14

---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: La Quadrature du Net <contact(a)laquadrature.net> Date: Wed, Oct 1, 2014 at 8:22 PM Subject: [opennetcoalition] Recommendations On The Right To Be Forgotten By La Quadrature du Net and Reporters Without Borders To: opennetcoalition(a)laquadrature.net Themes: NET FILTERING, PRIVACY, PERSONAL DATA, RIGHT TO BE FORGOTTEN, SURVEILLANCE La Quadrature du Net – For immediate release Permanent link: https://www.laquadrature.net/en/recommendations-on-the-right-to-be-forgotte… Recommendations On The Right To Be Forgotten By La Quadrature du Net and Reporters Without Borders The European Union Court of Justice ruling of 13 May 2014 [1] on a case brought by Google Spain highlighted the problems for the protection of freedom of expression and the right to information posed by the right to de-indexation from search engine results and, more broadly, the right to be forgotten. Privacy and freedom of expression are fundamental rights of equal value (articles 8 and 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights and articles 8 and 11 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union). Whenever one conflicts with the other, a balance must be reached under a judge’s authority because, as a matter of principle, one cannot be given more importance than the other. The EUCJ ruling requires search engine operators such as Google to deal with requests made by members of the public for the removal of search engine results attached to their names. Responsibility for a decision involving individual freedoms that should be handled by a court is thereby delegated in practice to a private sector company. This delegation of responsibility is all the more dangerous because the ruling is based on vague and general principles that provide no guarantee for freedom of expression. In response to the EUCJ ruling, Google established an advisory committee that is currently working on the formulation of more precise rules for search engine operators on how to respond to requests to be removed from results. The questions that Google is asking on how to strike a fair balance between the right to de-indexation from results and the public’s freedom of expression and information are perfectly legitimate, but the fact that a private sector company is posing these questions accentuates the growing trend to privatize the implementation of Internet regulation, and is therefore unacceptable. National data protection bodies such as the the CNIL – the French data protection authority –,are meanwhile also working on the formulation of precise rules in response to the EUCJ’s ruling. But, in so doing, they too are exceeding their powers. In the absence of sufficiently clear legislation, such government agencies have neither legitimacy nor competence for the formulation and application of rules designed to ensure a balance between the protection of privacy and freedom of expression. The response must therefore come from national and European legislators. It is their duty to establish a clear legal framework that takes full account of freedom of expression and is implemented by the courts. With this in mind, Reporters Without Borders and La Quadrature du Net jointly drafted this paper, which identifies points of concerns and makes recommendations designed to reconcile the right to privacy with freedom of expression in a reasonable manner under the aegis of the courts and not the private sector or government agencies. We now present them as a contribution to the ongoing debate on the right to be forgotten. 1. Misapplying The Right To Privacy To Editorial Content In France The provisions on the protection of persondal data from the directive of 24 October 1995 have been applied to editorial content and other informations of public interest, based on the fact that they broadly define “data of a personal nature” as “any information concerning an identified or identifiable physical person,” . This is so even though both article 9 of this directive and article 67 of the France’s Law on Information Technology and Freedoms provide an exception for journalistic purposes. As a result, under the CNIL’s supervision, data protection laws are already widely used to curtail freedom of expression before the EUCJ ruling on the right to be removed from search engine results. This was made clear in a recent statement by CNIL president Isabelle Falque-Pierrotin: “Complaints involving the right to be forgotten are almost all honoured and the content is withdrawn. They concern comments in blogs, an unwanted photo or a court decision that someone wants suppressed.” [2] Using data protection laws to obtain the removal of published content and restrict freedom of expression (through the right to opposition and rectification) under the ruling of administrative authority, constitutes an extremely dangerous circumvention of the traditional principle of the judicial protection of freedom of speech (established, in France, with the Law of 29 July 1881 on press freedom). This is why the vice-president of a Paris high court said in a ruling on 12 October 2009: “The constitutionally and conventionally guaranteed principle of freedom of expression forbids (...) any violation of the rules established by the Law of 6 January 1978, which is not one of the laws that was specially created to restrict this freedom in according with the second section of article 10 of the European Convention [on Human Rights].” Similarly, a Paris appeal court ruling of 26 February 2014 said that suppressing online links to an article may violate media freedom: “The court is of the view that forcing a media outlet to modify its online archive of articles (...) either by suppressing information itself, withdrawing surnames and first names of persons concerned by judicial decisions, thereby depriving the article of any interest, or by restricting access by modifying the usual online links, exceeds the restrictions that may be placed on media freedom.” In Europe At the European level, a ruling by the European Court of Human Rights on 16 June 2013 rejected a request by two Polish lawyers for the suppression of a newspaper article that had been deemed libellous by a Polish court but continued to be accessible on the newspaper’s website. Seeking a balance between the right to defend one’s reputation and the right to information, the European Court ruled that withdrawal of the article “would amount to censorship and to rewriting history.” These decisions shed light on the appropriate scope that should be given to the exception for journalism. Provisions on the protection of personal data should not affect freedom of expression. They should remain inapplicable to all editorial content and all information of public interest. Given a certain desire on the part of European Union member states to follow up on the EUCJ ruling by considerably reinforcing the right to be forgotten and the right to deletion, it is important to restrict these rights in order to protect freedom of expression. The rules must be amended to reinforce the exception for journalism by extending it to all editorial content and other information of public interest. After this legislative clarification has been enacted, the right to privacy and the freedom of expression can be properly balanced under national and international law and the relevant jurisprudence (for example, in France, article 9 of the civil code or articles 226-1 and 226-2 of the penal code), while respecting the existing guarantees of freedom of expression (such as those in the 1881 media law). Recommendations Base arbitration between the right to privacy and freedom of expression on common law provisions or, when appropriate, on respect for the guarantees applicable to media rights, and not on special data protection laws. As part of the negotiations under way on European regulation on personal data, extend the exception for journalism to all editorial content and information of public interest and restrict application of the right to be forgotten under article 17 to data put online by the data subject himself. Pending the adoption of the European regulation, establish a moratorium on measures based on this special right that restrict freedom of expression and the right to information. Or otherwise adopt interim measures that fully respect freedom of expression. At the European level, consider complementing the rules on protection of privacy with legislation that protects freedom of expression, above all in order to reconcile these two fundamental rights. 2. The Role Of Search Engines In Access To Information By interpreting the concept of “controller of the personal data” broadly, the EUCJ has extended it to search engine operators and has put private sector companies in charge of handling requests for the deletion of links in search engine results. The EUCJ’s decision seems to stem from a conservative and erroneous vision of the Internet and what search engines do. At no point did the court mention the role of search engines in gathering information and their contribution to freedom of expression. Instead it limited itself to stressing the dangers resulting from the “important role played by the Internet and search engines in modern society, which render the information contained in such a list of results ubiquitous.” While the Internet and search engines may indeed make it harder to protect privacy, they also play a very positive role from the viewpoint of freedom of expression. A recommendation on the protection of human rights in connection with search engines, adopted by the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe on 4 April 2012 [3] said: “search engines enable a worldwide public to seek, receive and impart information and ideas and other content in particular to acquire knowledge, engage in debate and participate in democratic processes.” France’s Council of State pointed out in a recent report that “removing links from search results affects the freedom of information of the website’s publisher by making the published information less accessible and thereby returning it to the pre-Internet situation.” [4]. Because of the role of search engines in facilitating access to editorial content and information of public interest, there are significant dangers involved in treating search engine operators as personal data “controllers.” It removes measures directly affecting online freedom of expression and information from the judicial domain and prevents sufficient account being taken of the different interests and rights at play. Moreover, as EUCJ advocate-general Niilo Jääskinen said in a preliminary report on the Google Spain case, it would be “absurd” to hold search engines responsible for the personal data on the web pages to which their search results refer. He said: “If Internet search engine service providers were considered as controllers of the personal data on third-party source web pages and if on any of these pages there would be ‘special categories of data’ referred to in Article 8 of the Directive (e.g. personal data revealing political opinions or religious beliefs or data concerning the health or sex life of individuals), the activity of the Internet search engine service provider would automatically become illegal, when the stringent conditions laid down in that article for the processing of such data were not met.” For this reason, among others, search engine operators should not be regarded as the personal data “controllers.” The plaintiff must go to the source, asking the personal data “controller” to withdraw or correct the information that was posted online and was then indexed by the search engine. This also applies to links to content that is neither editorial in nature nor of public interest. Data protection authorities should nonetheless be empowered to order search engine operators to update their results. After getting a personal data “controller” to remove or correct content, individuals should be able to ask their national agency to order search engine operators to correct or suppress the relevant information in their web page excerpts or in their caches (in the same manner as courts have ordered search engines to remove links to illegal. Recommendations Amend European personal data regulations to reflect the fact that search engines and other Internet “facilitators of access to information” are essential for exercising the right to information and provide links to editorial content and information of public interest and should therefore be covered by a broad interpretation of the exception for journalism and should not be regarded as personal data “controllers.” In the case of links to personal data with no editorial content and no information of public interest, give data protection agencies the power to order search engine operators to update the information displayed in their results, while not treating them as personal data “controllers.” 3. Defence Rights And Appropriate Procedures In a democracy, it is not the role of private sector companies or even France’s CNIL (or its equivalent in other European countries) to determine the right balance between the protection of privacy and freedom of expression. In its decision on the Law on the Confidence in the Digital Economy in 2004, France’s Constitutional Council said with reference to the withdrawal of online content by private sector companies: “determining whether a message is illegal can be delicate, even for a lawyer.” This would also apply to search engine operators trying to determine whether search engine result deletions would restrict freedom of expression and the right to information. The publishers of online content have the right to a fair hearing if requests are made for the removal of links to their content, and this right cannot be respected if a private sector company is taking the decisions. Similarly, the authorities in charge of protecting privacy do not have the required competence or legitimacy for examining such requests and determining the limits that should be set on freedom of expression. As France’s Constitutional Council said in its ruling of 10 June 2009 on the HADOPI law, legislators cannot give an administrative agency, even an independent one, the power to restrict the right to express oneself freely. As this is about balancing fundamental rights, it can only be a judge, the guarantor of individual freedoms, who can perform the task of reaching a decision in a dispute, thereby also fully guaranteeing the right to a fair hearing. If some cases, the judge’s intervention could follow mediation process aimed a reaching an out-of-court settlement of a dispute involving the right to be forgotten. In such mediation, both parties (the plaintiff who claims that his or her privacy has been violated and the publisher of the disputed content) should be able to defend their viewpoint and obtain legal advice. Finally, in the event that it is determined that freedom of expression was indeed abused in order to violate privacy, various types of measure should be envisaged. The EUCJ ruling focuses on deleting links from search engine results, but updating the disputed content, deleting only some of the information it contains, anonymization or use of pseudonyms may be more appropriate and proportionate, according to each case. Recommandations In accordance with the principle of judicial protection for freedom of expression, ensure that only a judge has the power to reconcile freedom of expression and respect for privacy. Consider creating a multistakeholder mediation body that allows the parties to the dispute to reach an out-of-court settlement (with recourse to a judge clearly still being possible in the event of failure to reach an agreement). Bear in mind that deleting links from search engine results is just one of several possible measures for reconciling freedom of expression with the right to privacy, and that updating the disputed content, deleting some of its information, anonymization or use of pseudonyms may prove more appropriate. PDF version: https://www.laquadrature.net/files/Recommendations_Google_LQDN_RSF_en_0.pdf * References * 1. http://curia.europa.eu/juris/document/document_print.jsf?doclang=FR&text=&p… 2. Le Monde, 19 May 2014 3. Committee of Ministers, 4 April 2012, recommendation on protecting human rights in connection with search engines 4. French Council of State, 2014 Annual Report. Digital technology and fundamental rights, p. 188 ** About La Quadrature du Net ** La Quadrature du Net is an advocacy group that defends the rights and freedoms of citizens on the Internet. More specifically, it advocates for the adaptation of French and European legislations to respect the founding principles of the Internet, most notably the free circulation of knowledge. In addition to its advocacy work, the group also aims to foster a better understanding of legislative processes among citizens. Through specific and pertinent information and tools, La Quadrature du Net hopes to encourage citizens' participation in the public debate on rights and freedoms in the digital age. La Quadrature du Net is supported by French, European and international NGOs including the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the Open Society Institute and Privacy International. List of supporting organisations: https://www.laquadrature.net/en/they-support-la-quadrature-du-net ** Press contact and press room ** contact(a)laquadrature.net, +33 (0)972 294 426 https://www.laquadrature.net/en/press-room _______________________________________________ Opennetcoalition mailing list Opennetcoalition(a)laquadrature.net https://laquadrature.net/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/opennetcoalition -- Check out the Commons Transition Plan here at: http://en.wiki.floksociety.org/w/Research_Plan P2P Foundation: http://p2pfoundation.net - http://blog.p2pfoundation.net <http://lists.ourproject.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/p2p-foundation>Updates: http://twitter.com/mbauwens; http://www.facebook.com/mbauwens #82 on the (En)Rich list: http://enrichlist.org/the-complete-list/

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