<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">---------- Forwarded message ----------<br>From: <b class="gmail_sendername">Javier Ruiz</b> <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:javier@openrightsgroup.org">javier@openrightsgroup.org</a>></span><br>
Date: Mon, Jun 27, 2011 at 9:30 PM<br>Subject: [fcf_discussion] Civil Society Workshop Before the Next Digital Assembly<br>To: <a href="mailto:edri-members@mailman.edri.org">edri-members@mailman.edri.org</a>, <a href="mailto:fcforum_discussion@list.fcforum.net">fcforum_discussion@list.fcforum.net</a>, <a href="mailto:communia-associates@lists.communia-association.org">communia-associates@lists.communia-association.org</a><br>
<br><br>Dear friends<div><br></div><div>The first European Digital Assembly that took place in Brussels two weeks ago showed that there is a wealth of activity in this field in Europe. However, we felt that the effort could have been more productive and engaging from the perspective of civil society.�The assembly does provide an interesting space to potentially make our voices heard, and the European Commission clearly sees it as a space for accountability to their stakeholders (this word was repeated around a hundred times!).�</div>
<div><br></div><div>Although there was a semblance of balanced participation in many parallel thematic workshops, it was unclear what were the key issues, what recommendations would be made, and importantly how would these be�followed�up. In the afternoons, most of the larger plenary panels were dominated by politicians and businesses, culminating in the�appalling�comments about the demise of privacy by the Belgian minister for Economy and Innovation.</div>
<div><br></div><div>We think that if we are to participate again in this space, we need to be better prepared to intervene in the assembly as civil society. In order to do this�Open Rights Group would like to propose a one day preparatory workshop the day before the next Digital Assembly. This workshop would dissect the programme for the assembly and allow civil society organisations and interested individuals to examine the issues and enhance their participation. Ideally, this workshop should include groups working on privacy, data and the civil liberties end and those working on the cultural aspects, but it could go beyond these networks and engage other participants in the assembly. This could include groups working on disability, gender and local democracy, to name a few of the themes of the assembly.</div>
<div><br></div><div>This is a very preliminary proposal to hear what you think. If enough people believe this is a good idea Open Rights Group can help organise, run and fundraise, but we will need other organisations to commit to make it happen as well.</div>
<div><br></div><div>Best, Javier</div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div>
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