Culture Freedom Day 19th May 2012

Posted by Celia Walter | 18 May, 2012
Culture Freedom Day is a worldwide celebration of Free Culture. Initiated in 2012 by the same organization promoting Software Freedom it aims at educating the worldwide public about the benefits of using and encouraging Free Culture as well as providing an international day to serve as a platform to promote Free Culture artists. The non-profit organization Digital Freedom International coordinates CFD at a global level, providing support, giveaways and a point of collaboration, but volunteer teams around the world organize the local CFD events to impact their own communities.
 
 
 
We have envisioned Culture Freedom Day as a day where Free Culture art is exhibited, as much as possible, and celebrated. Be it a photo exhibition, a concert, playing music in the streets or organization movie screening, as long as it is clear to the public that what you are showing is Free Culture you would be right on target. Of course a combination of all forms of Free Culture art is fine too, with short discussions about the definition of Free Culture, how to make one's work Free Culture and where to find Free Culture online. The cherry on the cake would be to showcase one or several Free Culture artists who would happen to live in your area. We have set up a special section in our forum for such match making opportunities.


Culture Freedom Day will be hosted annually starting on Saturday May 19th, 2002 and probably every third Saturday of May each subsequent year.

Our Vision

Our vision is to empower all people to freely connect, create and share in a digital world that is participatory, transparent, and sustainable.

Objectives

  1. To celebrate culture freedom and the people behind it
  2. To foster a general understanding of culture freedom, and encourage adoption of free culture licenses
  3. To create more equal access to opportunities by growing the body of cultural work accessible to all
  4. To promote constructive dialogue on responsibilities and rights in the cultural society
  5. To be inclusive of organizations and individuals that share our Vision
  6. To be pragmatic, transparent, and responsible as an organisation

List of events:

  1. 2012/Argentina/Rosario/LUGRo
  2. 2012/Brasil/Fortaleza/CFD - Ceará
  3. 2012/China/Shantou/CFD
  4. 2012/Colombia/Bogota/CFDBogota
  5. 2012/Colombia/Valledupar/CFDValledupar
  6. 2012/España/Granada/Centro Guadalinfo Zaidín
  7. 2012/España/Granada/Centro Mip
  8. 2012/España/Granada/Te Pica la Barba Festival
  9. 2012/Ghana/Kumasi/ALUG
  10. 2012/India/Bangalore/CFD Bangalore
  11. 2012/Moldova/Chisinau/Ceata
  12. 2012/New Zealand/Wellington/Creative Commons Wellington
  13. 2012/Palestine/Jenin/CultureFreedomDayInPalestine
  14. 2012/Portugal/Lisbon/FLAUSINA
  15. 2012/Romania/Bucharest/Ceata
  16. 2012/Sri Lanka/Kandy/FreeCultureMatters
  17. 2012/USA/NC/Durham/Libre Culture Day
  18. 2012/Venezuela/Merida/Culture Freedom Day
 
 

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Right to Know Campaign: "Let the Truth Be Told! Stop the Secrecy Bill"

Posted by Celia Walter | 9 Sep, 2010

Over 200 civil society organisations and numerous prominent individuals have endorsed a civil society statement titled "Let the Truth Be Told! Stop the Secrecy Bill".

The statement characterises the Protection of Information Bill as fundamentally undermining the struggle for whistleblower protection and access to information and as  reminiscent of our apartheid past. The statement calls for a redrafting of the Bill to comply with the constitutional values of access to information and freedom of expression.

The Right to Know campaign will also be announcing plans to raise public concern about the Protection of Information Bill and other threats to the freedom of expression through a week of action that will commence on 19 October 2010 (the commemoration of Black Wednesday). The statement will remain open for further endorsements through the campaign website.

The 200 odd organisations endorsing the statement include Afesis-Corplan, the Alternative Information Development Centre, Amnesty International, Black Sash, Ceasefire Campaign, CIVICUS, Democracy Development Programme, Diakonia Council of Churches, Earthlife Africa, Freedom of Expression Institute, Gay & Lesbian Network, Idasa, Institute for Security Studies, Open Democracy Advice Centre, M&G Centre for Investigative Journalism (amaBhungane), National Welfare Forum, Palestine Support Committee, Professional Journalists’ Association, Section27, South African History Archives, and the South African National Editors Forum as well as various social movements including Equal Education, Social Justice Coalition, Social Movements Indaba, Treatment Action Campaign, and the Unemployed People’s Movement.

Over 400 individuals have also endorsed the Statement, including Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Nadine Gordimer, Prof Kader Asmal, Zakes Mda, Dr Max Price, Prof. Jonathan Jansen, Zackie Achmat, Pieter-Dirk Uys, Mary Burton, Mazibuko K Jara, Andrew Feinstein, Richard Spoor, Andre Brink, Terry Bell, Laurie Nathan, Pierre de Vos, Max Du Preez, Paul Graham, Pippa Green, Prof Hoosen Coovadia and Breyten Breytenbach.

A full list of endorsing organizations and individuals will be released at the Statement launch.

http://www.right2know.org.za/

Resources

The documents for download below contain all the information needed to stay informed on how the bill will affect society.

Included is the actual bill that is being proposed, as well as a plain language version of the bill and various submissions to parliament by civil society.

The page is regularly updated with the latest documentation on the bill.

Documents / URLs

- Protection of Information Bill - In plain language
- Protection of Information Bill
- Submission from the Institute for Security Studies and the Open Society Justice Initiative to the Ad Hoc Committee considering the Protection of Information Bill
- Community Media Views
- South African Human Rights Commission submission
- South African History Archive and Nelson Mandela Foundation [SAHA and NMF] submission
- South African Media and Gender Institute [SAMGI] submission
- COSATU submission
- M&G Centre for Investigative Journalism Submission
- M&G Centre for Investigative Journalism Briefing Note What is wrong with the Protection of Information Bill
- Protection of Information Bill, Statement by Cardinal Napier
- Right2Know
- Video of R2K Cape Town Launch

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Protection of Information Bill and the Media Appeals Tribunal: A step-by-step guide

Posted by Celia Walter | 7 Sep, 2010

Cutting through the confusion: A step-by-step guide to the Protection of Information Bill and the Media Appeals Tribunal

Written by: Dario Milo and Okyerebea Ampofo-Anti of Webber Wentzel.This article was originally published in the Saturday Star on 7 August 2010  Webber Wentzel Media Practice Group News, p.5-7. [pdf]

In recent weeks there has been much publicity about the Protection of Information Bill and the ANC's proposal for the establishment of a Media Appeals Tribunal and how both of these developments represent a serious threat to media freedom. Unfortunately some media reports have tended to conflate the two issues and one could be forgiven for feeling confused. What follows is a broad overview of both issues...[More]  From Polity.org.za


 

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Indexcomment.org

Posted by Celia Walter | 5 Oct, 2007
Indexcomment.org
is a current news and comment site maintained by the staff of Index on Censorship. It aims to highlight and discuss the latest issues relating to freedom of expression and censorship worldwide. It includes extracts from blogs, selected recent articles from the Index on Censorship magazine and calendars of events. Key topics include free expression and media rights. Users may view materials archived from 2007 onwards. FRom Intute.ac.uk
http://www.indexcomment.org/

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