[WSIS CS-Plenary] FW: CRIS statement to Social Movements Assembly

[Myriam Horngren]

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From: Sburch [mailto:sburch at alainet.org] 
Sent: 31 January 2005 21:13
To: Wsf-com at comunica.org
Cc: Myriam Horngren
Subject: CRIS statement to Social Movements Assembly

CRIS Campaign statement for the Social Movements Assembly - FSM 2005

Communications is a core theme at this year's World Social Forum. It is
a
core theme because the demand for a better, more equitable
communications
environment is emerging as the demand of a new social movement for
communication rights.

The information and communications sector has become a strategic part of
the
global market economy. It is a sector characterised by gross imbalances:
increasing concentration of the media, information property rules that
favour the big corporations, privatisation of the means of
communication,
and new technologies of mass surveillance.

There is a growing communications divide between one third of the
world's
population with the power to communicate globally, instantaneously and
the
other two thirds who barely have access to electricity and for whom the
Internet is an unknown world.

The campaign for Communication Rights in the Information Society (CRIS)
believes that communication is a fundamental human right and is
mobilizing
around a common agenda for action and has identified a series of
communication rights priorities for 2005.

1. We are committed to defending and affirming our communication rights
and
freedoms. In the context of the World Summit on the Information Society
we
call for a campaign to put the spotlight on communication rights in
Tunisia,
the host country for the 2005 Summit. The Tunisian government
systematically
violates rights of access to information, freedom of expression, freedom
of
association, and respect for privacy.

2. We are committed to defend communication rights against the harmful
impact of global free trade and to promote respect for cultural and
media
diversity.  We therefore support proposals, under debate in UNESCO, for
a
strong international convention to promote and defend cultural
diversity. We
will vigorously oppose attempts to include the cultural and media sector
in
World  Trade Organisation and other free trade agreements.

3. We call on social movements to work with us in building a
communication
rights movement from the bottom up. We invite local and grassroots
organisations to join with us to build networks and alliances at
national,
regional and international levels to defend and promote communication
rights.

Calendar of Action

We call on social movements to mobilise around the World Summit on the
Information Society in Tunis in 16-18 November 2005, to assert "another
communication is possible" and to defend freedom of expression and human
rights in Tunisia.

We call on social movements to support a strong convention on cultural
diversity and to mobilise against the inclusion of culture and media in
international free trade agreements. We look to build alliances with
other
social movements in this struggle, in particular to resist information
becoming a commodity under the  WTO-GATs-IPR regime.

Dates of particular importance include the UNESCO General Assembly in
October, WTO Ministerial Meeting Hong Kong December 2005, Summit of the
Americas, Argentina, November 2005.