[WSIS CS-Plenary] Re: [Wsis-pct] IPJ: US & Japan Upset Consensus for Development Agenda at WIPO

[Rainer Kuhlen]

good points Richards - it´s not only WIPO where the US try to block any 
attempts to find alternative solutions to the commercialization of  
knowledge and information. As some of you know, the UNESCO attempts to 
pass the convention on cultural diversity on its next general conference 
late in fall 2005. Althought the current text is already a rather 
sterilized version, the US opposes it and tries the usual bi-lateral 
strategy to convince other states not to agree to the convention. I 
doubt whether it feasible to expel the US from international UN 
organization, but the chances are there that they voluntarily will 
retreat (as they have done from the UNESCO in th 80ies as protest 
against the New World Information and Communication Order - by he way, 
among the leading NWIKO supporters were the same nations, Brazil etc., 
which have initiated the WIPO development agenda) What can be learned 
form all these lessons with respect to WSIS?
RK

Richard M. Stallman schrieb:

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>_______________________________________
>
>The US attitude is probably that WIPO exists to do the empire's
>bidding and otherwise should do nothing at all.  It will probably
>prevent any work on the development agenda if it is approved.
>
>There are two possible ways to respond to this:
>
>1. The countries that promoted the development agenda should retaliate
>by simply blocking everything that the US wants WIPO to do.  That is a
>partial victory anyway.  WIPO has done primarily harm in the past, so
>if it does no further harm, that is better.
>
>2. Maybe they can vote to expel the US and Japan from WIPO.  The US
>under business-dominated rule will not sign any WIPO treaty unless it
>takes away rights from the citizens.  So if WIPO ever proposes a
>treaty that goes in the other direction, the US won't sign it anyway.
>Therefore, there's nothing to lose by expelling the US now?  It might
>then be possible to disavow the WIPO copyright treaty, so that it
>cannot be used as an excuse for US pressure to adopt laws like the
>DMCA.
>
>If this results in a decrease in funding for WIPO "technical
>assistance", that would be another step forward.  That "technical
>assistance" is structured to bribe patent officials lawfully, with
>foreign resort junkets, and train them to repeat megacorporate
>propaganda.
>
>Does the WIPO General Assembly also operate by consensus?
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>  
>


-- 
Prof. Dr. Rainer Kuhlen
UNESCO Chair of Communications
Department of Computer and Information Science - University of Konstanz
Box D 87
email: rainer.kuhlen at uni-konstanz.de
URL: http://www.kuhlen.name
Phone Univ.: *49 (0)7531 - 882879; Fax: *49 (0)7531 882048
Berlin: +49 (0)30 27594241; Fax: ...260




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