[WSIS CS-Plenary] [CRIS Info] URGENT: support CRIS comments on UNESCO cultural diversity convention

[Steve Buckley]

The UNESCO draft  Convention on the Protection of the Diversity of Cultural 
Contents and Artistic Expressions can be found at www.unesco.org/culture

Steve


At 12:56 11/11/2004 -0500, you wrote:

>Thanks.
>Neither this note nor the CRIS link cited below contains links to the 
>draft Unesco convention.
>Would it not be better to encourage us to support this campaign by reading 
>the draft in question?
>We will gladly add this appeal to the http://wsis.ecommons.ca
>Canadian civil society wsis - smsi site, and will go hunt down the 
>relevant Unesco documents.
>Signing letters of protest without reading the relevant object of protest 
>does not - in our view - help our cause in the end.
>
>Thanks
>Liss Jeffrey,PhD
>Director, eCommons/agora project
>www.ecommons.net
>
>
>At 12:31 PM 11/11/2004, you wrote:
>
>>*please forward widely*
>>
>>
>>UNESCO is currently drafting a new international agreement on cultural 
>>diversity: the Convention on the Protection of the Diversity of Cultural 
>>Contents and Artistic Expressions.
>>
>>This Convention was originally designed to ensure that culture, in the 
>>age of globalized culture industries, is not reduced to a commodity. Its 
>>aim is to allow each country to implement cultural, media, and 
>>communications policies that foster cultural diversity.
>>
>>However, some governments have proposed dangerous revisions that would 
>>transform the draft Convention into an instrument that expands corporate 
>>ownership of culture.
>>
>>The campaign for Communication Rights in the Information Society (CRIS) 
>>is calling on civil society organizations to join us in taking the 
>>following stand on the Convention:
>>
>>     * First, the Convention must not be made subordinate to existing or 
>> future trade agreements. To do so would defeat its purpose.
>>
>>     * Second, it should be designed to not only protect diversity of 
>> national and regional cultural industries, but to protect the cultural 
>> diversity and the communication rights of all peoples.
>>
>>     * Third, it must balance any references to the protection of 
>> intellectual property rights with reference to protection of the 
>> cultural commons. Otherwise, references to intellectual property rights 
>> should be removed altogether.
>>
>>Based on these points, on November 15th the CRIS campaign will submit 
>>concrete suggestions to UNESCO for changes to the draft Convention.
>>
>>Please take the time to read the CRIS comments and add your organization 
>>to the list of signatories.
>>
>>The CRIS comments, and a form for adding your signature, can be found 
>>here: http://www.mediatrademonitor.org/cris-unesco.php
>>
>>
>>Thank you,
>>
>>Sasha Costanza-Chock
>>for the campaign for Communication Rights in the Information Society
>>
>>
>>contact:
>>global AT freepress.net,
>>(US) 1.510.655.7971
>>
>>_______________________________________________
>>Communication Rights in the Information Society (CRIS)
>>For more information see http://www.crisinfo.org/ act at crisinfo.org
>>CRIS Info is a public list for information and questions about the 
>>campaign for Communication Rights in the Information Society (CRIS).
>>CRIS also has a Latin American regional list at: 
>>http://comunica.org/mailman/listinfo/crisal_comunica.org
>>________________________________________
>>
>>Crisinfo mailing list
>>Send contributions to Crisinfo at comunica.org
>>CRIS Info archives are at: 
>>http://comunica.org/mailman/listinfo/crisinfo_comunica.org
>>This list is provided courtesy of Comunica - http://comunica.org
>>
>>_______________________________________________
>>Plenary mailing list
>>Plenary at wsis-cs.org
>>http://mailman.greennet.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/plenary
>>
>>
>>
>>--
>>Incoming mail is certified Virus Free.
>>Checked by AVG Anti-Virus (http://www.grisoft.com).
>>Version: 7.0.269 / Virus Database: 264.12.8 - Release Date: 07/11/2004
>
>
>--
>Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free.
>Checked by AVG Anti-Virus (http://www.grisoft.com).
>Version: 7.0.269 / Virus Database: 264.12.8 - Release Date: 07/11/2004
>
>
>_______________________________________________
>Plenary mailing list
>Plenary at wsis-cs.org
>http://mailman.greennet.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/plenary