--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- *APCNews, the monthly newsletter of the Association for Progressive Communications (APC)* - November 2000 No. 15 - --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- -- NEWS FROM THE MEMBERS -- -- APC ACTION AREA: BUILDING APC INFORMATION COMMUNITIES -- -- APC ACTION AREA: MOBILIZING PARTICIPATION -- -- APC ACTION AREA: INTERNET RIGHTS -- -- ONLINE EVENTS -- -- SITES OF INTEREST -- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- -- NEWS FROM THE MEMBERS -- c2o, Australia: arTok - Pacific Arts forum online Last month we reported that c2o, APC's Australian member organization, and their partner group, Toy Satellite, are providing regional networking and Web media expertise to "arTok", a Pacific cultural arts initiative. The festival is now in full swing and the Website is updated daily with stories and reports in English, French and Tok Pisin (a pidgin language from Papua New Guinea). Read: http://www.apc.org/english/news/fulltext.shtml?sh_itm=825fde475fd0142534f9abf7afa2f2c1 Econnect, Czech Republic: Training NGOs to get real results from their online campaigns Econnect, APC member in the Czech Republic, is training NGOs to make their online campaigns really achieve results. The training session begins by examining two recent, successful online campaigns. One is 'Coke Spotlight', an online campaign that successfully pressured the makers of Coca-Cola to adopt a new refrigeration policy to reduce its impact on global climate change before the world's first Green Games in Sydney, Australia back in June. The other example is 'Balkan Sunflowers' - a project very close to Econnect, whose staff regularly volunteer their time to this organization that works with traumatized people in the zone. Read: http://www.apc.org/english/news/fulltext.shtml?sh_itm=cd5f229cf17dcae3a67bc9924080c0fb IGC, USA: NGOs from up and down the American continent will meet at the Americas PrepCom for the World Conference Against Racism The Americas Regional Meeting in preparation for the United Nations World Conference Against Racism (WCAR) takes place in Santiago, Chile, 5-7 December 2000. On 3-4 December, an NGO Forum will be organized by the IDEAS Foundation, to enable NGOs that intend to participate in the Americas Regional Meeting to caucus, develop common strategies, and co-ordinate their work. Read: http://www.apc.org/english/news/fulltext.shtml?sh_itm=5985d269ae12845c2e158eb1a71c7631 INTERCOM, Ecuador: UN Development online resources tailored for Ecuador To build public awareness about the work of the United Nations in Ecuador and to create an online home for UN development tools relevant to their national audience, INTERCOM, APC's Quito-based member organization, has launched the "United Nations working in Ecuador" Website. Read: http://www.apc.org/english/news/fulltext.shtml?sh_itm=30336979f5d5814635231d3ecc65e444 SANGONeT, South Africa: South African NGO promotes women's participation in local elections South Africans will go to the polls for the fourth time this year at the end of 2000. They will be voting for local government representatives for the second time, but this time the structure of local government is very different. This election marks the final stage in a process of change that was started in the democratic negotiations in 1993. Local government is the sphere of government closest to the people, and has control over services and decision-making that affects women's lives directly - like the provision of clean water and sanitation services. Women'sNet, a joint project of APC South African member, SANGONeT, and the Commission on Gender Equality, is a platform for South African women's voices and issues. During 1999, Women'sNet launched a project focusing on women and elections. The project was a huge success. Post-election research done by the Commission on Gender Equality showed that the information campaign focusing on women and issues affecting them meant that more women voted independently and not on the advice (or insistence!) of their husbands. Read: http://www.apc.org/english/news/fulltext.shtml?sh_itm=48a771a234de1f0677f6deef4f5e552c --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- -- APC ACTION AREA: BUILDING APC INFORMATION COMMUNITIES -- JCA-NET, Japan: Japan to join the international LabourNet/LaborNet movement When Chris Bailey visited Japan in July to work on Internet Rights issues with JCA-Net, APC member in Japan, it was an opportunity for Japanese labour activists to meet him for the first time. As well as being APC's Internet Rights co-ordinator, Chris is webmaster of the LabourNet Website, which from 1995-98 played a key role in building a world-wide campaign in support of 500 Liverpool dockers sacked from their jobs for refusing to cross a picket line. Japanese trade unionists, particularly dockworkers, had worked with Chris online in the campaign and had taken strong action in support of the Liverpool men, at one point shutting down all 50 ports in Japan for an hour. Discussion soon developed on the possibility of starting a Japanese LabourNet and how an international labour online community might emerge as part of APC's "Building Information Communities" Action Area. Read: http://www.apc.org/english/news/fulltext.shtml?sh_itm=431daf5adccdeafdff8d36d9336d8e18 --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- -- APC ACTION AREA: MOBILIZING PARTICIPATION -- APC: APC opens up membership In October 2000, APC Council ratified important revisions to our membership criteria and fees that will have major consequences for the size and diversity of APC membership in the future. APC membership is now open to civil society organizations anywhere in the world that share the same mission as APC: to empower and support civil society organizations (CSOs) through the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs). We believe that it is important for people and organizations in civil society mobilizing the power of information and communication technologies for development and social justice, to join forces, learn from one another, and together advocate for policies and practice that will extend Internet access to the many people that are being left along the wayside of the so- called 'Information Highway'. The stronger our membership, the more meaningful will be our support to the communities and organizations that we interact with locally, regionally and internationally. Major changes to note in APC membership: * APC is now open to more than one member from each country. * Non-Internet service providers can now join APC. We especially welcome online content providers, ICT training and research organizations, alternative multimedia institutions or any organization which uses ICTs are a core component of their strategy to support social justice and development. * APC will accept ethical for-profits whose work supports the APC mission as members. * Membership fees have been substantially reduced in response to requests from small organizations in developing countries. * Applying for membership is much simpler: Interested groups can read our new, improved membership information pack online and send in their application form directly from the APC Website. Pack and forms are available in English and Spanish. APC Mission: http://www.apc.org/english/about/mission/index.htm APC Membership Information Pack: http://www.apc.org/english/about/members/member_pack.htm --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- -- APC ACTION AREA: INTERNET RIGHTS -- APC: Keeping Our Eyes on ICT Policy APC made Internet Rights one of its three main Action Areas for work in 2001 at our Hungary 2000 meeting. We have been involved in protecting Websites and online content as one of our central activities as an international network. Some of our members, particularly in the UK and Japan, have been influential in mobilizing public opinion around government attempts at regulation of the Internet. Now APC is pleased to announce that we are continuing our effort to facilitate increased awareness, critical thinking and informed engagement regarding the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) by civil society, with a new project to develop tools for the active monitoring of ICT technology policy and regulatory developments around the world. Read: http://www.apc.org/english/news/fulltext.shtml?sh_itm=afd09c92d0826fbde33e13086192fd48 APC-ICANN CAMPAIGN: THE RESULTS! APC would like to thank everyone who helped in our efforts to get good civil society candidates elected to the ICANN Board. Our work was not in vain. From our point of view, the final election results were better than we expected. Three out of the five candidates elected were pro-civil society and/or pro-development candidates that APC recommended. For a breakdown of the results in each region: http://www.apc.org/english/rights/governance/ Thanks to everyone who collaborated in our campaign. While the ICANN at-large election process presented challenges, we think the fact that three of the five elected candidates are good civil society representatives shows that we were right to take advantage of the opportunity the elections presented; to introduce a civil society perspective in Internet governance. We now need to pressurize the ICANN Board to make sure that voting takes place as soon as possible for the remaining four at- large seats that the Board originally agreed should be elected ones. We will keep you posted on developments and look forward to working together again to get good candidates elected to these remaining seats. APC: APC takes the Civil Society Internet Rights initiative to Korea APC's Civil Society Internet Rights Initiative figured prominently in the Media section of the ASEM 2000 Peoples Forum in Seoul, Korea 18-20 October. The Forum took place in parallel with the official ASEM meeting of European and Asian government leaders. It brought together a broad range of community organisations, citizens networks, social movements, trade unions and NGOs on the theme of "Peoples Action and Solidarity Challenging Globalization." Its central aim, in the words of the organisers, was "to greatly contribute to raising the profile of civil society and help in strengthening democratisation in Asia in general, and Korea in particular." Read: http://www.apc.org/english/news/fulltext.shtml?sh_itm=ad71bc3c668c2e47d3666aa61c755176 --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- -- ONLINE EVENTS -- Development Dialogue Housed in the "economic development" section of a free email group Website, this is an interactive forum for debate, analysis, Research & Development, collaboration and networking devoted to the exchange of information, ideas and experiences on development issues and trends. The purpose of the list is to stimulate a broad range of views and information exchange on people, issues, policies, possibilities, problems, perspectives, case studies, practices and activities relating to development. The list has about 200 members and received more than 30 posts in October 2000. To join the group, simply send a blank message to: Developmentdialogue-subscribe@egroups.com --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- -- SITES OF INTEREST -- The Ethical Consumer http://www.ethicalconsumer.org/ The Ethical Consumer is an alternative consumer organisation from the UK that looks at the social and environmental records of the companies behind the brand names. What is Ethical Consumerism? Ethical consumerism is all about empowering the consumer. Often people feel powerless in the face of global issues such as ozone depletion and exploitation of developing countries but ethical consumerism can be a driving force for change. In the 1980s it was revealed that CFCs were damaging the ozone layer. Consumers made their views known to manufacturers by favouring CFC-free products and today CFCs are banned by law - a case of ethical consumerism in action. The Ethical Consumer Website includes "The Corporate Critic", an online database for checking the ethical and environmental performance of companies; and a boycott list of companies who are acting unethically. Coke Spotlight: A specific ethical consumer campaign which met with success prior to the Sydney Olympics http://www.cokespotlight.org --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- APCNews, in English, and APCNoticias, in Spanish, are distributed the first week of every month by APC, the Association for Progressive Communications (APC), the international Internet community for peace, human rights, development and the environment. APCNews Archive: http://www.apc.org/english/news/apcnews/ Copyright. 2000 Association for Progressive Communications (APC). Permission is granted to use this document for personal use, for training and educational publications, and activities by peace, environmental, human rights or development organizations. Please provide an acknowledgment to APC.