WE SEIZE! : Getting to grips with information society

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12.Dec.03 - Yomango is one of the many articulations for an approach that made the polymedia lab possible. Polymedia Lab was an experiment in free sharing of knowledge and software, cables, boxes and food, and in some cases even clothes. It came together despite initial problems on the 9th, when the authorities who suddenly decided that the project could not take place at the scheduled location. Eventually, Geneva City Council provided the Palladium, a stylish culture venue. Strangely enough, when the council was asked for a space a few weeks ago, they were not able to find something, claiming that all spaces were fully booked.

This confusion delayed the start of the strategic conference for a day - but the flexibility of all participants made it possible to re-arrange the sessions. The first day saw sessions about the political situation in Venezuela, reports from the ftaa in Miami, hacklabs and autonomous media. The second day, 10 Dec, started with a session about the potentials of free software development as a mode of production that might at some point supersede capitalism. The second session was about yomango - another project that engages with free circulation of things. Both debates were very focussed and intensive and continued well after the scheduled times.

Today, on the 12th, most people have been working together for 4, sometimes more days. People from outside Geneva had occasion to visit local social centers and alternative restaurants.

The confusion about the space for the polymedia lab had shifted the focus of the We Seize Project. Instead of debating, people were running around, supporting the occupied polymedia location, trying to find another space, sending out press releases. A publication critical of Tunisia (next hosts of WSIS 2004) was confiscated at the official WSIS location Palexpo, and today, a demo was dispersed, people forced to show their identity, 9 detained and later released. All this leaves some people here with a feeling of being in some kind of low-level-infowar. Assemblies are difficult, because spaces are hard to obtain, discussions are intererrupted by raids. On the other hand, everybody seems to be happy about the Palladium Space.

We Seize maybe hasn't quite seized yet, but it's got a pretty bloody good grip and won't let go! Whether it was taking the reigns of the cyber-horse between it's teeth, or biting the ankles of the techno powered elite, it was one more step in the process of appropriation of the communication tools and channels, the invention of more uses for these tools, and one more thread in the fabric of our social networks.

The debate about communication rights and intellectual highway robbery will continue, no matter what the second part of the world summit of the information society will put on the agenda.

This digital movement is growing, finding new allies, new ways of transforming ideas into action, refining techniques, sharing skills and increasingly making the international solidarity concept personal.

indy travelling circus