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Seventh
World Conference of Community Radio Broadcasters
Milan, 23-29 August 1998 Main | Activities | Local information | Register now! | Virtual Forum | Other links Septième
Assemblée mondiale des radiodiffuseurs communautaires
Séptima
Asamblea Mundial de Radios Comunitarias
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amarc-1
Hello all, >The goal, I hope, is to link those two. Lyn's proposal on tracking and >bothering telecoms giants and their next-generation competitors is a step >in this direction. Kole's call to collate this and place it on a web site >is another. Are others interested in this? There is a corporate research company called TeleGeography (http://www.telegeography.com/) that already does this research, presumably for corporate investment purposes. They publish a book called the TeleGeography 100 that maps the ownership structures of 100 top telecoms, computer and entertainment companies, listing all their subsidiaries including many strategic alliances (ala Mark Crispin Miller only with much more detail). They also publish a yearly global map showing the status and placement of submarine cables and major telecom satellites. Their publications are extremely expensive, but I've found the map in particular to be quite useful for showing students the disparity of international telecommunications access - for instance the perimeter of Africa is ringed with submerged data cables yet there are few drop points into the continent itself. I agree that a web site that is a clearing house for this type of info would be useful with the appropriate outreach. Such a body of information should be used to encourage international advocacy and activism on a number of fronts such as worker solidarity, environmentalism, human rights and the need for democratic communications. In other words, we need to outreach to these other, seemingly unrelated groups and encourage them to make 'the right to communicate' a significant part of their struggle as well. I'm reminded of a recent discussion with a U.S. labor organizing friend who told me that the workers of one U.S. telecom being taken over by another were relatively unconcerned since the new company had a slightly better contract with their workers. These are types of contradictions that need to be discussed more broadly and on an international basis - for instance the proposed GTE takeover of Puerto Rico's telecom system should be the cause for international job actions in solidarity with the people of Puerto Rico, instead it goes unnoticed. >Lyn has suggested that we open dialogue with the corporations who already sit >around decision-making tables, formally and informally -- at the ITU, or at >the World Trade Organization which is crowding the ITU's political turf. I agree that these are significant sites of resistance (Dee Dee Halleck has always stressed the ITU as an important place to organize) but until there is a broad based, international constituency that is informed and ready to act on these issues, I'm uncertain if there would be anything to sit down at the table and bargain with successfully. Here in the U.S., the wholesale corporate buyout of legislation is only deterred when the public interest lobbies have large well organized constituencies (i.e. voters) to bargain with. I think one of the primary goals of the World Congress should be in building this critical mass prior to the 2000 gathering so there will be something more than a platform and ethics to bring to these respective tables. sincerely, Michael Eisenmenger -------------------------------------------------------------- Paper Tiger Television 339 Lafayette Street fax: (212) 420-8223 New York, NY 10012 email: [email protected] phone: (212) 420-9045 web: http://www.papertiger.org -------------------------------------------------------------- Paper Tiger TV is a non-profit volunteer collective that has been pioneering media criticism through video since 1981. The diverse series of over 260 programs addresses issues of demo- cratic communications, media representation and the economics of the information industry. The tapes are broadcast in NYC and across the U.S. The tapes are also distributed by PTTV to universities, libraries, and media art centers worldwide. -------------------------------------------------------------- ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ AMARC 7 Foro Virtual Forum Virtuel http://www.amarc.org/amarc7 to unsubscribe / pour se desabonner / para abandonar : e-mail "unsubscribe amarc-1 " to: [email protected]