1984 Network Liberty Alliance
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1984 Network Liberty Alliance is a loose group of software programmers, artists, social activists and militants, interested in computers and networks and considering them tools to empower and link the various actors of the social movement around the world. They are part of the hacktivism movement.
History
The group was formed in November 1984, during a "debriefing" workshop of the
In reference to
Other members, like Australian co-founder of Indymedia Matthew Arnison, south-African anti-apartheid militant Peter Makema and Israeli peace activists Uri Avnery and Michel Warchawsky, joined later on. All were active in various social movements and peace initiatives in Europe and the USA.
When
In France, the Alliance used the network of the Maisons de l'Informatique that had been set up under the presidency of François Mitterrand as well as the computer labs of Paris University, who access to academic networks and Billboard Systems. The group ran a number of BBS, among them 'Pom-Pom', devoted to the Apple Macintosh and 'PeaceNet', an "electronic pow-wow" to help social activists and community organizers exchange information around the world, offering free mail accounts and file hosting services.
Very soon the issues of free speech, software patents, civil rights and surveillance became some of the major topics addressed by the Alliance, the group being accused of
The Liberty Alliance was particularly active in the popular worldwide resistance to Multilateral Agreement on Investments (MAI) in the mid-1990s, networking multiple groups and providing "open cyberspaces" for activists to share information and experience.
In the summer of 1998 the first alternative media centre was set up in a bus in
Members of the team travelled to the
Language diversity and the lack of interpreters led a number of activists to start thinking about a way to help militants from around the world to bridge the language barrier. Three years later, during the 27th G8 summit in Genoa, Italy, this would lead to the creation of the Babels network of volunteer interpreters and translators for linguistic diversity and social change.
Members of the Network Liberty Alliance have worked on social IT projects in North America (
).When the Berlin Wall fell in 1989, another member of the Alliance, Stefan Ostrowsky, transferred "NET(te) Bude" (a play on the word NET like network, and 'Nette Bude', nice crashpad in German), a community IT training centre to East-Berlin, thus becoming the first 'Cybercafe' behind the iron curtain.
See also
References
This article includes a improve this article by introducing more precise citations. (August 2009) ) |
- BASTIAN, Gerd (May 1985). "Hacktivists in the Peace Movement, a new alliance". Peace Now - Journal of the CND-UK. 1 (148). Birmingham UK: CND: 94.
- Anonymous, J18 1999 Our resistance is as transnational as capital, Days of Dissent, 2004.
- Anonymous, Friday June 18th 1999, Confronting Capital And Smashing The State! Archived 2016-12-21 at the Wayback Machine, article in Do or Die 8.
- Wat Tyler(2003), Dancing at the Edge of Chaos: a Spanner in the Works of Global Capitalism, in, Notes From Nowhere (Eds.) We Are Everywhere: the Irresistible Rise of Global Anticapitalism188-195. Verso, London/New York 2003 ISBN 1-85984-447-2
- Complete list of actions worldwide Archived 2008-02-14 at the Wayback Machine
- J18 Timeline London