FCForum 2011, 27 – 30 October

The 2011 FCFORUM: Networks for a R-evolution
What the Internet has done for us, and what we can now do for it

Imagen del FCForum 2010

2011 is the year of the emergence of a new consciousness of the global network. The strategic use of digital networks on a mass scale has led to a qualitative leap in citizen empowerment, and has brought about a viral uprising of civil society in many parts of the world. The struggles in defense of the Internet have been a key breeding ground for these uprisings.

The defense of a neutral Internet as our common heritage in the face of attempts to introduce restrictive regulation, the implementation of ethical alternatives for interrelating based on the core foundation of a knowledgeable, global, connected civil society: this is the power of the collective intelligence of this R-evolution.
There is no doubt that the Network of Networks is changing the history of humanity. It does more than just enable rhizomic forms of counterinformation and self-organisation, and more than just leave economic and political powers bewildered by the end of the univocity of their messages – their monologues – in the face of the real-time dissolution of the impunity of their decisions aimed at perpetrating power and their own interests. Instead, the people – through the Net and like the Net – are putting an end to the fragmentation of ideas of change and the endogamy of groups, setting up a new ethical based on cooperation, system that recognises the merits and skills of each person and allows for his or her maturity and autonomy, and normalising forms of political and economic organisation that do not require intermediaries and that are based on decentralised power, the empowerment of the end user and the shared distribution of resources.
In 2010 the FCForum already reflected on how the particular intensity of the struggle of the public sphere in Spain in favour of the defense of the Internet and against the intellectual property legislation dubbed the “Sinde” Law was not just anecdotal, but a process of building something new.

We said that “In Spain (where sharing is legal) and people fight on a mass scale to ensure that it remains so; where a small business can sue multinational entertainment corporations and win; where the outdated practices of royalties management societies and cultural industry lobbies have created a lucid awareness of the flaws in the law, and produced a civil society that is very knowledgeable and active on subjects that are apparently technical and apparently not a question of life-and-death; where each day, over 150,000 people signed the Manifesto in Defense of Fundamental Rights on the Internet and supported actions against the new “Sinde” copyright legislation, such as founding Red Sostenible and “Sinde’s List” etc.; where 200,000 people interacted with D’evolution Summit during the meeting of EU Ministers of Culture; and where an action led to the resignation of a minister in 2009 with the Molina Pírate campaign… in short, we were suggesting that Spain should not be seen as an exceptional case that is on the brink of extinction, but as a lever. A springboard.”
Along with the economic crisis we are currently in the midst of, Net cultures and their potential have been the fuse that sparked the #globalrevolution and made it catch fire with so much force in the #15m movement all over Spain.

For this reason, the 2011 FCForum will use the Spanish State as a point of departure for an analysis of the global situation.

The Internet is the condition of possibility of the R-evolution.

Working method

The FCForum is open to anybody who is interested in participating. It is free, and registration is not required. Everybody can participate, taking into account the different levels of knowledge and skills.

The FCForum working method consists of discussing different hypotheses so that we can all end up working together on a unifying strategy. There are no long speeches, only presentations of the different hypotheses as a point of departure for the discussions.

Discussions will focus on the sticking points between the different proposed models, in an attempt to identify possible mechanisms that can bring them together and make them compatible. We believe it is possible to create an inclusive mechanism within the autonomy of each agent, which can boost all the alternatives by means of strengthening each one, through the others.

The results will be defined online in the weeks following the FCForum, in the form of “recommendations” that can be used to:

  • Provide arguments for political “reformers”: they are a tool with which to lobby political parties, institutions and government agencies, with the aim of influencing the legislative changes that are currently being considered and introduced.
  • Provide tools for citizens as active agents facing a change of paradigm, so that they can take advantage of its potential to the full.
  • Create a network of affinity and global collaboration based on a common interest in the defense of the Internet and free/libre culture.

Working areas

  • Challenges and tools for the defense of the Internet and of sharing at the global level. International coordination of struggles in defense of the Internet and of sharing: we will introduce the challenges we are facing, with our sights set on the G20 summit on the Internet that will be held the following week in southern France.
  • Tools for communication, self-organisation and defense in the context of the #globalrevolution. What forms and tools of networked organisation and communication have made the emergence of #15M possible? How can these practices be improved? How have individual and collective forms of action changed in this context? How does Netiquette and the hacker culture enable and structure the behaviour of people in the group, providing an at least partial solution to one of the problems that we have always encountered in the social movements: the psychological aspect, the fulfilment of each individual in the struggle?
  • Sustainable models for creativity in the digital age: case studies, practical examples and analysis following the How-To guide for sustainable creativity drafted at the FCForum 2010. The creative sector has proved to be particularly reluctant to adapt to the new digital context. Since 2009, the FCForum has been working towards proving that this fear of change is no longer an option. Our base is a practical approach for implementing new sustainable models for the creation of culture and knowledge in the digital age. For this reason we have invited entrepreneurs and agents who have rolled up their sleeves and started actively working to become part of this necessary change. Through specific case studies, we will explore the problems and solutions for a new cultural entrepreneurship, which respects the rights of authors, of entrepreneurs and of civil society at the same time.

sustainable-models-reconversion-music-culture

For further information, see the Program.