Videazimut: Virtual Conference

This message is the first of two announcements that will be sent over the
next two weeks. Apologies for cross-posting -- but, please, do circulate.

[Cette annonce est =E9galement disponible en fran=E7ais.]
[Este mensaje existe tambien en espa=F1ol.]

Virtual Conference:
The Right to Communicate and the Communication of Rights
11 May - 26 June 1998

Videazimut is an international NGO that brings together independent video
and television organizations and practitioners from Africa, Asia, Europe,
Latin America and North America around an agenda for the democratization of
communication -- an essential component of sustainable development and
democratic society. 1998 marks the 50th anniversary of the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights. In its declaration of principles, Videazimut
aligns itself with a growing consensus on the right to communicate as a
fundamental human right.

We are therefore holding a Virtual Conference from May 11 to June 26, 1998,
aimed at generating and disseminating fresh thinking on communication and
human rights. Held in conjunction with the International Development
Research Centre (Canada) and the Canadian International Development Agency
and with the assistance of meep! media, this Virtual Conference is our
contribution to the community of events marking the UDHR=92s 50th
anniversary. You are invited to take part in the Virtual Conference.

Participants are asked to join one of five working groups over a 5-week
period. In each working group, 1-3 short papers will be circulated each
Tuesday morning, forming the basis for the following week=92s discussion.
Discussion will take place over e-mail -- filtered through moderators to
avoid information overload -- supplemented by a WWW resource with
conference papers and archives of the discussion.

Participants will receive *no more than* two e-mail digests daily. A
weekly summary will be posted each Monday afternoon, for those who have not
been able to keep up, before passing to the next topic.

The working groups:
(1) legal perspectives
(2) institutional perspectives
(3) gender perspectives
(4) cultures of globalization: perspectives
(5) civic education and public memory: perspectives.

A plenary session will happen during the final week.

Further details, including speakers, will be found at our web site:
<http://www.PanAsia.org.sg/conf/videaz>. You can also e-mail Bram Dov
Abramson, who is acting as coordinator, at <bram@xxxxxx>.

Our web site will be open as of FRIDAY, 17 APRIL. A second announcement
will be sent at that time.

The Virtual Conference=92s official languages are English, Spanish, French.
All participants may submit their comments in any of these languages, with
the help of a volunteer translation team.



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