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June 21, 2006 • 1:42 am 0

2006 African Conference on Formal Consensus and Nonviolent Social Change

While the title seems to indicate a very wide social agenda, I received an invite by a social activist I met at the “NYC Grassroots Media Conference”:2 to lead a session teaching people in Africa how to set up Free Hotspots like NYCwireless.

I won’t be able to make it to the conference, but we’re trying to put together a few people from NYCwireless to go over there. If you know of any sources of funding for this trip, please let me know. Also, if you have an interest in any of the conference’s agenda, you should definitely apply using the information below!

bq. *The 2006 African Conference on Formal Consensus and Nonviolent Social Change*
*Lagos, Nigeria September 24 – October 1, 2006*

bq. Some Volunteers with Food Not Bombs and Indymedia will host the 2006 African Conference on Formal Consensus and Nonviolent Social Change.

bq. Community activists from all across Africa are invited to Lagos, Nigeria to study the democratic decision making process of Formal Consensus and share strategies and techniques for nonviolent solutions to Africa’s social problems. Africa is on the verge of an exciting new era of social transformation. Nonviolent horizontal structures of grassroots community development have caught the attention of Africans of every social class. The conference will have workshops on many subjects like Formal Consensus, women’s empowerment, vegetarian cooking, FM radio broadcasting and web-based community organizing. The week long conference has the support of many African organizations and prominent people including the National Association of Nigerian Students, The Nigerian Network of NGOs, the Association For Women’s Rights in Development, Alesa Eleme’s Elder Igwe Ejireyi, the musician Charly Boy, Nigerian Senator Adeseye Ogunlewe and The Special Assistant to the President On Food Security Mrs. M. Oluwatoyin Adtunji. Food Not Bombs co-founders C.T. Lawrence Butler and Keith McHenry will be among the facilitators at the conference. Mr. Butler will teach a comprehensive workshop on Formal Consensus based on his book “On Conflict and Consensus.” Food Not Bombs chapters from Ibadan, Owerri, Jos, Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt, and Calabar are eager to help coordinate the logistics for food, housing and West African outreach.

bq. On Nigerian Independence Day there will be a large concert celebrating the power of Africans to build a better future. West African musician Charly Boy and many other local artists will perform live at one of the large stadiums in Lagos to close the conference. After that Keith McHenry will join local activist on a tour of West Africa visiting local Food Not Bombs chapters and assisting those starting Indymedia collectives.

bq. This conference was proposed in March 2006 by Food Not Bombs organizers in Nigeria and some Indymedia activists from Africa and the US. West Africans are on the threshold of an exciting new era and your support of this ground breaking event can make a difference. The 2006 African Conference on Formal Consensus and Nonviolent Social Change will set a solid foundation for this bright future for Africa

bq. Join the discussions subscribe at:
“http://lists.riseup.net/www/subrequest/africanconsensus”:1

bq. *Application for Conference:*

# Name of group/organization:
# Name of three delegates for Conference:
# Does your delegates need invitations to secure Nigerian visas:
# Country from which the delegates will be traveling:
# Can your group support the conference preparation with contributions to cover travel cost for delegates whose organization cannot afford their travel cost? Yes or No
# Does your delegates need support with travel cost? Yes or No.

bq. Send application to “africanconsensus@lists.riseup.net”:mailto:africanconsensus@lists.riseup.net

[1]http://lists.riseup.net/www/subrequest/africanconsensus
[2]http://www.nycgrassrootsmedia.org

Filed under: Event, International, NYCwireless

April 25, 2006 • 8:52 am 1

Community Wireless in Cali, Columbia (South America)

I received an email from Octavio Herrara, who is attempting to gather resources and build a community based wi-fi network in Cali, Columbia. His effort is impressive, and the grassroots network he’s trying to build to serve low- and middle-income families in his town is important.

bq. My name is Octavio Herrera and I am part of a initiative in Cali, Colombia (South America) to build an open wireless network and due to the fact that you develop model to build wireless networks in low income housing we are interested in some advide or information you can provide about this concern, we have reviewed to concept about organizing in a cooperative like an “example in the netherlands”:1 and we found that in our community mainly composed by low to mid income houses we can build a public access wireless network based on this principle.

bq. well, this initiative is just begining, supported mainly by the desire to have wireless internet access for the community of cali, colombia, due to the lack of broadband internet connections here, so a small group of people (mainly young academics) are interested in building a wireless network, not just to provide broadband internet access, but just to share resources, anyway we are organizing a cooperative and creating a strategic plan to get resources to build the network but we need all the help and advice we can get from people around the globe who already have been in this same situation or at least have experience building this kind of network.

bq. Thanks again and any help you can provide will be gratefuly received.

If you are interested in helping him out, drop me a line and I’ll put you in touch with him.

[1]http://www.smartcommunity.nl/news/broadband_news/consumer_owned_cooperative_model_proves_to_be_a_success_in_nuenen_the_netherlands

Filed under: Community Wireless, International

March 8, 2006 • 12:37 pm 0

Toronto, Canada to deploy large municipal wireless network

Toronto Hydro Telecom “has announced”:1 that they will be installing a municipal wireless network throughout Toronto. This will make Toronto the largest municipal wireless effort in Canada, and is similar to similar efforts in Philadelphia and San Francisco. One of the interesting aspects of the project is how Toronto Hydro Telecom became a proponent of muni-wireless:

bq. In Ontario, where smart meters have been mandated, electrical utilities are looking at various telecommunications technologies for retrieving data from people’s homes and businesses for time-of-day billing purposes.

bq. Sources say Toronto Hydro has decided to support its smart meter plan using Wi-Fi technology, which can be accessed by any properly equipped laptop or handheld computing device.

bq. Brian Sharwood, a telecom analyst with the Seaboard Group in Toronto, said it makes sense for a utility to recoup the cost of supporting smart meters by also selling wireless broadband services. “In a way that’s the excuse to do all of this,” he said. “You’re going to run it past a lot of people anyway.”

bq. …

bq. But municipalities argue that competition is healthy and that blanketing communities with low-cost broadband access helps bridge the digital divide.

[1]http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1141643034143&call_pageid=968332188492&col=968793972154&t=TS_Home

Filed under: International, Muniwireless, News, Policy

March 6, 2006 • 12:18 am 0

Dutch telecoms regulator to force cable companies to open their networks

Esme Vos “reports on MuniWireless”:1 about the telecom policies being enacted in the Netherlands. The policies, which will force cable companies to open their networks to competitors. This policy brings their cable regulation in line with their telco regulation that requires the phone companies to provide open access to their competitors:

bq. OPTA, the Netherlands telecoms regulator, is planning to force cable companies in the Netherlands to open up their networks to competitors. This comes as no surprise to people following European telecoms regulatory affairs. The EU member states have forced the incumbent telcos to open up their networks to competitors, so it just makes sense for them to force the cable companies to do the same.

What strikes me is how this is *the exact opposite* of how the FCC decided this issue last year. It also strikes me that the Netherlands policy is far more forward thinking and promotes healthy competition, unlike the monopoly policy of the FCC.

[1]http://www.muniwireless.com/municipal/watch/1078/

Filed under: International, Network Neutrality, News, Policy

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