[CREATE] Free as in Speech, and Vietnam?

[helen varley jamieson]

i have participated in theatre festivals all over the world including 
countries with dodgy human rights records such as serbia & cuba. i don't 
believe that by visiting & participating in such events i am condoning, 
supporting or agreeing with the actions of the government of that 
country. rather, it's a unique & privileged way to learn about such 
countries, governments & peoples - not as a tourist, who generally only 
sees what the government wants you to see, but from a position of 
engagement with the local population.

it's my experience that festival & conference contact like this is 
really important for people inside such countries (for whom travel 
outside is often difficult or impossible), & really important for "us" 
to get a better understanding of situations & recognise the difference 
between government & people, & perhaps to support freedom struggles in 
significant ways that we'd never have known about without going there.

i've said "such countries" & "us" but it's not really what i want to say 
- it isn't a divided situation but a continuum. there isn't a government 
in the world that doesn't have some sort of blood on its hands (we have 
human rights abuses in new zealand too: http://october15thsolidarity.info/)

it's definitely important to be aware of human rights issues & not to 
avoid discussion of them, but i would only boycott a country if the 
people within that country were saying that is the best thing to do.

my 2 cents worth ...

h : )
> How is hosting the LGM in Vietnam forcing anyone attending the LGM to
> ignore the human rights violations of the Vietnamese government? Maybe
> you'll start reading about it and become more conscious of it. I have
> had many exchange contacts with artist activists from non-western
> countries. They always laugh with our 'superior' track record of human
> rights. For them Western democracies are not innocent at all. Maybe in
> their own country, but not in the world abroad.
>
> For me free software is not about judging governments in the first
> place, but above all about building communities. I think it would be
> rude to exclude the Vietnamese or Asian communities from hosting the
> LGM. As Dang Hong Phuc noticed the Asian community is not very present
> in the Free Software movement, although they like to take part. We are
> not going to change that from our comfortable broadband connections
> remotely. Refusing them to bridge this gap, is not very ethical
> either.
>
> I agree with Cyrille, that hosting the LGM in Vietnam rather promotes
> freedom, than supports human rights violations.
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helen varley jamieson: creative catalyst
helen at creative-catalyst.com
http://www.creative-catalyst.com
http://www.avatarbodycollision.org
http://www.upstage.org.nz
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