please forward!

Communications Rights Delegation to the World Social Forum in Caracas,
Venezuela
Call for Participants!

A group of activists and policy advocates who work to change the media
are forming a delegation to the World Social Forum in  Caracas,
Venezuela from  January 22nd to 29th. The goals of the trip will be to
facilitate cultural exchange between the movements for communication
rights and media reform  in the North and South. We hope to learn about
how movements for media reform are more deeply  embedded in and
interconnected to movements for social change in the Latin American
context. It is a very opportune location, because Venezuela has a
thriving new community media sector which includes radio and TV as the
result of the corporate medias complicit role in the attempted coup
against President Chavez. Also important is recent Venezuelan
leadership in intellectual property issues.

We will bring a broad, representative spectrum of members of the
communications rights movement, from inside-the-beltway organizations
reform groups  to grassroots media justice activists. There will be
preliminary and ending sessions so that the group can draw conclusions
together about the lessons US advocates can learn from the Venezuelan
experience and the World Social forum, and facilitating reporting back
to the wider media and social change community. A reading packet will
be prepared about world social forum and Venezuelan communications
issues.  Visits will also be scheduled to community radio and tv
stations, government ministries, grassroots groups and other places of
interest.

All delegates must be representatives of groups that have a role in
media and social change issues. As part of the delegation, you'd be
responsible to contribute to discussions of the opportunities for
international collaboration and the lessons of the liberation movements
of the south that may be brought home to the communications change
issues in the US.  We will also want to know  what community you are
accountable to in the US, how you plan to share your experiences with
that group and others, and how you hope to draw these international
connections into your work.

The delegation will be roughly ten to fifteen people. Funds are
available for scholarships. Deadline for application for scholarships
is December 31st, 8 pm eastern time. Deadline for joining the
delegation is January 2nd, 8 pm eastern time. The application is the
same, but scholarship slots are limited and will be decided by a
committee by January 1st.

The cost for participation is not exact yet but will be roughly $2000,
airfare and hotels and admission to the WSF included. Scholarships will
be sliding scale, with smaller organizations getting more of their
costs covered.  The delegation is being organized by Third World
Majority and Prometheus Radio Project, with major support from
Consumers Union, The Social Sciences Research Council,  and others
still joining.

One of the slots will involve a partnership with the Social Science
Research Council's "Necessary Knowledge for a Democratic Public Sphere"
Program.  The "Necessary Knowledge" program is seeking a delegate with
interest and/or experience in research for media/communications
advocacy, particularly in participatory methods that engage activist
groups and communities in research projects.  In this role, the
attendee will be asked to help the identify research needs and
opportunities in and around the media research community present at WSF
(both within the US delegation and internationally), as well as to
explore models of participatory research that others are using to build
movements for social change -- and then to write up the findings in an
informal written report. (SSRC will provide a list of the questions we
hope to explore).  In this context, an additional $250 honorarium will
be provided.  Please indicate if you would like to be considered for
this role.


Send completed applications or questions to [log in to unmask]
call 215-727-9620.  Petri will be available throughout the holidays, so
do not feel shy about calling during that time.
if you did not receive a copy of the attached application, you can find
it at www.prometheusradio.org/wsf.doc



--
Kate Coyer
Department of Media and Communications
Goldsmiths College
University of London

www.radiostudiesnetwork.org.uk