By James Cross, 21stCenturySocialism

http://21stcenturysocialism.com/article/rsf_cyberdemo_falls_flat_01623.html

The virtual possibilities opened up by the internet appear to be
endless. One can create for oneself a new name, a younger age, a more
exciting personal appearance, and make friends with other such
'avatars' who live in parallel worlds. The more ambitious can
construct great empires out of code and pixel, and make war with the
empires of their rival gamers. Now we have a new development; affluent
Westerners can travel by broadband to electronic versions of the
capital cities of poorer countries, in order to wave virtual placards
demanding that the governments of these Third World nations change
their policies.

The NGO Reporters Sans Frontiers / Reporters Without Borders (RSF), a
pioneer of the 'cyberdemo', is already familiar with worlds in which
all is not quite as it seems. While the organisation conducts its
campaigns for journalistic freedom almost exclusively against
governments in the South and the East of our planet, the funding for
these campaigns comes exclusively from Western sources.

Although the presentation of the official accounts of RSF seeks to
spin the information in a deliberately misleading way, a brief perusal
shows that the group's resources are provided by big business in
France and the UK (plus a donation from the billionaire George Soros),
and also - oddly for an organisation which is described as
'non-governmental' - by the governments of France and the USA. The
presentation on RSF's website brazenly refers to one of its funders,
the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), as a "private foundation",
despite the fact that the NED is a fully-funded arm of the United
States government. NSF claims that it is mainly "self funded", to the
amount of €2,154,299, through the sales of publications; but given
that the costs of producing and distributing these materials are fully
met by (mainly French) corporations, this 'self funding' amounts in
reality to the provision of funds to NSF by big business. And the
British advertising firm Saatchi & Saatchi designs and conducts all of
NSF's media campaigns- for free, of course.

Another donor which the NSF website lists as a "private foundation" is
the Center for a Free Cuba, a Miami-based organisation which is funded
by the US government. The Center for a Free Cuba is headed by veteran
CIA operative Frank Calzon.

Having such a financial provenance, it is unsurprising that Reporters
Sans Frontiers makes no mention in its campaigns of the restrictions
on journalistic freedom which are imposed by the fact that the bulk of
the mass media, based in the rich Western countries though operating
beyond those frontiers into the poorer countries, is owned and
controlled by the big capitalist corporations.

Sans frontiers, no doubt at all. But without doubt also, ces reporters
sont sans intégrité.

As a Western organisation promoting an agenda aligned to that of
Western governments and business interests, the credibility of RSF in
the Third World has up to now been limited. But that seemed set to
change on 12th March 2008, when RSF opened its Online Free Expression
Day, branded with the logo of UNESCO, the highly respected
educational, scientific and cultural department of the United Nations,
and giving the appearance of having the full support of that body.

The targets of Online Free Expression Day were fifteen member states
of the UN: Belarus, Burma, China, Cuba, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, North
Korea, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Tunisia, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Vietnam
and Zimbabwe, which were declared to be "Internet Enemies" for their
restrictions of online expression. Online participants in Free
Expression Day were invited to allow a a virtual representation of
themselves to be whooshed though CGI-created clouds (designed, perhaps
by Saatchi & Saatchi), to virtual public squares in the capitals of
nine of these enemy states: Burma, China, Cuba, Egypt, Eritrea, North
Korea, Tunisia, Turkmenistan and Vietnam. Having sent their 'avatar'
almost instantaneously by the magic carpet of broadband to one or more
of these sites of pixillated protest, which were found to be populated
by faceless figures wearing white hoods, participants were then asked
to select a virtual placard, with a list of five possible slogans
opposing the alleged restrictions on free expression by the relevant
government.

UNESCO responded immediately, repudiating RSF with the following
announcement, which was placed on the front page of the UNESCO website:

UNESCO has withdrawn its patronage of the Online Free Expression
Day, organized by the non-governmental organization, Reporters Without
Borders.

UNESCO reiterates its support for freedom of expression on the
internet but felt compelled to withdraw patronage following the
publication of information by RSF which did not follow the
arrangements agreed upon between the two organizations concerning the
event.

Following a request from RSF, made through the French National
Commission for UNESCO, the Director-General of UNESCO Koïchiro
Matsuura, in a letter dated 22 February 2008, granted UNESCO patronage
to the international day. This letter clearly indicated, however, that
the Organization could not "be associated with the activities
envisaged for this occasion" by RSF.

In its communications on the day, RSF published material
concerning a number of UNESCO's Member States, which UNESCO had not
been informed of and could not endorse. Furthermore, UNESCO's logo was
placed in such a way as to indicate the Organization's support of the
information presented.

UNESCO has a clear mandate to defend the free flow of information
and freedom of expression. It does so using the channels and fora of a
UN intergovernmental organization, respecting the sovereignty of its
193 Member States. For example, UNESCO spearheaded debate in favour of
freedom of expression on the internet throughout the UN-organized
World Summit of the Information Society and continues to do so in the
Internet Governance Forum, an ongoing UN dialogue on the future of the
internet.

It appears that misrepresentation is something of a hallmark of RSF.
Its attempt at subterfuge exposed, RSF issued a rather intemperate
statement, in which it grandiosely referred to itself, in the
grammatical third person, as "the press freedom organisation". It
accused UNESCO of "grovelling" and its direcor of "caving in" to
authoritarianism, and - rather unusually for a non-governmental
organisation- insisted that the French Foreign Ministry should call
UNESCO to order:

We were notified of the decision by the director of its Freedom of
Expression, Democracy and Peace Division. Defending the move, UNESCO
said it gave its patronage for the "principle of this day" but could
not support the various demonstrations organised to mark it.

"We are not fooled," Reporters Without Borders said. "Several
governments on today's updated list of 15 'Internet Enemies' put
direct pressure on the office of the UNESCO director general, and
deputy director general Marcio Barbosa caved in. UNESCO's reputation
has not been enhanced by this episode. It has behaved with great
cowardice at a time when the governments that got it to stage a U-turn
continue to imprison dozens of Internet users."

The press freedom organisation added: "Unfortunately, it seems we
have gone back 20 years, to the time when authoritarian regimes called
the shots at UNESCO headquarters in Paris. UNESCO's grovelling shows
the importance of Online Free Expression Day and the need to protest
against governments that censor."

Reporters Without Borders immediately informed the French foreign
ministry of UNESCO's decision as it was at the suggestion of the
French National Commission to UNESCO that this UN body granted its
patronage for this event. The commission is an offshoot of the foreign
ministry. Reporters Without Borders is of the view that the French
government cannot remain silent in the face of the rebuff it has
received as a result of pressure from authoritarian governments.

The statement also included a plea for more 'avatars' to turn up for
the demonstration:

Reporters Without Borders has issued an updated list of "Internet
Enemies" as part of its actions to mark this day. There are 15
countries on the list - Belarus, Burma, China, Cuba, Egypt, Ethiopia,
Iran, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Tunisia, Turkmenistan,
Uzbekistan, Vietnam and Zimbabwe.

Cyber-demos are being organised in online versions of nine
especially repressive countries. Internet users can create an avatar,
choose a message for their banner and take part in one of these
virtual protests.

This last request was quite in order, as very few virtual protestors
were arriving at the electronically represented city squares of the
'enemy' states. Pecularly, for a demonstration which on the RSF
website is described as a "24-hour online protest" for the 12th to
13th March- several days later, the facility is still open and one can
send ones avatar to any or all of these foreign places to make a
virtual statement.

Of course, one cannot make just any statement. The RSF facility does
not permit you to write your own slogan. You must pick one of five
pre-prepared anti-government slogans chosen by the RSF organisers-
'online freedom of expression' does not extend quite that far.

Nevertheless, I took part. Never having had the time or the money to
visit Beijing or Hanoi, I took the opportunity to arrive at 'Tianemen
Square' and then only a minute later, at the 'Place du Parti Unique'.
The virtual entity 'Jimmy Cross', from London UK, has been added,
twice, to the numbers which RSF is claiming as participants in its
protest. Having broadband access- something which only a tiny minority
of Third World citizens are able to afford- it was free for me to
travel, and no knowledge of the political situations in China or
Vietnam, or understanding of their international economic context, was
required of me.

As I write, my avatar is still there, waving its placard in two
far-flung places at once. Yet so far, RSF has managed to send only
1,962 virtual demonstrators to 'Vietnam', and, despite all the
anti-Olympic publicity, only 8,438 avatars have turned up in 'China'.

Why so few? It is not as if Reporters Sans Frontiers lacks a publicity
machine. Perhaps, for all the ease and anonymity which the internet
offers to the relatively affluent, there is yet a sense that is not
such a good idea for Westerners to arrive in a poorer country with the
intention of changing the political system. George Bush and Tony Blair
have tried it for real; maybe, that was something of a lesson.