No. 186 Let's Balkanize!

IGF 2014 sub theme that this workshop fall under

IGF & The Future of the Internet Ecosystem

Description

Welcome to the Balkans! After the Snowden revelations, as countries like Germany and Brazil made proposals "threatening to divide the internet along national borders", Balkanization got currency again, but this time on the Interwebs. This is a rekindling of an older debate to internationalize the Internet by replacing the USA's current role with an international governance framework. These proposals have often been seen as likely to embolden the "non-free" agendas of "repressive regimes". While we oppose the idea of a "splintered Internet", we would like to take an authentically Balkan pause and rethink the elements of this discussion.
Scholars critical of the term have defined "balkanization" as a process by which "ancient, ethnic hatreds" lead to a process of chauvinistic fragmentation" usually juxtaposed to enlightened, Anglo-European federalization and unification. In the case of ex-Yugoslavia, Grubacic argues this "balkanization from above" is a way to ignore the complex interplay between European, Ottoman and local practices.
In our post-Snowden, post-Erdogan and post-Cameron Balkanizing world, it is time to have a critical debate about the "principles of freedom" that should be the foundations of an international internet. How can a critical review of "Balkanization" as a concept used to describe the Balkan wars inform our future debates on the interwebs? What can we learn about "repressive regimes", their methods, and intentions by studying the recent legal and network interferences in Turkey and juxtaposing these with developments in the UK?
Join the mad hacknics and the ancient cyborgs for a discussion and party @altbil!

Name(s) and stakeholder and organizational affiliation(s) of institutional co-organizer(s)

Ahmet Alphan Sabanci, civil society, Alternative Informatics Association

Has the proposer, or any of the co-organizers, organized an IGF workshop before?

no

Type of session

Panel

Duration of proposed session

90 minutes

Subject matter #tags that describe the workshop

#balkanization #surveillance #governance #decentralization

Names and affiliations (stakeholder group, organization) of speakers the proposer is planning to invite

Ahmet Alphan Sabanci, civil society, Alternative Informatics Association, confirmed
Erden Kosova, civil society, no affiliation, contacted waiting for confirmation
Seda Gurses, technical community, NYU, confirmed
Javier Ruiz Diaz, civil society, Open Rights Group, confirmed
Isik Mater, civil society, Alternative Informatics Association, contacted waiting for confirmation
Asli Telli, civil society, Alternative Informatics Association, contacted waiting for confirmation
Orkut Murat Yilmaz and Baris Buyukakyol, civil society, Alternative Informatics Association and Istanbul Hackerspace, contacted waiting for confirmation
Depending on the confirmations, the number of speakers will be limited to 6 people!

Name of Moderator(s)

No information provided

Name of Remote Moderator(s)

No information provided

Description of how the proposer plan to facilitate discussion amongst speakers, audience members and remote participants

60 minutes for speakers (approximately 10 minutes for each)
30 minutes for audience interaction

Description of the proposer's plans for remote participation

Seda Gurses will be involved as remote panelist.

We're also planning about setting a remote hub for remote viewers to be followed with a party. Details TBA.

Background paper

No background paper provided

Brief substantive summary of the workshop and presentation of the main issues that were raised during the discussions

No information provided

Conclusions drawn from the workshop and possible follow up actions

No information provided

Estimation of the overall number of participants present at the workshop

0

Estimation of the overall number of women present at the workshop

No information provided

Extent to that the workshop discuss gender equality and/or women’s empowerment

No information provided

A brief summary of the discussions in case that the workshop addressed issues related to gender equality and/or women’s empowerment

No information provided

Reported by

No information provided

Workshop transcript

No transcript provided

Youtube video

No video provided

Attachments

No attachments provided