Rencontre internationale @Bastamag “Villes sans peur” - Barcelone - 9-11 juin 2017
On June 9-11, Barcelona will host an international Conference of “Fearless Cities” [▻http://fearlesscities.com - ▻https://www.facebook.com/events/293750187746228/], with participants from all over Europe and beyond. The objective of this event is to “to demonstrate the potential of towns and cities to resist hate and to spur democratic transformation across the world” and, “in the face of hate, walls and borders, build global networks of solidarity and hope among city halls and citizens.”
Independent media have a key role to play in this, alongside local authorities, citizen groups and social movements.
Our Fearless Cities movements are diverse in their outlook and seek to build a different new world, through concrete and positive solutions and alternatives, where spending cuts on the most vulnerable are rejected, where climate change is taken seriously, where authoritarianism and racism are rejected. Much in the same way, we need independent and fearless media outlets as a counterpoint to the toxic and divisive narratives both of far-right media outlets and of corporate media. We need to tell the stories they don’t tell, uphold the values they don’t defend, disseminate the concrete solutions and alternatives they choose to ignore or undermine.
And just as fearless cities and municipalist movements are seeking to become more visible and reinforce each other through an international network or coalition at this Conference, independent media, which are often small and with few resources, have a lot to gain from exchanging between themselves and developing common projects. And we need to do this not only in Spain or Europe but all over the world, because the challenges, threats and opportunities are global.
We - OpenDemocracy (UK/International), Altermédias/Basta! (France), and the “Right to Information” group of Barcelona en Comú - are inviting independent media from Europe and all over the world, as well as the journalists coming to Barcelona to cover the Fearless Cities Conference, to a
“Fearless Media” Side-Event
Saturday 10th of June between 4.30 and 7 pm (to be confirmed)
At UB University building, Universitat Square
