Back at my computer: I checked w/ Jon Phillips and folks at newpalmyra and freebassel.org & pointed them to the Meta talk page. It sounded from a quick chat as though they had something planned this week, but the real question is how could a campaign like this be best directed if it was carried out. I asked them to share their thoughts on what timing would be most effective.
Gerard and I also met today a representative from Amnesty Nederland (Amnesty was one of the previous recipients of the Erasmus Prize). They confirmed that they've had good results by inviting people to flood the phone lines of Embassies, and noted that for Syria many countries may not have a dedicated embassy; but supporters can still call or write an embassy in a neighboring country.
SJ
On Wed, Nov 25, 2015 at 8:58 PM, phoebe ayers phoebe.wiki@gmail.com wrote:
Has there been a discussion of timing for this? SJ (who is offline right now) just mentioned that the Free Bassel group may be planning a focused outreach push tomorrow through Friday. Let's coordinate with them if possible. On Nov 25, 2015 11:21 AM, "Gerard Meijssen" gerard.meijssen@gmail.com wrote:
Hoi, I have looked at the article. It does not have the necessary urgency. He
is
likely to have been sentenced to death and the article reads like a Wikipedia article. This is Meta, it is not Wikipedia and it needs
urgency.
We appeal to the world to get involved to let his death not happen. That
is
imho what the message needs to be. Thanks, GerardM
On 25 November 2015 at 02:57, Asaf Bartov abartov@wikimedia.org wrote:
FYI: User:Odder has now created [[m:Free Bassel https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Free_Bassel]], as a landing page to
link
from the banner.
If anyone would like to help with a design for the banner (I concede
not
everyone shares my taste for 10pt-black-on-white text), we would be
able
to
move ahead. There is, so far, nothing but support.
A.
On Tue, Nov 24, 2015 at 10:57 AM, Katherine Maher <
kmaher@wikimedia.org>
wrote:
Hi everyone,
Thank you for raising this issue here on this list. I wanted to share
some
more information about how we’ve been working to support Bassel to
this
point, in public and behind the scenes. Unfortunately, some efforts
are
sensitive, so can’t be shared in full on public mailing lists. But
we’re
committed to supporting next steps or decisions by the community, and keeping you updated going forward.
Working with some other colleagues at the Foundation, we have been
tracking
Bassel's case for some time now, in direct contact with the
organizers
of
the #FreeBassel campaign http://freebassel.org [1], and Bassel's
family.
The actions we have taken to date have been in coordination and
approval
with the #FreeBassel campaign, including:
- Coordination and communication with related organizations, such
as
the
Electronic Frontier Foundation and Amnesty International.
(ongoing)
- Regular contact and updates with senior human rights officials
at
the
U.S. State Department. (ongoing)
- Outreach to the press around Bassel’s arbitrary detention and
contributions to the free knowledge movement. Please see this
WIRED
story, “A Jailed Activist’s 3-D Models Could Save Syria’s History From ISIS <
http://www.wired.com/2015/10/jailed-activist-bassel-khartabil-3d-models-coul...
.”
[2] (Although we did reach out to WIRED, we cannot say for certain
if
that story was the direct result of our efforts or others within the #FreeBassel coordination community). (10/21)
- Raising Bassel’s case in public speaking opportunities,
including
Lila’s keynote to the Creative Commons Summit. (10/15)
- Blog post #FREEBASSEL: Free culture advocate who built 3D
renderings
of Palmyra missing in Syria https://blog.wikimedia.org/2015/10/08/bassel-missing-syria/
[3].
(10/08)
- Ongoing participation in #FreeBassel social media campaigns on
Facebook and Twitter.
Bassel is in a situation known as arbitrary detention <
http://en.alkarama.org/1763-syria-un-calls-for-the-release-of-freedom-of-spe...
[4]. Arbitrary detentions are characterized by uncertainty, lack of information, and volatility. They’re scary because we don’t know
what’s
happening, and often we are making decisions without a lot of
information.
Our goal is always to support Bassel to make sure our efforts help
him
without putting him at greater risk. So we’ve been working with
experienced
human rights campaigners, including the #FreeBassel campaign, to
understand
the best actions to take at different times over the past two months.
We’ve been in touch with Bassel’s family, who would support continued efforts to raise awareness about Bassel’s situation through a note on Wikipedia if that should happen. We can also join action letters
(like
this
<
http://www.amnesty.nl/nieuwsportaal/pers/syria-fears-life-free-expression-ad...
[5]) where the community agrees it's appropriate. If the community
decides
to move forward with an action, we are here to help. We are
monitoring
the
discussions and activity in https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Banner:Free_Bassel as a place where community consensus can form. Please let us know if there’s anything
else
we can do to support efforts to raise awareness for Bassel.
Katherine
[1] http://freebassel.org/ [2]
http://www.wired.com/2015/10/jailed-activist-bassel-khartabil-3d-models-coul...
[3] https://blog.wikimedia.org/2015/10/08/bassel-missing-syria/ [4]
http://en.alkarama.org/1763-syria-un-calls-for-the-release-of-freedom-of-spe...
[5]
http://www.amnesty.nl/nieuwsportaal/pers/syria-fears-life-free-expression-ad...
On Tue, Nov 24, 2015 at 7:38 AM, Daniel Mietchen < daniel.mietchen@googlemail.com> wrote:
Yes, a CentralNotice would seem appropriate here. Please help flesh it out at https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Banner:Free_Bassel .
Daniel
On Tue, Nov 24, 2015 at 3:38 PM, Gerard Meijssen gerard.meijssen@gmail.com wrote:
Hoi, I have started a text.. Thanks, GerardM
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Banner:Free_Bassel
On 24 November 2015 at 15:25, Pete Forsyth <
peteforsyth@gmail.com>
wrote:
> +1 > Gerard, or Andrea, or anybody who knows better than myself,
could
you
start
> a draft on Meta Wiki with a proposed text for a banner, and
where
it
should
> link/what it should advise readers to do? > Pete > On Nov 24, 2015 3:13 AM, "Tito Dutta" trulytito@gmail.com
wrote:
> > > Sad news. Agree with everyone here that we should do
something.
> > > > On 24 November 2015 at 16:38, Gerard Meijssen <
gerard.meijssen@gmail.com
> > > > wrote: > > > > > Hoi, > > > Tomorrow we have a platform as well at the Erasmus award
ceremony
in
> > > Amsterdam. It is Wikipedia, its community that is receiving
the
award..
> > > Thanks, > > > GerardM > > > > > > On 24 November 2015 at 12:03, Cristian Consonni < > kikkocristian@gmail.com > > > > > > wrote: > > > > > > > 2015-11-24 10:47 GMT+01:00 Andrea Zanni <
zanni.andrea84@gmail.com
: > > > > > Use the centralnotice. > > > > > > > > [...] > > > > > > > > > A Wikipedian, a member of our community sentenced to
death
for
> > > believing > > > > in > > > > > our Mission and Vision is something extraordinary. I
understand
the
> > > > caution > > > > > of setting a precedent, but I think it's worth it. > > > > > > > > > > Also, remember: we have few days before we'll ask money
again
to
> all > > > the > > > > > English-speaking countries. > > > > > How could we ask for money when we are not using the
power
that
was
> > > > > bestowed upon us by the very same spirit, love and
courage
that
is
> > > > > condemning Bassel to death? > > > > > > > > I strongly support this. > > > > > > > > As for the precedent, recall that the Wikimedia Foundation
supports
> > > > the users, we did this with User:Diu in Greece: > > > > > > > > > > > > > >
https://blog.wikimedia.org/2014/02/14/wikimedia-foundation-supports-wikipedi...
> > > > > > > > This is much more than a lawsuit. > > > > > > > > A message I do not want us to send is that if you enough
force
or
the
> > > > threat is big enough, then we, as a movement, will be
scared
away.
> > > > > > > > C > > > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > > > Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: > > > > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines > > > > Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org > > > > Unsubscribe: > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, > > > > <mailto:wikimedia-l-request@lists.wikimedia.org
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