Babouc is an adaptation for the iPad of the tale written by Voltaire called “Le monde comme il va”. It’s an adventure situated in the ancient Persepolis, seen through the eyes of our small hero, Babouc. Persepolis has made many sins, thus, God wants to eradicate it. Will be able Babouc to prevent [...]]]>

Babouc is an adaptation for the iPad of the tale written by Voltaire called “Le monde comme il va”. It’s an adventure situated in the ancient Persepolis, seen through the eyes of our small hero, Babouc. Persepolis has made many sins, thus, God wants to eradicate it. Will be able Babouc to prevent its destruction?

Babouc offers you a different perspective to Voltaire’s tale thanks to its cute illustrations and the chosen words for learning French. Test your French while sharing Babouc adventures in a far away land.

This application will have soon a word quiz to test further your abilities in French.

More information about Babouc here. You can download this iPad application from AppStore here.

Have you ever wondered about your rights as a photographer? Or if you can or can’t take pics in special locations when you are traveling around?? If so, you can have a pocket guide to help you. I recently participated in doing this iPhone Application, which is helpful in guiding you when taking [...]]]>

Have you ever wondered about your rights as a photographer? Or if you can or can’t take pics in special locations when you are traveling around?? If so, you can have a pocket guide to help you. I recently participated in doing this iPhone Application, which is helpful in guiding you when taking or wanting to publish your photographs.

Every country has different rules for photography. Not in every location photographs are allowed to be taken. Not in every occasion you can take photographs of people in the streets. What might be allowed in the US might not be allowed in France, for example. This application guides you in these countries:

• US
• Canada
• UK
• Australia
• France
• Spain
• Italy
• Japan

It also contains a phrasebook for photographers in Japanese, French, Spanish, Catalan and Italian. You don’t need to read aloud the sentences, just click on them. The iPhone speaks for you the sentences in the native language of choice.

You also have examples of Model Releases and Property/Location Releases that can be sent to your email account. This can be very useful because you can also show these contracts to someone you want to photograph in the spot. It also contains a resume about copyright and Creative Commons licenses, and how you can use them for your photographs.

Remember the main features:

1. Legal rules for USA, Australia, Canada, UK, Japan, Spain, Italy, France.
2. Your legal rights, valid for every of the supported countries.
3. General copyright laws, common to the supported countries.
4. Privacy laws, common to the supported countries.
5. Contracts in different languages, valid on the corresponding language spoken countries.
6. Common questions for photographers, that can be played in French, Japanese, Spanish, Catalan, Italian

You can download this application from iTunes here, and have more information from PietroZuco.com

I prepared two presentations about FreeLex. They are exactly the same thing, but, one is in English and the other one is in Spanish. These presentations are ready to [...]]]>

Presentation about FreeLex in English	Presentation about FreeLex in Spanish

I prepared two presentations about FreeLex. They are exactly the same thing, but, one is in English and the other one is in Spanish. These presentations are ready to be used. In fact, I am personally going to use them for teaching purposes. You can use them if you want, either for presenting the topic to an audience, your class, or for personal uses.

If you need more information, you can use the book as a teaching material.

I prepared two presentations about Creative Commons. They are exactly the same thing, but, one is in English and the other one is in Spanish. These presentations are ready [...]]]>

Presentation about CC in English	Presentation about CC in Spanish

I prepared two presentations about Creative Commons. They are exactly the same thing, but, one is in English and the other one is in Spanish. These presentations are ready to be used. In fact, I am personally going to use them for teaching purposes. You can use them if you want, either for presenting the topic to an audience, your class, or for personal uses.

If you need more information, you can use the book as a teaching material.

Some time ago I told you about the New Spanish Digital Inquisition, the so-called Sinde Law. By that time it seemed that the Spanish Sinde Law was creating a mercifulness law for “controlling” the Internet. However, it seems that, from July 6 2011, Italy is going to become the [...]]]>

Some time ago I told you about the New Spanish Digital Inquisition, the so-called Sinde Law. By that time it seemed that the Spanish Sinde Law was creating a mercifulness law for “controlling” the Internet. However, it seems that, from July 6 2011, Italy is going to become the first country to make rules on the copyright on internet. Let’s take a closer look to the case.

The AGCOM, that is, the Autorità per le Garanzie nelle Comunicazioni, the Authority for Communications Guarantees is a (semi) independent administrative organism created in 1997, under the law 31 July 1997, n. 249 (the so-called “Legge Maccanico“). Its head office is located in Napoli. According to this law, the AGCOM is the Authority in charge of guaranteeing broadcasting and publishing, as well as the guardian of the Law. AGCOM is in charge of the whole mass media sector. However, according to the Law 6 August 1990, no. 223 (the so-called “Legge Mammì“) there has to be an Authority in charge of the surveillance of this sector.

This is going to change again this 6 July, when steps are taken even further: becoming the ultimate experiment of censorship of the new Millenium. Similar to the Spanish Sinde Law, the new Italian Law will create a speedy procedure by which in just 5 days a website could be closed. Of course, there is no debate during the procedures, thus creating a real “digital Inquisition”. How does it work??

1. Where a possible copyright violation is detected anyone can ask to the provider the removal of those contents. It doesn’t matter if it’s involving a portal, memory banks, private sites, blogs…
2. If the petition seems a violation of copyright in the net, the contents have to be removed in 48 hours.
3. There will be 5 days to protest the decision of the Authority. If during this time, the Authority thinks that there is a violation of the copyright, the Contents will be removed.
4. If the violation is produced in a foreign country, then the site will be obscured so that there won’t be any access to it from Italy.

And, as what is happening with the Spanish Sinde Law, all this procedures will take place without any Court Decision. Like in the Spanish Sinde Law, an Administrative Authority is going to be in charge of Deciding on cases which usually need a Judge. Thus, creating a Digital Inquisition. It might sound “new” to Italian ears, however Spanish already know it from long time ago…

This creates problems.

• First. It’s putting a gag on the free speech in Internet.
• Second. The Authority is not a Court but an Administrative body, thus, putting another gag on the trias politica principle, that is the separation of powers first described by Montesquieu.
• Third. It can kill the creation of satirical works.
• Finally, it will be a means of censorship, thus, it will kill the free, independent and plural Internet, and turn it to a machine similar to the TV, the so-called silly box.

Italy is living a virtual War, in which Platforms like Facebook are being used in order to prevent this new Law to come into life. The event called La notte della Rete is just an attempt to try to prevent the new nightmare to become real.

Spain has already seen the Sinde Law enacted. It will start its life this September creating a Censorship mechanism through regulating copyright. Italy is just following the Spanish way of digital Inquisitio Haereticae Pravitatis.

To demonstrate that the Government is just short-sighted to technology, let’s think about the following cases:

• Posting controversial Contents in Facebook. Is the AGCOM going to stop Facebook? They may ask Facebook to block the user, however Facebook has no obligation to do so. And what about other users that might copy that controversial Contents and broadcast it again?
• What about sharing the controversial Contents on Twitter?
• And many other platforms that allow you to post in one site and broadcast everywhere like: Posterous, Tumblr, etc.
• Finally, if things get really really bad, people can always come back to mailing lists. Are they going to block every single citizen email?

More information:

• Delibera AgCom sul diritto d’autore: saremo l’esperimento più avanzato di censura del nuovo millennio
• Ferma la Censura, sito non raggiungibile.
• Romani Decree: Agcom and IP Enforcement in Italy.
• Golpe sul web: fermiamoli.

How can you explain the Spanish Crisis in a simple, but yet, funny way? Aleix Saló, a young Catalan cartoonist, has been able what no economist could, explain the ins and outs of the Spanish Crisis in just 6 minutes. The so-called “crisis of the brick” has made of [...]]]>

How can you explain the Spanish Crisis in a simple, but yet, funny way? Aleix Saló, a young Catalan cartoonist, has been able what no economist could, explain the ins and outs of the Spanish Crisis in just 6 minutes. The so-called “crisis of the brick” has made of Spain a country in social turmoil. From last 15 May, lots of people have been demonstrating their indignation around the whole country. Indignados, the Spanish word for the protesters filled with indignation, are demanding legal reforms to the Government, one of which is simple “stop stealing from us”. It might seem simple, but in fact it is not so much.

We have to travel through time till 1998, when the People’s Party (conservative party) was on the power. The President, José María Aznar, in its way to play paddle (a game which is thought to be played only by “rich” and proud Spaniards in the country, who are conservative and dress either with a suit or with a Paddle-like informal clothes), had a vision, almost a religious experience, and decided to change the Real State Law, that is to privatize land. Increasing the land available for development, housing will become a great business for entrepreneurs, thus, more investment will occur, prices will be lower, and young people will be able to buy a new house. Well, it’s obvious that it didn’t work. Instead a “bubble” was created.

By 2002, the rhythm of construction was already crazy. That same year, Aznar, the President, had another “almost religious” vision, and decided to change the Labor Law, in order to increase job opportunities and lower the unemployment rates. Again, choosing the wrong way… Less labor rights for workers, and easy lay downs, will allow companies to contract more and more people, creating more job opportunities and lowering the unemployment rates. Suddenly, companies started to need lots of workers provoking a great number of dropouts from the education system who started working right away, and the arrival of thousand of immigrants searching for a new job.

The trend by then was to buy a house, which was, supposedly, the best thing to do. Everyone said so! Buying a house was an investment. You didn’t loose money, but earn benefits by doing so. You paid less taxes, you were happier, you were cool. Buy a house, invest in bricks.

What happened with the Real State Law was just the opposite the wanted purposed. Not only houses were more expensive than ever before in Spanish History (literally), but also INSANELY EXPENSIVE. As the demand for a house increased, so the prize did, creating a horrible domino effect: as the price of the house and the land was based on the potential benefits you could earn, the final price tended to get higher and higher as expectations on the potential benefits went higher and higher (please, thank speculators for that). This was so insane that the price for a tiny house in Spain was equal to buy a flat in Tokyo O_O (however, wages are not the same, to say the least).

In 2005 the bubble was horrifyingly BIG. Spain was already constructing, in a year, more houses than Italy, France and Germany all together! Thanks to this crazy bubble, people started to talk about the Spanish Miracle. Foreign politicians were giving as an example the good ways of Spain (fools). Investing in Research and Development was seen an idiotic thing, however, investing in “bricks” was the right thing to do.

How could it be possible to have such an amount of Spaniards buying incredibly expensive houses when their wages had been untouched during years? Wages were incredibly low (1200 euros… now if you earn that you are lucky). Well, thanks to the Banks, people with shitty salaries could afford a house (which they would end paying in their afterlives, by the way). Mortgages were approved with very low standards (even if your endorsement was a turtle with a cup), thus, almost everyone had a mortgage to pay to a bank. You didn’t need to worry about being unable to pay the mortgage, because you could resell the house, and earn more money. “Remember, the real state value NEVER drops down!”. (Spooky…)

However, in 2007 things started to change. The price of the “brick” was already a joke (not even your grandchildren phantom would be able to pay the mortgage). Debts were horrifying. Governments, families and businesses debt was absurd, as absurd was the debt of the whole country with other international financial entities. The result was obvious: International Banks would stop giving more and more money. It was not the ability of Spaniards what was creating growth, but the growth itself was what was creating more growth. This was all based on debt. If no more money is lent, thus, no more debt can be created, thus, no more growth can be achieved.

In 2008 the US bubble exploded, and with it, the Spanish one. Overnight, banks stopped lending money, Spain stopped its growth and the economy shrank… Thousands lost their jobs, and the unemployment rates grew insanely, while whole families were (and are) evicted because they couldn’t pay the mortgages anymore.

No wonder Spanish are filled with indignation. No wonder, they are furious. No surprise about the current economic situation…

At the moment you can find “Españistán”, the book, in Spanish. I hope they’ll publish an English translation as well

It’s up to you how much of your time you want to spend to know about Catalans in Spain

Would you like Catalonia to be an Independent State within the European Union?
✔ YES
✘ NO
You have three options:

1. Watching the documentary
2. Reading the long post
3. Doing both things

It’s up to you how much of your time you want to spend to know about Catalans in Spain

Gary Gibson, an English Journalist, along with Endboard productions, has done what no other Spaniard or Catalan has done before: explain, in a very simple way, during just 40 minutes, the ins and outs about the Independence of Catalonia, and its relationship with the Spanish Government. It’s remarkable to note, though, that it’s “foreigners” who are able to tell perfectly what’s going on with this 300-year-old conflict, and not the concerning parts themselves.

The topic has been a burning potato during years. Talking about the possible “Independence” of Catalonia, just, four or five years ago, was a TABOO. How can it be that I, a Catalan, could not talk freely about it without risking being scorned?? Let’s discover why

During 2010 Catalans have been voting, peacefully, in non official referendums to choose if they wanted to be an Independent State within the EU or not. These referendums were prohibited by the Central Government. Despite being prohibited, they were made anyway, just because people needed to express their strong opinion.

This conflict comes as far in history as September 11th 1714, a key date for Catalans. According to one of the best historians in Catalonia, Josep Maria Solé i Sabaté, the fact of Castile imposing its rules on the rest of conquered territories was the starting point of Catalans wanting their independence.

To understand this, we have to check out a little bit the Catalan History. Since the marriage of the Spanish Catholic Kings (Ferdinand of Castile, King of the Kingdom of Aragon and Catalonia, and Isabel of Castile), 1469, Catalonia had enjoyed a virtual independence. During the civil war of 1700, in which the last Hapsburg king died without any heir, Catalonia sided the Hapsburgs along with Holland, Portugal and England. However, Castile sided the Bourbons. The difference with these two possible heirs to the Spanish Crown was simple:

• the Hapsburgs favored a descentrilized State, like the one existing from 1469
• the Bourbons favored a centralized State, like that existing in France

The war lasted 15 years. As the English left, Barcelona was the last city to fall. On September 11th 1714 Catalonia fell. This day is the Catalan National day. In this day, Catalans ask for their political freedom back.

According Jordi Pujol, the former President of Catalonia, it was the progressive legislation trying to eliminate Catalan from public and private life, since the 18th century, the means used by Central Governments in order to eradicate the Catalan culture in the region.

• 1881: Catalan was banned from legal documents
• 1896: Catalan was banned in public meetings and… on the phone O_O
• 1900: Catalan was banned in the theaters
• 1939: Franco finally banned it from everywhere (if you spoke in Catalan in public, you could be detained and beaten, reading a book in Catalan in public would be synonym of protest against the Regime).
• From 1960 desperate Spanish monolingual speakers from other parts of Spain were encouraged to move to Catalonia. The target of the Regime was simple: to create friction with the natives and to erode the Catalan language (it didn’t work as perfectly as they wanted, fortunately).

According to Matthew Tree, an English writer who lives in Barcelona and writes in perfect Catalan, Franco, instead of giving the infrastructures that were desperately needed in regions like Extramadura or Andalusia, he just used the desperate people who just wanted a job and a new life, and encouraged them to go to Catalonia. The idea of moving those people for economic reason would create friction and tension, thus, this was a wonderful way to eliminate the Catalan language.

In 1975 Democracy was restored again, and with Democracy, the Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia enacted, and the Catalan language restored. Historically talking, Catalans are a Nation of their own right, having their own institutions and language. With the restoration of the language problems with the Spaniards appeared again, this time in schools.

The main language in Schools is Catalan (as the main language in schools in the UK is English, and Spanish in Madrid). However, this is seen as disrespectful by Spaniards, and an attempt to eliminate Spanish. Some Media, specially the right wing media, are misinforming population about this regard. Journalists like Federico Jimenez Losantos are stating that “Catalonia is a Dictatorship”, “they are imposing the Catalan”… These is only creating more and more hatred against the Catalans. Nowadays, Catalans are the most hatred groups in Spain, more than Basques.

Other Spanish journalists are also stating that the Catalan schooling system is creating “handicapped” people. “When ending their studies in the University, as they only know a language, cannot work outside Catalonia”. (Can you grasp how silly this statement is??)

Let’s take me as an example for a moment. During the ’60s part of my family went from the South, Andalusia, to Catalonia. My Dad’s family moved to Barcelona in an attempt to find work and a new life, as many other Andalusians did. Years later, my Dad felt in love with my Mom, a Catalan, and here I am. Even though my Dad is from the South, I’ve been raised as a Catalan. I can speak perfectly both Catalan and Spanish. A perfect bilingual Though my name is a 100% Spanish, and can mislead you easily, the fact is that, I am a “Catalan”, raised and immersed into the Catalan culture and language, without having major problems. (But I have to confess that, after living abroad for so many years, my views have widen quite a lot and just simply stating that “I am a Catalan” is simplifying way too much what I’m feeling right now. Let’s say that I’m quite “international”. But that’s another topic for another post.)

The main language in the school was Catalan, but Spanish was taught, along with Spanish literature and Spanish History. While in college, I also started learning English, like the rest of the kids, and while in University I targeted other languages, like Japanese, French and Italian, like many other of my mates. The result is not a silly monolingual Catalan deprived from opportunities to “work” abroad (take “abroad” both as in Spain and as in other countries). Not only I was bilingual from childhood, not only I can manage perfectly switching from Catalan to Spanish or otherwise, I can also speak many other languages. And hey, I’m not working in Spain, I’m pretty far away… in Japan. The vast majority of my class-mates from Barcelona have been or are abroad right now. Most of them are not only bilinguals but are able to speak several languages. Stating that, the schooling system deprives you from being able to work in other places, is just ridiculous.

Furthermore, stating that a “monolingual schooling system” creates handicapped people making them unable to work in other parts of the country or abroad is just a very stupid statement. English wouldn’t be able to work in Spain or France. French wouldn’t be able to work anywhere. According to that statement, Gary Gibson wouldn’t have been able to do his documentary (he speaks not only English but Spanish as well), or Matthew Tree wouldn’t have been able to live and work in Barcelona (he speaks English, Spanish and Catalan).

What about the attempt of creating friction with immigrants from other Spanish regions? Even though there are many Spanish monolinguals living in Catalonia, reality shows us that those families understand the language. You can have weird cases, like my Grandma, who is entirely Spanish monolingual, talking without any problems with a Catalan monolingual Granny. And they do understand each other, because they understand both languages. They just choose the one they want to speak. My parents speak Catalan without any problems, and I do the same. Because of living in a “bilingual” region, that makes you either a “passive bilingual” or an “active bilingual“. My Grandma, like many other people, are “passive bilinguals”. Even though they learned and understand Catalan, they choose Spanish for communication, simply because it’s easier for them to do so. The same happens with a Catalan Granny who has learned and understands Catalan, but chooses to use just Catalan for communication simply because she’s more comfortable while talking in her native tongue. “Active bilinguals“, however, are, like me, able to switch from a language to another without any problems. You can find active bilinguals not only in “bilingual” regions, but also in families where parents have different nationalities.

Except the case of my Grandma, my parents case and my own is very similar (not to say the same as those families composed by people from different nationalities). Imagine an Italian married to an English, living in London, for example. Their kids, would be perfectly bilingual. As the family is living in London, their kids would go to an English school, and provably would learn Italian in an after school. Those kids, would be English but also Italian, being able to switch from one culture to the other without any problems. Provably they would have some certain accent while speaking in Italian. Well, that’s exactly the same in my case, and the same with many other Spanish+Catalan families. Spanish doesn’t disappear as they state, it coexists with Catalan.

Let’s follow with the documentary. According to the “right wing” media, non-Catalans, or Spanish monolinguals living in Catalonia are discriminated against. Well, as far as I can tell, Catalonia is a country that integrates: as long as you respect the culture you are in (as many other countries do). Monolinguals who have been living for more than 40 years, like the ones appearing in the documentary, seem really happy living in Catalonia, even though they talk only in Spanish (as my Grandma does).

Catalans have been always accused of being tight with money, like Mr. Scrooge. However this image is far from being the truth. In the 19th century Catalonia achieved something incredible: it was the first region of the Southern Europe to start the Industrial Revolution. The lacking of natural resources forced Catalans to try to develop their economy in a different way. Because they were trade based, and they had many small property owners, the Industrial Revolution was possible. However, the Spanish legislation was still favoring big land owners. As a result, the Catalan bourgeoisie asked to the Central Spanish Government to put some money in modern infrastructures to favor a modern economy. As this type of industrial economy was only existing in Catalonia, Spanish started to see the Catalans as parasites, always asking for more and more, getting all the money from Spain, and never giving anything back.

According to Matthew Tree, this kind of “anti-catalanism” has lots of similarities with the “antisemitism” existing against the Jews during the World War II. Quite frightening. Stereotypes as “the Catalan greed” are creating irrational hatred against Catalans. Being a Catalan is synonym of being a greedy person. But isn’t that an stereotype? A very bad generalization?

The Catalan Fiscal Deficit is the highest in all Europe. Said in other words, Catalonia is the most highly taxed region in all Europe…(The fiscal deficit is the amount of taxes you pay to the Government and what is not returned to you).

Thus, Catalans are paying a lot more than other European regions do. Far more, for only being a 7million people region.

According to Paul Preston, a professor of London School of Economics, the reasons for this dispute are, literary words, “pathetic”. According to him, the main reason to a large extent is jealousy“.

However, this jealousy is provoking an unfair situation. The taxes that Catalonia pays and does not get back… where do they go exactly?? According to the documentary, some regions enjoy free books in the schools, or more hospital beds in their regions. This unfair situation makes Catalans to see themselves as exploited.

According to Josep Lluís Carod Rovira, UK has a long democratic tradition, but this tradition does not exist in Spain, which has been eroded by several dictatorships. “Catalonia is like Scotland, however, Spain is not like the UK”. This communication gap is provoking that both sides are more and more reluctant to compromise.

Jaime Pastor, a Historian and Professor of Political Theory of the UNED, states that the Spanish Mass Media has a negative impact on the population. Instead of creating dialogue, Mass Media are adding more and more fuel to the fire. Thus, more and more Spanish are starting to think that Spain is breaking up.

Paul Preston says that “Catalonia is, to a logic stand, what keeps the rest of Spain going”. However you cannot say that to a Spaniard who is almost a “religion believer”, as Matthew Tree states. Some Spanish believe in the unity of Spain as if it were God, thus, any type of dialogue is futile.

So, what about the “Spanish identity“? Does that really exist?? Those who have a very strong “national” Spanish feeling are really fearing the tendency to plurality, according to the documentary. As Carod Rovira states, today thinking about a Spanish President with a Catalan name, or someone who speaks Catalan at home as the President of the Country is just unthinkable.

Being so extremely reactive against the “plurality” just shows up your weakness. Spanish have no agreement on the national flag or the “lyrics” of the national hymn… There is no “lyrics” at all! The “Spanish identity” is still being constructed, and maybe because of that there still are so many problems related to the “plurality” inside the country. “Nationalism” has to be respectful with other types of nationalism, so that the communication gap is erased. While there’s still existing a huge communication gap, the problem won’t have any possible solutions.

“Why is not Catalonia declaring itself independent? Simply because they have to use the national laws to do so. Using the existing laws, the region can gain independence.

In the documentary we can see the first village in Catalonia voting for the Independence. Votes were clear: from 2671 votes, 12 were void, 29 blank ballots, 61 noes, and 2569 yeses. “During 300 years we had to listen to you and do what you tell us. Now this is what we have to say.”

Watching this documentary makes you feel quite strange, specially if you are “Catalan” or “Spanish”. Seeing a good documentary made by foreigners makes it even better. Why?? Simply because they are objective. Being an objective source of information makes you see the good points and the bad points in the conflict. We have to make an effort, ourselves, as the parts involved in this conflict, to be objective and sit down around a table and start a dialogue. Without talking and dialogue, conflicts cannot be solved, just postponed. Isn’t it time to act like adult and grown up people?

Spain is living a very strange period in her history. Not only internal conflicts are up to date and hot, but also other social problems, like the unemployment and the corruption of our politicians, are making us forgetting one essential and powerful thing adults are proud to say to kids when they are scorned: instead of fighting, sit down, talk, and listen to your mates. By far, the most difficult thing to achieve right now: to act like an adult.

Today, May 27th 2011 the Spanish & Catalan police, under the orders of the Catalan Government, tried to evict the demonstrators of Catalonia Square in Barcelona. But… why??

Last May 15th, Spanish youth, using Social Media, decided to demonstrate around more [...]]]>

Today, May 27th 2011 the Spanish & Catalan police, under the orders of the Catalan Government, tried to evict the demonstrators of Catalonia Square in Barcelona. But… why??

Last May 15th, Spanish youth, using Social Media, decided to demonstrate around more than 60 cities around the whole country, against corruption, high rates of unemployment, the corrupt financial & banking system in Spain. That day, Spanish media remained silent while demonstrators grew their anger. Thus, a two week camp started from the very next day. Their claims are simple, which can be resumed with “the end of corruption”. Their ways are peaceful. Even though many people don’t agree on how they are expressing their anger: camping in squares and organizing meetings to discuss how laws could be changed, the fact is their “right of assembly” is being ignored by the Spanish Government.

Today, the right of public assembly has been damaged, spoiled, ignored and beaten by the Police. Under the excuse of “cleaning” the square, they tried to clean its dirt… in these case, the “angry ones” or “indignados”, the demonstrators, as they are called in Spain. The Spanish police, in an attempt to evict Catalonia Square in Barcelona, started beating peaceful demonstrators. Images talk by themselves…

Curious to know that, tomorrow, the soccer team of the city, Barça, is playing the Champions League… Is this cleaning police operation “cleaning” to have a nice square for tomorrow’s event, or.. instead, is the police cleaning the “dirt” which politicians don’t want to hear from the mouths of angry demonstrators? Where is Spain going? Quo Vadis?

As Javier de la Cueva, a famous lawyer from Madrid, stated in his twitter account, “I might not agree with your camp (demonstration, meeting), but I’ll defend till death your right to camp (right of public assembly, the right to demonstrate)”. Even if I might not be agreeing on how things are being done, I do defend the right of public assembly, which is being not only damaged, but ignored and destroyed with these type of actions.

We have to think ourselves, what kind of Democracy we want.

More information

• Washington Post: Spanish ‘revolution’: Thousands gather in Madrid’s Puerta del Sol Square
• The Economist: The unhappy campers
• Huffpost Tech: “Spanish Revolution” of 2011 Explained
• New Statesman: Inside the Spanish revolution
• EU Observer: Where next for the #spanishrevolution?

As you might already know, the Copyright is a set of rights given by law to the author of an original work, which includes, in Europe, both economic and moral rights. It is not, itself, a License. [...]]]>

As you might already know, the Copyright is a set of rights given by law to the author of an original work, which includes, in Europe, both economic and moral rights. It is not, itself, a License. A License is a legal “contract” by which the owner of the rights decides to give permission to use in a certain way a certain work or works. Authors can decide to have their works protected under the Copyright as is, from the birth of their creation, or they can decide to license it under a copyleft license, and thus, grant some permissions to use their work in ways not permitted if only the Copyright were used as is.

Some months ago, in Spain, it was released a documentary called “Copiad malditos!” (“Copy! Damn it!”, or the right to copy, my translation), which explains the process to license your work under the Copyleft, in this case, Creative Commons. They also explain what is the current legal and social situation in the Country. One of the main topics in the Documentary has been the Spanish Collecting Society, SGAE, which has very aggressive collecting policies. SGAE only recognizes the copyright and thus, associated authors have difficulties if they wish to license their work with copyleft licenses.

The strategies of this collecting society are being broadly discussed, not only by authors, but also by associations or even whole communities. This is the case of Montijo, a small town situated in Extremadura. The City Hall has already announced they won’t pay the royalties to the SGAE anymore. One extreme case is Hassan’s. He is from the Lebanon and has a restaurant in the village. He usually listens to his small CD player music from the Lebanon (which you can only buy there). The SGAE sent him a letter to pay royalties for “using copyrighted material to amuse the business”, thus theoretically he has to pay. The aim of this collecting society is to distribute its benefits among its members in Spain. I doubt very much that they are going to send those “collected royalties” to groups of music from the Lebanon… Montijo and its inhabitants, fed up of “this robbery”, decided to create ADEMYC, an association the aim of which is to teach you how to avoid the collecting society (by using music from Jamendo for your business, for example).

The Documentary’s filmmaker & director, Stéphane M. Grueso, shows us how something as complicated as a Documentary can be licensed under a Creative Commons License. His Lawyer, a re-known Spanish IP Lawyer, Javier de la Cueva, explains, in a very simple way, how he can achieve his goals.

Internet has changed the rules of the game. Old-fashioned businesses have to adapt themselves to the new environment if they don’t want to be eliminated from it. The key in this transition period is to realize that the market has changed and is still changing, and to adapt to it, as species do in this world. Unfitted species will be extinguished in favor of more suited ones. This is what’s happening right now with the Cinema and Music. Children growing up today are less likely to go to the cinema unless there is a good reason for it. Instead, they’ll prefer other options, much more related to Internet than to physical places. Examples like iTunes (either you buy the film or you rent it), Filmotech in Spain or Netflix in the US give us hints on where the market is going: Internet.

A Spanish Film Project is another example. El Cosmonauta is a film made and thought in a very different way. Any Internet user interested in the project could be a producer. From 2 euros onwards you become part of the project. You can download the script, you can become a producer, you can purchase merchandise, you can interact with the crew… A whole new way to bring the film making process to as many people as possible, and all thanks to the Internet. Music is also transforming. Netlabels like Autoreverse proposes you another way to see your CD out in the market. The distribution way has changed thanks to Internet.

Traditional publishers are also in “trouble” if they do not adapt to the new rules of the market. New publishing companies like Traficantes de Sueños are offering books both in a printed commercial version, and a digital free version, under copyleft licenses.

In the documentary is also mentioned “la Ley Sinde“, a Bill, which, among other provisions, states that it would be possible to close down web sites offering P2P links, without a due process in Court, that is, without a Judge deciding. While this is happening, TVs are not respecting the existing Copyright Law and are broadcasting content from Youtube, without any kind of permission from the author who did the video, or even checking if that person holds the rights of that video. The so-called “right of citation”, used for cultural purposes, is either used in a wrong way by big Media Corporations, or misunderstood by the general public, thinking they do not even have such right.

Cultural Campaigns to teach the Copyright to kids made by the CEDRO, another Spanish collecting society, are misleading. Under the copyright law, people have the right of the “private copy”, however, in the material of this campaign, kids are taught that the “private copy” is a bad thing. The main problem here is that “commercial culture” is being mixed with “free culture”. Commercial Culture is that culture which emanates from commercial circles (including big businesses, publishing companies, etc). But, there is another side of our “culture”, what we call Free Culture. What a kid does and uploads to the web is also culture. The song my grandpa composed and sings for the family is also culture, not only the one you buy into the shopping malls. “If you attack big labels, the industry, you attack the culture”. This way of imposed thinking on us is just WRONG.

Not everything in this world has to be profit and money. We, humans, need to create to feel realized and complete. We feel a strong feeling to discover, go beyond boundaries. We want to share with others our discoveries and be recognized. Just that. Money just gives us the means for the living, but creation gives us the means for our souls. We did not arrive where we are now because of the profit, but because of our capacity of creation. The first human who invented a way to control the fire, or the human who used his brains on how to get more wheat to feed his family, or other million creations, technical and cultural, we’ve made during centuries were not simply made because of profit, but because of a million other reasons. Among them: the will of creating something to feel good sharing it with others.

To know more:

• The New Spanish Digital Inquisition: “la ley Sinde”
• Violating CC licensed work
• If CODE is LAW, which mixture of possible “regulations” would work better?
• Álex de la Iglesia’s Goya Awards discourse
• FreeLex project is here!