Jinbonet: Ten years of commitment, courage and innovation

By AE Publisher: APC     JOHANNESBURG,

To all Jinbonet members and staff on the occasion of your 10th anniversary

The APC community extends its congratulations to everyone at Jinbonet on your 10th anniversary. A 10th anniversary is an important milestone and we are very proud that you have been part of the APC network for most of this time.

Jinbonet has been a consistent innovator in ICTs for social justice in the Asia Pacific region. You have been early users and promoters of FOSS (Free and Open Source Software) and open content licenses. You have developed your own home grown models of working and you have always adhered to participatory processes, honouring your accountability to the constituencies you try to serve.

In particular we want to commend you for the following:

- your unwavering commitment to social justice and human rights – your holistic approach to using ICTs for social justice, an approach which embraces diversity and creativity and which involves activities ranging from journalism, to technical innovation, to arts and culture – your commitment to gender equality – your foresight, and leadership on several critical Internet Rights issues and linking national campaigns to global campaigns, e.g. finger-print database, content filtering, internet rating systems, and the use by governments and private corporations of
‘parody’/defamation/libel to restrict freedom of speech – your courage in taking on the state and third parties on many of these issues, when such actions (legal challenges) entailed risks for individual Jinbonet members and threatened Jinbonet’s very existence.

We also want to thank you for your contribution to APC’s work over the last 10 years. In particular we want to express our gratitude for:

- your participation and leadership role in the Asialink network in the 1990s which APC members and partners first started to collaborate in the region – your commitment to communicating your work to the APC community and the world at large in English – hosting the APC Asia Internet Rights Workshop in 2001 – your close involvement in APC’s Rapid Response Network to help secure threatened online content – assisting APC to maintain links with and understand issues around worker rights and ICTs – your involvement in and support for APC’s work in the WSIS (World Summit of the Information Society) at a time when you were also facing serious human rights challenges at home – your support for APC’s Women’s Networking Support Programme in the Asia region – serving on the APC executive board from 2003 to 2005 – your generous support and hospitality provided to APC and others from international civil society during the OECD Ministerial Conference heldin Seoul in June 2008

APC extends our admiration to Jinbonet for your steadfastness, strength and boldness to stand up for your convictions, from hunger-strikes to imprisonment. The APC has learnt much from Jinbonet, and we believe we will continue to do so.

We wish you very well for the next 10 years and we are confident that you will continue to make a positive difference through your work, as you have done already during the past decade.

In solidarity

Anriette Esterhuysen – APC Executive Director

On behalf of APC members, staff, and APC the APC Chairperson and APC’s Board of Directors

14 November 2008



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