Interesting event in Barcelona:

“More than 200 Spanish and international participants from all areas of culture will take part in
an awards ceremony and a week full of events, pooling their efforts to demand a stop to
culture being treated as merchandise by royalty management organizations and cultural
industry lobbies.

To demand protection and a stop to artificial restrictions applied to digital media like P2P
platforms that make it possible to spread knowledge – in the name of democratic progress that
benefits each and every one of us.

Our access to knowledge is blocked in the name of “artists”, but the majority of artists
in the digital age don’t support the restrictions and neither does civil society, accused
of “piracy” wholesale.

Artists say “Not in my name” to the commercialization of culture, “Not in my name” to Spain’s
‘canon digital’ (digital levy), “Not in my name” to limiting the potential of digital media.
Backed by the document “Greed Breaks the Sack”, released through hundreds of online
forums and the press and sent to 287 politicians in July 2008, the OXCARS are an
extravaganza, a week of events that will make it patently obvious that the culture of our time is
the culture that we all build, share and enjoy.

Times have changed; the Internet allows information and culture to be exchanged horizontally
among all citizens. And the means of cultural production must adapt to this new democracy,
not the only way around.

Because free and collaborative culture is the Culture of our time, because it’s a fact, because
there’s no turning back…”