Oxfam is targeting an international advocacy project for 2002 to 2004. The document at:
http://danny.oz.au/free-software/advocacy/oicampaign.html
is one proposal for that project. It is written in plain text, since, as it says, "If there is to be genuine grass-roots participation in Oxfam International
campaigns, all the communications and information required
for such participation must be available to everyone -- not
dependent on access to word-processing software which costs more
than the annual income of a quarter of the planet's population."
Their proposition:
'Knowledge is now the critical component to production, and access to
it represents a key divide between rich and poor.' (OI ACC Planning
Papers). Increasingly, information and tools for manipulating and
communicating information are controlled ("owned") by individuals or
corporations rather than being public goods available to everyone.
The Oxfams should work to change policies of governments, multilaterals
and companies which are driving this appropriation, in order to avoid
the creation and exacerbation of inequalities in access to information.
This is essential to ensure that women and men world-wide, now and in the
future, are able to play a full part in the global society and economy.
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