[lac-discuss-es] Brazilian activists banned from IGF

[Renata Aquino Ribeiro]

Direto do #IGF2015

In exercising their freedom of expression, activists from brazilian
civil society organizations held a silent and peaceful protest during
the opening session of the 10th Internet Governance Forum (#IGF2015),
an event promoted by the UN and Comitê Gestor da Internet (CGIBr), in
João Pessoa, the capital of Paraíba.

The IGF – Internet Governance Forum participants took half a dozen
posters and a banner to call attention to the defense of net
neutrality and the risks that this principle for the free flow of
information on the Internet has been suffering in Brazil and
worldwide. There was also a banner protesting against the project
financed by Facebook, the Internetorg.

Protest against Internetorg at IGF is repressed by UN (youtube)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V9cxyHqrl2k

The protest was repressed by the UN security guards, some of them
using of physical strength. After that, the activists were filmed,
photographed, some were pressured to show their cellphones and were
surveilled during all the session, in an explicit act of intimidation
and violation of their privacy. Beyond that, they also had their
credentials photographed and withheld by security and were forbidden
to participate at IGF>

This kind of repression is incompatible inside an event that is
precisely discussing how to protect freedom of speech at the Internet
and how to guarantee privacy of those who use the world wide web.

We demand that the credentials are returned and that the right of each
and every one to express her and himself democratically be preserved
in a United Nations event. We hope that the brazilian authorities
manifest themselves to guarantee that the access of organizations and
activists is not prevented.

João Pessoa, november 10 2015.

Articulação Marco Civil Já