Konrad Becker on 16 Oct 2000 15:04:05 -0000


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Dear Nettimers,

Public Netbase would like to express its gratitude for the strong support
we have been receiving in the last days and also thank the people who have
initiated it. Some of the finest people in culture&technology have voiced
their concern and supported the Open Letter to the Austrian Public. More
than 600 signatories have joined the campaign by now, still more coming in
every day.

I can assure you that your efforts are very valuable in our situation and
we would like to encourage you to pass on the message to further possible
supporters. Spreading the Open Letter and asking people to sign, is a way
you can further help make an argument for free media and emancipatory
participation in digital networks. We are still trying to get some more
momentum before we the deliver the Letter with all the signatories in an
offical act to the political representatives in this country.

Of course it remains to be seen how much of an impression this effort will
make on the protagonists of authoritarian neoliberal politics in Austria.
But it certainly proves that the "internet-generation" (quote: Chancelor
Schuessel) lives up to its reputation of standing up against nationalist,
rightwing politics.

It is very clear, that the Austrian government is still very cautious of
an international debate - the modest publicity that some activities of the
ruling parties (such as intimidation of journalists, anti-social
regulations, etc.) got in the media helped to avoid some of the more
serious consequences.

But the rise of the extreme right has become a serious European issue as
can be seen in Belgium, parts of Germany or Denmark. Austria has become
the first country in Europe with elements of the extreme right in the
national government, and it proves to be a model of how neoliberal and
fascist ideologies perfectly blend into a "sleep of reason that begets
monsters".

This is just a tiny state, but from the political rethoric of the last
months you could have believed this people would have wanted to start
another war all over.

We believe that this highlights a deep problem which challenges all of us
not only in theory but also in practice. I would be happy if the
unfortunate situation in Austria would help to raise awareness to some of
the uncanny developments in European politics and its underlying
ideological currents.

for the Public Netbase Team:

Konrad Becker



a small (necessarily incomplete) excerpt of the list of 600 signatories so
far:


                     Alex Adriansen, Director V2, Rotterdam/Netherlands 

                     Eric Alliez, Professeur titulaire de la Chaire d'
                     Esthetique ŕ l'Académie des Arts plastiques ,
                     Vienne/Austria 

                     Anne Balsamo, Georgia Institute of Technology,
Atlanta/USA

                     Eddie Berg, FACT, UK 

                     Kristin Bergaust, Artist and Director of Media-Lab
Atelier
                     Nord, Norway

                     Andreas Broeckmann, Artistic Director transmediale
                     Berlin/Germany 

			   Ted Byfield, Author NY/US

                     Antonella Corsani, enseignant-chercheur Université de
                     Paris/France 

                     Critical Art Ensemble, Artist Group, USA 

                     Amanda Crowley, Adelaide Festival of Arts, Australia 

                     Erik Davis, Author and Contributing Editor, Wired
                     Magazine, San Francisco/USA

                     Manuel DeLanda, Fellow at Institute for Advanced Study,
                     Princeton, New Jersey/USA

                     Mark Dery, Author, Editor of Artbyte, NY/USA 

                     Sara Diamond, The Banff Center, Canada 

                     Sher Doruff, Society for Old and New Media,
                     Amsterdam/Netherlands 

                     Timothy Duckrey, Author and Lecturer, USA 

                     Adele Eisenstein, C3 Center for Culture &
Communication,
                     Budapest/Hungary 

                     Andrea Ellmeier, Kulturdokumentation, Vienna/Austria 

                     Valie Export, Artist, Vienna/Austria and Academy of
Media
                     Arts Köln/Germany 

                     Bronac Ferran, Arts Council, UK 

                     Vera Frenkel, Ontario/Canada 

                     Martin Fritz, Curator EXPO 2000 (In Between),
                     Hannover/Germany 

                     Matthew Fuller, Lecturer in Media, Communications and
                     Culture at Middlesex University, working with the
artists'
                     collective Mongrel, UK 

                     Alex Galloway, rhizome.org, NY/USA 

                     Gabriele Gerbasits, IG Kultur Österreich,
Vienna/Austria 

                     Lizbeth Goodman, Director of The Institute for New
Media,
                     Performance Research School of Performing Arts -
                     University of Surrey/UK

                     Franz Graf, Professor Academy of Fine Arts,
Vienna/Austria

                     Reinhold Grether, Dr, Netscientist University
                     Konstanz/Germany 

                     Henning Gruner, Kunsthaus Tacheles/Berlin 

                     Cees J. Hamelink, Professor of International
                     Communication, University of Amsterdam/Netherlands 

                     Honor Harger, Tate Modern, London/UK 

                     Lisa Haskel, Media Art Projects, UK 

                     Perry Hoberman, Artist, teaches at the School of Visual
                     Arts, New York/USA 

                     Danny Holman, No D Media Lab, Prague/Czech Republic 

                     John Hopkins, Media Lab - University of Art and Design,
                     Helsinki/Finland 

                     Erkki Huhtamo, Professor UCLA, Dept. of Design, Finland


                     Eric Kluitenberg, Media Theorist and Curator New Media,
de
                     Balie - Center for Culture and Politics,
                     Amsterdam/Netherlands 

                     Knowbotic Research, Artist Group, Germany 

                     Piotr Krajewska, WRO Center for Media Art,
Wroclaw/Poland 

                     Arthur and Marilouise Kroker, Editors CTHEORY, Boston,
                     Massachusetts/USA 

                     Spela Kucan, Ljudmila - Ljubljana Digital Media Lab,
                     Slovenia 

                     Violetta Kutlubasis-Krajewska, WRO Center for Media
Art,
                     Wroclaw/Poland 

                     Jacques Le Rider, Ecole pratique des Hautes Etudes,
                     Section des sciences historiques et philologiques,
                     Sorbonne, Paris/France 

                     Geert Lovink, Media Theorist, Canberra/Australia 

                     Rafael Lozano-Hemmer, Art and Technology Foundation,
                     Madrid/Spain 

                     Tapio Makela, M-cult, Finland 

                     Armin Medosch, Telepolis, London/UK 

                     Wolfgang Modera, Ars Electronica Center, Linz/Austria 

                     Sally Jane Norman, Directrice Générale de l'Ecole
                     supérieure de l'image, Angoulęme, Poitiers/France 

                     Robert Palmer, Director Brussels2000, Belgium 

                     Sylvie Parent, Curator, Centre international d'art
                     contemporain, Montréal/Canada 

                     Ana Parga, Art and Technology Foundation, Madrid/Spain 

                     Marko Peljhan, Project Atol, Ljubljana/Slovenia 

                     Constance Penley, Professor and Chair Department of
Film
                     Studies University of California, Santa Barbara/USA 

                     Miklos Peternak, Director C3 Center for Culture &
                     Communication, Budapest/Hungary

                     Sadie Plant, Dr, Writer, Birmingham/UK 

                     Susie Ramsay, Art and Technology Foundation,
Madrid/Spain 

                     Veronika Ratzenböck, Director Kulturdokumentation,
                     Vienna/Austria 

                     Christian Reder, Professor University for Applied Arts,
                     Vienna/Austria 

                     Martin Reiter, Kunsthaus Tacheles/Berlin) 

                     RTMark, Artist Group, USA 

                     Gerhard Ruiss, IG Autorinnen Autoren, Austria

                     Annette Schindler, Director Plug In, Basel/Switzerland 

                     Christine Schöpf, Ars Electronica Center, Linz/Austria

                     Dieter Schrage, Museum moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig,
                     Vienna/Austria 

			   Pit Scultz, Artist, Berlin
                     Yukiko Shikata, Curator, Japan 

                     Rasa Smite, E-LAB Electronic Arts and Media Center,
                     Riga/Latvia 

                     Raitis Smits, RIXC The Center for New Media Culture,
                     Riga/Latvia 

                     Stahl Stenslie, Artist and Curator, Oslo/Norway 

                     Marleen Stikker, Society for Old and New Media,
                     Amsterdam/Netherlands 

                     Gerfried Stocker, Ars Electronica Center, Linz/Austria 

                     Martin Sturm, O.K Centrum für Gegenwartskunst,
                     Linz/Austria 

                     Janos Sugar, Media Research Foundation,
Budapest/Hungary 

                     Daniela Swarowsky, Manager of DEAF_2000 Festival /
                     V2_Organisation, Rotterdam/Netherlands 

                     Peter Tomaz, President Association for Culture and
                     Education, Multimedia Center KiberSRCeLab - KIBLA,
                     Maribor/Slovenia 

                     Toshiya Ueno, Associate Professor, Sociologist,
                     Tokyo/Japan 

                     Markus Wailand, Artist and Curator, Vienna/Austria 

                     Ulrich Wegenast, Wand 5/Stuttgarter Filmwinter, Germany


                     Dirk de Wit, Brussels2000, Belgium 

			   Siegfried Zielinski
			   Gründungsrektor Kunsthochschule fuer Medien Koeln
			   Professor Art and Media Studies
                     
			   Heimo Zobernig, Artist, Vienna/Austria







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