[spectre] The September Project

[geert]

From: David Silver (dsilver at u.washington.edu)

The September Project is a coordinated effort to get people to gather
collectively in public places like libraries on Saturday, September 11.
There, they will engage in talks, deliberations, and performances about
democracy, citizenship, and patriotism.  September Project events are
locally self-organized, nationally and internationally distributed,
accompanied by voter registration, and free and open to the people.

The project launched four months ago.  In the US, as of July 19, 2004, 139
libraries in 29 states are participating, with new libraries and often
entire library systems joining daily. Participating libraries include:
urban, small, and rural public libraries; primary and secondary school
libraries; college, community college, and university libraries;
bookmobile libraries for youth, elderly, and people with physical,
hearing, and visual disabilities; seminary libraries; juvenile hall
libraries; and domestic and overseas US military base libraries. We
selected public libraries as the infrastructure because they are free,
they are public, and they are distributed across our country and most
countries.  Moreover, as witnessed in their collective stands on issues
and developments like the Patriot Act, media diversity, and freedom of/to
information, librarians have historically upheld rights even in the most
contested times.

The September Project is beyond borders.  Spain's El Proyecto Septiembre
(http://septiembre.ciberpunk.org) has coordinated events in six cities:
Granada, Len, Madrid, Melilla, Valencia, and Zaragoza.  Portugal's O
Projecto Setembro (http://setembro.ciberpunk.org) has planned an event in
Lisbon.  In Venezuela, events are planned for Caracas and Maracay; in
Australia, the University of Sydney has joined; in the Netherlands, the
University of Nijmegen and the Cultural Centre for the Arts Lux are
hosting a public conference.  We are in contact with folks interested in
hosting similar events on September 11 in Canada, Chile, Germany, Hong
Kong, Italy, and Uruguay.

A map of participating hosts can be viewed here:
http://www.com.washington.edu/september/map.asp
We suggest you bookmark it, since it changes daily.

The September Project's goal is 1000s of public spheres taking place
around the world on Saturday, September 11, 2004, and every September 11th
thereafter.