Freedom not Fear

A big “thank you!” to all participants and supporters for making possible yet another fantastic event!

We are inviting all participants to bring their expertise, interests and questions into Freedom not Fear 2023 as session proposals. The programme of FNF is created by all participants together on the spot.

Need inspiration?
Your session could be connected to the following topics, but of course you are not limited to these:

• Tech buzz or game changer: “AI” and how do we deal with it?
• Climate crisis: tech(ies) as problem, solution or what?
• Public and private surveillance: who is watching whom?

All workshops and talks (Fri – Sun) will take place at:
Mundo Madou
Avenue des Arts 7-8
1210 Brussels

An important part of Freedom not Fear (FNF) is “advocacy monday”. We want to meet with Members of European Parliament (MEPs) or Commission and other policy makers and talk to them. Feel free to contact MEPs to invite them to Freedom not Fear for presenting their topic, to discuss with us or to arrange meetings with them outside of Freedom not Fear.

Rough schedule

There is no pre-set programme at Freedom not Fear – only time-slots to be filled with content. The programme will be made by you, the participants, during the actual event.

This is the rough schedule for the event:

Friday, 1 Sep 2023

18:00: Welcome desk opens

19:00: Opening of Freedom not Fear 2023

European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS) Wojciech Wiewiórowski will give a brief input on “Fediverse for Public Administration. Why we try and why we fail” followed by a fishbowl discussion.

Saturday 2 Sep 2023, 9:30 – 19:00h

Morning plenary (We invite you to submit your sessions during the morning plenary.) Sessions during the day. Saturday night: joint dinner and evening programme

Sunday 3 Sep 2023, 10:00 – 19:00h

Morning plenary. Sessions during the day.

Monday, 4 Sep 2023

9:30–11:00 & 13:00-14:00: visit to the European parliament (EP) and meeting with MEPs, visit to the Parlamentarium.
After 14:00: (self-) arranged meetings with MEPs, European Commissioners and other EU policy makers

Support the organisiation of fnf

Freedom not Fear is dependent on individual donations to cover expenses such as venue, facilitation, infrastructure, and to make the event affordable to participants from all backgrounds and all parts of Europe. Your donation would be highly appreciated here: https://digitalcourage.de/donate
(Enter “FNF 2023” in the “Message” at the end of the form to direct the donation towards FNF.)

If you have any questions you can always contact us at: contact@freedomnotfear.org

Please join us for the 2023 edition of Freedom not Fear, 1–4 September 2023 in Brussels and register now!

Please note: The registration is closed as there are no more slots from our visitor quota left that could receive a reimbursement.
Nevertheless it is still possible to participate in fnf in a selforganized way. You could book your own EP visit and/or request a meeting with an MEP on your own account.  If you do so, please inform us about your plans and expected participation.

More details on the schedule and programme for FnF 2023 are going to be published soon – also watch the Fediverse for #fnf23 and #freedomnotfear or follow us at fnf@digitalcourage.social – and help spread the word!

Find more information on the general event here: https://freedomnotfear.org/about-freedom-not-fear

Registration

As part of Freedom not Fear we will meet with MEPs in the European Parliament. Participants in this visit are eligible for travel reimbursement and a fixed allowance thanks to visitor quotas of the MEPs who support us.

Registration for the FnF events from Friday to Sunday is not compulsory. However, in order to take part in the EP visit on Monday and to receive any allowances you must register.

EP visit – mandatory for reimbursement

In order to receive travel reimbursement and the allowance, it is mandatory to take part in the official visit to the European Parliament on Monday, 4 September, 10:00–11:30 and the Parlametarium for another hour.

Accommodation

We have organised hotel accommodation close to the event venue and the EU facilities, as an option. Please state your accommodation preferences in the registration form.

Please register by 30.6.2023 →Final registration deadline: 17 July 2023

The available places are limited, please register as soon as possible but in any case before 17 July 2023.

You will find more information on the registration form.

If you have trouble taking part due to financial restrictions, please get in touch with us and we will try to find a solution.

Donations

Freedom not Fear is dependent on individual donations to cover expenses such as venue, facilitation, infrastructure, and to make the event affordable to participants from all backgrounds and all parts of Europe. Your donation would be highly appreciated!

https://digitalcourage.de/spenden

(Enter “FnF 2023” at “Nachrichten” at the end of the form to direct the donation towards FnF.)

Dear volunteer designers,

Freedom not Fear is looking for a new logo!

FNF is an annual self-organised event on privacy, digital technologies and its effects on human rights. People from all across Europe meet and work towards more freedom in the digitised world, plan actions against increasing surveillance and against other attacks on civil rights. It is an empowering and refreshing barcamp with workshops, panel discussions and talks.

FNF trajectory

Since 2006, FNF’s predecessor “Freiheit statt Angst” regularly organised protests in Germany around issues of privacy. The first “Freedom not Fear” was guided by the thought of taking the street protest from German cities to European capitals, and that has indeed happened in the first few years.

After about 15 editions, the logo still reflects those roots, but in practice the event’s focus has changed: we expanded with social media campaigns, engaged in advocacy directly with European Union’s decision makers – making our voices heard while influential policies such as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) were shaped early in the 2010s – and professionalised our work.

FNF keeps tackling ever emerging issues identified by grass roots organisations and concerned citizens like you, calling decision makers in the European Parliament to their responsibility and striving for a positive change in our societies.

You can find more information about FNF and the current logo at https://freedomnotfear.org/

FNF aspirations

We are looking for design contributions which reflect FNF’s trajectory, state of the art and aspirations.

Some keywords: digital rights, stop surveillance, protecting fundamental rights, people empowerment.
Some inspiring terms: activism, inclusion, collaboration, openness, self-determined, grass roots, democracy.

We have been busy addressing current threats that come with e.g. new laws, so we often focus on reacting, preventing and safeguarding. As a result, this makes us seem like innovation haters and “stoppers” of progress. But this is not what Freedom not Fear is about. We provide this platform to seed and bolster constructive solutions and ideas for human-centred innovation (as opposed to profit-centred). We are also thinking about Foucault, the distribution of information and societies’ relations with mass surveillance. We envision an image that somewhat projects these intentions.

Your contribution

You’d become part of a growing movement fighting against surveillance, censorship and discrimination in the digital age. FNF is an event to motivate, connect and mobilise our community with an inclusive, friendly and independent/self-determined spirit. With the new logo we will launch a call for merchandise design collaborators to collect donations and support the event.

Could you create something based on this? Feel like giving it a try?

• When choosing colours, please keep accessibility considerations in mind.
• It would be great if your graphics also work well in black and white / monochrome.
• We are looking for freely shareable results end editable source files using non-proprietary fonts and file formats.

Please send submissions (and questions) by Monday, 19 June 2023 to: contact@freedomnotfear.org

We would contact selected designers by the end of June.

Thanks in advance for your help!

Do you have a question that is not answered here? Please let us know at contact@freedomnotfear.org

Freedom not Fear 2023
1–4 September (Friday–Monday)
Mundo Madou (Fri–Sun) · European Parliament (Mon)

Locations

• Venue: Mundo Madou, Avenue des Arts 7-8, 1210 Brussels
• Hotel: Adagio Access Brussels Europe, 12 rue de l’Industrie, Brussels (OpenStreetMap)
• European Parliament (EP): 60 rue Wiertz / Wiertzstraat 60, Brussels (OpenStreetMap)
• Parlamentarium: Esplanade Solidarność 1980, Rue Wiertz / Wiertzstraat 60, Brussels

Participation – Do I need to register?

The event is open for all and no registration is needed, if you just want to take part Friday to Sunday. We would appreciate, if you could still let us know when you’ll be there in order to plan lunch and other capacities.

If you want to take part in the EP visit on Monday and apply for any reimbursements, you do have to register, see below.

Option 1: Participation Fr-Sun, no EP visit, no (travel) allowance:
Freedom not Fear 2023 is self-organised and free, you do not need to register to take part in the conference at Mundo Madou from Friday to Sunday evening.

However, if you would like to take part at your own expenses, not joining for the EP visit but want to book hotel accommodation with us, you may still register, notifying us that you won’t join the EP visit.

If you will take part but don’t register, please e-mail us at contact@freedomnotfear.org to let us know when you are planning to come, so we can plan for food and venue capacity.

Option 2: Participation whole event, EP visit & (travel) allowance:
By registering you benefit from a reimbursement of (some) travel expenses (see “Travel reimbursement”) and optional affordable accommodation arranged by us. For any allowance you MUST take part in the official EP visit on Monday, 4 September 20233. No show = no money.

EDIT: Please note: The registration is closed, there are no more places available.
Nevertheless it is still possible to participate in fnf in a selforganized way. You could book your own EP visit and/or request a meeting with an MEP on your own account.  If you do so, please inform us about your plans and expected participation.

Registration fee & expenses

We are asking for a registration fee of 50 € for the expenses we need to cover in in advance, such as venue hire, hotel booking and catering. During the event we will kindly request your donation for lunches and our joint dinner on Saturday evening as well as donations to support organisational expenses. However, we will not charge anything, contributions are highly appreciated but voluntarily. After the event you may receive a reimbursement of your actual travel expenses up to an amount as defined below plus an allowance of up to 100 €, see below for conditions.

Travel & Reimbursement

As soon as you have registered and received a confirmation from us, you should book your travel in order to secure tickets. We recommend to book refundable tickets, since there is no reimbursement of expenses for cancelled travel. Make sure to always keep tickets, receipts and boarding passes, which we need to claim reimbursement.

Please also consider environmental issues – if traveling by plane is only little cheaper than bus/train, and you are willing to invest some more time, travel by land could be the better option. It is also possible to combine different means of transportation. When planning your departure, please keep in mind that we will try to schedule meetings on Monday afternoon (after the mandatory EP & Parlamentarium visit until 14:00h!) with MEPs and other policy makers until about 15:00h.

Travel reimbursement

People who have registered are eligible for reimbursement of (some of) their actual travel expenses after having taken part in the official visit to the European Parliament and Parlamentarium. Make sure to keep all tickets and receipts (travel, accommodation, food, local transport etc.) since we need the original tickets for reimbursement. The maximum reimbursement for your travel expenses is 0.09 € per km travel* from your EU-residence to Brussels and back plus an accommodation & food allowance of up to 100 €, if desired (see “Accommodation”). You can expect to receive the allowance within a month after FNF.

* ( 0.09 €/km travel forth and back = 0.18 € per km distance between your residence and the EP in Brussels as pre-calculated by the EP according to google maps)

Accommodation

We arranged some rooms in Hotel Adagio close to the venue, which is relatively affordable for this area. You can book a single or double/twin room when registering for the event or register without accommodation and arrange your own accommodation instead. If you book a double/twin room, you can either provide a name of a person you would like to share a room with or we chose a room-mate for you.
Registered participants who take part in the EP visit are eligible for an accommodation and food allowance of up to 100 €, so please keep all receipts for any food, accommodation, (local) travel. You can decide to claim the full amount or donate any part of it to cover FNF organisational costs.

Who can take part / receive support

The FNF (un)conference on Friday, Saturday and Sunday is open for everyone. However, since we are focusing on EU policy and meeting your MEPs, our main target group is EU citizens.
To take part in the official EP visit, and receive allowances, you must be a citizen of an EU member state, a former EU member state or an EU candidate country. For the application you need to provide name, complete private address, nationality and date of birth.
If you are not a citizen of a current or former EU member state or an EU candidate country, but live in a current or former EU member state or an EU candidate country, please contact us BEFORE registering, because we would need to hand in your relevant residence permits for approval.
People who are a resident in a third country cannot benefit from financial support by the EP. If you reside in a neighbouring EU country, please contact us BEFORE registering, because we would need to apply for an exemption (derogation) at the MEPs’ office.

Catering / Food

There will be no breakfast and no dinner organised at the venue. If you’re booking accommodation with us, you can order breakfast extra in the form.

LUNCH: Vegetarian/vegan lunch will be provided at the venue – if you are not registered, please e-mail us to say on which days you will attend lunch to help us estimate the number of people we should expect: contact@freedomnotfear.org

Expenses for the lunch are about 12€ per person, please chip in as much as you can to cover the costs, since we are self-funded.

Saturday evening, 2 Sep 2022, 19-22h, we are organising a joint FNF-networking-dinner for all participants and affiliates from around Brussels at a different venue, about 30min walk from Mundo Madou. Please sign up and pay (recommended donation: 12€) for it when checking in at fnf – places are limited.

Visiting the European Parliament

The visit to the EP on Monday will include a meeting with the MEPs who invited us, a visit to the Plenary and a visit to the Parlamentarium (new requirement for the sponsored MEP visit since this year).

Make sure to bring your valid passport/ID to the visit.
The EP is wheelchair-accessible – if you have any needs for support, please let us know in advance.

Programme & Content

There will be a call for session proposals and a pre-liminary programme will be compiled from all session proposals we get submitted.
It will still be possible to propose sessions spontaneously at the event.

The rough schedule is:

Friday, 1 Sep 2023, 18:00: Arrival, 19:00h Opening, keynote and discussion
Saturday and Sunday, 2/3 Sep 2023: Your sessions
Saturday night: networking-dinner for those who want
Monday, 4 Sep 2023, 8:30 until 14:00: visit to EP and Parlamentarium, meeting with MEPs, Commission staff and other EU policy makers.

Language

The main language of communication and workshops will be English. However, it is possible to also offer workshops or sessions in other languages. If someone is not comfortable communicating in English at the event, please support each other with translations.

Covid policy

There are no official restrictions in place. At the event we encourage everyone to be conscious of your own behaviour and respect needs for distance or other safety measures of people around you.

How is FNF organised?

Freedom not Fear is traditionally organised by a group of committed volunteers with support from last year’s organisers and administrative support from Digitalcourage in Bielefeld, Germany. The organising team is newly set up every year and starts preparing the event around February. Looking for an adequate venue, booking accommodation, contacting MEPs and dealing with a lot of EP administration and communication is part of the tasks as well as calculating a budget, looking for donations and funding, writing texts, setting up forms, advertising the event and communicating with participants. Interested to join the organising team or donate for the event? E-mail us at contact@freedomnotfear.org.

Freedom not Fear (fnf) is an annual self-organised conference on privacy and digital rights. People from all across Europe meet and work towards more freedom in the digitalised world, plan actions against increasing surveillance and other attacks on civil rights.

We will also take the chance to visit the European Parliament and talk to decision-makers at EU-level.

Save the date: 1-4 September 2023

* Friday evening: keynote talk
* Saturday-Sunday: un-conference
* Monday: European parliament visit

Please, spread the word about Freedom not Fear 2023 to people you think might be interested or should be there.

Registration & travel allowance

Registration is not open yet, please keep an eye on this space.

People officially registering for the conference including the visit to the European Parliament are applicable for some allowances. More information to come with the registration call out.

For regular updates join our mailing list: akv-international [at] listen.akvorrat [dot] org

Support needed

The event will be organised by a group of concerned people from all over Europe. If you want to make fnf 2023 happen, please join us. If you are based in Brussels or have some organising or language skills (french/dutch), would like to shape the event or help with communication and writing texts, please don’t hesitate to get in touch: contact@freedomnotfear.org