Refurbishing the French Republic [I mean the square]...

Designed to provide a more pleasant living area and improve the overall quality of
of the environment, the renovation of the iconic place de la République just begun
with its completion expected in spring 2013.

So far the 60% of space was dedicated to car traffic - the future sharing of public space
will be more balanced and pedestrians will enjoy a central plaza with trees, a basin
surrounding the statue and two water mirrors.


But the square, its name and the statue itself have their own story. (check it HERE)

Representing the French motto 'Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité', the statue was inaugurated
on July 14, 1883, replacing the fountain built in 1811 and enlarged in 1865 as well as
the square, whose name was at that time Place du Chateau d'Eau.
(see the Haussmann urban planning).

Finally, in 1889, the Place du Chateau d'Eau was renamed and took its current name
and... reputation!

(Credit: Roswitha Guillemin & Yann Foreix).

(by bananiacool)
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As for refurbishing the French Republic... the time is ripe for a change and major
operations are in progress!

An eyeblink to the Belleville Dragon

[asieaparis]
The Dragon parade starting from the main City Hall, then leading toward the 3rd district
Mayor's hall.

[G@ttoGiallo]
The Belleville community of the 11th district, welcomes the Year of the Dragon
on January 29/2012.

Stoul on Le Mur/Ober...

Le M.U.R. - #113 STOUL - January 26/2012

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Protect Your Internet: Kill ACTA

Because ACTA 'jacta non est' - not yet - stand up and say 'NO'!
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After SOPA/PIPA in the US, ACTA makes its way to the EU Parliament.

[1TheRevolutionIsNow]
An open letter signed by many organizations, including Consumers International, EDRi (27 European
civil rights and privacy NGOs), the Free Software Foundation (FSF), the Electronic Frontier Foundation
(EFF), ASIC (French trade association for web 2.0 companies), and the Free Knowledge Institute (FKI),
states that "the current draft of ACTA would profoundly restrict the fundamental rights and freedoms of
European citizens, most notably the freedom of expression and communication privacy."


Paris, January 23rd, 2012
After the huge online protests against the extremist SOPA and PIPA copyright bills
discussed in the United States, the EU Parliament starts working on their global
counterpart: ACTA, the "anti-counterfeiting trade agreement".
Citizens across Europe must push back against this illegitimate agreement bound to
undermine free speech online, access to knowledge and innovation worldwide.
Tomorrow, the EU Parliament “development” committee (DEVE) will hold its first debate
on its draft opinion report on ACTA.

La Quadrature du Net videos - NO to ACTA (full version)

RESPECT MY NET: Tools to check whether your access provider is manipulating
your internet traffic: Neubot, GlasnostTest and many other additional tools to test
the overall quality of your Internet connections: HERE.
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Jan 19/2012 update: PIPA support collapses with 13 new senators opposed.

Jan 26/2012 update: The European Union and 22 of its member states signed on
Thursday 26 the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, or ACTA -- a major step toward
enforcement of the copyright treaty. Eight countries, including the United States, had
signed the agreement this past fall.
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Protect Freedom on the WEB: Kill Bills!

Today, January 18, is an important day for the Internet. Corporate websites, from
Google to Twitpic, along with civil society groups and individuals, have all joined
together in a common cause: to protest two American bills that could have grave
effects for global online free expression.

The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Protect-IP Act (PIPA) would both force
websites to pro-actively censor potentially copyrighted information, and could inflict
broad damage on the work of digital activists living under repressive regimes, as well
as restrict basic speech freedoms around the world [GLOBALVOICES].

Le site La Quadrature du Net est éteint aujourd'hui pour protester contre les
projets de lois SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) et PIPA (Protect-IP Act) actuellement
en discussion au Congrès des États-Unis, et contre l'accord sur la contrefaçon ACTA
(Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement), actuellement en débat au Parlement Européen.
Ces initatives sont une tentative globalisée de censure d'Internet au nom du droit
d'auteur. Elles porteront inévitablement atteinte à la liberté d'expression, à la protection
de la vie privée, à l'innovation et à la libre concurrence sur Internet.

Nous, devons appeler nos responsables politiques à s'opposer à ces textes illégitimes et dangereux.


[laquadrature]
Learn more and take action about ACTA at http://lqdn.fr/ACTA

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