Publishing guidelines

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Quick summary

Demosphere is an alternative, political, calendar deliberately covering a large range of political sensibilities. We publish most of the events that are submitted to us, but not all of them.

To appear in the calendar, an event should :

  1. have "political" content, in a general sense
  2. be open to all and inclusive (for example, admission fees must be reasonable and not exclude low income attendees),
  3. allow each attendee to participate and express him/herself (this excludes, for example, large political rallies with no discussion, concerts or shows with no discussion),
  4. have a message of "social progress" and not promote any form of domination (economic, sexist, racist, etc.). Note: this is a deliberately political criterion.
  5. be in the region covered by this calendar. Some events outside of this region may be published if they have a national or international appeal and may be attended by our readers.

Each of these points, and some others, are detailed below.


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1. "Political" content

Demosphere is a political calendar.

Examples of accepted events:

  • Demonstration for higher wages
  • End of year party of an activist student's union

Examples of inconclusive events:

  • Neighborhood picnic with community groups (it would depend on the exact focus of the community groups...)

Examples of rejected events:

  • End of year party for students of XYZ college (if there is no political content in it)
  • Humanitarian event without a political approach
  • Organic gardening workshop; nature related leisure activities; urban agriculture; ...

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2. Open to all / admission

Fees: admission fees must be reasonable and should not exclude low income attendees. This criterion is flexible. We will consider each event individually, especially if admission fees are used to support a political goal, union, or other organization.

Women-only meetings are accepted.

Examples of accepted events:

  • Open monthly meeting of organization XYZ
  • Screening and discussion at 5 euros

Examples of inconclusive events:

  • Fundraising dinner at 10 euros
  • Screening and discussion at 7 euros

Examples of rejected events:

  • Members only meeting for XYZ group
  • Conference and discussion at 15 euros

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3. Participation

Examples of accepted events:

  • Screening with a discussion
  • Theater show with a discussion
  • Demonstration

Examples of inconclusive events:

  • Fundraising concert with lots of stands where attendees can discuss

Examples of rejected events:

  • Concert with no discussion
  • Theater show without a discussion
  • Exhibit (the vernissage might be OK)
  • Large rally with little possibility of discussion

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4. Social progress / political position

Demosphere is a political calendar and we carefully consider each submitted event. Our political criteria are deliberately wide ranging, but they do exist. We will try to describe them here.

Events published by Demosphere support alternatives or criticize domination and established powers.

Political parties: Events organized exclusively by political parties with extensive participation in established power structures (FIXME: list...) are not accepted. Events with few speakers from these parties might be published, only if these speakers don't play an important role and if their goal is not to promote their party or their own person.

Events organized by political parties with less participation in established power structures (FIXME: list...), might be accepted, if their goal is not to promote their party or their own person (a notable example being electoral events).

Institutional: events organized by institutions (mayors, districts ...) are only published if it is clear that they support real alternatives and opposition to established power. This is unfortunately not often the case.

Commercial: we do not publish events where commercial interests play a significant role.

Examples of accepted events:

  • Electoral event by marxist / radical party
  • Discussion organized by the left mayor of XYZ, with a significant place for critical, radical, opposition speakers

Examples of inconclusive events:

  • FIXME

Examples of rejected events:

  • Political rally with FIXME
  • Electoral event organized by FIXME
  • Discussion with speakers from parties FIXME, having a high media profile
  • Conference where speakers belong to and promote a commercial business

Special and sensitive issues

Demosphere is an alternative calendar. We avoid publishing events that focus on criticizing « official enemies » also targeted by the media and established power... even if, in certain cases, some elements of that criticism might seem legitimate.

Particularly, on foreign affairs, we prefer events focused on a critique of our own ruling classes and their allies.

Here are sensitive issues that we feel fit within this framework:

Iran: Iran is a clearly designated enemy of western foreign policy and faces serious military threats from the west. A war would have disastrous consequences for the whole population. Western countries, particularly the United States, have invested considerable funds to destabilize Iran. We have no sympathy for the ruling regime and we condemn its repressive policies. However, we will not publish any events on Iran if they are not centered on opposing western foreign policy and on the dangers of war.

Syria: our editorial policy is similar to that on Iran (see above).
We publish events on Syria if they:
1) clearly criticize the Syrian police state and its repressive policies
2) are centered on criticism of the policies of our rulers and their allies
3) clearly and explicitly oppose any threat of military intervention or interference

Islam : We live in a serious climate of xenophobia and racism fueled by the media and established powers. We will not publish events that are critical of Islam, if they are not centered on opposing this xenophobic climate.

Tibet : please see Michael Parenti's article "Friendly feudalism - the Tibet myth"

Events on China and Russia also fit in this framework.


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5. In our region

FIXME is a calendar for FIXME. Demosphere calendars exist in several regions (https://demosphere.net). If there is no calendar in your region, feel free to contact us, we will be happy to help you create a calendar in your region.

The events we publish are in FIXME and around FIXME.

We also publish certain events outside of FIXME, when we think that our readers (that are from FIXME) might want to attend. That is the case for events that have national or internation appeal. That also goes for events that span several days and that plan, if possible, for housing and transport.

Examples of accepted events:

  • National demonstration against nuclear power in FIXME
  • NATO counter-summit in FIXME
  • International march in Brussels
  • Summer camp for the XYZ group in FIXME

Examples of inconclusive events:

  • Meeting of local group XYZ in FIXME (a bit far away)

Examples of rejected events:

  • Screening and discussion in FIXME (very far away)
  • FIXME