[Battlemesh] Battlemesh v5 december meeting minutes/notes/bullets @Berlin

Joseph Bonicioli nettraptor at awmn.net
Tue Jan 3 21:41:26 UTC 2012


>> Marek, to the best of my knowledge, you and Nico got in contact with 
>> *some* AWMN folks. But not with AWMN (as a legal entity as well as 
>> with the founders of AWMN) itself! AWMN (as a legal organization) is 
>> not involved so far to the best of my knowledge.

>I believe you have been misinformed - while we were in Greece we met some
of the AWMN founders but these are not the people we met in Barcelona. I can
put you in contact with the founders if you are interested.


>> You and Nico could contact those from AWMN which were present at the 
>> last WBM in Barcelona (if you want I can send you the contact details 
>> if you do not have them - I think you do). Maybe you can still figure 
> out something with some friendly diplomacy?

>I don't understand what this is about. Would you mind elaborating ?

>Regards,
>Marek

Hi Meshing guys,

Ok just to clear things out. 

The board of the AWMN Association does welcome the event in Greece and feel
proud that you've chosen Greece for this year's Battle Mesh! We will follow
the event and would be more than happy to see you all once again. Of course
all this does not make me or anyone else feel uncomfortable Roger at all!

On another note and from what is written above, it seems that we came to a
point that we have to put an extra effort and clear out a few things since
this list is being read by people all over the globe.  

Last March while we were attending BM (me, Stavros and Spiros) we were
approached by BM organizers in order to set the grounds for the next BM here
in Greece. I personally talked twice with the BM organizers, took notes and
pictured what is needed for a successful BM. 

Upon our return here in Greece we investigated a few places right away and
came up with the preliminary locations (set them on our node DB also to
check for connectivity). This involved talking to a Mayor, arranging and
investigating hotels, took a video (http://bit.ly/y68oSZ) of a Camping space
by the sea (all furnished with power supply per caravan space, restaurant,
hacking area etc.) and sending backwards and forwards e-mails with great
delays but hey that was March-July (early). 

All that was preliminary and all could change, but everything was left at a
good stage since the last summer. No worries and rush there of course since
that was still very early. We left it there and set an appointment for
September. 

September found our Association with the good news of participating in the
Confine EU Project. Credits go to our project leader who I guess suffered
the most. With this at hand we offered to organize in October the Confine
kick-off meeting in Greece and almost out of the blue the BM5 organization
trip coincided with our kick-off. Of course being in the wireless community
scene for the last 10 years whilst participating in almost all Greek Forums
and mailing lists these news could not be hidden.

The BM5 October meeting  (at no prior contact with the AWMN Association
myself or Stavros) was arranged by some Greek Openwrt enthusiasts (some
members of AWMN, some others cannot be considered as such), Marek and Nico
was hosted by Alex (acoul), and to cut the long story short, the
organization was handed to Melina (don't know her but I think I've seen her
once at Hacker Space), to some members of the Greek Non Profit Company for
Open Source Software (ELLAK) and the newly founded Hacker Space. From all
those people involved the only active persons in AWMN is Vassilis and Alex
the rest of the people are completely irrelevant to the CWNs here for as
long as I been around. Great people, we have collaborated in the past but
irrelevant to Grassroots CWNs. 

All this should sound normal and OK but according to me October BM
organizers approach was a disaster. Before BM organizers arriving here we
got no phone calls, no mails and no contact on a formal or informal level.
Following we got CCed in a halfhearted mail requesting that most of the
Confine "Group" of people are transported 30 Km to the center of Athens for
a meeting with BM organizers. 

In the meantime we sort of heard/read of another conspiracy, where allegedly
Battle Mesh TM was 'used' by Confine as an example group with interests on
its test bed to receive a grand by the EU. Most probably the brochure was
not read carefully and both me and Stavros encountered an uncomfortable
atmosphere in Athens Hacker Space when we traveled 30Km to at least say
hallo, share views and ideas. Sadly we had to deal with this entire storm;
we still passively offered our views and helped attendees to understand what
is required for a successful Battle Mesh, according to what we experienced
last year at Sant Bartomeu del Grau. 

I still did not understand how or what went wrong but after our meeting in
Hacker Space me and Stavros decided not to get involved with this years' BM
event any more. Being the two most active people in the Association's board,
having to deal with many other administrative/managerial matters, a new
project (CONFINE) and personal obligations to attend to, our stance
coincided with the AWMN Association's board decision. Being for the last 4
months out of the loop and now so far down the line we see no way of
reversing or changing this. 

To conclude this and clear some more misty views, that it is now obvious who
has created them, we are not the founders of AWMN and I am sure Marek you
have not met them and you haven't got any contacts. Some true founders have
passed away so they cannot speak for their self's and some others have just
given up for various misty and not so misty reasons. The people you have met
aka Me, Spiros and Stavros (and the rest in October Alex, Vassilis) are
second and third generation Members. I am not sure who you have been
introduced to but it is irrelevant anyway.

As far as the association is concerned, it is a nonprofit legal entity
(since 2002...yeah that old) that was created from day one together with the
network. 

The association is focused on:

-Representing the network 
-Creating, developing and maintaining a Wireless Community Network which
will provide broadband services to its members.
-Sustain services such as the Web site, the Forum, VoIP backbone, node DB,
limited and purposeful internet access, etc
-Interconnecting other communities in Greece and the World via VPN (first
connection is with Ljubljana CWN soon with guifi and funkfeuer) 
-Developing technologies based on wireless and digital telecommunications.
-Educating the public on the use of wireless and digital communications
-Promoting and encouraging volunteerism, radio amateurism and active
participation
-Promoting collaboration with other groups, legal entities, organizations,
companies etc.

We (referring to the association) have never restricted anybody in joining
the network. Participating in the network with no strings attached is by
default. Maybe to our mistake there is no regulation, no restrictions,
neutrality and freedom to be. Due to this, various "Cowboys" along the way
have tried to separate the Association from the network or to place tags on
people. I always found it both foolish and unsuccessful since given the
status of the project the only enemy is ourselves. Just another
pseudo-dilemma and a flame subject I call it usually. 

As far as the direct insulting allegations that were made, I offer this
clarification answer. I have been around the network since day one (have not
founded anything but merely followed infant lists and forums) with active
participation starting from 2004 when the network took off. I should also
point out that I have the honor to be for second time the elected President
of the Association and Stavros the Secretary. The person(s) that have
created this whole misunderstanding for you have voted for me 4 years ago.
Maybe this time as well. It makes it all even more interesting. The EU seems
to have found me legitimate enough to represent the network so I am not sure
how anyone else can claim otherwise. They must have another network or
another entity called something else. Surely not AWMN, since AWMN has a
history that they can share and participate in, but not claim! :)

Enough with this though. Leaving all this aside, we do truly trust and wish
that the chosen partners will do a great job. We all will be happy to see
you and welcome you all once again. Hopefully members from all communities
will participate in the Battle of the Mesh v.5 as well as in the half-year
meeting of Confine, the combination of which events would be a great
opportunity for mutual members to save on travel expenses. 

See you soon in Greece! 

P.S. And to play a bit with the tag line of the Tourism promoting agency of
Greece, "You have already lived your Myth"!

Regards,
Joseph Bonicioli



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