The Alliance

Qu’est-ce que le commerce équitable aujourd’hui ? Qui en sont les principaux acteurs ? Quel est son avenir ? Autant de questions auxquelles ce livre se propose de répondre à travers sept expériences sur le terrain dans différentes régions du monde. Au gré de ce voyage, le lecteur partira notamment au Chiapas au cœur d’une petite organisation de producteurs de café, en Bolivie au sein d’une exploitation de quinoa, en Inde pour explorer des formes moins traditionnelles de commerce équitable… Lire la suite ici !

Une coédition « Le livre équitable » entre 6 éditeurs du réseau hispanophone : Libros de la Araucaria (Argentine), Lom ediciones (Chili), Marea editorial (Argentine), Txalaparta (Espagne), Icono (Colombie), Plural (Bolivie).

Année de parution : 2012 - 2013

À quand l’Afrique ? Voilà bien une question que nous préférons éviter, tant l’Afrique semble sans avenir. Mais Joseph Ki-Zerbo, historien et homme d’action burkinabé, ne peut et ne veut occulter cette question. Pour lui, l’Afrique doit conquérir son identité, fière de sa contribution à l’aventure humaine.
Un livre passionnant, nourri d’une Afrique vécue et étudiée pendant des décennies, riche de réflexions profondes d’un historien sur le rôle de son métier pour l’action concrète des hommes. Un livre engagé : N’an lara, an sara (Si nous nous couchons, nous sommes morts).

Joseph Ki-Zerbo, éminent historien, né à Toma (Burkina Faso) en 1922, est décédé en 2006 à Ouagadougou. Il a notamment publié Histoire de l’Afrique noire (Hatier), dirigé les volumes I et IV de la monumentale Histoire générale de l’Afrique (UNESCO), et La Natte des autres : pour un développement endogène en Afrique (Karthala). Il est interrogé par René Holenstein, docteur en histoire et spécialiste des questions du développement, longtemps en poste à Ouagadougou.

Cette réédition d’À quand l’Afrique, qui intervient après la disparition du Professeur Joseph Ki-Zerbo en 2006, rend témoignage de l’actualité et de la profondeur de sa pensée. Elle est publiée simultanément en Afrique, en Europe, au Canada et en Haïti.

Cette réédition est augmentée de notes réalisées par les éditions Pallas au Brésil pour la publication en portugais de l’ouvrage. Ces notes ont été traduites en français par Caroline Sordia.

Date de la première édition : 2004 ; réédition : 2013 ; 240 pages ; format poche ; ISBN France : 9782708241626 ; ISBN Suisse : 9782829004568 ; ISBN Québec : 9782897120337

Cette coédition solidaire porte le label Le livre équitable.  

Les coéditeurs et l’Alliance remercient Claude Calame, directeur d’études à l’EHESS à Paris et la Direction du Développement et de la Coopération suisse pour leur précieux soutien.

Les manœuvres des cigarettiers, les mensonges ayant entouré le Médiator, les non-dits de l’industrie chimique à propos du Bisphénol A : les scandales de santé publique ne manquent pas. Bien qu’il n’y ait pas toujours eu de certitude scientifique quant à la nocivité de ces produits, le principe de précaution aurait dû l’emporter. Nous sommes aujourd’hui dans la même situation pour les OGM.

Faisant le constat du refus des autorités publiques de jouer leur rôle, des défaillances, des conflits d’intérêt et autres manœuvres destinées à empêcher la recherche indépendante et la transparence sur les effets des OGM, le Comité de recherche et d’information indépendantes sur le génie génétique (Criigen) a décidé de mener lui-même une expérimentation qui est une première.

Corinne LEPAGE raconte dans cet ouvrage la saga de cette expérience, la manière dont elle s’inscrit dans l’histoire des OGM en Europe et les perspectives de participation qu’elle ouvre à la société civile. Elle propose un nouveau modèle d’expertise, pluraliste, pluridisciplinaire et contradictoire, fondé sur la responsabilité des experts et des politiques, et dans lequel les citoyens ont toute leur place.

Résumé extrait du site Internet des éditions Charles Léopold Mayer

Éditeur : Il leone verde
Date de publication : 2013 ; 140 pages ; ISBN : 9788865800669

Following the digital publishing meeting organised by the Alliance in Tunis in 2011, several Arabic publishers members of the Alliance started producing and commercialising ePub files. These recent experiments have revealed several obstacles faced in the Arab world : Arabic font particularities, challenges to commercialise publications in online sales platform, etc. Arab-speaking publishers have therefore wished to hold a workshop to discuss these issues and mutualise, as far as possible, tools and techniques.

This workshop will allow Arab-speaking publishers to receive practical training for ePub development, while trying to bring solutions to the problems linked to the digital conversion of Arabic texts. While Arabic digital content is currently sparse, it seems essential to promote the digitalisation of traditional publishers, guardians of bibliodiversity in the Arabic-speaking space.
In this context, publishers will formulate recommendations to facilitate the digitalisation of files and promote a better distribution and dissemination of digital publications in the Arab world. These proposals will be diffused at the level of public authorities but also at international standard entities such as the International Digital Publishing Forum (IDPF).

The Alliance’s Digital Lab will share Arabic-speaking publishers’ experiences and support their project in the medium term.

Following the workshop, 3 May, from 11:00 to 12:00, do not miss the public speech on “Words and money”, a book by André Schiffrin translated and co-published by the Arabic-language network of the Alliance. More information here !

This workshop is organized in partnership with the Abu Dhabi International Book Fair and supported by the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie (Direction de la Francophonie numérique) and the Prince Claus Fund.

For independent publishers, the diffusion and distribution of “difficult” books such as human sciences books often present a challenge. These books have problems finding their readership in a book market characterized by editorial overproduction, a strong concentration of publishing businesses, points of sales and distribution structures.

To valorize a production less mainstream, some publishers adopt original distribution and promotion strategies by bringing on board associative actors, new digital actors, or by setting up partnerships with universities. These isolated initiatives are however not well known from most publishers.

This is why, in the spirit of solidarity driving the Alliance, publishers want to share experiences and knowledge by addressing these issues during a workshop. In order to promote a better circulation of human and social sciences texts, books presentations will also be organized to enable the creation of translation and copublishing projects between publishers of the Alliance. Some of these projects could then be financially supported by the Alliance.

This workshop is organized in partnership with the Frankfurt Book Fair, and with the support of the Fondation de France, the Centre national du Livre and the Goethe-Institut in South Africa.

Co-publishing projects, which are at the centre of the Alliance’s activities and reflexions since its beginnings, promote a better diffusion of works and ideas, while providing an opportunity for cost sharing between publishers. These professional partnerships, based on trust and collective work methods, also represent a mutual exchange of knowledge that promotes an increased professionalization of publishers.

After 10 years of practices and experiences, a report is in order : how many solidarity co-publishing projects were launched in a decade, and in how many countries ? What are the financial implications of these projects ?

To punctuate this workshop with concrete examples, the “Terres solidaires” collection (pan-African solidarity co-publishing) serves as a pilot case study, but other projects developed in or outside of the Alliance will feed into the discussion. Participants will reflect on ways of developing new partnerships while strengthening these projects’ collective dimension. It will also propose some strategies to facilitate cooperation with regards to copyrights transfers (North-South, and mainly South-North and South-South) and will consider the digital data.

From these exchanges, participants will develop a “good editorial practices” guide. This guide could lead to the drafting of a charter that would accompany the Alliance’s Fair Trade Book logo.

To deepen discussions and enable practical exchanges between language networks, Guido INDIJ (Director of la marca editora publishing in Argentina) will discuss the reflections and projects led in the Spanish-language network over the years in terms of publishing partnerships.

Finally, and since most co-publishing and translation projects come from encounter between people, a considerable amount of time will be dedicated to a project fair. This “mini Frankfurt” will provide the opportunity for publishers to propose works for copyrights transfers or co-publishing to their colleagues. These projects could be supported (logistically, legally or financially) by the Alliance in the near future.

The publishers’ presence in Ouagadougou will provide an opportunity to facilitate, in partnership with the Joseph Ki-Zerbo Foundation and Sankofa & Gurli Publishers, the launch of the last solidarity co-publishing project entitled “À quand l’Afrique ? Joseph KI-ZERBO’s interview with René HOLENSTEIN”, a launch that will close the workshop on June 17 2013.

This workshop is supported by the “Organisation internationale de la Francophonie” and the “Centre national du livre”.

Preparatory and thematic meeting of the International Assembly of Independent Publishers

In partnership with the Bologna Youth Book Fair, the Alliance convenes eight African publishers in Bologna from the 23rd to the 27th of March 2013.

How can we reconcile publishing on two levels simultaneously, addressing both the local readership and a potential international one ? During the preparatory meeting held on 23rd and 24th March, publishers will share their experiences on the international level and will discuss design and production publishing standards relative to youth books. A literary agent will also participate to support publishers in their reflexions and facilitate a think-tank on publishing and commercial strategies that could be developed to reach greater visibility on international markets. One of the objectives of the workshop is to formulate recommendations and develop an advocacy document to enable the presence of publishers from the South in book fairs. Finally, this meeting will be the occasion of a project fair that could lead to translation proposals, transfers of rights and co publishing projects.

On site from 25th to 27 March at the Africa collective stand (hall 29, stand C/57), publishers are looking forward to welcome you !

The Alliance warmly acknowledges the support of Bologna Children’s Book Fair, Fondation de France, Centre national du livre and the Institut français of Madagascar, essential to the implementation of this workshop.

Read more about this workshop and about the International Assembly.

From 24 to 28 November 2012, the publishers from the Spanish-language network met in Mexico, in the margins of the Guadalajara International Book Fair (FIL). During this meeting, the Spanish network coordinator, Juan Carlos SÁEZ, discussed the decisions taken at the ICIP Meeting (International Committee of Independent Publishers) in October 2012. Thereafter, the publishers presented a report on the state of bibliodiversity in their country since 2007 (progresses, obstacles, how does digital publishing shape independent publishing, how publishers collectives operate, what are the Alliance’s priority areas for the years to come). The publishers then worked in small groups on specific themes (co-publishing, digital publishing, public policies...), to develop a network action plan for the next two years and prepare the Assembly 2013 and 2014 of the Alliance.

Publishers also participated to the Otra Mirada Forum, jointly organised by the FIL and the Librerías Cálamo.

Finally, on 28 November 2012, at 13h00, the Alliance facilitated a roundtable in partnership with the FIL on “Changes in the book industry : the challenges of bibliodiversity”.

The report of this workshop is underway.

"In this age of deep transformation, we wish to convene a meeting to reflect on our practices, listen to new ideas and include new generations of publishers who share our concerns. Considering two new factors – emergence of new digital actors and global financial crisis – we wish to question our role and reaffirm the issue of bibliodiversity.

In this spirit, we have decided to hold the International Assembly of Independent Publishers, which will be a series of preparatory and thematic workshops in 2013, closing with an Assembly of allies (general meeting) in 2014. The whole process will lead to :
* propositions and recommendations towards bibliodiversity aimed at public authorities ;
* cooperative and innovative publishing between independent publishers, based on equity principles ;
* new forms of partnerships with other professionals from the book industry meeting in the context of bibliodiversity.

Gathering more than 100 independent publishers from the five continents, the International Assembly of independent publishers is a unique event, professional and intercultural. Professionals, public authorities, institutions and civil society representatives are invited to join us to strengthen and keep bibliodiversity alive".

Paris, on 26 October 2012

by the International Committee of Independent Publishers :
Nouri Abid (Med Ali publishers, Tunisia),
Serge Dontchueng Kouam (Presses universitaires d’Afrique, Cameroon), Susan Hawthorne (Spinifex Press, Australia),
Hamid Medhipour (Forough Verlag, Germany),
Araken Ribeiro Gomes (Contra Capa, Brazil),
Juan Carlos Sáez (JC Sáez Editor, Chile)