Editorial policy
bilaterals.org operates on the principle of open publishing which enables anyone to contribute and publish their own articles, or other materials they want to share, without need for approval from an external editorial board. Any materials submitted and published are immediately displayed on the site according to the date of submission, with the latest articles at the top.
People are encouraged to freely post articles relevant to the subject of the site: what’s happening with bilateral trade and investment agreements, and people’s movements against them, around the world. You are also encouraged to participate in free discussions by either by clicking on the the “comment on this article” link found at the bottom of each article..
At present, there is a lot of mainstream reporting from corporate media being posted. Those involved in launching and running the site hope to see much more independent news and analysis made available here. Either way, the posting of any material on this site does not imply endorsement from the groups and individuals involved in launching or maintaining it.
Minimal controls
The actual content of materials that are posted to bilaterals.org is not edited. However, the formatting, placement and choice of descriptors (keywords, article language, brief description) are sometimes adjusted to ensure proper classification and output.
The people helping to run the site will also place any article, comment or forum post in a special "offline area" if the content meets any of the criteria below:
– off-topic articles or posts inappropriate to be included in the main site
– duplicate articles or posts
– obviously libelous or slanderous material
– empty articles (no content)
– advocating, promoting or representing racism, homophobia, sexism or other forms of discrimination
– obviously incorrect or misleading, including attempts to spread deliberate disinformation
– containing threats or intimidation
– Submissions that are classified as spam or other forms of private business advertisments will be automatically deleted without prior notice. Repeated offense may result in the user being blocked from publishing anything further on the site.
Anyone can freely access the offline area by clicking here and entering the following login information:
– user name: guest
– password: room
Going further
If you want to get involved in running the site, this is a collective effort, open to participation. Any questions, proposals or feedback can be sent to bilaterals.org@gmail.com.