Bilingual Edition. The English version follows the Chinese version.
雙語版。華語版本在前，英語版本在後。

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到 2016-03-15 這天為止，我們的朋友巴賽．卡爾塔畢在敘利亞已被囚禁了四年。眾多自由知識運動的參與者，用著自身所熟悉的協作、網絡、混用方法，訴求他的釋放。廣大的人權社群，如國際特赦組織，也一起攜手聲援。在去年十月，我們的訴求變得非常緊急，因為卡爾塔畢不知道被移送到何處，或有可能被軍事法庭秘密判決。因著他的消失，多項計畫隨即發動。其中包括以卡爾塔畢之前所量測的三維資料為基礎的一項古城再現計畫 #NEWPALMYRA [^1]，以及兩本書的發行。《等候……》[^2] 由卡爾塔畢的妻子諾拉．卡芝．撒法地所撰寫。同時，近五十位朋友和資源共有的信念者編寫了《自由的代價：集體的探尋》[^3]。這些計畫的目的在於彰顯並延續巴賽的工作，並要求他的立即自由。

這篇文稿，據我的瞭解將刊載在以目前型態發行的《創用 CC 電子報》的最後一期。Creative Commons 在許多司法管轄區都有合作計畫，「台灣創用 CC 計畫」是幾個組織得最好、最有效用的團隊之一。我很榮幸能與計畫主持人莊庭瑞以及第一任的共同主持人陳舜伶共事，成為朋友。在此我也敦促大家，可以查閱他們在協作、策略、人權方面的論文[^4][^5]。

在此轉換時刻，寫一篇類同評論《自由的代價》的稿件，應該還算合適。此書貢獻者眾多，其中許多曾參與台灣創用 CC 計畫過去十多年所發起的活動和計畫。這本書是個人、內省的創作，全然內生於知識共有運動之中，而這也是台灣創用 CC 計畫所處在的歷史情境。這書也掙扎著要去批評並拓展這些運動的視野，但同時彰顯這些運動為實現一個良善未來的努力、代價、以及其重要性。

《自由的代價》一書的發想，早在於 2010 年一月。那時我參與了《協作未來》[^6] 一書的衝刺書寫，我記得那時候亞當．海德談到走向開放的痛苦。他是「自由開源軟體手冊」以及「衝刺書寫」兩項計畫的發起人。《自由的代價》也是以衝刺書寫的方式完成，只不過文章來自世界各地。（譯註：衝刺書寫意指聚集一群人，在短時間內把一本書寫出來，譯自英文 book sprint 一詞。）

海德的〈為何我拒絕了私有財產化的自我〉是書中的一章。文中他論述，將被私有財產化的生活，層層剝離的痛苦。有些諷刺的是，海德是在考慮是否將 Book Sprints 一詞去註冊為商標，是否將其覆上私有財產紋理的當下，質問了自己：這代價究竟為何？醒悟之後，他拒絕提出商標申請。

衝刺書寫一開始是用來編寫自由軟體的使用手冊[^7]。近年來，這方法同被用來產出具理念性質（《協作未來》是首例）或是特殊題材但可被近用的圖書，例如《原油契約入門》[^8] 以及《讀懂礦產契約》[^9]。一群人聚首最多五天，協力之下經常能產出有著獨特集體聲音的圖書。

集體的聲音並未出現在《自由的代價》。雖然是在一次實體聚會中撰寫了這書的部份（並完成全書的編輯），但實質上出現於本書的文字並不是集體的聲音。主要是這書也徵集了非衝刺者的貢獻，於此我甚為鼓勵[^10]。各方的文稿讓這書有著更寬廣的範圍，像是不刻意編排的合輯，而不是如書名附標題所說的，集體的探索。集體的探索，或許尚待衝刺。

書中直接關於卡爾塔畢，或是關於廣義的自由知識運動的文章，最為動人。貝瑞．涂爾所寫的〈巴賽．卡爾塔畢不尋常的創造力〉，說明了「釋放巴賽」動員[^11] 其中的個人以及社會脈絡：

最後，巴賽穿越暗處來到檢查哨，面無表情的警衛埋頭接耳一番後，大馬士革我終於來了。克里斯多弗隔天來找我們，一群人一起擁抱巴賽的世界，一個為自由奮力，時時為友人與社群援臂相助的世界。直到今天這依然鼓舞著我們前進。這種不尋常的創造力，奠基於過去但創新於未來，讓他成為敘利亞社會中重要的遠見者。

對於自由知識運動，書中幾篇文章也提出有用的批評。其中約翰．威爾班的〈運動的內圈與外圍〉講到兩敗俱傷的對立態度。喬治．伽立歐提所寫的〈自由之屎〉，將「只急著推銷，忙著擺姿勢」的運動參與者，又愛又恨狠狠唸了一頓。在〈昂貴世界裡的自由文化〉文中，肖娜．高登-麥科恩如是說：

團結一致，聲援那些爭扎著維護自身安全以及對抗虐待的人，不僅是應該的，也是幫助我們全體人。自由文化運動若是代表人類多樣文化的實現，就是人人愛其所好，盡其所能。這運動若能包含所有共享這價值的全體人，那我們也就有資源和能力，去確保一個充滿活力和眾人珍惜的共有數位新天地。

梅娜妮．督儂．德侯內在〈跨界〉一文主張，爭取知識的自由，對我們許多人來說其代價微小但報償巨大，但是：

巴賽．卡爾塔畢被無情囚禁，提醒我們何其幸運，生活在可以自由表達的環境。僅有的社會代價，對我而言是跟保守人士不相往來，不過我也不需要他們的認同跟友誼。其實這也不是個問題，因為開放已漸是政治正確的，甚至在西方文化，是新潮的。

新接觸這領域的人，若想知道投入的時間與心力成本，是否值得。我的看法是，這全球運動發展正向方案以替代圈地作為，促進社會正義，並追求知識、資訊、文化、教育、美食、醫藥的自由近用。能貢獻一己之力於此，其中的喜樂、驕傲、以及得到的精神鼓舞，遠超過投入的成本。

收錄於《自由的代價》的短文，也不是每篇都是論說文。安娜蘇亞．申古帕的短詩〈自由對你們的意義是什麼，政府先生們？〉，呼喚「過去幾年在世界各處，受到當地政府騷擾，監禁或被消失的眾多記者∕作家∕網際網路運動者的姓名」，將營救巴賽的動員及其成敗意涵，放大引伸。經由〈自由〉這首法語詩，唐娜特拉．德拉．若塔以 1942 年黑暗時刻中的希望，隱喻此刻敘利亞的黑暗與希望。她同時也以這首詩，對著作權的成本以及化解方法，下了個巧妙的註解。

莊庭瑞的短文，帶我們回到這書的個人面向。其中最後幾句，對《自由的代價：集體的探尋》這本書，做了個或許是最佳的總結：

要得自由並非不需代價。我的朋友自由並非不需代價。我的朋友不得自由，付出了代價。

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譯註：原文中的外語人名，本文翻譯如下：
Mike Linksvayer 麥克．領思維爾
Bassel Khartabil 巴賽．卡爾塔畢
Noura Ghazi Safadi 諾拉．卡芝．撒法地
Adam Hyde 亞當．海德
Barry Threw 貝瑞．涂爾
Christopher 克里斯多弗
Giorgos Cheliotis 喬治．伽立歐提
Shauna Gordon-McKeon 肖娜．高登-麥科恩
Mélanie Dulong de Rosnay 梅娜妮．督儂．德侯內
Anasuya Sengupta 安娜蘇亞．申古帕
Donatella Della Ratta 唐娜特拉．德拉．若塔

[^1]: http://www.newpalmyra.org/
[^2]: http://waiting4bassel.cc/
[^3]: 《自由的代價》以 CC0 公眾領域貢獻宣言（1.0 版）釋出，可在網站 http://costoffreedom.cc 閱讀及取得，並可自由下載、混用、分享。
[^4]: 莊庭瑞的網頁： http://www.iis.sinica.edu.tw/~trc/public/
[^5]: 陳舜伶放在「社會科學研究網路」上的論文： http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/cf_dev/AbsByAuth.cfm?per_id=1653537
[^6]: http://collaborative-futures.org/
[^7]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_sprint
[^8]: http://openoil.net/understanding-oil-contracts/
[^9]: http://ccsi.columbia.edu/2013/12/16/mining-contracts-how-to-read-and-understand-them/
[^10]: 因為我同時涉入《自由的代價》一書的組織活動，也撰文一篇，所以最多這只能說是「類同評論」。同時是同一作品的消費者與生產者，當然，是常見於自由知識運動；這賦予個人動力，但也不是沒有代價。
[^11]: http://freebassel.org/

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Cost of Freedom:
meditations on the costs, rewards, and necessity of freedom for all, and immediately for our friend

By Mike Linksvayer

Our friend Bassel Khartabil has been imprisoned in Syria for four years as of 2016-03-15. Participants in various free knowledge movements, have campaigned for his release, using our native methodologies of collaboration, networking, and remix. We have been joined by the broader human rights community, including organizations such as Amnesty International. The campaign took on a new urgency last October, when Khartabil had been transferred to an unknown location, possibly to be judged in secret by a military court. Projects launched immediately following his disappearance include #NEWPALMYRA[^1] which builds on Khartabil's 3D modeling of the ancient city, and two books: Waiting...[^2] by Noura Ghazi Safadi, who is married to Khartabil, and Cost of Freedom: A Collective Inquiry[^3] with contributions from 50 friends and commoners. These projects aim to honor and continue Bassel's work, and demand his immediate freedom.

I understand that this text will appear in the last issue of the Creative Commons Taiwan newsletter in its current form. CC Taiwan has long been one of the best organized and most effective CC affiliates. I'm proud to count CC Taiwan's leader Tyng-Ruey Chuang and first legal director Shun-Ling Chen as friends and collaborators. I urge all to learn from their publications[^4][^5] on collaboration, policy, and human rights.

A quasi-reivew of Cost of Freedom seems appropriate for this juncture. Many of the book's contributors have participated in events and projects led by CC Taiwan over the past 10+ years. The book is personal and inward-looking, certainly native to knowledge commons movements, within which is one of the ways CC Taiwan is historically situated. The book also struggles to critique and expand the horizons of these movements, while also honoring their efforts, costs, and importance to achieving a good future.

The idea for Cost of Freedom goes back to at least January, 2010. That's when I recall FLOSS Manuals and Book Sprints founder Adam Hyde talking about the pain of becoming open, during the Collaborative Futures[^6] book sprint. Cost of Freedom would also be written in a sprint, but with essays contributed from around the world.

One of those essays is Hyde's Why I Refused My Proprietary Self, concerning the pain of peeling off layers of proprietary living. Ironically, the prospect of costs is what woke Hyde up from the path of adding another proprietary layer, of obtaining trademark for Book Sprints in this case.

The first book sprints[^7] were used to create manuals for free software. In recent years, the methodology has been used to produce both more conceptual (Collaborative Futures was the first) and specialized yet accessible books, e.g, Understanding Oil Contracts[^8] and Mining Contracts: How to Read and Understand Them.[^9] Up to 5 days of intense in person collaboration often obtains a unique collective voice for the resulting book.

That collective voice is missing from the Cost of Freedom. Part of it was written and all assembled at an in-person book sprint, but essentially none of the text is in a collective voice, largely due to accepting contributions from non-sprinters -- something that I encouraged.[^10] These contributions give the book more range than it would have had otherwise, but also make it more of a lightly edited volume rather than, as its subtitle claims, a collective inquiry. Perhaps that book remains to be sprinted.

The Cost of Freedom essays that work best are directly about Khartabil or about the broader costs of free knowledge movements. Barry Threw's The Uncommon Creativity of Bassel Khartabil gives a sense of the personal and social moorings of the Free Bassel campaign[^11]:

Eventually, Bassel came walking through the dark to that checkpoint, and with more whispers to lackluster guards I was on my way to Damascus. Christopher met our group the next day, and together we all embraced Bassel's world, one of standing up for freedom, and constantly giving to his friends and community, that to this day inspires us to push further. This Uncommon Creativity, an ability to innovate and invent in the future while building on the past, is what makes him a vital visionary for the Syrian community

Several essays offer helpful criticisms of free knowledge movements, among them John Wilbanks' Inside or Outside the Movement about the costs of internecine posturing, Giorgos Cheliotis' The Shit of Freedom, a rant of love and frustration with movement participants "too busy working on your sales pitch, or curating your posse", and Shauna Gordon-McKeon's Free Culture in an Expensive World:

Acting in solidarity with the struggle for physical security and against abuse is not only the right thing to do, it benefits all of us. When the free culture movement represents the fullness of human diversity, scratching your own itch will leave everyone satisfied. When it contains everyone who shares its values, we'll have the resources and the reach we need to ensure a vibrant and widely-treasured digital commons.

In Transdisciplinarity Mélanie Dulong de Rosnay argues that for many of us, the costs of struggling for free knowledge are small, and the rewards great:

The cruel detention of Bassel Khartabil reminds us of the incredible luck of living in such a privileged environment with freedom of expression. My only social cost has been exclusion by conservative people from whom I needed neither approval nor friendship, and this doesn't even happen so much anymore since openness is becoming more politically correct and even hyped in Western culture.

To newcomers wondering if the cost in terms of time and efforts is worth the involvement: it is nothing compared to the inspiration gained and the joy and pride of contributing to a global movement that is developing positive alternatives to enclosures, and promoting social justice, freedom and access to knowledge, information, culture and education, good food and medicine.

Not every Cost of Freedom contribution is in essay form. Anasuya Sengupta's poem What Does Freedom Mean to You, Mr. Government? raises the stakes of the campaign to free Bassel by invoking "names of journalists/writers/Internet activists from different parts of the world who have been harassed, imprisoned, or disappeared by their governments in the past few years." With Liberté, Donatella Della Ratta invokes hope from another dark time (1942) to this dark time in Syria, while slyly dropping a footnote about the cost of copyright and its workarounds.

Tyng-Ruey Chuang's contribution brings us back to the personal. Its last phrases perhaps serve as the best summary of Cost of Freedom: A Collective Inquiry:

Getting to freedom is not cost free. My friend it is not free. MY FRIEND IS NOT FREE.

[^1]: http://www.newpalmyra.org/
[^2]: http://waiting4bassel.cc/
[^3]: Cost of Freedom is released under CC0-1.0 and may be read, downloaded, remixed, and shared at http://costoffreedom.cc
[^4]: Tyng-Ruey Chuang's public home page: http://www.iis.sinica.edu.tw/~trc/public/
[^5]: Shun-Ling Chen's papers at the Social Science Research Network: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/cf_dev/AbsByAuth.cfm?per_id=1653537
[^6]: http://collaborative-futures.org/
[^7]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_sprint
[^8]: http://openoil.net/understanding-oil-contracts/
[^9]: http://ccsi.columbia.edu/2013/12/16/mining-contracts-how-to-read-and-understand-them/
[^10]: This is a quasi-review at best because I was involved in organizing Cost of Freedom contributions and contributed an essay. Of course being at once a consumer and producer of the same works is endemic to free knowledge movements, and both empowering and costly.
[^11]: http://freebassel.org/