Juan Branco

Juan Branco

Juan Branco in 2011
Born (1989-08-26) August 26, 1989
Province of Málaga, Andalusia, Spain
Nationality French-Spanish
Alma mater École normale supérieure
Occupation Lawyer, Philosopher, Activist
Employer Max Planck Society, Wikileaks defense team

Juan Branco (born August 26, 1989[1]) is a French-Spanish academic, activist and lawyer.

A former adviser to the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court and the French minister of foreign affairs, he is the current legal representative of Wikileaks and Julian Assange's defense team in France[2] and has been one of the leaders of the struggle against the French copyright law HADOPI in 2009, along with La Quadrature du Net.[3]

Academia and professional experience

Juan Branco is currently a Senior Research Fellow in international law at the Max Planck Society[4] and has been a visiting researcher at the Yale Law School and a visiting faculty at Yale University.[5] He holds a doctorate in Law from l'Ecole normale supérieure[4][6] and was an editor for the Yale Journal of International Law.[7]

In parallel to his academic career, Juan Branco has been part of the Wikileaks and Julian Assange defense team, under the direction of Baltasar Garzon, after having worked for the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court as a special assistant and liaison officer[8][9][10][11] and served in the French minister of foreign affairs immediate office.[12][13][14]

Works

His works belong to the critical theory school and have featured collaborations with Noam Chomsky,[15][16] Julian Assange,[17] Alain Badiou,[18] Jean-Luc Godard[19][20] and Baltasar Garzon[8] on issues regarding copyright law, mass violences, surveillance and individual freedoms in the digital age.[21]

He has published on contemporary politics, political theory and international criminal law. Relying on a reinterpretation of the Hobbesian social contract theory, he authored a critical review of the first trial of the International Criminal Court to have reached a final conviction,[14] suggesting that the ICC was the creation of a "cosmopolitism of the chiefs" brought by the transformations of the Westphalian world.[22] Libération and Esprit have hosted his portrayals of contemporary political figures and movements like François Hollande,[23] Podemos[24] and Julian Assange.[25]

He has also written extensively on the digital revolution and its effects on cultural industries, proposing a new financing model for the cinema industry based on a wide democratization of cultural access.[26][27]

His main theoretical influences include Jean-Luc Godard, Georges Bataille, Pier Paolo Pasolini, Leonardo Sciascia and Serge Daney.[23][28]

Activism

Juan Branco emerged as one of the figures of the French civil society's digital rights defense during the HADOPI law debates. In April 2009, he authored a letter signed by part of the French cinema intelligentsia advocating against HADOPI.[29][30] The initiative, supported fifty personalities, including Catherine Deneuve, Chantal Ackerman or Christophe Honoré, was the first expression of defiance of the French cultural world against the proposed device and, in an unexpected outcome, triggered the repeal of the law in the French Parliament and the subsequent resignation of the Minister of culture and of the Minister in charge of the relations with the parliament.[3][31]

Shortly after, Juan Branco co-founded Création Public Internet with Jérémie Zimmermann and Philippe Aigrain, La Quadrature du Net, ISOC, SPEDIDAM and UFC Que Choisir,[32] a citizen think tank that aimed to theorize alternative models of cultural financing and copyright systems. His book Réponses à Hadopi, proposing a new legal and financial system for the movie's industry, and Philippe Aigrain's Sharing, were written in the aftermath of this experience.

2012 Hollande's cultural policies proposals

Chosen as an advisor to François Hollande during the 2012 French presidential campaign and as the chief of staff of the upcoming culture minister Aurélie Filippetti,[33] he conceived and defended a radical reform of French exception culturelle based on the repeal of HADOPI law and the decriminalization of non-commercial Peer-to-peer cultural exchanges.[34][35] Following an intense lobbying campaign by cultural industries representatives, his revocation was announced the day after the elections, triggering the abandonment of the reform plans and an important outcry from the civil society.[36][37]

As part of the Indignados movement, he later on advised the Partido X on European policies during the 2014 European elections Campaign.[38][39]

In May 2015, his critical narrative of the 2005 French riots trial[40] was adapted to screen.[41] The trial outcome triggered an important polemic and was perceived as the sign of the existence of a "judicial apartheid" in France.[42][43]

As the lawyer of Julian Assange and Wikileaks in France during the 2015 NSA Espionnage revelations,[44][45] he publicly represented the organization and interfaced with French authorities in Assange's tentative to obtain asylum in France.[46][47]

Journalism

As a journalist, Juan Branco covered the Kivu conflict and the Central African Republic Civil War (2012–present) for Le Monde diplomatique[48] and Les Inrockuptibles.[49]

Distinctions

2015 Fondation Varenne Award, given with the support of the International Criminal Court and the Presidency of the French Constitutional Council.[50]

Other

According to David Cronenberg, Juan Branco and his father influenced him to adapt the novel Cosmopolis to film.[51][52]

Close to Sciences Po's director Richard Descoings,[53] he represented Sciences Po's student community at his burial.[54]

Alumnus of the Ecole normale supérieure, he received the first Ph.D. in law in the history of the grande école.[14][55]

Bibliography

References

  1. ↑ http://catalogue.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/cb16517435h
  2. ↑ Wikileaks Press Release, June 29th 2015
  3. 1 2 Juan Branco: HADOPI's rejection is an immense victory for cinema and liberties, Libération, April 4th, 2009
  4. 1 2 Max Planck Biographical note
  5. ↑ Yale Department of French newsletter
  6. ↑ http://www.theses.fr/s103402 (Phd in Law)
  7. ↑ Yale Journal of International Law Issue
  8. 1 2 Geneva's Human Rights Summit biographical note
  9. ↑ "Séminaire à l'ENS Ulm: La CPI et le contrat social global". allevents.in. Retrieved 2016-01-11.
  10. ↑ "Tribune: ce que peut changer le prochain sommet de la Francophonie | Slate Afrique". Slate Afrique. Retrieved 2016-01-11.
  11. ↑ "Qui veut vraiment la paix au Congo ?". Le Monde diplomatique. 2012-11-01. Retrieved 2016-01-11.
  12. ↑ "Max Planck Institute Luxembourg: Juan Branco". www.mpi.lu. Retrieved 2016-01-11.
  13. ↑ "Centrafrique : ils sont devenus des tueurs, pas des monstres". Rue89. Retrieved 2016-01-12.
  14. 1 2 3 http://www.lgdj.fr/de-l-affaire-katanga-au-contrat-social-global-9782370320582.html
  15. ↑ Dialogue between Noam Chomsky and Juan Branco, part 1
  16. ↑ Dialogue between Noam Chomsky and Juan Branco, part 2
  17. ↑ Conference with Julian Assange
  18. ↑ Editorial description of L'ordre et le monde, edited by Alain Badiou
  19. ↑ Réponses à Hadopi, suivi d'un entretien avec Jean-Luc Godard
  20. ↑ Dialogue with Jean-Luc Godard
  21. ↑ La Quadrature du Net announcement of a symposium on mass surveillance
  22. ↑ https://books.google.fr/books?id=YycfCwAAQBAJ&pg=PP23&lpg=PP23&dq=hobbes+juan+Branco&source=bl&ots=hyiO8oiawe&sig=4FovlgvcbmXt6yRfkPrazK5bjf0&hl=fr&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi-6dbczJ_KAhVGiRoKHUyPB8cQ6AEINjAD
  23. 1 2 "Hollande ou la parole présidentielle fragmentée". Libération.fr. Retrieved 2016-01-12.
  24. ↑ Branco, Juan (2014-11-27). "Podemos : l'indignation au pouvoir ?". Esprit (in French). Décembre (12): 120–122. ISSN 0014-0759.
  25. ↑ Branco, Juan (2014-12-17). "Le spectre d'Assange". Esprit (in French). Janvier (1): 82–92. ISSN 0014-0759.
  26. ↑ http://www.lemonde.fr/idees/article/2010/05/25/reguler-le-partage-des-uvres-culturelles-sur-la-toile-par-juan-branco_1362655_3232.html
  27. ↑ http://www.lemonde.fr/livres/article/2011/06/06/reponses-a-hadopi-de-juan-branco_1532488_3260.html
  28. ↑ "Ce qui me fait rire ? Bernard-Henri Lévy en Libye Et partout ailleurs". Libération.fr. Retrieved 2016-01-12.
  29. ↑ Lettre ouverte aux spectateurs citoyens, Libération, April 7th 2009
  30. ↑ Open letter to the citizen'spectators, Translation
  31. ↑ Christine Albanel: "I regret that a few artists have been mislead"
  32. ↑ http://www.nextinpact.com/archive/51715-assises-creation-public-internet-licence.htm
  33. ↑ http://www.satellifax.com/lettre/gratuit/479055a087d0861d900dc55d336609c1775869e6/2012-05-21.pdf
  34. ↑ The shadow cultural program of François Hollande, Mediapart, June 7th, 2012
  35. ↑ An anti-hadopi activist joins Hollande's campaign La lettre A, February 13th, 2012
  36. ↑ The secret story of Hollande's cultural strategy, Mediapart, June 5th, 2012
  37. ↑ Here comes Filippetti and there goes the work Libération, May 23rd 2012
  38. ↑ Partido X's team
  39. ↑ Partido X's 2014 European elections team
  40. ↑ https://storify.com/anatolium/zyed-et-bouna-le-proces-des-policiers
  41. ↑ http://www.lesinrocks.com/2015/05/19/actualite/zyed-et-bouna-le-proces-adapte-en-film-11748798/
  42. ↑ http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/22/opinion/a-lingering-injustice-in-france.html?_r=0
  43. ↑ http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3085982/Verdict-French-police-case-sparked-riots.html
  44. ↑ Wikileaks Press Release, June 29th 2015
  45. ↑ Hollande Condemns Spying by U.S., but Not Too Harshly, New York Times, June 24th 2015
  46. ↑ Hollande refuses to host Julian Assange, Libération, June 3rd, 2015
  47. ↑ Mediapart TV series: the NSA Espionnage and Wikileaks,Mediapart
  48. ↑ "Qui veut vraiment la paix au Congo ?". Le Monde diplomatique. 2012-11-01. Retrieved 2016-01-17.
  49. ↑ "Juan Branco - Les Inrocks". Les Inrocks (in French). Retrieved 2016-01-17.
  50. ↑ "Prix de Thèse de l'Institut Varenne - École normale supérieure - Paris". www.ens.fr. Retrieved 2016-01-24.
  51. ↑ Interview with Don DeLillo, Slate, May 25th 2012
  52. ↑ Interview with David Cronenberg
  53. ↑ Richie, Raphaelle Bacqué, Paris, Grasset, 2015.
  54. ↑ http://www.sciences-po.asso.fr/gene/main.php?base=324&action=details&id_news=575
  55. ↑ "Lettre de l'Ecole normale supérieure" (PDF). Ecole normale supérieure. January 2016. Retrieved 15 january 2015. Check date values in: |access-date= (help)
  56. ↑ Editorial description of L'ordre et le monde
  57. ↑ BNF reference
  58. ↑ Library of the Congress

External links


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