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Apologies for cross posts.<br>
<br>
Anriette<br>
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<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%"><b>Remarks from
the Association for Progressive Communications on the
NETmundial Initiative (NMI) Initial Scoping Meeting to be held
in Geneva on 28 August 2014</b></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%"><br>
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%">By the time most
members of civil society active in Internet governance heard of
the NETmundial Initiative (or Alliance as it as originally
termed) it was already a fait accompli. A few carefully selected
civil society invitees were given a choice to get on board, or
miss their chance to participate in internet governance's next
'great event'. A further few were invited to the initial scoping
meeting.<sup><a moz-do-not-send="true" class="sdfootnoteanc"
name="sdfootnote1anc" href="#sdfootnote1sym"><sup>1</sup></a></sup></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%"><br>
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%">APC was one of
the organizations that received an invitation but as we are not
attending the meeting we are sharing these remarks.</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%"><br>
</p>
<p>The NMI appropriates the name of NETMundial, the
multistakeholder event held in Brazil earlier this year. Yet
there are few resemblances between the NMI and NETMundial
outside of the name. The initiative was conceived of in a top
down manner, and efforts to implement it so far – the scoping
meeting- have reflected this approach.<!-- --> It has been
neither inclusive nor transparent. It is of great concern to APC
that information about the event was only released to the public
by the organisers after it had been leaked. This is not an
appropriate profile for any event that purports to operate in
the spirit of the NETMundial principles. And it does not bode
well for its future success as a multistakeholder initiative. It
is hard to grasp how an initiative that starts off in this
manner can become a democratic, transparent and participatory
venue for the global community serving human rights and the
public good.</p>
<p>Started, it appears, by the Chief Executive of ICANN, and
facilitated and hosted by World Economic Forum (WEF), the NMI
appears to have good intentions, namely to (quoting from the
brief): 1) “Facilitate a distributed environment of effective
global cooperation among stakeholders through innovative and
legitimate mechanisms to tackle current and future Internet
issues; 2) Inform and equip capacity development initiatives to
ensure global participation in Internet cooperation, especially
from under-represented regions; and 3) Work to build trust in
the Internet and its governance ecosystem.” <sup><a
moz-do-not-send="true" class="sdfootnoteanc"
name="sdfootnote2anc" href="#sdfootnote2sym"><sup>2</sup></a></sup></p>
<p><font color="#000000">But is the WEF an appropriate forum for
these processes? </font><font color="#000000">The WEF has
close links to business, and is mostly financed by </font><font
color="#000000">big</font><font color="#000000"> business. It
has expertise in facilitating engagement between business and
governments, and sometimes also with civil society, and its
interest in internet governance should be seen as positive.
But very few civil society organisations, particularly from
the developing world (or Global South) would feel comfortable
in WEF spaces. Many identify with the World Social Forum, the
alternative forum which was established to challenge
approaches to globalization and development promoted at the
WEF. Many developing country governments also do not feel that
they have equal voice </font><font color="#000000">at the</font><font
color="#000000"> WEF.</font></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%"><br>
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%">Looking at the
list of participants at the NMI Scoping Meeting it is clear who
is present, and who is not. By far the majority of participants
come from Europe and North America. Business representation
dramatically outweighs that of civil society.</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%"><br>
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%">WEF events are
seen as grand events for the rich and powerful that have very
little, if anything, to do with civil society and the daily
lives and struggles of the general population This discomfort
leads to questions and concerns:</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%"><br>
</p>
<ul>
<li>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%">There is a
general lack of diversity among the civil society
participants in most WEF events in general, and in this
event – the NMI Scoping Meeting - specifically. What will be
done to remedy this situation as the process continues?</p>
</li>
</ul>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%"><br>
</p>
<ul>
<li>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%">Does WEF have
the capacity to establish something sustained, inclusive and
bottom up that can gradually lead the way in building the
legitimacy and inclusiveness needed to operationalise the
NETmundial outcomes at global, regional, and national
levels?</p>
</li>
</ul>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%"><br>
</p>
<ul>
<li>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%">What
experience does WEF have at bridging the gap between those
who hold power and influence, and a civil society that has
neither power nor, frequently, influence?</p>
</li>
</ul>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%"><br>
</p>
<ul>
<li>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%">Most the
pressing internet governance challenges of the moment
involve containing actions by governments and businesses to
fragment the internet (intentionally or unintentionally).
For example, insufficient data protection, and new
challenges to protecting user's rights, and business models
which rely on data mining practices which put these rights
at risk? While business and governments need to be part of
these solutions, is a forum dominated by them (the case for
the WEF and thus far for the NMI) likely to come up with
solutions that challenges their interests?</p>
</li>
<li>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%">How can WEF
help to integrate what the NETmundial stands for (public
interested, multistakeholder, democratic, and human rights
oriented internet governance) into the day to day running of
the internet in ways that will be felt by existing and
future users?</p>
</li>
</ul>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%"><br>
</p>
<ul>
<li>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%">What is the
NMI relationship to the IGF? Will it focus on strengthening
it? Or will it attempt to be complimentary? How can it
guarantee that it will not disrupt the work of thousands
that has gone into building the IGF over the last decade?</p>
</li>
</ul>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%"><br>
</p>
<ul>
<li>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%">Will the NMI
stand for human rights and make them a priority in internet
governance?</p>
</li>
</ul>
<p><br>
<br>
</p>
<ul>
<li>
<p>How will those developing country governments that
currently feel excluded and disaffected with
multistakeholder internet governance processes (and this
includes both the NETmundial and the IGF) be included and
how will they be challenged to change their behaviours with
regard to, particularly, civil society participation in
national internet policy processes?</p>
</li>
</ul>
<p><br>
<br>
</p>
<ul>
<li>
<p>Will it approach capacity building as a process needed by
the developing world only? Will it look beyond attributing
the primary reason for the lack of support for
multistakeholder processes among developing country
governments to lack of capacity and knowledge? Or will it
use capacity building is often used as a bandaid, with rich
countries proposing resources/aid for multistakeholder
processes as means of securing political support at
international processes? If capacity, and its building, is
to be defined by the north for the south it will only
reinforce existing inequalities in power and will fail to
strengthen multistakeholder processes at either national or
global levels.</p>
</li>
</ul>
<p>Having pointed to our concerns, we also want to point to our
wishes. Since this meeting is happening, we wish it the greatest
success. We strongly support its goal of building support for a
strong IGF. We would be willing to assist the WEF during the
next six months in trying to make this initiative a genuinely
multistakeholder effort that pays heed to democratic and
bottom-up processes with outreach and accountability to the
global stakeholder community. APC also believes that there is
value in expanding the conversation to include people who have
heretofore been absent from the discussion; we realize that
cooperation with the WEF is one way to build awareness of
critical issues and processes among those actors they have an
established relationship with. Broadening the range of business
voices involved in internet governance is needed. But dominance
of business voices in the internet governance ecosystem is not
only not needed, it will destroy any chance that this
distributed, decentralised system has of being regarded as
legitimate and focused on the public interest.</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%"><br>
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%">APC insists that
greater transparency and inclusiveness going forward is vital.
WEF has committed to a six month period of consultations
regarding whether and how to establish a dedicated
organizational structure to support the NMI going forward,
whether or not connected to the Forum.<sup><a
moz-do-not-send="true" class="sdfootnoteanc"
name="sdfootnote3anc" href="#sdfootnote3sym"><sup>3</sup></a></sup>
The next six months will determine the degree to which this
effort can reach the global community in all of its diversity in
a manner that is worthy of the brand NETMundial.</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%"><br>
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%">28 August 2014</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%"><br>
</p>
<div id="sdfootnote1">
<p class="sdfootnote"><a moz-do-not-send="true"
class="sdfootnotesym" name="sdfootnote1sym"
href="#sdfootnote1anc">1</a><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.weforum.org/issues/global-internet-governance"
target="_top">http://www.weforum.org/issues/global-internet-governance</a></p>
</div>
<div id="sdfootnote2">
<p class="sdfootnote"><a moz-do-not-send="true"
class="sdfootnotesym" name="sdfootnote2sym"
href="#sdfootnote2anc">2</a><a moz-do-not-send="true"
class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_1NetmundialInitiativeBrief.pdf">http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_1NetmundialInitiativeBrief.pdf</a></p>
</div>
<div id="sdfootnote3">
<p class="sdfootnote"><a moz-do-not-send="true"
class="sdfootnotesym" name="sdfootnote3sym"
href="#sdfootnote3anc">3</a><a moz-do-not-send="true"
class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_2NETmundialInitiativeFAQ.pdf">http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_2NETmundialInitiativeFAQ.pdf</a></p>
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<pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">--
`````````````````````````````````
anriette esterhuysen
executive director
association for progressive communications
po box 29755, melville, 2109, south africa
<a moz-do-not-send="true" class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:anriette@apc.org">anriette@apc.org</a>
<a moz-do-not-send="true" class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="http://www.apc.org">www.apc.org</a></pre>
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