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<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On Sunday 17 May 2015 10:55 PM,
<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:azrak_khan@hotmail.com">azrak_khan@hotmail.com</a> wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote cite="mid:BLU406-EAS908F964A919536C3528A9AFFC50@phx.gbl"
type="cite">
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Parminder please shed some light on whether civil society is
working on public interest or has it become a tool for global
organization at times very powerful corporations to pursue their
own agendas.
</blockquote>
<br>
Arzak, since you ask a clear and direct question I would give a
clear and honest response. My apologies if it makes some people here
unhappy. In my view, yes, the manner in which much of global civil
society has worked in the IG space, it has served the agenda of the
powerful corporations. The most important way this happens is
through its promotion of a deliberately confusing and unclear MS
model of governance whose real purpose is to not let any real and
effective governance of the Internet and the larger information
society space take root, which of course is the agenda of the most
powerful players in the field - the big global corporations backed
by the US government. <br>
<br>
I keep making this point, hoping to contribute to some kind of
course correction.<br>
<br>
parminder <br>
<blockquote cite="mid:BLU406-EAS908F964A919536C3528A9AFFC50@phx.gbl"
type="cite">
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Best,</div>
<div>Arzak <br>
<br>
<br>
<div id="acompli_signature">Sent by <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://taps.io/outlookmobile">Outlook</a> for Android<br>
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<br>
<div class="gmail_quote">On Sun, May 17, 2015 at 6:47 AM -0700,
"parminder" <span dir="ltr">
<<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="mailto:parminder@itforchange.net" target="_blank">parminder@itforchange.net</a>></span>
wrote:<br>
<br>
</div>
<div style="background-color:#FFFFFF">Interesting theme of this
series of global congresses: 'Intellectual Property and the
Public Interest' !<br>
<br>
Wonder if you ever thought of calling it "IP and the
multistakeholder Interest' ?<br>
<br>
You all have have seen the discussion I recently had with Peng
Hwa, head of the AP regional IGF process for many years, who
strongly argued that public interest perspective is a very
unclear concept but multistakeholder perspective or interest is
much easier to establish.<br>
<br>
The discussion started when I objected to the call for workshops
for the AP regional IGF which was categorical that every
workshop proposal must incorporate a 'multistakeholder
perspective'. I suggested that it be replaced by 'public
interest'. This suggestion was not accepted. So, in fact,
indeed the dominant groups involved with the IGF process do seem
to think that 'public interest' is a problematic concept, and
the idea of 'multistakeholder perspective' or interest is a
positive political evolution over it!<br>
<br>
Friends, these are serious post-democratic developments to
which, it is my duty of observe, most of the civil society
involved in IG area are either a silent or active accomplices.
<br>
<br>
Meanwhile, of course, I wait for arguments that Internet (
unlike intellectual property!?) is a bottom up , private, etc
etc, thing, and therefore its governance has to be
different.... Well, lets admit it, such an arugment really does
not hold unless we are intent to be misled by it - the social
artefact of the Internet is no more bottom up, private, etc that
the social relationships of trade and property, whose governance
continue to be done in democratic fashions... Time we claimed
democratic governance for the Internet as well, and rubbish the
post-democratic multistakeholderist ideas that are so solidly
taking root in this space, for which the IG civil society will
have to answer to history.
<br>
<br>
Would anyone agree that the proposed global congress on IP and
public interest to be held in a 'multistakeholder' way, with
equal space for the big IP holders, as one always insists for an
IG meeting... What really is the difference, other than that the
discourse in the IG space has been captured by powerful forces
before public interest actors could assert themselves. Civil
society in this area must help in re-democraticing this area,
and reclaiming 'public interest'.<br>
<br>
Meanwhile, my best wishes to the the organisers of this very
importanr congress.<br>
<br>
In fact some of us have been talking about holding a global
congress on 'Internet governance and public interest'. Happy to
talk to those who may be interested.<br>
<br>
parminder <br>
<br>
On Friday 15 May 2015 03:21 PM, Geetha Hariharan wrote:<br>
<blockquote type="cite">PFA the call for participation for the
Global Congress on Intellectual<br>
Property and Public Interest.<br>
<br>
Apologies for cross-posting. Please do circulate to anyone you
think<br>
might be interested.<br>
<br>
Best,<br>
Geetha.<br>
<br>
---------- Forwarded message ----------<br>
From: Swaraj Barooah<br>
Date: Wed, May 13, 2015 at 1:05 PM<br>
Subject: Call for Participation: Global Congress on
Intellectual<br>
Property and the Public Interest, 2015<br>
<br>
Dear all,<br>
<br>
We are pleased to announce the call for participation for the
fourth<br>
edition of the Global Congress on Intellectual Property and
the Public<br>
Interest (“Global Congress”). The theme for this year’s
Congress will be<br>
“Three Decades of Openness; Two Decades of TRIPS.” We are now
inviting<br>
applications to participate in the Congress, including session<br>
participation and presentations. We are also welcoming
proposals for<br>
panels and workshops.<br>
<br>
The application form is available now at<br>
[<a moz-do-not-send="true" class="x_moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="http://form.jotformpro.com/form/50854976184973">http://form.jotformpro.com/form/50854976184973</a>?]
Please note that this<br>
form is for application purposes, and does not amount to
confirmation of<br>
participation. The registrations for the plenary sessions,
which are<br>
open to the public, will open closer to the date of the Global
Congress.<br>
<br>
Deadlines<br>
<br>
August 1st: Priority Deadline for Applications- Applicants
will be<br>
considered on a rolling basis, with applications made by
August 1st<br>
being given first consideration. Applications after August 1st
to<br>
receive travel assistance will be considered only under
exceptional<br>
circumstances (these details will be collected in a subsequent
form).<br>
<br>
November 1st: All applications for session participation and
paper<br>
submissions will close on November 1st.<br>
<br>
Application Information<br>
<br>
For applications to participate/host: Applications to present
or host<br>
workshops shall be considered based on the proposals to be
submitted in<br>
the form.<br>
<br>
For applications to attend sessions:Applications to attend
sessions as<br>
discussants will be considered based on the statement of
purpose and/or<br>
any other relevant information provided by the applicant.<br>
<br>
Limited travel grants to cover accommodation and/or travel to
the<br>
Congress will be available, with priority to those from
developing<br>
countries.<br>
<br>
Background, Theme and Expected Outcomes<br>
<br>
The Global Congress on Intellectual Property and the Public
Interest is<br>
the most significant event on the calendar for scholars and
policy<br>
advocates working on intellectual property from a public
interest<br>
perspective. By sharing their research and strategies, the
network of<br>
experts and activists supported by the Global Congress are
empowered to<br>
put forward a positive agenda for policy reform. The Global
Congress<br>
began in Washington D.C. in 2011, moved to Rio de Janeiro in
2012, and<br>
was held in Cape Town in 2013. The fourth Global Congress will
now be<br>
held in New Delhi, in December 2015. The event would be the
largest<br>
convening of public interest-oriented intellectual property<br>
practitioners ever held in Asia, and would help link in the
world's most<br>
populous region to these global debates around how
intellectual property<br>
policy can best serve the public interest.<br>
<br>
The fourth edition of the Global Congress, which brings
research, civil<br>
society, industry and regulatory and policy-making communities
together<br>
for active, intense engagement on key public-interest
intellectual<br>
property issues. Opportunities for these groups to interact
are rare but<br>
valuable; and have been proven to lead to successful policy
outcomes.<br>
The 4thedition of the Congress, slated to be held in December,
2015 in<br>
New Delhi seeks to be one such opportunity.<br>
<br>
The theme for the 2015 Congress is Three Decades of Openness;
Two<br>
Decades of TRIPS-coming at a pivotal time for reflection,
revision, and<br>
further strategizing. Specifically, the 2015 Congress seeks to
produce<br>
three outcomes- first, the mobilization of existing scholarly
research<br>
directly into the hands of civil society advocates, business
leaders and<br>
policy makers, leading to evidence-based policies and
practices;<br>
second,the collaborative identification of urgent, global and
local<br>
research priorities and generation of a joint
research/advocacy agenda;<br>
and third, the solidification of an inter-disciplinary,
cross-sector and<br>
global networked community of experts focused on public
interest aspects<br>
of IP policy and practice.<br>
<br>
Participation Opportunities<br>
<br>
Discussions at the Global Congress will be carried out in the
form of<br>
plenary sessions, thematic tracks, cross-track sessions, and
the room of<br>
scholars. Participation is invited for the thematic track
sessions,<br>
cross-track sessions and the room of scholars.<br>
<br>
The thematic tracks at the Global Congress are: 1) Openness,
2) Access<br>
to Medicines, 3) User Rights, 4) IP and Development.<br>
<br>
Cross-track sessions will feature research that cuts across
tracks in<br>
order to facilitate engagement between tracks on themes of
mutual<br>
interest.<br>
<br>
The Room of Scholars will feature presentations of research
outputs such<br>
as draft works or white papers that may not fit directly
within the<br>
thematic tracks but fall within the overall theme of the
Global Congress<br>
.<br>
<br>
Participation could be in the form of presenting / discussing
conference<br>
papers or policy briefs, or by conducting workshops where they
may share<br>
their own work and solicit feedback from peers, during the<br>
aforementioned sessions.<br>
<br>
The application form for participation is available now<br>
athttp://form.jotformpro.com/form/50854976184973?. Please
forward this<br>
invitation to interested lists and individuals. For more
information or<br>
questions, you may contact <a moz-do-not-send="true"
class="x_moz-txt-link-abbreviated"
href="mailto:globalcongress2015@gmail.com">
globalcongress2015@gmail.com</a><br>
<a moz-do-not-send="true" class="x_moz-txt-link-rfc2396E"
href="mailto:globalcongress2015@gmail.com"><mailto:globalcongress2015@gmail.com></a>.<br>
<br>
Organisation<br>
<br>
The Centre for Internet and Society <a moz-do-not-send="true"
class="x_moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="http://cis-india.org/">
<http://cis-india.org/></a>serves as the<br>
convenor of the fourth Global Congress on Intellectual
Property and<br>
Public Interest, carried out in cooperation withNational Law
University,<br>
Delhi <a moz-do-not-send="true"
class="x_moz-txt-link-rfc2396E"
href="http://www.nludelhi.ac.in/"><http://www.nludelhi.ac.in/></a>.<br>
<br>
The implementing partners arethe <a moz-do-not-send="true"
class="x_moz-txt-link-rfc2396E"
href="http://www.openair.org.za/">
<http://www.openair.org.za/></a>American<br>
Assembly <a moz-do-not-send="true"
class="x_moz-txt-link-rfc2396E"
href="http://americanassembly.org/"><http://americanassembly.org/></a>at
Columbia University in New<br>
York,Open A.I.R <a moz-do-not-send="true"
class="x_moz-txt-link-rfc2396E"
href="http://www.openair.org.za/">
<http://www.openair.org.za/></a>., and theProgram on<br>
Information Justice and Intellectual Property <a
moz-do-not-send="true" class="x_moz-txt-link-rfc2396E"
href="http://www.pijip.org/">
<http://www.pijip.org/></a>at<br>
American University Washington College of Law in Washington
DC.<br>
<br>
<br>
On behalf of the organizing committee,<br>
<br>
Swaraj Barooah<br>
<br>
Swaraj Paul Barooah<br>
Project Manager, "Global Congress"<br>
(Global Congress on IP and the Public Interest, 2015)<br>
<br>
Editor-in-Chief, SpicyIP.com <a moz-do-not-send="true"
class="x_moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="http://SpicyIP.com">
<http://SpicyIP.com></a><br>
Founder, Know-GAP<br>
Twitter: @swarajpb<br>
<br>
</blockquote>
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