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<font face="Verdana">Kudos to Markus for making a such clear
affirmative statement on the isuue of commercialisation of IGF..</font>....
And for also having strongly disapproved of the Indonesian fund
raising document/ strategy in February itself, and for asking the
local organising team to discontinue it and take the document off
their website. To make things clear in such strong words is really
good " the only thing that can be sold on the premises of the UN
meeting is food, and that has to be at a reasonable price".<br>
<br>
Can one now expect that this is also made a basic condition for
regional and national IGFs, among some basic conditions that are
listed for such initiatives, and these conditions are enforced.
Safeguarding policy spaces from commercial/ corporatist influences
is as important at regional and national levels as at the global
level.<br>
<br>
As mentioned earlier, I remain rather concerned that the Chair of
Asia Pacific IGF called the provisions in the controversial
Indonesian IGF fund raising document as, and I quote<br>
<br>
".....providing some traditional "value" back to contributors. The
deal is nothing new - it seems to be a rather standard sponsorship
arrangement."<br>
<br>
If indeed it was a rather standard sponsorship document, why did
then the MAG Chair disapprove of it and ask for its withdrawal? <br>
<br>
I am not sure therefore how they do it at the AP IGF, but I do see
enough reason to be concerned about it. If any clarification in
this regard is to be forthcoming, I would welcome it.<br>
<br>
There seems to be a consdierable lack of clarity about what the IGFs
- as a somewhat formal (and therefore, and to that extent,
monopolistic) 'policy dialogue space' and a new insitutionalised
form of 'participation in governance' and a new experiment in
participative democracy - mean and how they must be organised, and
strongly insulated from private interests. And for this sake, one
need to be almost paranoidly pro-active rather than being slack and
accommodative. Insitutions of democracy are built with such extreme
care and caution, and being stickler to basic norms.<br>
<br>
parminder <br>
<br>
<br>
<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On Wednesday 31 July 2013 06:32 PM,
Norbert Bollow wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote cite="mid:20130731150238.1afbe786@quill" type="cite">
<pre wrap="">Here's a quick update from today's MAG call (I listened in as an
observer.)
Almost all of the discussion was around how to proceed in regard to
2013 IGF meeting. Markus said that cancellation is not an option. There
are two serious expressions of interest from potential host countries
to step in on short notice if Bali doesn't work out. Failing that,
there's the option of having the meeting at the relevant UN HQ, which
for the IGF would mean Geneva, but since it might be difficult to get
so many rooms, that might mean that only a scaled down meeting could be
held. Also hotel rooms can be problematic in Geneva. Google/Vint Cerf is
willing to do a fundraising effort to try and save the Bali IGF. Some
preliminary news, on the basis of which the MAG might be able to
recommend something, is hoped for by the end of next week.
The current recommendation is not to cancel flights to Bali that have
already been booked, but also not to book a flight to Bali if you have
not booked yet.
The commercialization problem was only touched on briefly. Markus said
that the basic rules are fairly simple: UN meetings cannot be
commercialized, there can be no sponsor's logos on the premises of the
UN meeting (and this rule has been enforced, he gave an example where a
compromise had been made in which sponsor's banners were put up outside
the premises of the UN meeting but in a place where they were visible
from the meeting's cafeteria), the only thing that can be sold on the
premises of the UN meeting is food and that has to be at a reasonable
price.
So it seems clear that the IGF is not in direct danger of getting
commercialized - that objectionable Indonesian fundraising strategy has
simply been declared dead.
Greetings,
Norbert
</pre>
</blockquote>
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