<div dir="ltr">
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">I agree
with much Jeremy said, while, at the same time, I completely agree with
George’s suggestion to strengthen bridges with the technical community. The
conditions for that are created and we should definitely seize this moment.Thanks, George, for taking this first step and offering to help with
communication. </span>There are
some points I would like to make concerning your first message, though.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">In the
1990’s many people still believed on the “independence of cyberspace”. This
tale has gradually faded: it is possible to intervene on cyberspace, for the
good and for the bad. This has engendered reactions in two levels. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">On the
ideological level, libertarian mindsets have been uneasy, because they are
uneasy with State regulatory intervention in general, while people of other political
colors believed that regulation is necessary to promote equality and development.
These two different views (depicted here in very rough terms) are very
difficult to reconcile in any political debate. It would not be different in
Internet Governance, despite our best efforts.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">On the
practical level, some actors, have the ability to play in several regulatory chess-boards
and reacted to what they saw as a “normative inflation” or a "power grab attempt" by creating their own
regulation through market forces, through code, through network architecture. I refer to the business and
the technical community (of course, I am talking about companies with market
power here, or to business that resort to collective action). And here lies a fundamental difference
of power vis-à-vis civil society. While civil society capabilities mostly rely
on social mobilization and putting pressure on actors, specially on governments, the technical
community and the business sector have more leeway to steer things on a more
favorable direction, sometimes even ignoring the trends in the public debate. Regulation through code and architecture can also be very opaque and unaccountable as we know. <span> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Maybe this
is one of the reasons why the business sector and the technical community, during a
considerable part of the history of IG, have been more aligned among themselves
in terms of political positions then they have been with civil society. And for
many years their position was very defensive of the status quo of the regime. Of course, now recent events have shown the limits of this political option. So
I would agree with Jeremy: it was not the existence of different stakeholder
groups that created separation, the reasons were more deep than that, and if we
want to strengthen the bridges, the first thing to do is to recognize that.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">My critique
to how multistaleholderism has been put in place in actually a different one: because we avoided answering the question of what the roles of different
stakeholder groups were, we ended up forgetting that the justification for their
participation at the table is naturally different. Just like companies cannot draft treaties, civil society cannot ensure innovation. Different topics call for different configurations of decision-making procedures and multistakeholder participation cannot mean that everybody is equal all the time, for any topic, in any phase of discussion. The day we are free to talk about that in a mature way without being accused of being against MSism we will probably unblock some institutional discussions.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Lastly, while I
take the point that in the end we are all internet users and part of society,
some of us are now "serving" as civil society "militants" (sorry, I lack better words) while
others are politically active in other sectors, which is absolutely fine. Saying that we are all civil society politically dilutes it and I think we should not do it, even with the positive goal of
reaching more proximity and understanding.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Having said
that, I need to mention again that the world is different, the IG regime is
changing fast and I do think that positions are converging (although it is
too early to say they are one). Many people across all stakeholder groups think
that we need improvement, that we need a set of clear principles and that we
need more respect for human rights. I think<span> </span>that 1net
gives us the possibility to continue in this process of approximation and allow us to coordinate to the important discussions to come. That is why I wholeheartedly wish that this platform succeeds
as a way for coordination, not only for the Brazilian meeting, but also beyond.
And any one that would like to help, as bridge, broker or communicator between
stakeholder groups would have my support.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Best wishes</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Marília</span></p>
<div class="gmail_extra"><br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Mon, Nov 25, 2013 at 3:02 AM, Jeremy Malcolm <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:jeremy@ciroap.org" target="_blank">jeremy@ciroap.org</a>></span> wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
<div bgcolor="#FFFFFF" text="#000000"><div>
<div>On 25/11/13 00:59, George Sadowsky
wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote type="cite">
<div><u>Fourth</u>, I'd like to propose a reconceptualization of
the term "civil society." In the multi-stakeholder
instantiation that is now employed by the UN/MAG/IGF axis , it
refers to groups if individuals, some representing organizations
of various sizes that agree to various extents regarding the
importance of individual rights of various kinds. These groups
represent civil society goals and are therefore grouped as
"civil society" to populate that stakeholder group. And
although the goals of that group are generally quite positive,
their actions are often based upon pushing back against other
stakeholder groups, most notably government but also others.
Perhaps that reflects the reality of the tension between
groups, but that tension is not moderated, as it might sometimes
be, by people bridging groups instead of being siloed.</div>
</blockquote>
<br>
</div><span style="text-align:-webkit-auto">(Since the above was
reposted from an ISOC list, I'm just reposting the reply that I
sent there.)</span><br>
<br>
More importantly that tension reflects real power differences
between the groups overall, not just the fact that they have been
divided into silos, as if that had created an artificial rivalry
like between football teams. Civil society does not push back for
the sake of pushing back. We do so in response to the misuse of
power against the interests of the powerless.<br>
<br>
Whilst I agree with you that civil society should extend beyond
organised civil society, the latter can't be dismissed or sidelined
on the basis that it is somehow separated from the rest. We are
connected to people at large, even though it is not always through
representative structures (though it often is, as in the case of my
organisation and its members), but also through research and project
work.<br>
<br>
So when broad segments of (organised) civil society may seem at
times to be critical of the (organised) technical community this is
not general antagonism, but a response to specific positions that
the technical community has consistently taken that we perceive as
against the broader public interest. Its long-standing opposition
to reforms to Internet governance arrangements is an example case of
this.<br>
<br>
Now, when suddenly the sands have shifted, and some of the leading
organisations of the technical community are now more receptive to
significant Internet governance reforms, it shouldn't be that we are
the ones being criticised for our caution about your latest bridging
cum advocacy initiatives (like 1net). After all, we are not the
ones who have shifted our position!<br>
<br>
In the long run, I do agree that it would be great if the
non-governmental and non-private sector technical community could be
merged back into mainstream civil society for purposes of
representation in Internet governance processes, but this can't be
forced. There needs to be good faith shown on all sides, along with
willingness to compromise, and a letting go of the reins.<br>
<br>
PS. For time management reasons, I will be neither reading nor
replying to email from Tuesday to Friday. Apologies in advance for
any inconvenience.<br>
<br>
<div>-- <br>
<p style="font-size:9.0pt"><b>Dr Jeremy Malcolm<br>
Senior Policy Officer<br>
Consumers International | the global campaigning voice for
consumers</b><br>
Office for Asia-Pacific and the Middle East<br>
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<br></blockquote></div><br><br clear="all"><div><br></div>-- <br><div dir="ltr"><div><b>Marília Maciel</b></div><div><font color="#444444">Pesquisadora Gestora</font></div><div><font color="#444444">Centro de Tecnologia e Sociedade - </font><span style="color:rgb(68,68,68)">FGV Direito Rio</span></div>
<div><font color="#444444"><br></font></div><div><font color="#666666">Researcher and Coordinator</font></div><div><font color="#666666">Center for Technology & Society - </font><span style="color:rgb(102,102,102)">FGV Law School</span></div>
<div><font color="#666666"><a href="http://direitorio.fgv.br/cts" target="_blank">http://direitorio.fgv.br/cts</a><br></font></div><div><font color="#666666"><br></font></div><div><font color="#666666">DiploFoundation associate</font></div>
<div><font color="#666666"><a href="http://www.diplomacy.edu" target="_blank">www.diplomacy.edu</a></font></div><div><font color="#666666"><br></font></div><div><br><div><br></div></div></div>
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