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<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On Sunday 17 May 2015 08:43 PM, Ang
Peng Hwa (Prof) wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote cite="mid:D17ECFBB.401F8%25tphang@ntu.edu.sg"
type="cite">
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<div><span style="font-family:Calibri; font-size:medium;
background-color:rgb(255,255,255)">>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!</span></div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>What a curious (mis)reading.</div>
</div>
</blockquote>
<br>
Rather more curious, Dear Peng Hwa, is that after you call my
reading curious you repeat exactly what I have read.<br>
<br>
Direct quotes from your below email: "public interest is a
problematic concept" AND "Everyone knows what multistakeholder is".<br>
<br>
Whereby, I understand you justify why the APrIGF call uses
'multistakeholder perspective' and did not agree to use 'public
interest'. I dont see what or where I mis-read..<br>
<br>
parminder <br>
<blockquote cite="mid:D17ECFBB.401F8%25tphang@ntu.edu.sg"
type="cite">
<div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>First of all, I do not see how the APrIGF can be
representative of “dominant groups”. We are, at best/worst an
n of 1. Nah, I would not want to be one of the MASTERS of the
UNIVERSE.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Second, it is precisely because public interest is a
problematic concept that the APrIGF is not using that notion.
We have no time to discuss it before we roll out the meeting.
Everyone knows what multistakeholder is. That’s easy. But
public interest—we could discuss it as a panel if you wish.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>It would of course have to be next year.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>But if I say that it is next year, it is because of the
deadline. Not because, once again, that public interest is not
a problematic conception.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>
<div>Regards, </div>
<div>Peng Hwa</div>
</div>
</div>
<div><br>
</div>
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<span style="font-weight:bold">From: </span>Parminder Singh
<<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="mailto:parminder@ITforChange.net">parminder@ITforChange.net</a>><br>
<span style="font-weight:bold">Reply-To: </span>"<a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="mailto:governance@lists.igcaucus.org">governance@lists.igcaucus.org</a>"
<<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="mailto:governance@lists.igcaucus.org">governance@lists.igcaucus.org</a>>,
Parminder Singh <<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="mailto:parminder@ITforChange.net">parminder@ITforChange.net</a>><br>
<span style="font-weight:bold">Date: </span>Sunday, 17 May
2015 9:46 pm<br>
<span style="font-weight:bold">To: </span>"<a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="mailto:governance@lists.igcaucus.org">governance@lists.igcaucus.org</a>"
<<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="mailto:governance@lists.igcaucus.org">governance@lists.igcaucus.org</a>>,
BestBitsList <<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="mailto:bestbits@lists.bestbits.net">bestbits@lists.bestbits.net</a>>,
<a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:Forum@Justnetcoalition.Org">"Forum@Justnetcoalition. Org"</a> <<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="mailto:forum@justnetcoalition.org">forum@justnetcoalition.org</a>><br>
<span style="font-weight:bold">Subject: </span>Re:
[governance] Call for Participation: Global Congress on
Intellectual Property and the Public Interest, 2015<br>
</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>
<div bgcolor="#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="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>
at<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://form.jotformpro.com/form/50854976184973">http://form.jotformpro.com/form/50854976184973</a>?.
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="moz-txt-link-abbreviated"
href="mailto:globalcongress2015@gmail.com">
globalcongress2015@gmail.com</a><br>
<a moz-do-not-send="true" class="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="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="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="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="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="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="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="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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