[bestbits] Re: [governance] Re: [IRPCoalition] IGF - and the corporatisation scandal

[Anriette Esterhuysen]

This document has never, to my knowledge, been made available to the
MAG. Other MAG members on these lists can confirm or provide contrary
information.

Nor has any other host country funding document or strategy - again to
my knowledge - been made available to previous MAGs.

The MAG's mandate is to develop the programme of the IGF. Broadening
this mandate was discussed during the WG IGF Improvements but that basic
mandate has not changed.

The Secretariat has when requested provided access to information about
its budget and the UN Trust Fund.

Personally I believe that more transparency around the host country
agreement is needed. That would be one mechanisms for preventing, early
on in the process, such abuse of the values and principles that we think
of as IGF organising principles.

Anriette


On 28/07/2013 13:50, parminder wrote:
>
> On Saturday 27 July 2013 03:33 PM, Jeremy Malcolm wrote:
>> On 27/07/2013, at 3:42 PM, parminder <parminder at itforchange.net
>> <mailto:parminder at itforchange.net>> wrote:
>>
>>> Following up on the current IGF cancellation imbroglio, I happened
>>> to see what is called as the 'fund raising proposal'
>>> <https://docs.google.com/file/d/0BylRrf_lFlA9OXhieGt5WUJsMkU/edit>
>>> of the managing committee of Bali IGF..... Sorry to say, but it is a
>>> pure scandal....
>>
>> This is hopefully just naivety on the part of the local organisers,
>> who didn't appreciate the difference between the IGF and any other
>> Internet conference.
>
> Well, may be.... although we tend to be selective about whom are we
> ready to easily forgive and for what... But in any case, what about
> the IGF secretariat and the MAG. Can they also be considered naive and
> / or innocent.  They obviously knew of this document. BTW, the
> document says that it is trying a new multistakeholder model for
> holding the IGFs..  Does it not then constitute an express blessing by
> the IGF secretariat and the MAG to such a 'new model'.
>
>
> IGFs are held under the UN flag and the IGF space is subject to UN
> conference rules and immunities..... Would many things in the document
> not fundamentally be violative of some of these norms and rules.... In
> other circumstances, this would have immediately led to an inquiry and
> questions being raised officially about how did the IGF secretarit and
> the MAG allow such a thing.... But we are not in normal
> circumstances,  this is the times of a strong ascendency of
> neo-liberal ideology..... And those who need to have triggered the
> outrage, the civil society, seem to be happy to quietly condone it as
> well.
>
> And what about the 1 million dollar that has been raised, I would
> think, on the basis this document. Is the IGF now bound by the
> promises made under the sponsorship deals.... And if these deals are
> not valid, because we would not want to deliver on the promises, can
> we still consider to have that 1 million dollar for holding the IGF?
>
>
> parminder
>
>
>
>> They can be forgiven for this because indeed until now there has been
>> precious little difference between the IGF and any other Internet
>> conference.  That this could have happened is more of an indictment
>> of the state of the IGF than of the Indonesian team.
>>
>> -- 
>>
>> *Dr Jeremy Malcolm
>> Senior Policy Officer
>> Consumers International | the global campaigning voice for consumers*
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>

-- 
------------------------------------------------------
anriette esterhuysen anriette at apc.org
executive director, association for progressive communications
www.apc.org
po box 29755, melville 2109
south africa
tel/fax +27 11 726 1692