[governance] Re: [bestbits] Letters from Indian Civil Society organisations to the Chair of NetMundial regarding appointment of civil society co-chair

[Avri Doria]

Ian,

Thank you for this.  I was afraid to jump into this discussion, but I
want to endorse what you have said.

avri

On 10-Apr-14 03:23, Ian Peter wrote:
> Hi Parminder,
>  
> I did respond last time you posted information on this several weeks
> back, but let me respond again as this is escalating.
>  
> Firstly, I agree with you and the Indian civil society groups that the
> appointment and the way it was undertaken was less than optimal. I also
> agree that far more experienced candidates in the area of internet
> governance were available – including from India, and including women
> from India.
>  
> However, despite her inexperience in internet governance areas, Subi
> Chaturvedi appears to be quite active in civil society issues,
> particularly feminist issues. I am concerned that what is happening is
> that this is becoming an increasingly personal attack on a young Indian
> woman whose only “crime”, as far as I can see, is being ambitious. And
> there are plenty more of us who share that.
>  
> The newspaper article clearly was written with the assistance of some
> civil society groups or members to discredit her. It is not regular
> “news”, and may or may not be accurate in all of its assertions.
> However, it has the elements of a personal attack.
>  
> So I am personally uncomfortable with pursuing this any further, while
> recognising that it was important for Indian NGOs to make the initial
> contact with the Chair to express reservations. Someone has given less
> than optimal advice to the Chair, and we may not have the best civil
> society rep appointed, but I believe the most important thing now is not
> to pursue personal attacks and to work as best we can during NetMundial
> in the prevailing circumstances.
>  
> Ian Peter
>  
>  
>  
>  
> *From:* parminder <mailto:parminder at itforchange.net>
> *Sent:* Thursday, April 10, 2014 3:47 PM
> *To:* governance at lists.igcaucus.org
> <mailto:governance at lists.igcaucus.org> ; mailto:bestbits at lists.bestbits.net
> *Subject:* [governance] Re: [bestbits] Letters from Indian Civil Society
> organisations to the Chair of NetMundial regarding appointment of civil
> society co-chair
>  
> 
> I wonder if civil society groups have any response to the below...
> 
> this issue was first brought to the notice to global civil society
> groups a few weeks back when almost all civil society organisations from
> India wrote a letter against appointment of Subi as co chair of
> NetMundial... It was most disappointing to face a stony silence from the
> global networks with regard to that representation, which is indeed
> disrespectful of the Indian civil society.
> 
> Now, we have a newspaper report
> <http://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/executive-of-telecom-giant-that-aided-nsa-spying-is-on-india-s-cyber-security-panel/article1-1205483.aspx>
> which not only produces evidence of plagiarism against Subi but , much
> more importantly, also shows clearly who is behind her installation as
> NetMundial Co chair - the US big business. And still no response.
> 
> May I request the IGC co-cos to take up this issue. And also 1Net
> steering committee members, and civil society members of the executive
> committee and high level committee.
> 
> At least please respond to the issue.
> 
> If civil society reps wont respond to this issue, I am not sure what
> they would respond to, and in which manner they then 'represent' civil
> society... Here there is practically the entire Indian civil society
> involved in IG writing a representation, about issues that are now
> further exacerbated by the news report
> <http://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/executive-of-telecom-giant-that-aided-nsa-spying-is-on-india-s-cyber-security-panel/article1-1205483.aspx>
> in a top national daily of India. And we find no visible support.
> 
> Thanks
> 
> parminder
> 
> On Tuesday 08 April 2014 11:31 PM, Rishab Bailey wrote:
>> Dear All,
>>
>> Further to the letter from Indian civil society groups to the Chair of
>> NetMundial (regarding the appointment of the civil society co-chair
>> for the meeting), please find attached:
>>
>> (a) the original letter from members of Indian civil society to Prof.
>> Virgilio Almeida,
>> (b) follow up email from members of Indian civil society to Prof.
>> Virgilio Almeida;
>> (b) response of Prof. Almeida to Indian civil society groups.
>>
>> Also do note a recent article published in a leading Indian newspaper
>> giving some of the context behind this: 
>> http://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/executive-of-telecom-giant-that-aided-nsa-spying-is-on-india-s-cyber-security-panel/article1-1205483.aspx
>>
>>
>> Two of the documents referred to in the above article (concerning
>> plagiarism charges) are also attached to this email.
>>
>> Regards,
>> Rishab Bailey
>> (for the Society for Knowledge Commons, India)
> 
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