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

Adam Peake ajp at glocom.ac.jp
Thu Apr 10 09:32:18 EDT 2014 

On Apr 10, 2014, at 9:56 PM, Deirdre Williams wrote:

> In this discussion we seem to be missing the most important issue; as Suresh wrote earlier in this thread "most people on the list don't know her from adam". If we can demonstrate in a more concrete manner that the statement is true, and not simply an individual opinion, then that should be communicated to the meeting organisers and to the general community. Whoever the "representative of civil society" is, he/she should be recognised by civil society as coming from among them.

After members of a number of Indian civil society organizations raised this matter a few weeks ago, we asked for clarification through the executive multistakeholder committee.  We were told the selection of co-chairs was the prerogative of the host country chair of the meeting.  This is not unusual, for example the selection of Chair of the IGF and IGF session chairs is the choice of the host country.  It seems no stakeholder group was consulted about these appointments, civil society has not been treated differently (that of course does not make it right.)  So it doesn't really matter if we "don't know her from adam" (hello :-)).

I am not saying this is the correct way to continue, and hopefully we'll see relevant text about the broader issue of selection for such positions in the NETmundial drafts.

As for the content of the newspaper article, there's a lot of conjecture and not very much relevant fact.  That is not to dismiss the concerns of the organizations raising the complaint, but there's not much hard evidence. I agree with Anriette's comments.

Adam



> Apart from that I agree with Anriette and others that we should be focussing our energy on the preliminary documents for the meeting.
> Deirdre
> 
> 
> On 10 April 2014 06:52, Izumi AIZU <iza at anr.org> wrote:
> Hi, 
> I also share the discomfort expressed by Indian civil society groups on the selection process, but was afraid to say more than that  as I have little capacity and interest in examining what is true or who is right inside Indian CS community.
> 
> Thus I echo with Anriette's fairly neutral, honest and constructive approach.
> 
> Let's move on.
> 
> Izumi
> 
> 
> 2014年4月10日木曜日、McTim<dogwallah at gmail.com>さんは書きました:
> 
> I agree with Ian.
> 
> These seem to be unfounded allegations.  In short a smear campaign
> with zero evidence behind it.
> 
> "Deepening the controversy, Bhatia also appears to be particularly
> close to one of the civil society bodies on the MAG. Media for Change
> is a trust operated by Subi Chaturvedi, an assistant professor at
> Delhi-based Lady Shri Ram College for women. "
> 
> Being "particularly close" is not evidence of any wrongdoing.
> 
> I agree with Anriette.  It is also impolitic.
> 
> --
> Cheers,
> 
> McTim
> "A name indicates what we seek. An address indicates where it is. A
> route indicates how we get there."  Jon Postel
> 
> 
> On Thu, Apr 10, 2014 at 5:10 AM, parminder <parminder at itforchange.net> wrote:
> > Ian
> >
> > Your response is well I dont know whether I should call it shocking or
> > amusing... As the article shows, it is not about Subi but what and who is
> > behind her. One question occurs to me to ask you and I will be happy if you
> > respond to it. Would you have been as indifferent if you had learnt on
> > considerable evidence that someone had been planted into the position of
> > civil society co chair of NetMundial by say, the Iranian government? Why
> > would a similar subversive act of US big business look any different to you,
> > and your supporters here?
> >
> > parminder
> >
> > PS: The shocking part are the considerable allegations your email below
> > makes about the Indian civil society groups involved and the journalist/
> > newspaper who wrote the article... I simply dont know what to make of your
> > stance.
> >
> >
> > On Thursday 10 April 2014 12:53 PM, 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
> > Sent: Thursday, April 10, 2014 3:47 PM
> > To: 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 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
> 
> 
> -- 
>                      >> Izumi Aizu <<
> Institute for InfoSocionomics, Tama University, Tokyo
> Institute for HyperNetwork Society, Oita,          
> Japan
> www.anr.org
> 
> 
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> 
> -- 
> “The fundamental cure for poverty is not money but knowledge" Sir William Arthur Lewis, Nobel Prize Economics, 1979
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