[bestbits] [governance] Remarks at UNESCO Closing Ceremony of "Connecting the Dots Conference"

Sat Mar 7 10:39:50 EST 2015

-1 on your comment Jeanette

"Words" are part of what makes the ground for getting the people together whether by raw consensus, flawed consensus, twisted consensus, even by democratic consent (Oh my Godness what did I write here?

UNESCO goes into banishing the word "democratic" thanks to US disgusting maneuvers, money, and their little doggies.

Democracy is a much more solid ground, when it comes to "governance" including in the field of public digital policies, much more than MSXXXism which is basically the best friend of vested US interests, and simply the opposite of democratic principles. We all know that.

Refusing to acknowledge that the US government fights any bit of ground to refuse a change in its status-quo domination of Internet is a shame. More of a shame is that people that declare themselves defender of human rights, still prefer to put democracy aside because it might be misused according to their knowledge. Using such empty arguments, like all of what we have seen so far, is simply not acceptable. 

MSXXXism is not just constantly misused. It is undefined, though it is a mean of protection of the current asymmetry.

This UNESCO meeting is a milestone for any true civil society activist, as the betrayal of everything we are supposed to fight for.

Your reaction, and the attitude of people like Jeremy during the UNESCO meeting are just a shame. In front of history, you'll have to justify it with much stronger arguments.

In the meantime, we see a lot of misgivings from the US regarding surveillance, TLDs... The US show goes on with a great complicity of some so-called CS.

JC

Le 7 mars 2015 à 16:11, Jeanette Hofmann a écrit :

> +1
> 
> Isn't it amazing that civil society seems to have adopted the language games we observed governments playing over years during WSIS? So much waste of time and energy spent on terms that can mean so many different things.
> 
> Paradoxically, the normative substance of the term democracy may get lost by (mis-)using it strategically.
> 
> Jeanette
> 
> 
> (...)
> 
> I
>> have no problem with appeals to democratic values, but I'm aware that the
>> concept of democracy has also been misused a lot in history, take the
>> examples of the former German Democratic Republic(GDR), the Democratic
>> Republic of Congo (DRC) or the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea. It
>> would be good to work for a consensus on the understanding and role of
>> democracy in the context of the internet among civil society and academia
>> first before forcing it into international documents.
>> 
>> Wolfgang Benedek
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> Am 07.03.15 14:01 schrieb "Michael Gurstein" unter <gurstein at gmail.com>:
>> 
>>> And to be very clear, in the case of "democracy"  it wasn't simply a
>>> matter of the concept "not making it into the final document" but rather
>>> that those involved made the clear political choice to promote
>>> "multistakeholderism" and suppress "democracy".
>>> 
>>> M
>>> 
>>> -----Original Message-----
>>> From: governance-request at lists.igcaucus.org
>>> [mailto:governance-request at lists.igcaucus.org] On Behalf Of Norbert Klein
>>> Sent: March 7, 2015 3:45 AM
>>> To: governance at lists.igcaucus.org
>>> Subject: Re: [governance] [bestbits] Remarks at UNESCO Closing Ceremony
>>> of "Connecting the Dots Conference"
>>> 
>>> 
>>> On 03/07/2015 02:30 PM, Benedek, Wolfgang (wolfgang.benedek at uni-graz.at)
>>> wrote:
>>>> As a participant and speaker in the UNESCO conference Connecting the
>>>> dots: Options for future action  in Paris I think it is important to
>>>> put the record straight: the main purpose of the conference was to
>>>> give feedback to the UNESCO draft Internet study and advise on the
>>>> future priorities in this field. This was done in several plenary and
>>>> 16 breakout sessions in a MSH-approach quite successfully.
>>>> The fact that two concepts important to some did not make it into the
>>>> outcome document should not be overestimated as this is all work in
>>>> progress. Also other concepts dear to others were not or only partly
>>>> included. I also do not remember that these concepts were elaborated
>>>> on during the sessions or panels in any significant way in order to
>>>> deepen their understanding.
>>>> 
>>>> Wolfgang Benedek
>>>> 
>>> 
>>> Dear Mr. Benedek,
>>> 
>>> thanks for this, for this type of, clarification - using only formalities
>>> like "Also other concepts dear to others were not or only partly
>>> included."
>>> 
>>> I cannot easily imagine what kind of "other concept" of a similar
>>> importance and weight could be lined up with "democracy." I would
>>> appreciate it if you, as a participant in this UNESCO conference, could
>>> share some of these "other concepts" which were also not, or only
>>> partially, included.
>>> 
>>> Thanks in advance,
>>> 
>>> Norbert Klein
>>> Cambodia
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
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