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

[Michael Gurstein]

Jeremy’s comments also re-raises the issue of “who is in the room”, how they got there and who funded their participation.  That Richard was alone in his intervention probably said more about the way in which funding for travel to the meeting was available and to whom and from whom than it was a measure of support (or lack of support) for specific positions vs. a vis. the outcome document.

 

This raises again the absolute need for transparency concerning funding support for those who are presenting themselves as representing “civil society” at meeting such as this one.

 

M

 

From: parminder [mailto:parminder at itforchange.net] 
Sent: March 4, 2015 8:39 AM
To: Michael Gurstein; 'Jeremy Malcolm'
Cc: 'Civil Society Internet Governance Caucus - IGC'; 'Nnenna Nwakanma'; bestbits at lists.bestbits.net
Subject: Re: [bestbits] [governance] Remarks at UNESCO Closing Ceremony of "Connecting the Dots Conference"

 

 

On Wednesday 04 March 2015 09:52 PM, Michael Gurstein wrote:

However, the Just Net Coalition does represent a rather significant component of civil society and arguably a numerically rather larger component than do certain other components such as those gathered around Best Bits.

 

BTW, since when did Civil Society not support democracy as a fundamental anchor for any governance process.  I would suggest in fact that it is again arguable that any group which did not endorse democracy as a fundamental principle would find itself ostracized and shunned within any conventional civil society grouping.


Like for instance in a women's rights group there are some red-lines, some things cannot be said, and some cannot be spoken against. Every political group has some red lines, and civil society involved with Internet governance must also have some. To me resisting mention of 'democratic' in an IG document with the claim that the term carries 'baggage' certainly qualifies as such a redline.The fact that some  'civil society' persons sided with US and its allies (who as the key power-holders in the global IG realm have their obvious reasons) to do so indeed makes it a sad day for public interest advocacy.... parminder 



 

M

 

From: bestbits-request at lists.bestbits.net <mailto:bestbits-request at lists.bestbits.net>  [mailto:bestbits-request at lists.bestbits.net] On Behalf Of Jeremy Malcolm
Sent: March 4, 2015 7:42 AM
To: Jeremy Malcolm
Cc: Civil Society Internet Governance Caucus - IGC; Nnenna Nwakanma;  <mailto:bestbits at lists.bestbits.net> <bestbits at lists.bestbits.net>
Subject: Re: [bestbits] [governance] Remarks at UNESCO Closing Ceremony of "Connecting the Dots Conference"

 

On Mar 4, 2015, at 4:33 PM, Jeremy Malcolm <jmalcolm at eff.org <mailto:jmalcolm at eff.org> > wrote:

 

You’re right, but you can nevertheless thank UNESCO for the opportunity to participate on a multi-stakeholder basis and acknowledge that the outcome document is a lot richer than it would otherwise have been because of this.

 

Also, please clarify that the Just Net Coalition does NOT represent all of civil society.  This given that Richard Hill on behalf of the coalition has just disrupted the meeting with a formal objection to the document due to its omission to qualify references to multi-stakeholderism with “democratic” (which he incorrectly stated was not objected to during the last drafting session), and its omission to include a reference to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.  Other than his objection, the document was adopted by the meeting by consensus.

 

-- 

Jeremy Malcolm

Senior Global Policy Analyst

Electronic Frontier Foundation

https://eff.org
jmalcolm at eff.org <mailto:jmalcolm at eff.org> 

 

Tel: 415.436.9333 ext 161

 

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