[bestbits] [governance] Call for Participation: Global Congress on Intellectual Property and the Public Interest, 2015

[Anriette Esterhuysen]

Dear all

I am writing against my better judgement, but here goes anyway.

The Global Congress on IP has been one of the most important spaces were
radical civil society has mobilised and strategised against some of the
most problematic US-government lead initiatives with regard to impact on
access to knowledge in recent years - ACTA and TPP.

I have only ever been an observer at the Global Congress (when it was in
Cape Town in 2013) but have always learnt a lot, and I really value the
work that this community does in WIPO among other spaces. In Africa the
Global Congress has collaborated with projects such as the African
Access to Knowledge project.. people that we have done really important
work with, and who have influenced intellectual property legislation
positively. They work with groups such as councils for the blind and
visually impaired, and the library community. People that we need in
internet governance spaces if we want to build movement for social
justice in internet governance.

I find it extremely disappointing and distressing that the debate in
this thread is not about substantial issues that the Global Congress
will address, but about whether it is 'multistakeholder' or not -
evolving into yet another set of assertions that everyone who supports
the notion of multistakeholder in ANY sense at all is by definition
coopted by empire.

Why not write about substantive issues, and about how to pursue a social
justice agenda around the issues that are internet-related that the
Global Congress will address?

Anriette



On 19/05/2015 18:51, Jeremy Malcolm wrote:
> On 19/05/2015 5:50 am, parminder wrote:
>> Coming to the context of the series of congresses on 'Intellectual
>> property and public interest', here is the list of participants
>> <http://infojustice.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/Participants-Handout1.pdf>of
>> the 2011 Congress . Just one big business participant - Google among
>> scores and scores others. And none in program committee, or among the
>> hosing group or funders (except one, again Google, which is certainly
>> an oddity, perhaps explainable but wont go there right now) . No way
>> to me this looks like a multistakeholder or MS conference, as we have
>> come to understand the term in the Internet governance space.
> 
> Apples and oranges; the Global Congress on IP and the Public Interest
> never purported to be a multi-stakeholder event; it is closer to a Best
> Bits meeting or your Internet Social Forum, both of which are civil
> society only, than it is to something like the IGF.
> 
> -- 
> Jeremy Malcolm
> Senior Global Policy Analyst
> Electronic Frontier Foundation
> https://eff.org
> jmalcolm at eff.org
> 
> Tel: 415.436.9333 ext 161
> 
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