[governance] Nitin Desai's two groups

Wed Dec 3 23:32:00 EST 2008

Hi Guru & Ian & Jeremy and everyone,

Hope we can have a good attendance at the 'Role & Mandate' workshop Saturday 9 am here in Hyderabad where I will moderate a wide open discussion on these issues.

My own view is that IGF's existence is itself a success in beginning to change the landscape, but yes it is imperfect and young and can evolve to do much more. Now is not the time to stay quiet while critics speak up - we can be constructuve critics ouselves eg the ITfC 'open letter.'

Also, I wouldn't put the 'blocs' down as being quite as solid as Nitin might have hinted or others are interpreting; meaning key private sector actors/drivers of the technical community seem to have more than a rooting interest in IGF's survival and success too.  And if they're on 'our' side that changes the balance of power, at least in so far as the IGF goes.

Lee

________________________________

From: Guru [mailto:guru at itforchange.net]
Sent: Wed 12/3/2008 8:53 PM
To: governance at lists.cpsr.org; Ian Peter
Cc: 'Jeremy Malcolm'
Subject: Re: [governance] Nitin Desai's two groups

Dear Ian

The second group is not only some governments ... the 'open letter to IGF' that ITfC and other organizations have written identifies 'democratic deficit' as a key IGF concern for CS as well. This letter has been endorsed by CS institutions and individuals across the world, more so from the geopolitical south.

Unless we discuss/address (if not resolve) these issues that make IGF ineffective, we run the risk of playing into the hands of those who want to declare the IGF a failure 

As CS (including IGC) we have a strong interest and belief in IGF and should put our efforts at bridging the gap between the two groups ... which is to address the democratic deficit at IGF

regards,
Guru

Ian Peter wrote: 

	 I too though Desai's quote was excellent - but I do interpret it a bit
	differently, in that governments as I see it sit in the second group who
	want more say and/or more power. That's an interesting dynamic. 

	Ian Peter
	PO Box 429
	Bangalow NSW 2479
	Australia
	Tel (+614) 1966 7772 or (+612) 6687 0773
	www.ianpeter.com <http://www.ianpeter.com/> 

		-----Original Message-----
		From: Jeremy Malcolm [mailto:jeremy at ciroap.org]
		Sent: 03 December 2008 22:42
		To: governance at lists.cpsr.org
		Subject: [governance] Nitin Desai's two groups

		I just touched on this at igfwatch.org, but I felt it was worth
		highlighting here too in view of the debate at last night's IGC
		meeting about whether we should on the one hand push the IGF to
		achieve more, or on the other hand stay quiet to avoid giving
		ammunition to the IGF's enemies.

		As you will guess it is my view that we would be doing civil society a
		disservice to stay quiet for fear of damaging what we have in the IGF
		as it already exists.  But what is more interesting than what I think
		is that Nitin Desai said during the opening ceremony.  In his view the
		contention over the appropriate role of the IGF is very much a live
		issue.  He stated:

			essentially, this is a dialogue between two groups of people ... and
			we must face up to that reality. On the one hand, we have a group of
			people who feel that the present modalities of management of the
			Internet are working, will work, even in the future, who are afraid
			that any major change in the way in which these arrangements are set
			up would compromise the Internet in some form. And on the other
			hand, we have a lot of people who are dependent on the Internet for
			their activities, for the economic, social, political, whatever, who
			feel that they have to have a say in the public policy issues which
			affect how the Net runs in this manner. These are essentially the
			two groups who are in dialogue here.

		So if we were to leave this campaign half-finished and concede it to
		the group who are satisfied with the status quo of Internet
		governance, in some sense that would be the end of the dialogue that
		Nitin Desai describes, leaving it as a self-satisfied monologue of
		powerful governments and private sector actors.  In that case, what
		purpose does the IGC see itself as serving?

		--
		JEREMY MALCOLM
		Project Coordinator
		CONSUMERS INTERNATIONAL-KL OFFICE
		for Asia Pacific and the Middle East

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Gurumurthy Kasinathan
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