[governance] The New Class: Civil Society Professionals?

[McTim]

Willie,

On Sat, May 24, 2008 at 12:05 AM,  <wcurrie at apc.org> wrote:
> It seems a commonplace that people on the MAG nominated by the internet technical community will have its interests at heart.

Just what are those interests, pray tell?

>The problem is in the point Milton makes that some seem to be carrying a mandate to foreclose policy dialogue on topics they find uncomfortable to their principals.

Just as Milton and Jeannette seem to be trying to foreclose dialogue
on the injustice we are discussing today?  ;-) Seriously tho, what
policy dialogues are being foreclosed by reps of the internet
technical community on the MAG at the moment?  This is the first I
have heard of this in about a year (or is that what you are talking
about, old news?)


This is damaging to the IGF as a space for open policy dialogue and to
the spirit of multi-stakeholder participation..
>
> Similarly the crude, broad brush stroke attacks on civil society participation in IG that Veni makes are unfortunate because they also reflect badly on the organisations like ICANN and ISOC that Veni purports to speak for.

I, for one, see him only speaking for himself.

> I personally find Veni's remarks deeply offensive as he no doubt intends them to be. And when they are backed up by some members of this caucus who carry a flag for ICANN

Are you referring to me?  The only flag I carry has a giant BUTOC on it! :-)


>then the remarks begin to be part of ICANN's negative PR machine - like political candidates putting out negative attack ads in US election campaigns..
>

For the record, the only contact I have with ICANN folk is personal,
as in "I saw you dozing of on the webcast" or "I hear so and so is
pregnant again".  Oh, I also tell them when their mail software is
spamming me, but I have never talked to any ICANN staff about IGC
issues.  My views are my own, are deeply held, and have nothing to do
with political posturing or PR.  I'm fighting my own corner here
Willie, no one else's.


> If I were in charge of ICANN or ISOC's public relations department, I would have a serious concern about these two issues: that representatives of the internet technical community on the MAG are perceived to be gatekeepers in their own interest to the detriment of the IGF mandate on open policy dialogue  and that someone like Veni is operating a 'swift boat' campaign apparently with the support of senior individuals in the internet technical community.

It's not apparent to me, but what is apparent is that Veni is at least
correct when he says "the IG-CSP exist, and there is nothing wrong
with that. It will be wrong, if we do not recognize this fact, or try
to avoid it."

I hope this is not offensive to you, I'm only pointing out that it is
becoming a specialised field of knowledge.

-- 
Cheers,

McTim
$ whois -h whois.afrinic.net mctim
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