[Gov 589] Re: ITU and ICANN - a loveless forced marriage Re: [governance] ITU & ICANN in Cairo

[Michael Gurstein]

I think the real reason that the IGF is still vulnerable to attacks such as
those from the ITU rests with civil society and the overall way in which
civil society has consented and collaborated wiith the IGF in the current
framing and presenting of the issues. 
 
Rather than attempt to engage the larger universe of the grassroots with a
stake in the opportunities that ICTs present (as well as the risks), the IGF
following WSIS has overall failed to either define the issues with which it
is concerned in terms amenable to grassroots involvement or otherwise has
effectively ignored the issues which would engage grassroots users and
particularly organizations working with and for the grassroot ICTs.
 
The absence of a linkage between WSIS and now the IGF and a grassroots
"movement" for effective ICT use and self-empowerment is the direct cause of
the absence of dynamism which we now observe in the post-WSIS initiatives
and which many are seeing as now befalling the IGF.
 
MG
 

-----Original Message-----
From: gov-bounces at wsis-gov.org [mailto:gov-bounces at wsis-gov.org] On Behalf
Of JFC Morfin
Sent: November-09-08 5:36 PM
To: 'WSIS CS WG on Information Networks Governance';
governance at lists.cpsr.org; 'Dr. Francis MUGUET'
Subject: [Gov 589] Re: ITU and ICANN - a loveless forced marriage Re:
[governance] ITU & ICANN in Cairo


At 19:01 09/11/2008, JFC Morfin wrote:


It is a fact that the IGF may be in real trouble, and in the danger of being
sidelined as an annual conference that no one of any real importance takes
any note of. We must review what would it mean in terms of civil society and
progressive interests. In light of such a review we may need to have clearer
common positions of how we want to engage with the IGF, and how we want to
see it evolve. Such a review is an even more urgent imperative in view of
the forthcoming process of IGF review which will start in earnest
immediately after the IGF, Hyderabad. What gets said and discussed at
Hyderabad may have some important implications for this review.


I agree with this. The reason why is that the secretariat did not understand
the role of the IGF in two key areas :

1. IGF _is_ a decision making meeting. But in the new fashion. Not for a
single document to be voted by Govs. But for attendees to concert and make
their own minds, as the owners of their own part of the Internet and of
their own global connections and usage.

2. Secretariat has not attempted to catalyse the necessary work concerning
enhanced cooperations. I do not know if we still have some hope for
Hyderabad, but we can start working for Cairo and establish our own enhanced
cooperations, and make them effective. One framework for such an effort is
simple enough to start with: to practically concert about actions for a
People Internet by the people for the people, in order to support a people
centered information society. 

The basic idea is that dynamic coalitions are to influence the Internet
governance and enhanced cooperations are to enact it through cooperations
among interested parties. A typical enhanced cooperation could be
geo-cultural TLDs, to help protect and revive languages in the Internet age.
Open cooperations at the CS initiative could include concerned political
authorities, cultural entiies, businesses, and registrants. An "enhanced
cooperation" of such "enhanced cooperations" could play an equivalent role
to ICANN, GSMA, China, TLDA, etc. in running a part of the Internet virtual
root and keep such TLD out of the ICANN greed.

jfc


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