[governance] Proposals for Restructuring of the IGF

[Fouad Bajwa]

A problem I've witnessed from this year's participation in MAG
meetings is that we IGC representatives don't have much to represent
during the MAG meetings because the only statements that come out of
us are at the Open Consultations with the Stakeholders prior to the
MAG meetings.

When the MAG meetings are proceeding, we have more statements from
networks such as APC and stances we reach agreements to over morning
meetings prior to the meeting but no collective agenda with respect to
the IGC and its stakeholders. This has to be first corrected within
the IGC that we prepare our statements collectively together and are
prepared for both Open Consultations and MAG meetings.

That statements prepared after consensus agreed, we should then take
this issues to the table. For example, this year the most important
items were Human/Internet Rights and the Development Agenda. Frankly
speaking we need such a mention in our statements that I also
commented on in the main session on WSIS Principles this year in
Sharam. We need the IGF secretariat to hear our continuous
recommendation to change the title of main sessions now, it enough for
4 IGFs and now we should have the pressing issues in place that we as
stakeholders of the multistakeholderism want to deliberate on.

We need this change from within IGC to the IGF..........I hope you
understand what I mean that

1. We have to be more organized and prepared with our joint statements
for Open Consultations and MAG Meetings because IGC members are in
both settings and the IGC needs should go through!

2. We have to get the IGF Secretariat to understand that its about
time to have two main session changes to a. Human Rights in the age of
Internet and b. Internet Governance Development Agenda IG4D

Finally we need collective, inclusive, consensus on that we want to
take the above forward from IGC and that each member in the Open
Consultations and the MAG meetings will back this and we should have
the backing statements and mutual agreement for the interventions and
counter arguments.

Jeremy, this is what I was discussing with you on our way back to
Cairo from Sharam!

On Wed, Dec 2, 2009 at 2:56 AM, Ian Peter <ian.peter at ianpeter.com> wrote:
> Just to guide discussion here -
>
> This will be the fourth statement on IGF review from IGC in the last 12
> months or so. The last one can be found at http://www.igcaucus.org/node/30
>
> I would suggest that we get the best intelligence we can on what is being
> proposed by other parties and the likely outcomes and changes which are
> being discussed. If our MAG members can assist with that, that would be
> great. I see little point in recycling our past statements again unless
> there are new possibilities and issues that we should address. What we
> probably need more is short sharp responses to specific proposals or
> potential changes.
>
> Ian Peter
>
>
>
>
>
>
> ________________________________
> From: Ginger Paque <gpaque at gmail.com>
> Reply-To: <governance at lists.cpsr.org>, Ginger Paque <gpaque at gmail.com>
> Date: Tue, 01 Dec 2009 17:01:57 -0430
> To: <governance at lists.cpsr.org>, George Sadowsky
> <George.Sadowsky at attglobal.net>
> Cc: Ginger Paque <gpaque at gmail.com>, Michael Gurstein <gurstein at gmail.com>,
> 'David Souter' <david.souter at runbox.com>, Jeremy Malcolm <jeremy at ciroap.org>
> Subject: Re: [governance] Proposals for Restructuring of the IGF
>
> Hi everyone:
> As per member suggestions, I am starting a separate thread on this list with
> the Subject Line: Proposals for Restructuring of the IGF for the discussion
> Jeremy, David and others have suggested. George: by a separate thread, I
> just mean a specific Subject line to identify the discussion to those who
> are interested. This is it!
>
> I will repeat Fouad's first comments here.
>
>> Here are my ideas:
>>
>> -- Within the multistakeholder model and the IGC as key stakeholder
>> within multistakeholderism in IGF cannot propose a single structural
>> model because its members coming from various Civil Society
>> backgrounds, developing/developed region contexts and perceptions on
>> Internet Governance will present varying needs. This can be collected
>> through a possible survey and various models can be presented.
>>
>> -- Despite discussion on the list of varying positions and/or
>> possibilities, such a suggestion document should not be conclusive of
>> the model because within the multistakeholder model, we are one part
>> of it, the other parts are the Governments and Private Sector, roles
>> and positions that cannot be dis-accounted.
>>
>> -- Instead of falling into the working group whirlwind, we should
>> start a separate discussion thread with a suggested title "Suggestions
>> for Structural Reforms of IGF" and all members should be free to post
>> their thoughts on this. There thoughts be collected and put together
>> in a document that can after the consensus of IGF members be forwarded
>> to the IGF Secretariat for sharing with the other stakeholders because
>> involvement of other stakeholders from within the multistakeholders
>> will eventually happen despite the fact we want it or not.
>>
>> I am in and support the separate discussion list on this issue with no
>> working group and then the coordinators putting together the
>> suggestions and sharing them finally with the IGC list before
>> submitting them to the IGF secretariat.
>
>
> George Sadowsky wrote:
>
>  Re: [governance] Statements and Proposals from IGC [was Fu
> Ginger,
>
>
>
>
> It seems to me that, given IGC's quasi-recognition by IGF as being
> representative of civil society (David Souter's apt phraseology), any
> discussion regarding recommendations for the restructuring of the IGF
> emanating from this list will be of rather central importance to members of
> the list.
>
>
>
>
> Therefore I would argue that any such discussion be held on this list rather
> than on a separate thread.
>
>
>
>
> Regards,
>
>
>
>
> George
>
>
>
>
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> At 12:32 PM -0430 12/1/09, Ginger Paque wrote:
>
>
> Thanks for your postings on this idea. It does seem that:
>
> --Varying positions and/or possibilities will probably have to be
> represented.
>
> --The results would ultimately have to be discussed on the list.
>
> --A working group could be formed OR
>
> --A separate thread for the discussion could be started, so that those who
> do not want to take active part could still follow the discussion.
>
> Will those who are interested in taking up Jeremy's suggestion "to
> collaborate on developing proposals for structural reform of the IGF" please
> make their interest known?
>
> Best, Ginger
>
> Michael Gurstein wrote:
>
>
> I agree that this discussion should take place on the list...
>
> If it doesn't take place on the list now then in all likelihood the
> discussion on the results of the Working Group would ultimately be that open
> discussion in any case.
>
> M
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: David Souter [mailto:david.souter at runbox.com
> <mailto:david.souter at runbox.com> ]
> Sent: Tuesday, December 01, 2009 6:49 AM
> To: governance at lists.cpsr.org <mailto:governance at lists.cpsr.org> ; 'Ginger
> Paque'
> Subject: RE: [governance] Statements and Proposals from IGC [was Future of
>
>
> Ginger:
>
> There are, I would expect, many different viewpoints on this list concerning
> structural reform of the IGF, some of which are going to be incompatible.  I
> would have thought that the IGC would want to capture their diversity and
> reflect quite widely on them; certainly if it wants to move towards
> consensus rather than a contest between competing visions.  This is
> particularly important, I would have thought, given the quasi-recognition
> which the IGC has as being representative of civil society within the IGF.
>
> I would be interested to know whether others think it better to conduct a
> discussion on this in a working group or on the whole list.  If a working
> group is preferred, would it not be better for you as coordinator to ask
> list participants to identify themselves if they would be interested in
> participating?  Those who are interested could then choose their own working
> methods and individual roles.  Either way, all-list or working group, might
> it be a good idea to ask all list participants to respond to a series of
> basic questions, covering both "ideal" and "pragmatic" contexts?
>
>
> Message sent by:
>
> David Souter
> Managing Director, ict Development Associates ltd
> Visiting Professor in Communications Management, Business School, University
> of Strathclyde Visiting Senior Fellow, Department of Media and
> Communications, London School of Economics Associate of the International
> Institute for Sustainable Development
>
> 145 Lower Camden, Chislehurst, Kent, BR7 5JD
> (+44) (0)20 8467 1148 (fixed line)
> (+44) (0)7764 819974 (cellular line)
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Ginger Paque [mailto:gpaque at gmail.com
> <mailto:gpaque at gmail.com> ]
> Sent: 01 December 2009 14:01
> To: governance at lists.cpsr.org <mailto:governance at lists.cpsr.org>
> Subject: Re: [governance] Statements and Proposals from IGC [was Future of
>
> "I will be happy to collaborate on developing proposals for structural
> reform of the IGF, under the leadership of the coordinators."
>
> Hi Jeremy,
> If you would like to undertake this project, I suggest you form a
> working group with interested people from the list, and then post your
>
> suggestions to the list for consideration. I think it might be more
> efficient than undertaking it on the whole list.
>
> Best, Ginger
>
>
>
>
>
> Jeremy Malcolm wrote:
>
>
> On 28/11/2009, at 10:04 PM, Parminder wrote:
>
>
>
> After some very muted response to the 'enhanced cooperation' debate -
> which is the WSIS designated space for such public policy development
> - CS now once again seems content to see the whole IGF review issue
> from a status quo-ist lens - 'somehow block an ITU take over' (we
> have, in very early parts of our statement, spoken strongly against
> making any such move). In such a reactive stance, any openness
> towards seeking genuine structural reform in the IGF for the purpose
> of achieving the real purpose of the IGF seems largely absent.
>
>
>
>
> Yes, I was disappointed with the blandness of the IGC statement which
> was basically status-quoism: we support the continuation of the IGF,
> we support multi-stakeholderism (and it should be deepened and
> enlarged, but no suggestion of what this means), we underline the
> importance of human rights, and we support the continuation of the
> Secretariat in its present form.  Well, its present form is really
> pretty lousy in a lot of ways, so I disagree with that - and
> otherwise, the statement might as well have said that we support apple
> pie and kittens.
>
>
>
> We also think that MAG has to take on more substantial role/ power,
> of  distilling from the work of committed issue-based working groups
> as well proceedings of the wider IGF, and come out with non-binging
> advices and recommendations, or at least meaningful compilation of
> plausible views and options on important IG issues. The WGIG model
> ,which for some unknown reasons (the hegemony of dominant discourse,
> of course) has become untouchable, gives us good leads of what can be
> achieved if a mutlistakeholder group is given a definite task, where
> some kind of outcomes just have to be produced in a time bound
> manner. Why should that model not be used for important IG issues
> within the IGF framework?
>
>
>
>
> This should have been in the IGC statement.
>
>
>
> Anyway, the burden of the argument here is that a model of structural
> changes to the IGF is what is most required urgently. Much of the
> negotiations in the next few months will take place around that. Does
> the IGC want to hammer out a concrete proposal on this, and its
> members try to advocate it with other actors? If we plan to do it, we
> need to do it in the next month or so. I propose that the
> co-coordinators take up this responsibility in the coming weeks.
>
>
>
>
> I agree.  I have, of course, written a great deal on this (the book
> that came out of my PhD thesis is now available under Creative Commons
> at http://press.terminus.net.au/igfbook
> <http://press.terminus.net.au/igfbook> , and for a more digestible
> precis see last year's paper that the IGP put out at
>  http://www.internetgovernance.org/pdf/MalcolmIGFReview.pdf
> <http://www.internetgovernance.org/pdf/MalcolmIGFReview.pdf> ). I will
> be happy to collaborate on developing proposals for structural reform
> of the IGF, under the leadership of the coordinators.
>
>
>
>
>
> ____________________________________________________________
>
>
> ________________________________
> ____________________________________________________________
> You received this message as a subscriber on the list:
>      governance at lists.cpsr.org
> To be removed from the list, send any message to:
>      governance-unsubscribe at lists.cpsr.org
>
> For all list information and functions, see:
>      http://lists.cpsr.org/lists/info/governance
>
> ____________________________________________________________
> You received this message as a subscriber on the list:
>     governance at lists.cpsr.org
> To be removed from the list, send any message to:
>     governance-unsubscribe at lists.cpsr.org
>
> For all list information and functions, see:
>     http://lists.cpsr.org/lists/info/governance
>
>



-- 
Regards.
--------------------------
Fouad Bajwa
Advisor & Researcher
ICT4D & Internet Governance
Member Multistakeholder Advisory Group (IGF)
Member Civil Society Internet Governance Caucus (IGC)
My Blog: Internet's Governance
http://internetsgovernance.blogspot.com/
Follow my Tweets:
http://twitter.com/fouadbajwa
MAG Interview:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ATVDW1tDZzA
____________________________________________________________
You received this message as a subscriber on the list:
     governance at lists.cpsr.org
To be removed from the list, send any message to:
     governance-unsubscribe at lists.cpsr.org

For all list information and functions, see:
     http://lists.cpsr.org/lists/info/governance