[governance] What IGF is for? ONI Asia event rattled by UN

[Milton L Mueller]

Ian:
Thanks for trying to take a balanced approach. See my comments below

The Chinese Government did complain about a poster in a public area. If it had been inside the door instead of outside the door, there would have been no issue that the security police apparently felt compelled to act on.
This is false. First, the banner was moved inside and the objections and negotiations continued. Eventually the banner was removed. Hypothesis refuted, decisively. If "being inside" was ok and "being outside" was not, there was no reason to remove to banner from the room. There was only cause to move it inside.
It is not clear who exactly the Chinese complaint was to. It was not to the host country, the Chinese know that's not the appropriate way to do things. It would appear that the complaint may have been direct to the UN Security Unit who have travelled to all the IGFs and work closely with the Secretariat. Whether the Secretariat proper had any strong role in the decision is unknown to me and to those close to the event.
I have some specific knowledge about this, since I was there. The main who took charge and made the decisions regarding takedown and removal was, I think Egyptian. When I looked carefully at his badge to get his name he turned hiw badge around so that I could not see it. When I asked him, "who are you?" he refused to answer, saying only flippantly, "I am somebody." This is disgraceful behavior. If legitimate rules are being followed, the guy implementing them does not need to hide.
Actually I am pretty sure this guy was Egyptian, and that the complaint WAS to the host country.
In terms of the basis of the objections, I have also heard people mention - incorrectly it turns out - that Tibet was mentioned on the banner. Now, I don't think China shold be able to object to any mention of Tibet, but just to be factual, the banner did NOT mention Tibet.
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