[governance] MAG meeting

Thu Feb 24 05:59:42 EST 2011

> Parminder, there is no chair, how can there be chair's advisors? Not
> everything is about you, relax please.

Of course not about me, but I asked you what was it about... because there
is a certain impact a few of us are suffering here, and you havent
answered that question.

When secretariat asked observers to move to the sides, it obviously was to
do with differential speaking status, and you immediately got us - special
advisors - moved out as well. How did it help openness, or CS
participation.

Of course I am cheesed off, dont you expect me to.

and you are not telling why did you do it - with what end in mind. I just
have this hypothesis that reasonable people act with some end in mind, so
what were you trying to achieve here today.

>
> We should be in an open MAG meeting.

But that is not the point we are discussing here, are we. We shd be open,
but how did getting some of us shut up through your intervention help that
cause is what i am  wondering.

 The first time the MAG met
> without its mandate being renewed  was 3  or 4 years ago (I was still
> a member, or "non-member" depending on how we can confusingly refer to
> the title :-)) and I remember all in the room were able to speak. You
> were there and you spoke and it was an important precedent for the
> evolution of the MAG and process.  That openness is what we should be
> enjoying this morning. That we are not is a problem, the process has
> moved back to how we started in 2005.
>
> Adam
>
>
>
> On Thu, Feb 24, 2011 at 7:16 PM,  <parminder at itforchange.net> wrote:
>> When the MAG assembled in the morning today, the secretariat asked MAG
>> members to sit in the middle and observers on the sides, so that they
>> knew
>> who is who.
>>
>> Normally, MAG members have been liberally interpreted to include Special
>> Advisors. And special advisors have till now largely meant that there
>> were
>> a few more civil society members in the room. At this point, Adam
>> pointedly asked the status of Special Advisors in regard of who sits
>> where, which was obviously to be connected to speaking rights during the
>> meeting. The secretariat, in the form of Chengetai, answered that since
>> there is no chair there are no advisors to the chair. Which may be a
>> little unsure interpretation. In fact there is even no MAG  today, as
>> even
>> Chris Disspain said during the meeting without being challenged by the
>> secretariat or the chair. Things are rather informal. BTW, Chair
>> advisors
>> are like all other positions attached to a position not a person, in the
>> same way that MAG may not disappear simply if for some reason the UN
>> secretary general remits his position suddenly. These kind of things can
>> be very disruptive and that is why things continue till alternative
>> arrangements are made. So, in the same way, since there was some kind of
>> chair-ship of today's meeting, there would informally continue to the
>> special advisors doing the same role as earlier. As i said, everything
>> is
>> more than a bit fuzzy and a bit informal at present.
>>
>> So, Adam, I really do not understand what made you put Hartmut, Wolfgang
>> and me (and Jovan if he is to come in) out of circulation during the
>> meeting today. Any specific reason or strategy behind it? I understand
>> that all these are political events and situations, and our responses
>> are
>> always political (and not just 'technical) and contextual. So I was
>> wondering what prompted you to do what you did (esp when some of IGC
>> members have actually been seeking that CSTD WGIGF should allow CS reps
>> also to take in advisors, basically the effort is to get into the room
>> and
>> participate in all ways one can)
>>
>> I dont mind it too much though personally:).  Kind of used to it.
>> Happens
>> in political work but one knows that this kind of thing goes with a
>> civil
>> society advocacy role.. Just in the last meeting I was told by Markus
>> that
>> this was primarily a discussion among MAG members, and therefore , well,
>> to be blunt,  to basically shut up. I may remind you, Adam, and others
>> in
>> the IGC, that before I accepted the Advisor's position, I wrote to Nitin
>> and Markus giving my understanding of the Advisor role, which including
>> speaking up, and I was specifically told that my understanding was
>> right.
>> I did share my letter, and also if I remember right, Markus's response
>> to
>> my letter, with the IGC, since at that time I was IGC co-coordinator,
>> before I accepted the position. I have also, at least once, been told
>> off
>> by a technical community MAG member on the MAG list that it is MAG
>> members
>> views that count (and by implication special advisor's doesnt).
>>
>> But I wasnt expecting a CS member to do something like this, in a
>> context
>> where he clearly knew the exact and specific outcomes - that three or
>> four
>> of the very few CS members in the room will not be able to speak in the
>> MAG meeting. Any explanations, Adam?
>>
>> Parminder
>>
>>
>>
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