[governance] Fwd: IGF 2012 - Bilateral meeting

[Andrea Glorioso]

(Speaking with the "European Commission official" hat here).

Let's not blow things out of proportion. There is no attempt at "imposing
false notions of representations" for the simple reason that in the dark
corridors of Mordor, I mean Brussels, we are perfectly aware "civil
society" is a rather fluid concept and it is difficult to identify
"spokesperson" or "representatives" (which, incidentally, also means that
when any of the various persons or organisations in the "civil society"
galaxy claims to "represent" anything, our usual reaction is one of
skepticism. You can't have it both ways I guess).

Frankly,anyway, I do not quite understand why it is ok for the IGC to have
"co-coordinators" which *de facto* speak on behalf of the IGC in several
occasions, and for members of this list to choose a speaker that will *de
facto* represent them at the opening session (if I understood well); but
when other parties ask whether there are NGOs et al that would like to have
an *informal* chat with people from the European Commission and the
European Parliament, all hell breaks loose.

But I guess that since the EU's final plan is to take over the Internet and
impose automatic translation of all websites in 22 languages, we can't
possibly be trusted.

More practically, if you can find a venue large enough for an open meeting
(we couldn't) why not propose a larger set-up?

Best,

Andrea

On Thu, Nov 1, 2012 at 11:04 PM, Milton L Mueller <mueller at syr.edu> wrote:

>  5 or 6 people, max? Ridiculous. This is an inherently bad, undemocratic
> method. ****
>
> Governments such as the EC try to impose false notions of “representation”
> on civil society, by seeking a few “spokespersons” or “representatives.”
> Their only real object is to make their job easier. We should decline to
> cooperate with this political version of artificial scarcity, and just
> insist on an open meeting. I am serious. If you are so flattered that they
> asked for your opinion, but go along with their attempt to reduce civil
> society to a few privileged voices, you are completely missing the point.
> ** **
>
> ** **
>
> ** **
>
> On Wed, Oct 31, 2012 at 2:05 PM, Izumi AIZU <iza at anr.org> wrote:****
>
> Following the one in Nairobi last year, European commission and
> European Parliament ****
>
> people want to hold an informal meeting with civil society members and ***
> *
>
> asked Wolfgang to coordinate.****
>
> ** **
>
> Since this is an informal meeting with limited space, we need to find and
> decide who will****
>
> be there. Around  5 or 6 people, max.****
>
> ** **
>
> ____________________________________________________________
> You received this message as a subscriber on the list:
>      governance at lists.igcaucus.org
> To be removed from the list, visit:
>      http://www.igcaucus.org/unsubscribing
>
> For all other list information and functions, see:
>      http://lists.igcaucus.org/info/governance
> To edit your profile and to find the IGC's charter, see:
>      http://www.igcaucus.org/
>
> Translate this email: http://translate.google.com/translate_t
>
>


-- 

--
I speak only for myself. Sometimes I do not even agree with myself. Keep it
in mind.
Twitter: @andreaglorioso
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/andrea.glorioso
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=1749288&trk=tab_pro
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.igcaucus.org/pipermail/governance/attachments/20121102/f4e74665/attachment.htm>
-------------- next part --------------
____________________________________________________________
You received this message as a subscriber on the list:
     governance at lists.igcaucus.org
To be removed from the list, visit:
     http://www.igcaucus.org/unsubscribing

For all other list information and functions, see:
     http://lists.igcaucus.org/info/governance
To edit your profile and to find the IGC's charter, see:
     http://www.igcaucus.org/

Translate this email: http://translate.google.com/translate_t