[governance] Defund the ITU petition

Mon Feb 11 06:09:09 EST 2013

Dear all,

All this talk about UNESCO and the US government reminds me of a night in
Dakar, Senegal, in 2003.

I was there for a conference of African intellectuals and on our way by bus
to a conference event called dialog among generations, I was lucky enough
to sit, by pure accident, next to Dr. Amadou Mahktar Mbow, former Director
General of UNESCO.  I recall we had a wonderful conversation, mainly on
UNESCO's efforts regarding the struggle for the then New International
Information Order (remember that one?), and the boycott of the organization
by the US.  I remember asking him how it feels now that most of his
detractors and critics were either long dead or out of office. I leave it
to your imagination to guess his reply to my question.

Katim

On Mon, Feb 11, 2013 at 10:57 AM, Carlos A. Afonso <ca at cafonso.ca> wrote:

> Louis, you are right (sadly). The USA started boycotting Unesco in 1984
> (with the argument that Unesco did not adhere to US foreign policy) and did
> so for about 20 years. In 2011 they found another argument to stop
> supporting Unesco -- the recognition of Palestine as a Unesco member -- on
> the grounds that allegiance to Israel is determinant to US foreign policy.
>
> Curiously, though, they did not ask anyone else for support or relied on a
> public mobilization -- just an executive order was enough, both in '84 and
> in 2011.
>
> There is in my view no chance of them boycotting the ITU -- like Israel in
> the case of Palestine, this decision will be determined by the leverage of
> US telecom industry, not public petitions. Who will feed ITU-T, ITU-R etc,
> if there is a relevant boycott afer all?
>
> This standards structure, working in partnership with the likes of IEEE,
> IETF and others, is BTW crucial for the future of spectrum allocation; no
> other international body exists with the same capability. My view is that
> as the Internet advances, ITU will be left with the only role of
> coordination international spectrum allocation policy.
>
> BTW, as a Brazilian gov representative says, those who signed the ITRs
> will not necessarily follow its determinations (Brazil included), and those
> who did not sign might follow several of its recommendations. So there
> would be really no relevant motive for all this fuss around defunding ITU.
>
> frt rgds
>
> --c.a.
>
>
> On 02/10/2013 07:38 PM, Louis Pouzin (well) wrote:
>
>> On Sun, Feb 10, 2013 at 8:54 PM, Carlos A. Afonso <ca at cafonso.ca> wrote:
>>
>>  ...and let us remind ourselves that *we still need the ITU* !!
>>>
>>> --c.a.
>>>
>>> ------------
>>> C. A. Afonso
>>>
>>> - - -
>>>
>>
>> Hi,
>>
>> The USG plays this defunding game with UNESCO when it does not like a vote
>> of the UNESCO members. This is presently the case because Palestine was
>> admitted as member in 2011. As was predictable UNESCO had to reduce its
>> budget, partly in reducing staff, partly in cutting funds for development
>> projects, that is reducing its global activities. Victims are primarily
>> developing countries. Is the USG expecting that they will vote in US
>> favour
>> on the next occasion ?
>>
>> When developing countries need funding, where could they get some ? China
>> or Saudi Arabia are more than willing to "help", in return for some
>> political and commercial deals.
>>
>> Anyway, the defund-the-ITU petition collected hardly 3% of the 25000
>> signatures needed for taking off. A non event by world standard, but a
>> success by US lobbies standards. They got unending publications references
>> in Google, quoting over and again the petition propaganda. Of course the
>> flop does not matter, the goal was massively funded noise.
>>
>> Btw, one may appreciate Google's algorithm relevance, which makes the
>> petition (and Google's own position) an overwhelming noise, while non
>> aligned viewpoints make a tiny signal with only two references:
>>
>> http://www.abiresearch.com/**blogs/demystifying-itus-role-**
>> internet-governance/<http://www.abiresearch.com/blogs/demystifying-itus-role-internet-governance/>
>>
>> http://www.internetgovernance.**org/2013/01/28/lets-keep-this-**
>> dead-horse-alive-so-we-can-**beat-it-some-more/<http://www.internetgovernance.org/2013/01/28/lets-keep-this-dead-horse-alive-so-we-can-beat-it-some-more/>
>>
>> Louis
>> - - -
>>
>>
>>>
>>> -------- Original message --------
>>> From: Milton L Mueller <mueller at syr.edu>
>>> Date: 10/02/2013 17:28 (GMT-03:00)
>>> To: governance at lists.igcaucus.org,**Bill Woodcock <woody at pch.net>
>>> Subject: RE: [governance] Defund the ITU petition
>>>
>>>   Considering all the ways in which the US govt (involuntarily) collects
>>> tax monies and uses them in ways that oppose my interests, the ITU budget
>>> is a rounding error. ****
>>>
>>> ** **
>>>
>>>
>>> Cannot speak for Adam, but perhaps he was concerned about the
>>> hyperventilated and distorted manner in which the defund the ITU campaign
>>> is being carried out. The degree to which the US (and other countries)
>>> continue to financially support the ITU (and other UN agencies) is a
>>> legitimate topic of debate and discussion. Indeed, I would like to see a
>>> calm and pragmatic discussion of what people see as the future role of
>>> the
>>> ITU, and am perfectly willing to entertain “no role” or “a dramatically
>>> reduced role” as a debatable option. But let’s carry out the discussion
>>> in
>>> a less polarized way, and one that pays attention to basic facts about
>>> geopolitics and intergovernmental relations.  ****
>>>
>>> ** **
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>
>
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