[governance] Re: Workshop Proposals - a few days to go

parminder parminder at itforchange.net
Tue Mar 19 02:50:33 EDT 2013


On Tuesday 19 March 2013 11:17 AM, Ian Peter wrote:
> I’m pulling Parminder’s proposal out of another thread for ease of 
> comment and discussion, and also attaching some comments from Nnenna 
> earlier on as regards workshop 2. We have just a few days to finalise 
> this, I think all three workshop proposals are deserving of consideration.
> But I would change the title of workshop 2 to something broader – eg 
> “Multistakeholderism in practice – issues and principles” .

Dear Ian

I will go with what you say on this.

But on  a larger point. I think civil society needs to take stock about 
what is happening in the IGF and outside and its role in it. IGF is 
close to 10 years old: it hasnt done one useful thing till now. (I know 
there will be  a lot dissenting voices about how it has helped people 
hold hands and all that, but for the sake of people we represent and 
whose monies we often use to attend IGF etc, lets get a bit real here.)

Even governments, esp developing country ones, have been aghast at what 
happens (doesnt happen) at the IGFs, and have mostly disengaged. (unlike 
earlier times they  - developing country governments - are either not in 
MAG meetings and if they do come, do nothing). And the CSTD WG on IGF 
improvements, despite various counter-attempts by status quosits did end 
up insisting - for God's stake get on and do something - and suggested 
that /we focus on clear policy question, and have outcomes that pull 
together clear response to such policy questions/....

And here civil society is not ready to ask a clear specific question and 
seek responses to it, to possibly get some forward movement. What is 
wrong with directly going to the point and discussing 'modalities for 
non gov stakeholder selection' when we know that is /the/ issue. We all 
know what blah blah will otherwise consume the 90 minutes that we have. 
Why are we becoming so soft - does that behove civil society, who is 
supposed to be struggling against all odds for those who really cant 
make it to the spaces where decisions about their lives are being taken. 
I am reminded what my colleage Anita said in her closing address at WSIS 
plus ten and I quote

        "Multistakeholderism is a framework and means of engagement, it
        is not a means of legitimization. Legitimization comes from
        people, from work with and among people. We need to use this
        occasion of the WSIS plus 10 review to go back to the the
        touchstone of legitimacy – engage with people and communities to
        find out the conditions of their material reality and what seems
        to lie ahead in the information society. From here we need to
        build our perspectives and then come to multistakeholder spaces
        and fight and fight hard for those who cannot be present here."


And, Ian, I remember you response to her speech; "Great speech by Anita. 
Glad someone actually said something for a change!"

IGF has become a space for making a big show of 'not saying anything'. 
And as civil society group we need to break that pattern and not 
contribute to it. The recent discussion shows that we may be becoming 
too soft, getting into discussion of good manner, behaviour niceties, 
careful use of words, and not hurting others and so on (which are all of 
course important in their due place) and forgetting what hard political 
realities these soft talks cover up. Hard realities that matter to the 
real lives of real people. Our main alligiance is to them, not to the 
forces of status quo. (Sorry, it is becoming  a speech, and I really am 
no longer addressing it to you, Ian, so much as speaking generally :) ) 
I think we are loosing our focus, and we need to do a real rethink about 
where we are as civil, whom we represent, what are achieving and so on. 
And exactly as Anita warned us - /multistakeholderism is becoming our 
framework of legitimisation and not really just of engagement/.

BTW, in the same speech she also referred to Jo Freeman's essay - 'The 
tyranny of structurelessness 
<http://www.jofreeman.com/joreen/tyranny.htm>'. I greatly encourage 
everyone to read it, and one would get a good picture of what is 
happening in the IGF, and even here, right now, all this 
multistakeholder cosying up, and giving a bad name to those who but dare 
say, 'well, yes but......'.


parminder







> Nnennas suggestions were
> Objectives
>
>  1. Highlight lessons learned in MSism
>  2. Explore what has worked in transparency, openness and inclusion
>  3. Discuss possible principles for non-government stakeholder
>     representation
>  4. Propose working methods for IGF MSism going forward
>  5. Deepen the Enhanced Cooperation debate
>  6. Contribute a working document to the CSTD.
>
> Nnenna also suggested
> Maybe if "Civil Society" shares this with the other stakeholder, 
> discussions may begin already and IGF will be a kind of coming 
> together of discussions already held within the non-gov stakeholder 
> groups. And drafting can take place.
> To which I would add that the success of such a workshop (and probably 
> even its approval) is dependent on the participation of other 
> stakeholders. While I realise some people here would prefer a more 
> direct reference and discussion on recent issues, I think a broader 
> approach, while not avoiding these issues, is both pragmatic and also 
> likely to lead to a better workshop.
> And Parminder’s three workshop proposals are below.
> *From:* parminder <mailto:parminder at itforchange.net>
> *Sent:* Tuesday, March 19, 2013 2:27 PM
> *To:* governance at lists.igcaucus.org 
> <mailto:governance at lists.igcaucus.org>
> *Subject:* Re: [governance] COMMENTS SOUGHT: draft letter to ISOC on 
> selection of T&A nominees for CSTD WG on EC
> On Monday 18 March 2013 03:54 AM, Ian Peter wrote:
>> I agree with the workshop idea as well, I think that might help if it 
>> is well run with an aim of achieving clarity and development of the 
>> multistakeholder concept. Would be happy to be involved in proposing 
>> such a workshop. But I would also want the workshop to be forward 
>> looking towards development of the concept and multistakeholder best 
>> practice rather than attempts to interpret past writings.
>>
>>
>> Dont we have an imminent deadline for workshop proposals?
>
> Yes, the deadline is in 3 days, the 22nd. Not sure if MAG members have 
> asked for extension, since there was strong demand here and everywhere 
> else for it.
>
> I propose that IGC puts forward 3 workshop proposals
>
> One, on net neutrality - which is the policy question we raised in our 
> submission to the MAG consultations. Since there was consensus on the 
> 'policy question' the same can be presented as a workshop proposal 
> without much ado.
>
> Second should be a workshop on /*'Modalities for selection of (non 
> gov) stakeholder representatives for public bodies'*/ .
>
> Third, flows from (surprisingly) the only clear policy question idea 
> was was proposed during the MAG meeting. This was done by Thomas 
> Schneider of the Swiss government, and supported by Bill. I am not 
> clear about the wordings used but it was the key WCIT issue of /*'how 
> traditional telecom regulations, and regulatory norms and 
> institutions, apply or dont apply to the Internet'*/ . Having 
> witnesses the turmoil of and around WCIT, there could be few more 
> pertinent policy related questions than this one. So, well I propose 
> we have a workshop on this question.
>
> Co-coordinators may take on from here. A proforma for submitting 
> workshops proposals is online now at 
> http://www.intgovforum.org/cms/proposals
>
>
> parminder
>
>
>
>>
>>
>> Ian
>>
>>
>>
>> -----Original Message----- From: Anriette Esterhuysen
>> Sent: Monday, March 18, 2013 9:03 AM
>> To: governance at lists.igcaucus.org
>> Subject: Re: [governance] COMMENTS SOUGHT: draft letter to ISOC on 
>> selection of T&A nominees for CSTD WG on EC
>>
>>
>> Dear all
>>
>> I share Ian's reaction.  This conversation counter-productive.
>>
>> Many of the processes we are establishing are still new, and need to be
>> tested and improved. CS processes are imperfect (as I have said before)
>> and no doubt so are those of other constituencies. But I don't believe
>> that attacking another constituency will produce any positive results
>> whatsoever. A more productive way of dealing with this, and Bill
>> proposes this, is to have a serious discussion among non-governmental
>> SGs about how to improve processes.
>>
>> My proposal would be that at this point we allow the CSTD Chair to
>> complete the selection process, and the WG to start its work.
>>
>> And then CS, the TA (as currently defined) and Business convene a
>> workshop at the next IGF to share experiences, raise concerns, and try
>> and identify good practice approaches to the selection of non-gov
>> stakeholder group  representation in multi-stakeholder IG processes. We
>> could also discuss the categorisation of these
>> constituency groups, and the ambiguity around the definitions of the TA
>> community, and provide an input to the CSTD WG for its discussion.
>>
>> Anriette
>>
>>
>>
>> On 17/03/2013 22:01, Ian Peter wrote:
>>> So much of this conversation is becoming unproductive (particularly
>>> that in response to Constance's letter) that I almost feel like
>>> dropping involvement on this issue altogether.
>>>
>>> But there is a serious issue of academic community involvement and
>>> clarification on how they should be included in the "academic and
>>> technical" category. I think that is a matter for CSTD to clarify, not
>>> ISOC or any individual. I would support a letter to CSTD asking for
>>> clarification here in the light of various statements made, as others
>>> have suggested. But I would not support an accusatory or complaining
>>> letter to anyone.
>>>
>>> Irrespective of anyone else's actions, beliefs, or mistakes, I think
>>> keeping the "civil" in civil society is important in achieving our
>>> objectives here.
>>>
>>> Ian Peter
>>>
>>>
>>> -----Original Message----- From: William Drake
>>> Sent: Sunday, March 17, 2013 9:07 PM
>>> To: governance at lists.igcaucus.org ; parminder
>>> Subject: Re: [governance] COMMENTS SOUGHT: draft letter to ISOC on
>>> selection of T&A nominees for CSTD WG on EC
>>>
>>> Hi Parminder
>>>
>>> snipping...
>>>
>>> On Mar 16, 2013, at 12:35 PM, parminder 
>>> mailto:parminder at itforchange.net
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>>>> but instead we're dealing with self-defined tribes.  Conflating the
>>>>> 'technical' and the 'academic' communities into one category just
>>>>> triples down on the problem.  This is utter nonsense
>>>>
>>>> I dont see it as nonsense. Both groups represent some kind of
>>>> 'expertise' and not constituency representation, and thus it is very
>>>> logical to put them together.
>>>
>>> So your answer to academics being disenfranchised by being lumped with
>>> the TC is to disenfranchise the TC?  So the topography would be just
>>> governments, business and CS, only they'd have defined constituency
>>> representation roles...I don't agree since there's a substantial
>>> independent constituency being represented by the TC, one that's
>>> bigger than the IGC. But a bit more important than our respective
>>> views are the facts on the ground;  the TC  is recognized in the
>>> topography and that's not going to change because some CS folks don't
>>> like it.  Given that reality, there's no logical basis for them to
>>> deemed the representative of academics as well. There are academics
>>> who are properly in the TC because of their areas of disciplinary
>>> expertise and outlook, and there are academics who don't see
>>> themselves that way and feel they are CS.
>>>
>>> Relatedly, I also disagree with Anriette's suggestion that
>>> non-technical academics be viewed as a separate stakeholder group.
>>> Sure, it'd be nice for us to have our own little sandbox to build and
>>> demand our very own seats at the table, and hiving us off from CS
>>> could mean an increase in progressive voices etc.  But we don't
>>> represent our students, colleagues, or institutions when we
>>> participate in these processes…we're individuals who can represent the
>>> networks we share views with etc.  My concern is that individual CS
>>> people often get unduly short shrift relative to CSO staff in some
>>> settings, but that's another conversation.
>>>
>>>> So, should then CS refrain from saying anything about or to the
>>>> governments, the ICANN plus community, ISOC, and the private sector.
>>>> Then what is the work we are left with - to fight among ourselves?
>>>
>>> Well, there's something to be said for sticking with what you're good
>>> at…but of course not, it just depends on context.  It's one thing when
>>> other SGs are making decisions that affect everyone, e.g. TC bodies
>>> that set policies, and another they're positioned as parallel peers in
>>> a process.  We might think it odd for the business community to write
>>> to us expressing concern about how the IGC operates, no?   If there's
>>> to be a push for different approaches in the TC's self-governance,
>>> it'd be better coming from within the TC than from us. Of course,
>>> experience suggests that's not easy in practice, but the principal
>>> remains valid.
>>>>
>>>> If we cannot send a simple transparency seeking query to ISOC, and
>>>> seek clarifications about how they include or exclude nominations to
>>>> be sent on behalf 'tech/acad community' - -  which is a public role
>>>> entrusted to them my a public authority - simply becuase we need to
>>>> be friendly with ISOC, it is really very problematic.
>>>
>>> My suggestion would be to not do a bilateral adversarial inquiry, but
>>> instead to try to launch a broader collegial discussion about the
>>> processes followed by the three nongovernmental SGs and ways to
>>> enhance our coordination where desirable.  I don't know whether we
>>> could entice anyone into that at this point, but if there's bandwidth
>>> it could be worth a try.
>>>
>>> Best
>>>
>>> Bill
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
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>>
>
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