[governance] Re: [bestbits] Letters from Indian Civil Society organisations to the Chair of NetMundial regarding appointment of civil society co-chair

Thu Apr 10 08:56:34 EDT 2014

In this discussion we seem to be missing the most important issue; as
Suresh wrote earlier in this thread "most people on the list don't know her
from adam". If we can demonstrate in a more concrete manner that the
statement is true, and not simply an individual opinion, then that should
be communicated to the meeting organisers and to the general community.
Whoever the "representative of civil society" is, he/she should be
recognised by civil society as coming from among them.
Apart from that I agree with Anriette and others that we should be
focussing our energy on the preliminary documents for the meeting.
Deirdre

On 10 April 2014 06:52, Izumi AIZU <iza at anr.org> wrote:

> Hi,
> I also share the discomfort expressed by Indian civil society groups on
> the selection process, but was afraid to say more than that  as I have
> little capacity and interest in examining what is true or who is right
> inside Indian CS community.
>
> Thus I echo with Anriette's fairly neutral, honest and constructive
> approach.
>
> Let's move on.
>
> Izumi
>
>
> 2014年4月10日木曜日、McTim<dogwallah at gmail.com>さんは書きました:
>
> I agree with Ian.
>>
>> These seem to be unfounded allegations.  In short a smear campaign
>> with zero evidence behind it.
>>
>> "Deepening the controversy, Bhatia also appears to be particularly
>> close to one of the civil society bodies on the MAG. Media for Change
>> is a trust operated by Subi Chaturvedi, an assistant professor at
>> Delhi-based Lady Shri Ram College for women. "
>>
>> Being "particularly close" is not evidence of any wrongdoing.
>>
>> I agree with Anriette.  It is also impolitic.
>>
>> --
>> Cheers,
>>
>> McTim
>> "A name indicates what we seek. An address indicates where it is. A
>> route indicates how we get there."  Jon Postel
>>
>>
>> On Thu, Apr 10, 2014 at 5:10 AM, parminder <parminder at itforchange.net>
>> wrote:
>> > Ian
>> >
>> > Your response is well I dont know whether I should call it shocking or
>> > amusing... As the article shows, it is not about Subi but what and who
>> is
>> > behind her. One question occurs to me to ask you and I will be happy if
>> you
>> > respond to it. Would you have been as indifferent if you had learnt on
>> > considerable evidence that someone had been planted into the position of
>> > civil society co chair of NetMundial by say, the Iranian government? Why
>> > would a similar subversive act of US big business look any different to
>> you,
>> > and your supporters here?
>> >
>> > parminder
>> >
>> > PS: The shocking part are the considerable allegations your email below
>> > makes about the Indian civil society groups involved and the journalist/
>> > newspaper who wrote the article... I simply dont know what to make of
>> your
>> > stance.
>> >
>> >
>> > On Thursday 10 April 2014 12:53 PM, Ian Peter wrote:
>> >
>> > Hi Parminder,
>> >
>> > I did respond last time you posted information on this several weeks
>> back,
>> > but let me respond again as this is escalating.
>> >
>> > Firstly, I agree with you and the Indian civil society groups that the
>> > appointment and the way it was undertaken was less than optimal. I also
>> > agree that far more experienced candidates in the area of internet
>> > governance were available - including from India, and including women
>> from
>> > India.
>> >
>> > However, despite her inexperience in internet governance areas, Subi
>> > Chaturvedi appears to be quite active in civil society issues,
>> particularly
>> > feminist issues. I am concerned that what is happening is that this is
>> > becoming an increasingly personal attack on a young Indian woman whose
>> only
>> > “crime”, as far as I can see, is being ambitious. And there are plenty
>> more
>> > of us who share that.
>> >
>> > The newspaper article clearly was written with the assistance of some
>> civil
>> > society groups or members to discredit her. It is not regular “news”,
>> and
>> > may or may not be accurate in all of its assertions. However, it has the
>> > elements of a personal attack.
>> >
>> > So I am personally uncomfortable with pursuing this any further, while
>> > recognising that it was important for Indian NGOs to make the initial
>> > contact with the Chair to express reservations. Someone has given less
>> than
>> > optimal advice to the Chair, and we may not have the best civil society
>> rep
>> > appointed, but I believe the most important thing now is not to pursue
>> > personal attacks and to work as best we can during NetMundial in the
>> > prevailing circumstances.
>> >
>> > Ian Peter
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> > From: parminder
>> > Sent: Thursday, April 10, 2014 3:47 PM
>> > To: governance at lists.igcaucus.org ; mailto:bestbits at lists.bestbits.net
>> > Subject: [governance] Re: [bestbits] Letters from Indian Civil Society
>> > organisations to the Chair of NetMundial regarding appointment of civil
>> > society co-chair
>> >
>> >
>> > I wonder if civil society groups have any response to the below...
>> >
>> > this issue was first brought to the notice to global civil society
>> groups a
>> > few weeks back when almost all civil society organisations from India
>> wrote
>> > a letter against appointment of Subi as co chair of NetMundial... It was
>> > most disappointing to face a stony silence from the global networks with
>> > regard to that representation, which is indeed disrespectful of the
>> Indian
>> > civil society.
>> >
>> > Now, we have a newspaper report which not only produces evidence of
>> > plagiarism against Subi but , much more importantly, also shows clearly
>> who
>> > is behind her installation as NetMundial Co chair - the US big
>> business. And
>> > still no response.
>> >
>> > May I request the IGC co-cos to take up this issue. And also 1Net
>> steering
>> > committee members, and civil society members of the executive committee
>> and
>> > high level committee.
>> >
>> > At least please respond to the issue.
>> >
>> > If civil society reps wont respond to this issue, I am not sure what
>> they
>> > would respond to, and in which manner they then 'represent' civil
>> society...
>> > Here there is practically the entire Indian civil society involved in IG
>>
>
>
> --
>                      >> Izumi Aizu <<
> Institute for InfoSocionomics, Tama University, Tokyo
> Institute for HyperNetwork Society, Oita,
> Japan
> www.anr.org
>
>
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-- 
“The fundamental cure for poverty is not money but knowledge" Sir William
Arthur Lewis, Nobel Prize Economics, 1979
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