[governance] Why we are boycotting the IGF (by Yaman Akdeniz and Kerem Altiparmak)

[Barry Shein]

From: Chinmayi Arun <chinmayiarun at gmail.com>
>I just ran into this piece
><http://www.indexoncensorship.org/2014/08/boycotting-internet-governance-forum/>
>by Yaman Akdeniz and Kerem Altiparmak. Civil society folks who will be at
>the IGF this year may find it interesting- it flags significant
> internet-related concerns in Turkey.

Although I certainly understand the utility of making a statement vis
a vis such a boycott I have a different view.

Personally I'd encourage an IGF in Pyongyang and everyone attend it.

To boycott such an event is, other than the hope someone might notice
the press releases, nearly indistinguishable from being forbidden from
attending.

Silence is silence.

I suppose if a boycott mounted to the point that it crippled or even
cancelled the meeting that might attract some more attention to the
underlying issue at least among the I* community. It hasn't gone
unnoticed.

But to my mind better to bring everyone together in the clear light of
day and confront these issues than to hope that one's non-appearance
will effect a statement.

Notice, for example, some of the state pariahs who are welcomed to the
United Nations and even given a podium.

It's not that I have a polyanna-ish hope in dialogue so much as a
pessimistic view of non-dialogue.

-- 
        -Barry Shein

The World              | bzs at TheWorld.com           | http://www.TheWorld.com
Purveyors to the Trade | Voice: 800-THE-WRLD        | Dial-Up: US, PR, Canada
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