[governance] Fwd: [cs-coord] Civil Society Speakers for IGF Closing Ceremony

[Milton L Mueller]

A few words about the broader issues related to speaker selection:

In a group as large and diverse as this, any speaker who does not make any one of us just a little bit uncomfortable is probably not saying anything meaningful or worthwhile. This is one of the reasons IGF as a whole is perilously close to being broken; there are too many lowest common denominator filtering mechanisms that prevent anything challenging from being said or done, especially in main sessions.

The idea that any speaker would speak for all of civil society, much less every individual on this list,  is not just an impossible standard; to my mind it reflects a misunderstanding of what civil society is supposed to be and to do in these environments. We are the free and diverse elements of the governance institution; we are supposed to reflect new and challenging ideas, not to conform or be acceptable. There is not now and never will be a "peak association" that speaks for all of us as if we were a trade association of oil producers or farmers.

I have 15 years of history in fighting for an institutionalized presence for civil society in Internet governance institutions; I was there when IGF was created and played a role shaping its initial consultations. Throughout that process I've helped to provide representation, speaking platforms and even funding to many people I don't agree with wholly, but am willing to fight for their right to be heard. As a scholar and writer I've taken a number of well-considered positions and performed analyses of key issues. I suspect that the committee chose me for those reasons.

Drawing on that experience, and these perspectives, I will say what I believe needs to be said in the context of the IGF closing. 

Milton L Mueller
Laura J and L. Douglas Meredith Professor 
Syracuse University School of Information Studies
http://faculty.ischool.syr.edu/mueller/ 



> -----Original Message-----
> From: Suresh Ramasubramanian [mailto:suresh at hserus.net]
> Sent: Wednesday, August 27, 2014 4:43 AM
> To: Jean-Christophe Nothias
> Cc: governance at lists.igcaucus.org; Ian Peter; Milton L Mueller; Mawaki
> Chango
> Subject: Re: [governance] Fwd: [cs-coord] Civil Society Speakers for IGF
> Closing Ceremony
> 
> Jean-Christophe Nothias [27/08/14 10:31 +0200]:
> > "...opinions are, rightly, excluded..."
> >That must reflect on your highly democratic conception of an open debate.
> >To exclude rightly is usually part of the extreme right parties narrative.
> >Weren't you a multistakeholder equal footing blabla model advocate?
> 
> Let us put it this way -
> 
> Personally, I am a centrist. I disagree with the extreme left just as much as I
> do the extreme right.
> 
> In this case, I am a believer in a consensus, which in this case, forms a bell
> curve from which the tail has, necessarily, to be excluded in order to get a
> sense of what the vast majority of the group wants.


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