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

[Robert Guerra]

Milton,

Very well said. I wholeheartedly and without reservation trust your judgement on this.

regards

Robert



On Aug 27, 2014, at 12:26 PM, Milton L Mueller <mueller at syr.edu> wrote:

> 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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