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

[Norbert Bollow]

On Wed, 27 Aug 2014 16:26:20 +0000
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.

Very well said. I'm one of those who disagree with Milton in very many
quite fundamental ways, but I agree wholeheartedly here. It's much
better to have some thought-provoking statements which may challenge us
to maybe disagree or change our mind than to have yet another statement
giving the same kind of list of concerns that has been given many times
already.

Greetings.
Norbert

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