[governance] Re: NMI and the Brazilian CGI.br

[parminder at itforchange.net]

Dear members of CGI.Br and signatories of the appeal for support to the
ICANN-WEF global IG  Initiative;

The Brazilian government and CGI.Br  (Brazilian Internet Steering
Committee) has a huge amount of political capital, earned from the
progressive global stances of Brazil over the years, and an unique
pluralist and participatory domestic model for dealing with technical and
administrative functions related to the Internet embodied in CGI.Br.

It was due to this immense political capital, and the fact that the
Brazilian President took such a clear and strong stance against US's
surveillance of the whole world, that the world backed Brazil when it
decided to to take up leadership to explore a new path for global
governance of the Internet. One is of course speaking here of the
NetMundial meeting in Sao Paolo. Although the meeting was visibly taken
over by ICANN in many ways, including foisting someone who has no civil
society record as the civil society leader for the meeting, the world at
large stood by Brazil and accepted that it had acted in good faith and has
global public interest at its heart. This is despite and apart from the
fact that NetMundial outcomes had a very mixed reception among progressive
civil society and developing country government.

However, when one spends its political capital, it dips, like any other
capital. Brazil's ambivalence over the post NetMundial months at global
forums on what really was its plan for the kind of institutional
transformation that its President first spoke of at the famous UN speech
has been noted with considerable disappointment. (While its work at the
Human Rights Council to bring privacy related resolutions has been
welcomed.) Many people, however, have still been willing to give Brazil
the benefit of doubt, given that it has been in the middle of a difficult
presidential election. However, its support to a World Economic Forum
centred global political initiative for global governance of the Internet
would  shift the balance, perhaps decisively. This would be extremely
unfortunate. Brazil greatly risks losing its position of global trust and
leadership among the progressive global actors, and I just hope people
directly involved with these unseemly forays understand this long term
danger.

I am greatly disappointed that so many friends in the CGI.Br has now come
out to vouchsafe or front for what is basically a WEF and ICANN (basically
doing US's bidding) game. One good proof of this fact is that CGI.Br was
sought to be co-opted only when the earlier effort failed in August-
September 2014. Why do they expect everyone to be so naïve so as to not
get the obvious point; CGI.Br has been pulled in simply to give cover to
what is essentially a global governance plan led by the global elite,
which is what the WEF represents.

Friends from the CGI.Br, have you not read the WEF documents about their
vision of global governance of the Internet, which we have briefly quoted
in the JNC statement ? Do you feel no need to respond to these issues?
What is the basis for you to think that just because they have, belatedly,
invited you to join it, they will change their spots, from being what
everyone knows WEF to be. Do the Brazilians, who kind of gave the world
the World Social Forum, really need to be reminded of the basic lessons
with regard to the designs of global domination by a certain economic and
political elite, and their impatience with democracy, especially at the
global level!

Again, you are fast expending the political capital that the Brazilian
government and CGI.Br has,  something that I find to be such a great loss,
and very much hope were not the case. *The global progressive community
has consistently  supported you, but this support cannot be taken for
granted, which is my unfortunate duty to tell you, as you come out
publicly to seek global support for a WEF centred global governance
initiative.*

There is still time. Please withdraw from supporting the WEF-ICANN
initiative, which is a foray towards very dangerous directions, and could
even be historic in its damaging impact on global democracy. Focus instead
on gathering a more public interest oriented set of global actors to take
forward what was initiated by the Brazilian President's historic speech at
the UN last year, however imperfect has the journey been since then.

Your statement says that you are willing to dialogue and work together
with everyone. Some of us from global progressive civil society offer
ourselves for such a dialogue. We have in our hands today the interests
and fate of the people of the world,  and of the future generations. Let
us deal with this huge responsibility with adequate care and foresight.
History would be a harsh judge if we do not, as is my opinion it would be
on the Brazilians rooting for an WEF centred global governance system if
you do not pull back even now.

With sincere regards,

parminder





>
> To all of you directly and indirectly involved with the lively debate
> that has been observed within the Internet governance circles
> surrounding the NETmundial Initiative (NMI), would like to clarify the
> following:
>
> 1)There are two main reasons for CGI.br to embark on the NETmundial
> Initiative.
>
> a) CGI.br is moved by a strong, crystal-clear and well known commitment
> to the preservation, the promotion and the implementation of the
> principles and the roadmap that were adopted in São Paulo during the
> Global Multistakeholder Meeting on the Future of Internet Governance -
> NETmundial. As long as CGI.br is involved in any activity, process or
> institution related to the global governance of the Internet, there will
> be a group of 21 board members representatives of the broader Internet
> community in Brazil, assisted by a deeply committed Secretariat, working
> for the promotion of the achievements of the NETmundial meeting earlier
> this year.Instead of watching from a distant perspective the different
> processes and environments that comprise the complex distributed IG
> ecosystem, CGI.br members have been actively engaged with a myriad of
> other stakeholders and the community as a whole in the different spaces
> within which Internet governance is dealt with. CGI.br is committed to
> raise a voice whenever there can by any unjustified reversion on the
> thresholds set by NETmundial for Internet governance, namely:
> collaboration, openness, transparency, and multistakeholderism by default.
>
> b) Brazil is to host the 2015 IGF. CGI.br is closely working with the
> Brazilian government in order to assure that the 10th edition of the IGF
> yields all the results that were normatively set by the community in
> 2014 in different occasions: the renewal of its mandate in the UNGA
> later this year; the strengthening of its role as the focal point for
> the community; the assurance of funding sources, and the harmonization
> of activities of the IGF with the different initiatives that are
> sprouting (nationally, regionally, and globally) since the Community
> issued the NETmundial Statement.
>
> 2) From its inception, CGI.br has been willing to dialogue and of work
> together with every single member of the Community who is willing to
> promote, reflect upon, strengthen, and enhance multistakeholderism. The
> NMI is one among those efforts and can contribute to those goals by
> publicizing ideas and connecting people from all over the world using a
> single Web platform. Anything additional to the development and the
> maintenance of the platform shall be a result of the Initiative after it
> is set up. Bearing that in mind, on behalf of all of the members of the
> Board of CGI.br, we would like to invite all stakeholders to join the
> effort of building NMI based on the spirit and the aspirations of the
> community in a collaborative manner.
>
> 3) The NETmundial Initiative is in its formation. The whole
> institutionalization of NMI shall be community-driven. That is why the
> Transitional Council, as soon as it got a request from the Civil Society
> Coordination Group (CSCG),  accepted to work together with the CSCG to
> come up with a solution for defining Civil Society names for the NMI
> Council by consensus and fully respecting the indications of Civil
> Society. It is important to say that CGI.br is pretty confident that if
> any other group of stakeholders approach the Transition Council with
> similar solutions to strengthen the process, the Council will be
> willingly open to recognize and implement them as a way of putting the
> community at the center of the process of shaping the ulterior
> composition of the NMI Council.
>
> Finally, let us reaffirm that CGI.br would never agree with top-down,
> closed decision-making processes that could possibly undermine its
> legitimacy as a true bottom-up, multistakeholder body. It is up for the
> community to transform NMI into something that is concrete and useful
> for the advancement of IG in full respects of the principles enshrined
> in the NETmundial declaration.
>
> Best regards,
>
> Virgílio Almeida
> Coordinator of the Board of the CGI.br - Representative nominated by the
> Federal Government
>
> Demi Getschko
> Member of the Board of CGI.br, nominated as Internet Expert
>
> Carlos A. Afonso
> Member of the Board of CGI.br, representative of the Third Sector
>
> Flávio Wagner
> Member of the Board of CGI.br, representative of the scientific and
> technological community and Selected member for the MAG/IGF 2015
>
> Eduardo Parajo
> Member of the Board of CGI.br, representative of the business sector -
> Internet access and content providers
>
> Hartmut Glaser
> Executive Secretary of the Board of the CGI.br
>
>
>
>



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