[governance] Towards an Internet Social Forum

Seth Johnson seth.p.johnson at gmail.com
Tue Feb 3 04:55:42 EST 2015


On Mon, Feb 2, 2015 at 4:49 AM, Avri Doria <avri at acm.org> wrote:
> Hi,
>
> While i think it would be lovely if Civil society could speak with one
> voice, given the fundamental differences between those who support
> multistakeholder distributed mechanisms on Internet policy issues and those
> who support sovereign special rights on international Internet public policy
> issues, it seems highly unlikely.


The "multistakeholder distributed mechanisms" folks don't quite
comprehend the nature of the international arena, thinking they can
just go there and do MS-ism and that will fix the problems.

The "sovereign special rights" folks also don't quite comprehend the
nature of the international arena, thinking they can claim legitimacy
there while they haven't addressed fully how limits on states work.

Both sides have elements of truth, but what's needed to create the
type of stewardship context we want for the Internet is for both sides
to address the bits of truth on the other side -- from the standpoint
of thinking about how to correct for the defects in the international
arena.


Seth








> On some ancillary issues we may reach a consensus, but on the most
> fundamental, that is unlikely.  I think IGC should focus on those other
> issues, such as modality for open participation etc where we made indeed be
> able to speak in a common voice and perhaps able to influence things in a
> direction the various camps can all accept.  While I accept using the IGC as
> a discussion place for the larger issues, I do not think we should expect to
> reach consensus on these issues.
>
> avri
>
> On 01-Feb-15 13:01, "Kleinwächter, Wolfgang" wrote:
>
> Hi
>
> thx. for the discussion.
>
> The "speak with one voice" question can be easily answered: It is the
> outcome of a process where different CS groups participate in a bottom up
> open, transparent and inclusive drafting process and agree on common languge
> around a number of issues. This has been possible in the past from the CS
> WSIS 2003 declaration via numerous statements in CSTD, IGF, UNESCO, ITU/WTPF
> and others.  This was workable on the basis of a principle which was
> inspired by Jon Postels RFC 793."Be conservative in what you send, be
> liberal in what you accept".
>
> If the various CS Groups return to RFC 793, there is a good chance to reach
> rough consensus among the various groups so that we can speak seriously with
> "one" voice in the WSIS 10+  process, knowing that this "one voice" is based
> on a broad variety of different nuances but is united around basic values as
> human rights, equality , justice, access, knowledge, brdiging the digital
> divide etc. ..
>
> Wolfgang
>
>
>
> -----Ursprüngliche Nachricht-----
> Von: governance-request at lists.igcaucus.org im Auftrag von Mawaki Chango
> Gesendet: So 01.02.2015 10:24
> An: Internet Governance; Norbert Bollow
> Betreff: Re: [governance] Towards an Internet Social Forum
>
> On Sun, Feb 1, 2015 at 7:34 AM, Norbert Bollow <nb at bollow.ch> wrote:
>
> ...
>  WK is
> calling for civil society to "speak with one voice".
>
> So I find it natural to ask how it would be determined what this "one
> voice" says concretely!
>
> I find this question one of the most critical questions we are faced with.
> It pertains to the same problem and observation that previously led me to
> state that IGC does not have just ONE voice. Interesting enough, you
> (Norbert) replied the following which I don't disagree with but just wasn't
> the issue implied by my statement.
>
> On Mon, Jan 26, 2015 at 3:48 PM, Norbert Bollow <nb at bollow.ch> wrote:
>
> On Mon, 26 Jan 2015 12:03:20 +0000
> Mawaki Chango <kichango at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> In other words, IGC which is also a CSCG member is certainly not one
> voice.
>
> In fact, despite all its shortcomings (which include the fact that
> what the Charter says about enforcing the posting rules is not being
> done, and may in fact be impossible to do) IGC. i.e. this list, right
> now is still the best place to go to when desiring a broad discussion
> inclusive of the whole variety of civil society viewpoints.
>
> So the question is How and When can IGC have a unique/common/united voice
> (you choose your preferred adjective)?
> Part of it is the representation-accountability dimension which seems to be
> what you're concerned with here (and yes, while mentioning the
> non-enforcement of posting rules in passing.) But the other big part is
> this: What will it take for members to accept that their views, no matter
> how strong they feel about them, may not carry the day (and they certainly
> cannot always
> do)
> and still allow the group to make a decision while keeping peace and trust
> among us? This applies to all sides of our worldview spectrum.
>
> In my opinion, this question cluster is the million dollars knot for IGC to
> untie (solve) in order to be functional again.
>
> Mawaki
>
>
> In particular, some kind of credible plan would be needed to prevent
> such a determination from being made on behalf of civil society as a
> whole in a way that in reality might be significantly less inclusive
> than it would claim to be.
>
> Greetings,
> Norbert
>
>
>
>
>
> ____________________________________________________________
> You received this message as a subscriber on the list:
>      governance at lists.igcaucus.org
> To be removed from the list, visit:
>      http://www.igcaucus.org/unsubscribing
>
> For all other list information and functions, see:
>      http://lists.igcaucus.org/info/governance
> To edit your profile and to find the IGC's charter, see:
>      http://www.igcaucus.org/
>
> Translate this email: http://translate.google.com/translate_t
>
>
>
> ____________________________________________________________
> You received this message as a subscriber on the list:
>      governance at lists.igcaucus.org
> To be removed from the list, visit:
>      http://www.igcaucus.org/unsubscribing
>
> For all other list information and functions, see:
>      http://lists.igcaucus.org/info/governance
> To edit your profile and to find the IGC's charter, see:
>      http://www.igcaucus.org/
>
> Translate this email: http://translate.google.com/translate_t
>

-------------- next part --------------
____________________________________________________________
You received this message as a subscriber on the list:
     governance at lists.igcaucus.org
To be removed from the list, visit:
     http://www.igcaucus.org/unsubscribing

For all other list information and functions, see:
     http://lists.igcaucus.org/info/governance
To edit your profile and to find the IGC's charter, see:
     http://www.igcaucus.org/

Translate this email: http://translate.google.com/translate_t


More information about the Governance mailing list