[governance] [bestbits] Remarks at UNESCO Closing Ceremony of "Connecting the Dots Conference"

[parminder]

On Saturday 07 March 2015 07:32 PM, Benedek, Wolfgang 
(wolfgang.benedek at uni-graz.at) wrote:
> First to make my position clear I'm myself an advocate of democratic
> governance and a holistic approach to human rights although not as an
> alternative to multistakeholderism, the potential of which in my view
> still needs to be developed.
>
> Second I have myself proposed in writing to the Secretariat to include
> certain language on global citizenship education, a concept supported by
> the UN Secretary General and developed very actively in the educational
> sector of UNECO while only mentioned once in the UNESCO study to resolve
> ethical issues in cyberspace. Finally, the concept was only mentioned
> without any elaboration. And I'm aware that several other proposals made
> by others were not taken up at all.
>
> Regarding the baggage issue, I'm not an insider to these discussions, I
> have no problem with appeals to democratic values, but I'm aware that the
> concept of democracy has also been misused a lot in history, take the
> examples of the former German Democratic Republic(GDR), the Democratic
> Republic of Congo (DRC) or the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea. It
> would be good to work for a consensus on the understanding and role of
> democracy in the context of the internet among civil society and academia
> first before forcing it into international documents.

What about doing the same about the 'multistakeholder thing, which did 
go into the doc? Are you are saying that democracy is on more unsure 
grounds than MSism to go into international documents? If so, on what 
basis? You know that the whole thing would have been made to grind to a 
halt if the multistkeholder word was removed from the doc, or not 
included in the first place. The question is: why is democracy subject 
to such interrogation, and not the MS concept? Why are there so many 
defenders of MSism and none for democracy?

Again, sorry to hear use of words like 'forcing into international 
documents' about democracy. You of course you say so in particular 
respect of Internet - but as a Professor of and expert in human rights, 
do you think that democracy may or may not be as applicable in relation 
to Internet, as it is about other issues, like trade, health, education, 
climate change, etc.

This plot keeps thickening... Good to have a through continued 
education.... parminder
>
> Wolfgang Benedek
>
>
>
>
> Am 07.03.15 14:01 schrieb "Michael Gurstein" unter <gurstein at gmail.com>:
>
>> And to be very clear, in the case of "democracy"  it wasn't simply a
>> matter of the concept "not making it into the final document" but rather
>> that those involved made the clear political choice to promote
>> "multistakeholderism" and suppress "democracy".
>>
>> M
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: governance-request at lists.igcaucus.org
>> [mailto:governance-request at lists.igcaucus.org] On Behalf Of Norbert Klein
>> Sent: March 7, 2015 3:45 AM
>> To: governance at lists.igcaucus.org
>> Subject: Re: [governance] [bestbits] Remarks at UNESCO Closing Ceremony
>> of "Connecting the Dots Conference"
>>
>>
>> On 03/07/2015 02:30 PM, Benedek, Wolfgang (wolfgang.benedek at uni-graz.at)
>> wrote:
>>> As a participant and speaker in the UNESCO conference Connecting the
>>> dots: Options for future action  in Paris I think it is important to
>>> put the record straight: the main purpose of the conference was to
>>> give feedback to the UNESCO draft Internet study and advise on the
>>> future priorities in this field. This was done in several plenary and
>>> 16 breakout sessions in a MSH-approach quite successfully.
>>> The fact that two concepts important to some did not make it into the
>>> outcome document should not be overestimated as this is all work in
>>> progress. Also other concepts dear to others were not or only partly
>>> included. I also do not remember that these concepts were elaborated
>>> on during the sessions or panels in any significant way in order to
>>> deepen their understanding.
>>>
>>> Wolfgang Benedek
>>>
>> Dear Mr. Benedek,
>>
>> thanks for this, for this type of, clarification - using only formalities
>> like "Also other concepts dear to others were not or only partly
>> included."
>>
>> I cannot easily imagine what kind of "other concept" of a similar
>> importance and weight could be lined up with "democracy." I would
>> appreciate it if you, as a participant in this UNESCO conference, could
>> share some of these "other concepts" which were also not, or only
>> partially, included.
>>
>> Thanks in advance,
>>
>> Norbert Klein
>> Cambodia
>>
>>
>>
>>
>
>
>
> ____________________________________________________________
> 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 --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.igcaucus.org/pipermail/governance/attachments/20150307/279c946b/attachment.htm>
-------------- 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