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

Michael Gurstein gurstein at gmail.com
Sat Mar 7 11:31:27 EST 2015 

Anyone who thinks this is simply about word games has not been present in Internet Governance discussions over the last ten years where there has been a very concerted intention to ensure that deliberately ill-defined but elite based multistakeholder decision processes become the required mode in the Internet policy area.

What is interesting in this instance is that for once the process and its overall objective has been made clear i.e. to suppress democracy in favour of MSism. An additional matter of interest that has become visible is the range of unholy alliances that have been struck between those self-serving governmental and corporate forces promoting MSism and various elements of so-called "civil society".

As an aside, if anyone is still wondering how MS decision processes might actually operate in practice one need only reflect on the processes of decision making that went into this purportedly multistakeholder Output Document -- the highly questionable and completely non-transparent selection of the editorial committee (from a small circle of the Internet Governance elite), where potentially critical but equally qualified participants were excluded, where dissenting voices and positions were suppressed, with a complete lack of accountability to presumed constituencies or "stakeholder" groups,  and where the outcome was presented completely falsely as a "consensus" document and output of the associated meeting.

Shame on UNESCO and all those involved for hosting and countenancing such a farce.

And be very very afraid when these kinds of multistakeholder processes become the required norm in a much broader range of global Internet (and other) decision processes as is the clear intention of those controlling and directing these efforts. 

M
	
-----Original Message-----
From: bestbits-request at lists.bestbits.net [mailto:bestbits-request at lists.bestbits.net] On Behalf Of Jeanette Hofmann
Sent: March 7, 2015 7:11 AM
To: governance at lists.igcaucus.org; best Bits
Subject: Re: [bestbits] [governance] Remarks at UNESCO Closing Ceremony of "Connecting the Dots Conference"

+1

Isn't it amazing that civil society seems to have adopted the language games we observed governments playing over years during WSIS? So much waste of time and energy spent on terms that can mean so many different things.

Paradoxically, the normative substance of the term democracy may get lost by (mis-)using it strategically.

Jeanette


(...)

  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.
>
> 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
>>
>>
>>
>>
>
>
>
>
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