[governance] Internet Shutdown: An IGC Statement to the ISOC Cameroon Chapter?

Norbert Bollow nb at bollow.ch
Mon Jan 30 09:36:46 EST 2017


Dear Arsène and all

After a quick exchange with Mawaki, I'm happy to report that Mawaki and
I are willing to work out a joint proposal.

In regard to who the letter should be addressed to, Mawaki and I think
that the statement should be addressed to ISOC Cameroon. At the most, we
can cc ISOC Global for the record. As made clear in the communication
excerpts forwarded by Arsène, ISOC Global is already taking action and
Chapter office holders are volunteers who are not bound to the
organization by a required line of conduct as would be expected from
staff of ISOC Global. Therefore we cannot reasonably hold the global
organization accountable for any Chapter official's position and put
them in the position to be answerable about it -- which will appear as
being the case if we address a letter to ISOC Global, -- especially
when their response is already known.

We think that the statement should be short and narrowly focused, and
articulated on the basis of some basic principles which should be
sufficiently self-evident to not need any in-depth debate in IGC.

You may expect us to post proposed text shortly.

Greetings,
Norbert



On Mon, 30 Jan 2017 11:02:56 +0200
Arsène Tungali <arsenebaguma at gmail.com> wrote:

> Dear colleagues,
> 
> Starting a new thread.
> 
> I would like to thank everyone for raising your concern about what's
> going on in Cameroon which is just another country added to the list
> of African countries that have experienced Internet shutdown. I am
> from the DRC and we have experienced this more than 3 times and I am
> in the best position to highly condem this new form of oppression.
> 
> I would also like to thank everyone who have expressed their concern
> over what Mr. Janvier had to say about the shutdown in his country,
> where he volunteerly serve as ISOC Cameroon President. I join you all
> and condemn his position on this, which I can assure you, is his own
> position, not shared by his other colleagues at theISOC Chapter.
> Proof is he reacted to his other colleague who had a different view
> and who was making an appeal, asking for more coverage and action
> regarding what's going on in his country.
> 
> For your information, ISOC has issued a statement
> <http://www.internetsociety.org/lets-keep-internet-everyone?utm_content=bufferc442c&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer>
> condemning the shutdown in Cameroon as well as in other countries.
> This show that ISOC, as an organization, does not support shutdowns
> but rather condem it firmly (as we all know).
> 
> And, on a different mailing list, Mr. Nicolas Seidler
> <https://www.internetsociety.org/who-we-are/people/mr-nicolas-seidler>,
> who is Senior Policy Advisor for ISOC said the following:
> 
> We felt it was time to formally express our long-standing concerns on
> such measures, in the context of the Cameroon situation and in view
> of others to come up in the future. We are also supporting and giving
> visibility to efforts from Access and members of the Keep it on
> campaign on our social media channels.
> 
> And he reacted on Mr. Janvier's stance and ONLY had this to say:
> Finally, we have an ISOC Chapter in Cameroon, as in many other parts
> of the worlds. While not all members of Chapters share the same view
> (a Chapter is made of local volunteers, not staff), there are some
> who want to act and we’ll make sure to direct them to Deji, Julie and
> others involved in the advocacy effort.
> 
> >From the above, we understand that it was a personal point of view
> >from Mr.
> Janvier which, as most of our colleagues said here, is completely
> wrong. I do personally believe that when a single person is
> restricted access, this should be raised and condemned. In Cameroon,
> we have 2 regions affected and this is terrible.
> 
> 
> 
> *Now, coming back to the discussion on this list regarding a
> statement, I would like to suggest the following:*
> 1. We can issue a statement adressed to ISOC Global (to ISOC Executive
> Director for example) condemning the public stance taken by ISOC
> Cameroon President. May I suggest *Norbert and Mawaki* to make an
> initial draft statement and share with us within the next 48 hours
> (if at all possible)?
> 
> 2. We then issue a more general statement condemning Internet shutdown
> across the world as a civil society coalition because I am sure this
> is the new form of opression that Gov are taking (as said by
> Snowden). It will be very useful we use the expertise we have here to
> draft this and circulate it widely in all networks as a way to
> condemn the act but also to raise awareness about the issue (which is
> still unfamiliar with those who are not actively involved in these
> discussions or who have never experienced any shutdown). *For this, I
> would like to ask request few volunteers to make an initial draft
> statement as well?*
> 
> Please do let me know what you think or if there is another approach
> that we can all agree on and take action without wassting more time.
> If you want to be part of the team of 3 to draft the second
> statement, please do let us know on this list within the next 48
> hours.
> 
> Very best,
> 
> Arsene, IGC Co-cooordinator
> ------------------------
> **Arsène Tungali**
> Co-Founder & Executive Director, *Rudi international
> <http://www.rudiinternational.org>*,
> CEO,* Smart Services Sarl <http://www.smart-serv.info>*, *Mabingwa
> Forum <http://www.mabingwa-forum.com>*
> Tel: +243 993810967
> GPG: 523644A0
> *Goma, Democratic Republic of Congo*
> 
> 2015 Mandela Washington Felllow
> <http://tungali.blogspot.com/2015/06/selected-for-2015-mandela-washington.html>
> (YALI) - ISOC Ambassador (IGF Brazil
> <http://www.internetsociety.org/what-we-do/education-and-leadership-programmes/next-generation-leaders/igf-ambassadors-programme/Past-Ambassadors>
> & Mexico
> <http://www.internetsociety.org/what-we-do/education-and-leadership-programmes/next-generation-leaders/Current-Ambassadors>)
> - AFRISIG 2016 <http://afrisig.org/afrisig-2016/class-of-2016/> -
> Blogger <http://tungali.blogspot.com> - ICANN Fellow (Los Angeles
> <https://www.icann.org/news/announcement-2014-07-18-en> & Marrakech
> <https://www.icann.org/resources/pages/marrakech55-attendees-2016-03-14-en>
> ). AFRINIC Fellow (Mauritius
> <http://www.afrinic.net/en/library/news/1907-afrinic-25-fellowship-winners>)*
> - *IGFSA Member <http://www.igfsa.org/> - The HuffingtonPost UK
> <http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/liza-bel/drc_b_8958150.html>


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