[WSIS CS-Plenary] Traduction frs/A personal short analysis and proposal

Mon Nov 10 00:27:14 GMT 2003

Bonjour Meryem,

J'ai lu votre mail concernant les nominations des intervenants et j'ai
apprécié l'analyse. J'ai traduit votre message (voir annexe). Est-ce que
vous pourriez le relire avant de l'envoyer sur la liste? Je n'ai pas envie
de déformer involontairement ce que vous aviez à dire...

Bien à vous,

Sevgi Tarlan
SUNY Albany

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Meryem Marzouki" <marzouki at ras.eu.org>
To: <plenary at wsis-cs.org>; <ct at wsis-cs.org>
Cc: <hr-wsis at iris.sgdg.org>; "CRISINFO" <crisinfo at comunica.org>
Sent: Sunday, November 09, 2003 8:52 AM
Subject: [WSIS CS-Plenary] CS Speaker nominations - A personal short
analysis and proposal

Hi all,

This is a long message I'm afraid. Since the announcement of the
speaking slots for CS, I have been feeling very uncomfortable, more
than I ever felt since the very begining of the WSIS process, having
participated to all PrepComs, Paris intersession, and some other
WSIS-related meetings. In the following text, I'm proposing a short
personal analysis of the situation, as well as some concrete proposals
which are mine, and by no mean those of the Human Rights Caucus, which
is one of the recipients of this email.

I would be very much interested in reading your comments on this
anlysis and proposal.

Best regards,
Meryem Marzouki
PS. I'm writing this in English, so that most people can read, but I
would like very much to see translation of this analysis and proposal
be provided, if possible.
===============
CS Speaker nominations - A personal short analysis and proposal

Since the announcement by the WSIS executive secretariat of speaking
slots for observers during the Summit, civil society organizations have
been the consentent victims of a very strange virus : the nomination
fever.  Without any discussion on the opportunity to take part in the
proposed process or any questioning of this process, nominations have
started, and, even more amazingly, the Content and Themes group have
decided to act as the nominations repository and coordinating body.

1/ The proposed process:
The WSIS executive secretariat has proposed the following speaking
slots for CS:
- 1 slot in opening session (5mn)
- 12 slots for declarations during the general debate (3mn each)
- 18 slots in round-tables

All nominees for the general debate and the round-tables should
represent, in my understanding of the secretariat proposal, an
organization accredited to the WSIS, and "should be at the very top
level of their organizations or entities", as put by the secretariat.

The Civil Society Bureau (CSB) has been asked to propose speakers to
the executive secretariat, the ITU remaining sovereign in choosing or
not these speakers, or even nominating other speakers than those
proposed by the CSB.

2/ The process undertaken by CS:
Again, without any discussion or questioning, CS participants have
accepted this process, starting nominations. Moreover, the Content and
Themes group (and not the CSB), has decided to coordinate this
nominating process.
This nomination fever has been so high that many CS organizations have
started proposing speakers who, for some of them:
- have never even showed their faces at any WSIS-related event, and/or
- have never said a word regarding WSIS and its process, and/or
- are not representing an accredited organization or an organization
having asked for accreditation, and/or
- are not "at the very top level of their organizations or entities",
hence are not fulfilling the administrative prerequisite set by the
secretariat

3/ The process undertaken by the C&T group:
Why the Content and Theme group, which has democratically acted till
now, as fas as the circumstances have permitted, has stopped this way
of behaving, and started to engage in the nominating process ?
Could a reasonable answer be : to show that the Content and Theme group
is, contrarily to the CSB, the adequate body to represent CS
self-organization ?
Till now, this has been indeed the case. The C&T group has, till now,
done a great job in compiling CS documents taking into account inputs
from legitimate, self-organized entities, i.e. the caucuses and working
groups. It has also been a key element in coordinating CS speaking
slots during PrepComs and intersessions, organizing the democratic
decision about the repartition of speaking slots among caucuses, so
that all issues can be covered.
However, I have to say the C&T group is now acting like the CSB. To go
on with the democratic process, the C&T group should have started by
first asking CS organizations if CS should go on with the proposed
process, and how.

4/ Questions to be asked before any nomination, and proposal to CS
organizations:
- Should the participating CS organizations nominate a personnality for
the opening session ?
My own answer is yes.
The reason is that the importance of this opening session speaker is
not negligible, since his/her message will be reported by mainstream
medias which, as usual, will only be reporting on WSIS through the
Summit itself and, probably, mainly through the opening session.
This person should be very high-profile, most desirably from the South,
raising an overarching issue, and charismatic enough to deliver a very
strong message not only to heads of States who will attend, but also to
the medias, then.
I've personnaly proposed `madame Aminata Traoré, not because she is a
former minister, but because she is the founder of the "Forum for
another Mali", she fulfills the requirement set above, and she has a
strong message to deliver to WSIS and the world, just like she did at
the Bamako WSIS regional conference and at many other occasions, or
even in stronger words. I would welcome other proposals of the same
kind.

- Should the participating CS organizations nominate speakers for the
general debate ?
My own answer is yes, but only if the following process is adopted.
Although CS nominations are subject to acceptance or refusal by the
executive secretariat and the ITU, and although during the Summit there
wouldn't be any chance to see the Declaration and Plan of action
modified, this general debate could be seen by CS just like the
PrepComs and Intersessions plenaries, and it could be the occasion to
present our conclusions on the Summit official texts, process and
follow-up. To this end, these CS speakers for declarations during the
general debate should be nominated following exactly the same process
as for the PrepComs and Intersessions: each caucus should have a chance
to tell its conclusions. The Content and Themes groups should be in
charge of coordinating these nominations, and propose relevant merging
if there are more proposals than speaking slots.
The compilation of such declarations by caucuses could be a very good
alternative declaration from CS.

IT IS STILL TIME TO DO THAT.

It is still time to take this aspirin, be releived from this fever, and
fight this strange virus.
I'm particularly addressing this suggestion to CS organizations and
people that, till now, have shown a true and sincere willing to
participate to the WSIS process, without showing a "collaboration"
behavior pursuing their own opportunistic agenda and private interests,
and without loosing any credibility.
I'm particularly addressing this suggestion to the Content and Themes
group, so that it doesn't become yet another "CS bureau", at the very
end of the WSIS process, and so that it doesn't risk loosing its
legitimacy.

- Should the participating CS organizations nominate speakers for the
round-tables ?
My own answer is no, definitely no.
What is the purpose of these round-tables ? Are we in an amicable
discussion process with friends or colleagues ? No, we are in a UN
Summit process. Are we here for legitimation ? No, we are here to meet
other CS organizations, establish networks, follow the Summit process
and try to impact some (very little as we know, not surprisingly)
output of the Summit.
I am not that naive. I know that many CS organizations have and will
nominate speakers for round-tables. I know that the secretariat and ITU
will choose their speakers. They will have a cup of tea with some heads
of states. So what ? Let's let them do that, this wont change anything.
But please, let's let them do that AS INDIVIDUAL ORGANIZATIONS, without
any implicit or explicit approval of "the world civil society", since
this is the way CS organizations participating to the WSIS will be
called, specially by the media. Let's ensure that they are not proposed
by caucuses, and specially not by "CS self-organizing bodies".

--
Meryem Marzouki - http://www.iris.sgdg.org
IRIS - Imaginons un réseau Internet solidaire
294 rue de Charenton - 75012 Paris
Tel/Fax. +33(0)144749239

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