[WSIS CS-Plenary] Opening ceremony speaker

[adel.elzaim at canti.com]

Hello,

I strongly support this suggestion. 


Adel

------------------------------------
Adel El Zaim
adel.elzaim at canti.com
adel at elzaim.net


On Mon, 10 Nov 2003 02:06 , Bertrand de LA CHAPELLE <lachapelle at openwsis.org> sent:

>Hi all, 
>
>Choosing who will speak in the opening ceremony is important 
>to be sure our views are faithfully expressed and to enhance 
>media coverage. But it is also about strategically 
>ESTABLISHING THE RIGHT FOR CIVIL SOCIETY TO NOMINATE WHO 
>WILL REPRESENT IT.  
>
>Therefore, as the goal is to set a precedent upon which we 
>can build later, we need to choose someone reflecting CS 
>views on the Information Society that cannot be rebuffed or 
>refused by any government.
>
>For these reasons, why not invite for the opening ceremony 
>speech Tim Berners-Lee, THE inventor of the World Wide Web 
>and the Director of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) ? 
>
>This would present many advantages, reminding participants 
>and in particular governments :
>- that the Information Society they keep talking about is 
>fundamentally organized around the World Wide Web, which was 
>invented by civil society (indeed a single human : how more 
>civil society can you be ?)
>-  that without wanting to protect or patent his invention, 
>Berners-Lee made it a gift to the whole world, showing that 
>if legal protection can help innovation, it is not always a 
>necessity;
>- that the creation of this global commons (an open 
>standard) has triggerd a multi-trillion dollar industry and 
>impacted society in a way similar only to the printing press 
>or electricity
>- that new frontiers are being explored (the so-
>called "Semantic web" of the highest importance for cultural 
>and linguistic diversity).
>
>Beyond singlehandedly inventing the Web, Tim Berners-lee 
>also designed the World Wide Web Consortium or W3C), an 
>innovative multi-stakeholder decision-making and standard-
>setting process dedicated to addressing the issues raised by 
>its development.
>
>In a nutshel, TBL did not only promote the values we defend 
>(global commons, open architectures and standards, flexible 
>frameworks for dialogue involving a wide variety of 
>stakeholders, access to information, transparency, non-
>profit approach,  ...); he also implemented them in 
>everything he did. 
>
>The very success of what he created is the best proof that 
>those principles do work. Nobody is in a better position 
>(credibility) to expose the present attacks against some of 
>the founding principles of the Internet and the Web that CS 
>cares about.
>
>Other advantage : no government in its sane mind can take 
>the risk of the public ridicule of refusing the floor in a 
>summit on the Information Society to the very man who, more 
>than anyone, helped it happen. Should Civil Society agree on 
>his nomination through the present process (and provided of 
>course he can and wants to participate), his name could be 
>given with no alternative option, thereby establishing CS 
>right to nominating its own speakers. 
>
>I hope you will find this suggestion useful and capable of 
>triggering a rapid consensus. Many things can be added.
>
>But as my view may be biased, I encourage suggestions, 
>comments and critics on this one. In particular, I recognize 
>TBL, as a white male living in the US, does not help on the 
>criterias of gender and geographical balance. 
>
>Should a decision be taken among us, I am sure many of you 
>are in a position to help contact TBL if necessary and we 
>should select the best channel . 
>
>Cheers to all
>
>Bertrand
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