[WSIS CS-Plenary] Regarding civil society speaker in Summit

[Al Alegre]

Some additional points occasioned by Chun and Robert's recent posts, which I
agree with...

During the first week of the summit, I raised with the CSB this issue of CS
participation in the official events-- referring to the so-called "high
level round tables". At first we were given the impression that it was the
UN Secretary General who would select all speakers, with an emphasis on big
name people, etc. etc,

But of course I thought that civil society should assert equity even in the
nomination process for these high profile speaking slots...especially for
those who will purportedly speak for CS.

(Mavic, I will try to look at my notes at home on how long these slots are,
but I know there are at least 4 round tables)

By asserting this, I wanted to take the selection and nomination of CS reps
out of the hands of the Organizing Committee only or the WSIS Secretariat,
and to put it where it rightfully belongs--to the Civil Society Plenary via
the content and themes working group (CTWG), and the with the CSB bureau
again facilitating the occupation of this space whoever is chosen.

I also feel that whoever is eventually chosen must also come back to the CS
Plenary for guidance on what is the MESSAGE to be delivered in these
official spaces.

I am now posting these thoughts to the Plenary list so a nomination process
(and criteria for selection) may be started.

Am copying this to the Bureau, again in the spirit of us having working
groups on many pending issues:
- CS participation in the Summit Events (where this current issue of
speakers should fall)
- finance & fellowships
- Post-summit activities
- Media/Communication and Outreach
- Coordination with other Side Events (not officially part of the formal
Summit)
- etc.

With the plenary shifting to online mode, may I also suggest that those who
chaired the PrepCom3 plenary (at different times) - Olinca, Amir, Susanna,
Renata, etc take some sort of lead in the Plenary discussions as moderator
and coordinator of agendas... (I know everyone is busy, but since you guys
were the acknowledged coordinators of the Plenary, I am appealing that you
extend your mandate a bit...if the plenary list has no objections.)

Thanks and regards...

Al Alegre
CSB co-representative
Asia Pacific CS "FAmily"


----- Original Message -----
From: "Robert Guerra" <rguerra at cpsr.org>
To: <plenary at wsis-cs.org>
Sent: Sunday, October 12, 2003 11:37 PM
Subject: Re: [WSIS CS-Plenary] Regarding civil society speaker in Summit


>
> i agree with your point of view. after all, though it is a great to have a
> nobel prize winner speaking, what do they know about wsis and the issues
> which have been at play throughout the preparatory process.
>
> as was mentioned in the cs bureau meeting week 2 - we need to devise a
> process, a policy agreeable by all - that sets up the criteria of how to
> selct those in CS to  speak at our availabkle slots during the summit.
>
> robert
>
>
> On Mon, 13 Oct 2003, Chun Eung Hwi wrote:
>
> > Dear all,
> >
> >
> > To be honest, I cannot understand nowadays why some people are so
excited
> > to the idea that new nobel peace prize winner could be a key speaker in
> > coming Summit. I think we should never forget that those documents put
on
> > the table in WSIS is very far away from civil socienty principles. Even
in
> > last news conference of last PrepCom III, civil society expressed it
very
> > clearly. And still we should take into account whether we could declare
> > the breakdown of multi stakeholder approach applied in WSIS process. At
> > the moment, our main concern should be what could be our final message
to
> > de facto divided WSIS rather than how exciting figure could take the
> > microphone in coming Summit.
> >
> >
> > regards,
> >
> > Chun
> >
> > --
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > Chun Eung Hwi
> > General Secretary, PeaceNet | phone:     (+82)  2-2166-2205
> > Seoul Yangchun P.O.Box 81   |   pcs:     (+82) 019-259-2667
> > Seoul, 158-600, Korea      | eMail:   chun at peacenet.or.kr
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> >
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