[WSIS CS-Plenary] Re: Need to know the facts / Les Faits Re: [WSIS CS-Plenary] PCT and WGIG

[veni markovski]

At 10:23 22-01-2005 -0500, Robert Guerra wrote:
>Veni:
>
>I was thinking of responding to you - privately - to express my thoughts, 
>agreements, and disagreements on your recent message.

It's better to do it on the list, so thanks for posting here. I have not 
read your message, but as I see it's big, decided to read and respond 
accordingly.

>Their silence is worrisome, as are the desperate pleas people have on 
>occasion to leave the list when the virtual battles break out .

The silence shows lack of interest, too. Or the fact that there are topics 
which are being discussed, which are not relevant for the majority of the 
people. I don't have the time now to do some calculation, and may be 
someone has done it already to see how many are the active participants on 
this list?

>>I'd say that this is partly due to the personal agendas of some of the 
>>participants, which had priority upon the interests of the CS caucus. And 
>>no, please, don't ask me who are those participants. I prefer to open a 
>>discussion on the state of the CS within WSIS than waste time on individuals.
>
>I would agree that part of the reason that the discussion has failed to be 
>productive on here is the reason you state. We should perhaps think why is 
>it that it happens in this space and not in the physical face to face meetings.

Well, I'd love to see such a discussion, if we can create it somehow - and 
in a positive direction. But in the mailing list there's too much "spam", 
or not-relevant messages, which makes this difficult to follow. E.g. I 
noticed the current subject only when Avri wrote on it. But it was not the 
first message; so the first few messages were lost for me, and I had to go 
back to find them.

>Given what happened at the last precom you'd think this space would have 
>shifted to french and arabic and be discussing Tunisian issues. Instead, 
>since june of last year the vast majority of discussion has been 
>around  free software and the politics around that. it has consumed far 
>too much of the discussion and there hasn't been any way to start other 
>threads, other discussions on items that are also important in the UN context.

Instead of focusing on Tunisian issues, perhaps we should focus on more 
global issues, not even (and only) FOSS (and running www.foss.bg I have 
some good grounds to say so!).

>One also has to recognize that we all come into the WSIS process with our 
>own agendas and  our own objectives . One always has to take this into 
>consideration.

Of course! The only problem is how to make sure our own agenda do not 
prevail upon the interests of the global society.


>Instead of keeping quiet i have raised the issues both in the physical 
>meetings and also online (on this list and on the bureau one) in this 
>regard. Many of my questions have gone unanswered - this is most worrisome.

Who did you address those questions to?

>An example, the blog entry which I posted both here and on the (publicly 
>accessible) bureau list has gone without any reply or comment. it would 
>have been great to have heard your comments when I posted the note.

Unfortunately I don't have much of a time for reading blogs; and also - may 
be your note has gone unnoticed in the massive mailing (more than 6000 
messages on WSIS!).

>note: If you go through this month's posts you'll see that i'm an active 
>poster and have many concerns that a. have been expressed, and b. are 
>without reply from others.

the fact that you post is good, the fact that there's no answer (but who 
should answer???) is indeed worrying.

>A specific issue raised at the Cape Town meeting which is likely to be 
>problematic is the one of representation of the bureau in outside

How many members is now the CSB? How many were in Cape Town?


>let's shine more detail on the meeting in question you are referring to...

the details in history are not relevant; I only say that the American way 
is more active for a number of reasons (and many people here, who are NOT 
from the West, are also worried about it!). One of them, if not the 
biggest, is that civil society and non-governmental organizations in this 
part of the world have a long history. In other parts of the world, even 
belonging to an NGO, or claiming to be from the civil society may put you, 
well, if not in jail, at least in danger.


>I could go on - but don't think it's effective. All I have to do is ask 
>you - if you want to be involved on the WSIS CSB again? If so, let me know.

I don't think the CSB in its current status is of interest for people like 
me, who don't have their own personal agenda. Or people like you, who keep 
on asking question, without getting answers:) (btw, this is not an insult 
for the CSB members. It's just a feeling that CSB has moved from being a 
facilitator between the governmental bureau and the CS to a powerful tool. 
And I am not afraid of the powerful tools, if there are mechanisms to 
control them. I don't see such one in the current model, but if I am wrong, 
I'd be happy to hear it.

>Other than PrepCom 1 (first phase), I have attended the WSIS meetings at 
>my own personal expense. Compared to the other actors involved - I can 
>honestly say that my agenda is one of transparency and just getting things 
>done.

As I said above, I would not go into details about anyone, you included.

>For CS to be effective, it has to be strategic. Claudia Padovani has put 
>forward some ideas as to how to proceed , i ask others to do the same.

Again, Claudia is a great contributor, and a great person, but... her 
message must have been lost again in the mass mail.

best,
veni