[WSIS CS-Plenary] What's going on ? "CS" Press release and "CS"-Private sector joint statement

[lisa mclaughlin]

If the supposed "joint statement" of CS and the 
PS is allowed to remain on the ITU web site, let 
me suggest the following:

1. that those of us who do not wish to be 
bedfellows with the CCBI write our own statement 
disassociating ourselves from the "joint 
statement"

2. that we circulate it for individual endorsements

3. and that we insist that it be included amongst 
the documents submitted by Observers.

As well, perhaps it is time to do some CS 
stocktaking instead of taking part in an ITU 
exercise that seems to suffer amnesia in respect 
to the fact that CS did not endorse the official 
Declaration or Plan of Action.

Regards,

Lisa



At 7:17 PM +0100 3/3/05, Meryem Marzouki wrote:
>Dear all,
>
>1/ I fully support the concerns on the "CS" 
>press release raised by Ralf hereafter, and 
>previously by Jean-Louis and Rikke.
>
>2/ I've found on ITU web site, in the list of 
>documents submitted by Observers, a document 
>called "25 February 2005 - Observers (Business 
>Sector and Civil Society): Joint statement on 
>behalf of Civil Society Plenary and the 
>Coordination Committee of Business 
>Interlocutors" 
>(http://www.itu.int/wsis/docs2/pc2/subcommittee/Jointcs-ccbi.html).
>There have been concerns raised on this plenary 
>list by organizations who asked for individual 
>endorsements by organizations, rather than 
>attributing this statement to CS as a whole.
>Who took the responsability to submit it to ITU 
>secretariat to have it on the website, thus 
>ignoring the plenary ?
>
>It is too late to withdraw the "CS" press 
>release, since no one from CS had the 
>opportunity to comment on a draft.
>But it is still time to ask for the so-called 
>"Joint statement on behalf of Civil Society 
>Plenary and the Coordination Committee of 
>Business Interlocutors" to be removed from ITU 
>website, and that its promoters look for 
>endorsements by individual organizations.
>
>I'm really wondering what's going on with CS at WSIS II...
>
>Best regards,
>Meryem Marzouki
>--
>Meryem Marzouki - http://www.iris.sgdg.org
>IRIS - Imaginons un réseau Internet solidaire
>294 rue de Charenton - 75012 Paris
>Tel/Fax. +33(0)144749239
>
>Le jeudi, 3 mars 2005, à 18:09 Europe/Paris, Ralf Bendrath a écrit :
>
>>Dear all,
>>
>>I am also not happy about the press release, 
>>neither on the content nor on the procedural 
>>side.
>>
>>Renata Bloem schrieb:
>>>This was not a statement of CONGO.
>>But CONGO wrote it, refined it and sent it out, 
>>without any consultation with the plenary or 
>>whomever. Right? Given the fact that the final 
>>Content & Themes meeting where we collected 
>>points for Adina to include was on Friday 
>>evening, and the press release only was 
>>published on Wednesday, there would have been 
>>enough time to send out a first draft for 
>>further confirmation. That's how we did it 
>>before, like at PrepCom3a when I wrote the 
>>final CS press statement.
>>
>>>  In fact we have not submitted a single sentence to it.
>>But who wrote it then? The press release does 
>>not at all reflect the general discussion we 
>>had on the state of the process etc.
>>
>>  "Despite some concerns about WSIS "losing its vision" and "moving away
>>  from the Geneva Declaration track", civil society entities were
>>  generally satisfied with the response by governments to their efforts in
>>  making the peoples' voices heard in "bridging the digital divide"."
>>
>>Here I fully agree with Jean-Louis: We (any 
>>especially the folks who worked hard on 
>>financing issues at the Prepcom) are certainly 
>>not "satisfied with the response by 
>>governments". Quite the opposite.
>>
>>>Adina was asked to make an amalgam of the 
>>>submissions she had received. and in order to 
>>>avoid any misunderstanding / possible 
>>>conflicts she decided not to refer to any 
>>>specific entity / group / caucus, but to use 
>>>more a general language
>>That is fine, as long as the submissions are still somewhere incorporated.
>>
>>BUT: I find no single sentence on Human Rights 
>>here, though the Human Rights Caucus had 
>>sumbitted language. Nothing on the lack of a 
>>Human Rights focus in the summit drafts, 
>>nothing on Tunisia as the host country, nothing 
>>on accreditation problems of NGOs like Human 
>>Rights in China. But then it mentions 
>>accreditation problems in WIPO. Why?
>>
>>And most of the press release is applauding the 
>>improvements in the multi-stakeholder process. 
>>But were there really any? We had our usual 15 
>>minutes a day like we had two years ago. On the 
>>last day we did not even get these. The 
>>improvement is only on the substance side: They 
>>listen to us, because they either have no clue 
>>and need our input, or they have learned to 
>>take us serious. So, if we want to applaud 
>>anybody for the bigger impact we might have had 
>>during this PrepCom, it should be ourselves. 
>>BTW: Empirical research done on WSIS phase one 
>>suggests that CS impact is bigger in the early 
>>stages and gets smaller and smaller towards the 
>>end, when all that counts is the government's 
>>agreement.
>>
>>So, to me, this press release looks like 
>>somebody (if not CONGO, then who else?) wants 
>>to play extremely nice and by doing this is 
>>silencing all more outspoken and critical 
>>voices in civil society. Fine with me if some 
>>groups want to do this, but then they can't 
>>claim to speak for all civil society.
>>
>>I totally agree with Renata: We are lacking a 
>>clear press structure and really should work on 
>>it for PrepCom3.
>>
>>But while we don't have an agreed structure, 
>>things like these have to be done the most 
>>careful and inclusive way. And that normally 
>>includes a feedback loop on the plenary list, 
>>even more if there are a few days of time. 
>>Otherwise, we get a PR disaster like this and 
>>enlarge the divides between different groups of 
>>civil society in the WSIS.
>>
>>Ralf
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>
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