[WSIS CS-Plenary] Reservation on process - list of speakers for Tunis

[Ralf Bendrath]

Dear Rik and all,

I know this whole process was a mess, and I do not blame CONGO only for 
not starting it earlier. So I won't go into the details of the individual 
nominations - probably all of them are good speakers who will try their 
best to represent the variety of our views.

BUT there is one nomination I absolutely can not agree with:
The nomination of Adama Samassekou as a civil society speaker.
He is still a member of the Mali government (if I understand his job 
description correctly), and in any way has been involved in the WSIS on 
the governments' side. If we really let him speak on our behalf, we 
voluntarily do what the ITU did to us at the first summit: Take away our 
own voice. This is unacceptable. What on earth has made the nomination 
committee come up with this idea? I strongly support those CS 
organizations who will submit their own suggestions for opening speakers 
directly to the ITU.

Jean-Louis hit the nail on the head when ironically suggesting that we 
give our second speaking slot to the business sector instead of letting 
Renata speak. CCBI has even associated itself with our protest against 
being excluded from the drafting groups, and they would certainly support 
multi-stakeholderism as much as Sammasekou would.

Don't we think we have anything to say ourselves here anymore?
(Or am I overlooking some kind ob subversive plan here that is directed to 
make us all go to the counter-summit instead?)

Ralf