[WSIS CS-Plenary] speakers list transmitted to the ITU

[Adam Peake]

At 9:43 AM -0400 10/11/05, Rik Panganiban wrote:
>
>Hi Vittorio,
>
>I agree with you in principle, but I am unclear how we are going to 
>police the speeches of "our speakers".


If (*if*) we can agree on some general talking points that capture 
the important civil society themes of the past 4 years of WSIS, then 
we could ask people in the plenary and other individual presentation 
slots to consider referring to those themes in their comments. But it 
would mean us collectively doing some work.

Begin by sending each a copy of the CS declaration from Geneva as an 
example of CS ideas and principles?

Round tables might be different -- if the theme is one that a CS 
caucus or WG has formed around then the speaker should listen to that 
caucuses and WG. But something to think about later.

Adam



>The best we can do is encourage each speaker to share what they plan 
>to speak about, ideally through their respective caucuses, and then 
>get feedback from others on whether this best represents a wide 
>range of CS views.
>
>I would love it if every speaker put a draft on a wiki, and anyone 
>could go in and edit their speech for them, and we could all sign 
>off on every speech as coming from "global civil society."  But I 
>know ourselves and our processes enough to think that this is 
>unrealistic.
>
>We're just not a monolithic entity that can force our will on 
>anyone.  All we can do is recommend, encourage, cajole and convince.
>
>Respectfully,
>
>Rik
>
>On Oct 11, 2005, at 2:03 AM, Vittorio Bertola wrote:
>
>>Rik Panganiban ha scritto:
>>
>>>One easy way to do this is to include in the Annex the contact 
>>>information for each speaker, so that once we know the final list, 
>>>we can contact each person individually and make sure that they 
>>>have the broadest possible view on their given subject area.  I.e. 
>>>if someone plans to speak on telecentres, that they be thoroughly 
>>>briefed on the privacy and security working group's concerns about 
>>>data retention and surveillance.
>>>
>>
>>I don't know what was the procedure in Geneva, but I expect that 
>>all speakers who will have to make pre-prepared interventions 
>>(i.e., not those who will have to participate to open discussions) 
>>will agree the text with the relevant caucuses. Briefing is not 
>>enough: I think we must avoid to have speakers that express 
>>personal opinions that conflict with the positions taken by civil 
>>society throughout the entire process; that, apart from being 
>>extremely divisive, would only make ourselves ridiculous.
>>
>>>  Beyond that, if there are emerging global civil society statements on
>>>  given matters such as internet governance, we want to make sure that
>>>  as many speakers as possible mention this in their interventions.
>>
>>My specific concern on this is that, in a Summit in which one of 
>>the main subjects of discussion is going to be the rearrangement of 
>>the administration of the Internet, I don't see in the list anyone 
>>who ever participated actively in the Internet Governance caucus. 
>>This is weird but not bad per se - but implies the need for some 
>>coordination :-)
>>
>>>Obviously, we respect everyone's right to speak their mind.
>>>
>>
>>Well, no, these are people selected by the entire set of civil 
>>society participants to represent them and speak on their behalf, 
>>not in a personal capacity or on behalf of their organizations. I 
>>don't think they have any right to express personal opinions when 
>>speaking on behalf of civil society.
>>--
>>vb.             [Vittorio Bertola - v.bertola [a] bertola.eu.org]<-----
>>http://bertola.eu.org/  <- Prima o poi...
>
>
>
>===============================================
>RIK PANGANIBAN       Communications Coordinator
>Conference of NGOs in Consultative Relationship with the United 
>Nations (CONGO)
>web: http://www.ngocongo.org
>email: rik.panganiban at ngocongo.org
>mobile: (+1) 917-710-5524
>
>* Information on the WSIS at http://www.ngocongo.org/wsis
>* Information on Millennium+5 at http://www.ngocongo.org/mdg