[WSIS CS-Plenary] Speakers - Issues with Ebadi

[Robert Guerra]

Colleagues:

I've taken the liberty of reformatting the earlier message sent by  
Chekib so that it reads "better"...(it is below)

I will comment briefly :

1. there are concerns being raised about what the significance is on  
being (or not) on a governmental delegation.

Might I add, that many in CS have the priviledge of being invited as  
NGO and/or civil society advisors on governmental delegations. This  
was done by certain governments to make sure civil society was able  
to participate in (listen to and comment on) all the activities at  
the prepcom. With numerous sessions being "closed" - it was the only  
way CS could in fact know what was going on.

I and many others in CS took up this offer . Might I add that most,  
if not all of us were VERY open and clear about our roles. That we  
had been invited as advisors to a governmental delegation, but we are  
not members of the government.

The outstanding issue is one of transparency - certain people were  
quite clear and open as to 1. their background, 3.. their  
organization, and 4.. if they are members of parliament of one or  
another country - this issues remain unsolved.

2. Dear Chekib , I gather you want to pick a fight with most of the  
Civil society at WSIS, right? Your combative style and failure to  
recognize that the nomination of speakers can't just come from a very  
small and quickly convened selection committee.. It has been clear ,  
for about a week now that a very large # of organizations and  
individuals are supporting Ms. Ebadi's nomination as opening  
speaker . This support, is seen by many as coming from the "plenary"  
- "the ultimate decision making body of CS", and as such overrides  
any structure that you and your buddies might sit on..


3. The ITU has before it a list of CS's nominations for speakers,  
including the one for opening speaker. What issues do we seem to have:


- a nobel peace prize winner : Who some object to.
- 2 Tunisian parliamentarians : Who, unlike others, fail to disclose  
the fact they are in fact appointed members of the parliament...

Again - the issue is one of disclosure. Some people are more than  
happy to be open, transparent and mention all their affiliations -  
others, prefer to hide facts.


In summary -  Some, among us have chosen not to support Ms. Ebadi.  
Well, too bad the rest of us could not convince you. Thank you for  
your opinions - but, so far , the majority does not seem to back your  
view. This decision, i do not think can be taken by consensus.

The larger issue:

It seems the rest of the world is more than happy to give the many  
Tunisians that have been involved in the WSIS the right to express  
their opinions, to move around freely, and to enjoy basic human  
rights.  The question is, as we get closer to the summit - will our  
Tunisian hosts extend the same rights to the rest of us....many of us  
doubt that...

regards,

Robert



> From: Chekib Dhaouadi <chekib_dhaouadi at yahoo.fr>
> Date: October 18, 2005 7:21:43 PM EDT (CA)
> To: Rik Panganiban <rikp at earthlink.net>
> Subject: RE: Fwd: Speaker Background Notes and Recommendation of  
> Ms. Ebadi
>
>
>
> Cher Ami RIK,
>
> j'ai recu ton courrier comme d'habitude,et je ten remecie.Je te  
> remercie pour les efforts que tu fais pour nous tous.Seulement,il y  
> a une clarification que je voudrais apporter et qui s'avere  
> necessaire.Elle concerne la nomination de Mme EBADI.En effet,ma  
> reserve concerne des regles de procedure et du respect qui doit  
> regir les relations entre les divers acteurs,qu'ils soient  
> individus ou entites.Il est bien entendu qu'un "caucus" en  
> forfaiture ou un eternel absent parceque preoccupe par "ses  
> affaires" ou plutot par ses engagements au sein de la DELEGATION  
> GOUVERNEMENTALE de son pays(BADGE A L'APPUI) tout au long de  
> Prepcom3,ne devraient honnetement pas aspirer aux memes chances que  
> ceux qui ont partage le travail pour que Prepcom3 connaisse la  
> reussite.
>
> Je dis cela,car ce sont toujours les memes qui posent prqbleme.La  
> nomination de Mme EBADI nous honore tous, sans aucun,mais ne change  
> ma conviction que la nomination de notre Amie RENATA pour la  
> ceremonie d'ouverture aurait ete un merveilleux couronnement pour  
> toute sa carriere et pour tout ce qu'elle continue de faire quand  
> d'autres sont aux abonnes absents ou trop pris dans leur delegation  
> gouvernementale.
>
> Cher RIK,j'ai voulu aporter cette precision par acquis de  
> conscience mais par respect a Mme EBADI.Tu eras bien aimable de  
> transmettre cette precision al'UIT ainsi qu'a la  
> pleiniere.SALUTATIONS SINCERES. CHEKIB.
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://mailman-new.greennet.org.uk/pipermail/plenary/attachments/20051019/abc45570/attachment.html