[WSIS CS-Plenary] * APC Tribute to Chris Nicol *

[Jean-Louis FULLSACK]

Dear Karen
A very sad news indeed ! I remember our last meeting in Geneva with Chris : at first I didn't recognise him so I'd to make some efforts in my poor memory, but Chris humoristically helped me. I feel deeply sad and as you, heavy of heart; 
He undoubtly will be missing during our future meetings. WSIS-CS has lost one of its real and active friends.  So let's maintain his souvenir in our future activities and commitment in the same values as Chris.
Jean-Louis Fullsack
Chair of CSDPTT - France
 





> Message du 01/09/05 18:59
> De : "karen banks" 
> A : plenary at wsis-cs.org
> Copie à : 
> Objet : [WSIS CS-Plenary] * APC Tribute to Chris Nicol *
> 
> [Please note that by using 'REPLY', your response goes to the entire list. Kindly use individual addresses for responses intended for specific people. Your cooperation is highly appreciated]
> _______________________________________
> 
> Dear all on plenary,
> 
> With great sadness and heavy of heart, i have to share news that our dear 
> sweet friend - chris nicol - died on August 29th after battling with 
> cancer for over a year.
> 
> Many of you will not have met chris, some of you have, and those that have 
> will know that chris was one of the most deeply committed and passionate 
> social activists, who dedicated his life to creating a more just and 
> equitable world - and the WSIS Process was one where he fought some tough 
> battles working towards achieving that goal, with many of us.
> 
> Our tribute to chris is below in english, and i will post spanish and 
> portuguese versions in the next messages.
> 
> If you feel it appropriate, please share this tribute with your own 
> caucuses and working groups.
> 
> regards to all
> karen banks, on behalf of the APC.
> 
> ~~~~~
> 
> online tribute and other links: http://www.apc.org/english/index.shtml
> 
> 30 August 2005
> 
> To all in the APC community and to our many friends and partners:
> 
> TRIBUTE TO OUR FRIEND, COUNCIL AND BOARD MEMBER, CHRIS NICOL
> 
> On Monday 29 August 2005 the APC network lost someone who was a colleague, 
> a leader and a friend.
> 
> Chris Nicol, member of the APC council and also of the APC executive board, 
> died in Barcelona after more than a year of struggling against cancer. For 
> much of the time during this battle Chris was winning, continuing to work, 
> travel and network when the difficult cycle of surgery and treatment left 
> him with any spare time.
> 
> Chris was an Australian who had been living in Barcelona for around 25 
> years. He also spent time in Nicaragua in the period just after the 
> Sandinistas overthrew the Somoza dictatorship. Chris worked in the British 
> Council in Barcelona for many years, he taught English and set down roots 
> in Catalunya in many ways - politically, culturally, socially and through 
> his long relationship with his partner Chenchy. Chris was also active in 
> the Barcelona solidarity movement with the Zapatistas, organising, raising 
> funds, helping out where he could. And he loved music, wine, and nature. 
> Chris was deeply committed to justice, to humanity. He was a real activist 
> who also threw himself into practical and concrete tasks with energy and 
> humour.
> 
> Chris became part of the APC community in 1995. His organisation, Pangea, 
> was part of an association of Spanish internet activist organisations which 
> together applied for APC membership. In 2000 Pangea (www.pangea.org) became 
> a member of APC in its own right. Chris was part of Pangea from its first 
> days, working sometimes as a volunteer and sometimes as staff, but always 
> giving heart and soul to the organisation.
> 
> He first attended an APC council meeting in 1997 in South Africa although 
> many APC people had already met him by then. Chris was first elected onto 
> the APC executive board at the APC council meeting in Uruguay in 2001 and 
> at the time of his death he was APC treasurer. He worked tirelessly at a 
> recent executive board meeting in South Africa in April even though he had 
> only just finished another gruelling round of treatment.
> 
> For all of us in APC it is very hard to express how much Chris meant in the 
> network. His was always an active voice, supportive and sometimes critical.
> 
> He was deeply committed to APC strengthening its advocacy role, to being 
> more than a provider of member services. He was one of the first people in 
> APC to raise the issue of free software, to start using GNU/Linux on his 
> desktop, and to develop projects to support organisations in migrate their 
> desktop environments to free and open source software.
> 
> Chris made two contributions to APC's work recently which will live on for 
> a long time. He was the editor and compiler of "ICT policy: a beginner's 
> handbook" (http://www.apc.org/books) which we published in English in late 
> 2003 and in Spanish this year. This book will be updated with a new 
> version going online on a wiki so that it can remain a living and growing 
> testimony to Chris' work. And, earlier this year, he drafted the outline 
> of a free software initiative for the APC network which we have been 
> building on and which will be presented to APC members later this year.
> 
> Chris was a permanently engaged member of the APC team participating in the 
> World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) process, from its inception 
> in 2002 through to the latest PrepCom in Geneva, February 2005, one of his 
> last work related trips. In many ways, he was a compass ­ always pointing 
> to those actions that were necessary, just and not always easy - whether it 
> was in solidarity around redressing unjust distribution of resources, the 
> fierce battles around intellectual property and free software, or insisting 
> that the APC team met to communicate and strategise regularly in the hustle 
> and bustle of the United Nations conferences.
> 
> Every moment was precious to Chris, precious in that he felt one should 
> never be wasted - whether the moment was spent drafting, lobbying, meeting, 
> demonstrating, or talking with friends and colleagues.
> 
> Chris was always there, whenever we needed him, and was a constant reminder 
> of our message and vision - to create "a world in which all people have 
> easy, equal and affordable access to the creative potential of ICTs to 
> improve their lives and create more democratic and egalitarian societies" 
> (the APC vision).
> 
> All of us in the APC community want to share our love and support of Chris 
> with his family and his friends, with Chenchy and with Chris' mother and 
> sister in Australia, with his colleagues in Pangea.
> 
> APC will not forget Chris and will be honouring and remembering Chris Nicol 
> through an initiative that will reflect his passion and committment to 
> creating a more socially just world, and inspire others to continue the 
> battle to do so.
> 
> We will share more news about this initiative shortly, but at this time, we 
> warmly welcome all of those who knew or knew of Chris and his life work, to 
> share messages on the editable website we have created in his honour.
> 
> http://actionapps.org/tikiwiki/tiki-index.php?page=APC+messages+to+Chris+Nicol
> 
> Association for Progressive Communications members and staff
> 30 August 2005
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Plenary mailing list
> Plenary at wsis-cs.org
> http://mailman.greennet.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/plenary
> 
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://mailman-new.greennet.org.uk/pipermail/plenary/attachments/20050902/d67c71c3/attachment.htm