[WSIS CS-Plenary] Speaking up

[Jeanette Hofmann]

We are just arranging for Avri to speak on behalf of the Internet 
Governance caucus, if possible this morning. If other caucuses want to 
be mentioned too, please let Avri or me know. We are in room 20 at the 
subcommittee A meeting.
jeanette

Vittorio Bertola wrote:
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> I think the moment has come to speak up and read Avri's protest statement
> against the exclusion of civil society and private sector from drafting
> groups.
> 
> I have been spending the last 60 minutes speaking with some governments,
> with the business people, and with some of us. The business people are
> meeting right now to decide whether to speak up, but it seems likely they
> will, especially if we do the same. Some governments (both EU, and non-EU
> from the developed world) have told us that they would support us, but
> that they need to get a strong, formal and public protest from
> non-governmental actors first. The EU is meeting at the topmost level
> today at 3pm (the only high level group meeting in the week) and so would
> need that statement before then.
> 
> If we don't speak this morning, we risk missing the train. Yesterday civil
> society people were repeatedly excluded from more and more drafting
> groups. If we go down this path, it could even happen that the next round
> of forum discussions, or even the forum itself, would adopt the same rules
> of procedure, and be "multistakeholder" in the sense that CS and PS speak
> in the first five minutes and then leave.
> 
> We need to not accept losing one inch of ground on this issue. We need to
> get consistent support from as many countries as possible, in public, so
> that it can't be easily withdrawn. To do so, I think we have to confront
> them with the risk (which, I think, would actually become reality) of the
> Internet community refusing to participate in any new mechanism due to
> this kind of treatment, and contesting the Summit through the press, which
> would possibly turn the entire Tunis Summit into a failure for what
> regards IG.
> 
> These are my two cents. I hope that other people can support this point of
> view, so that we can make a statement this morning. In any case, if we
> can't manage to get proper closure on it due to shortage of time, I would
> do it anyway, signing it with as many signatories as we can get.