Jacqueline Morris wrote: >Hi >Just wanted to say - the WGIG wanted to have consultations in other >parts of the world (Africa, LAC), rather than Geneva, but the >resources apparently were not forthcoming. >Jacqueline > > I think it would be more fair to say that members of the Working Group on Internet Governance, as well as members of Civil Society (especially those not represented in the WGIG) wanted a lot of things, including consultations in other parts of the world.
The sad truth of the WGIG - and it's fairly public knowledge, though not publicized - is that the WGIG was not even defined before nominees were given and accepted. Further, the representatives of the WGIG really had no say about what would be discussed (or where, for that matter). Had the WGIG been done with the technology that was being discussed at the WGIG, there would have been less cost - as both Robert Guerra and myself pointed out on the Civil Society Plenary list on a few occasions. Either the WGIG was poorly thought out, or it was well thought out within the framework that helped create the very problem we are discussing. Because I know that there are some highly intelligent people involved, I lean toward the latter. The WGIG could well have been done without anyone travelling anywhere. It might have been difficult without the dinner and scintillating body language, but it certainly would have made the members of the WGIG more aware of the issues that they were talking about. When something doesn't happen, it may be because resources weren't forthcoming. But at the WSIS level, with Civil Society consistently marginalized, I'd have to say that there was more governmental control on what should be spoken of instead of what society in general wanted to discuss - and that extends to Civil Society as well, due to the required structure for participation in the WSIS. Democracy is much neater without people. Hypothetically, one could actually install a democratic government in a country by killing anyone who didn't want democracy - but that's not really democratic, and sets a poor precedent. Kofi Annan would probably agree with that. The sad truth is that technology is already past the WSIS, and it's not going to wait for the WSIS. The recording industry resisted technology, and even now it's trying to catch up. Oddly enough, this is a pretty interesting parallel - considering that the governments with the most strength at the WSIS have lobbying groups with budgets that would make many smaller countries blush with envy - and perhaps shame. -- Taran Rampersad [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.linuxgazette.com http://www.a42.com http://www.knowprose.com http://www.easylum.net "Criticize by creating." — Michelangelo _______________________________________________ DIGITALDIVIDE mailing list DIGITALDIVIDE@mailman.edc.org http://mailman.edc.org/mailman/listinfo/digitaldivide To unsubscribe, send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the body of the message.
