[Ncuc-af] NCSG and NCUC elections

Thu Jul 19 12:43:18 CEST 2018

Thank you, Arsene, for your empathy.

On Thu, Jul 19, 2018 at 11:13 AM Arsène Tungali <arsenebaguma at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Hi Benjamin,
>
> Thanks for your comments. I am adding few comments in line to some of
> the statements you made bellow. And sorry again for what happened to
> you as you were going to Panama. That was very rude from that
> government.
>
> 2018-07-19 2:47 UTC+02:00, Benjamin Akinmoyeje <benakin at gmail.com>:
> >
> > My concern is how committed are we to the general African cause within
> the
> > space, it appears it suits some of us to go solo. Since this conversation
> > is coming up again, I will encourage everyone to look at the landscape
> and
> > engage with the mindset of a commonwealth of all rather than individual
> > benefits.
>
> I would like to understand what you mean by "it appears it suits some
> of us to go solo" because i don't think I see your point here. Can you
> share more on how this has happened and who are those people who are
> happy to work in solo? I don't agree with this sentiment as it is not
> uniting but has the potential to divide instead. I don't think there
> is a way one can work in silo in this space or to advance "individual
> benefits" as you put it. Maybe i am wrong or did not get your point?
>
>
My point here is in view with African strategy, I can be in ICANN and be
popular with global power blocks within the constituency, at that point
there will be no interest for me to push a common front or be concerned
with a regional quest. It wont be approriate for me to mention names but I
have seen African candidates efforts in the past cancel out each other.
ICANN space like every other human endeavors or communities is not devoid
of politics, and the question is how the politics is played out. Is it for
commonwealth or indvidual gains?
The reason I brought this up is for us to agree to forge a common front
before we start strategizing , it was not meant to divide us. Most times we
non native english speakers suffer from being misunderstood. I work so hard
to ensure my sentences communicate my intentions.

> With that said, my suggestion is for us to look holistically at the
> > different scenarios and identify the agenda we Africans want to push; and
> > let us agreed on the route to go.
>
> Though I agree with the spirit behind this but again, I don't think
> there is any specific agenda that we need to push within the NCSG as
> Africans rather than encouraging our fellows to be engaged and take
> time to work on policies or governance. We can start by looking at
> issues under discussion in PDPs and see if there is anything that has
> an impact on Africa as a region. But until there is nothing specific,
> then, i would strongly suggest we unite, support each other to be
> engaged. We have only few from our region who are into the real work
> and without naming anyone, i would like to thank those few and
> encourage the rest to follow.
>

 Personally I believe IG & ICANN issues affect Africa everyday , GDPR has
sent the whole Internet space spiralling was simply because of the Europe,
who says Africa can not do the same?
We are trying most time to engage in issues that affect mostly other
regions that is why we struggle. If we unite we can bring African issues to
forefront. We are well positioned to do that. In the end , all of these are
my personal opinions, and I think one of the things we should keep
encouraging is free flow of views.
I participate actively in NCSG as much as my work permits, I attend the
calls and discussions ; I help review shared documents , maybe I am yet to
be a pen holder on drafting a comment.... hopefully someday I will. But
till then I can support an idea or help someone understand better something
I am an expert on in order for him to give a good showing in the NCSG space.

In the Madiba said -"if you want to go fast go alone, if you want to go far
go with others"
 This is just my reactions to Thato's need for us to work together , for me
I will rally around a team that has a common cause to help the already
obscured group gain visibility.
The more Africans at the table the better for all us.

I have seen some of our fellows doing their best in bringing back the
> Finance Committee despite all the concerns and sometimes personal
> attacks that are directed to them. Remy and Thato are doing a very
> good job in trying to conciliate different views from the community
> and come up with the Operating Procedures that will be accepted by the
> majority of NCSG members. And I think we should unite and work
> alongside them, if we have experience in this area of finances. This
> is just one example.
>
> > In terms of capacity building, I have always advocated that we do some
> form
> > of peer to peer learning amongst ourselves to boost confidence instead of
> > canceling out each others.
>
> This is a very good point you are making here and I would like to
> encourage us to work this out in a different thread and see how we can
> make it possible. We have resources within this group that we can tap
> into in terms of mentoring (and many of us took the policy writing
> course as well as the recent NCSG course in Panama). And if there is
> an area where we lack expertise, we can still seek mentorship from
> experts from other regions. Peter is another example of being mentored
> by someone from another region. So, it works as well.
>
> > My question is what is our strategy? What is the common cause?
> We can work on this together but for now, I believe we need to
> encourage more participation from Africa and consider this as our
> strategy for the few years ahead. I recently was at the Africa
> Strategy meeting with the Africa GES team and the thing is, we are
> still not visible within ICANN in terms of Africans doing the job. And
> i think this is what we can do for now.
>
> I agree with you and I believe we can be  as productive, as get to
understand the issues or have capacities in the selected areas.

Regards,
Benjamin

>
> > On Wed, Jul 18, 2018 at 5:30 PM Akinremi Peter Taiwo
> > <compsoftnet at gmail.com>
> > wrote:
> >
> >> Thanks Thato for raising the need for more involvement of Africans in
> >> NCSG
> >> and NCUC. The same point was raised by Arsene weeks ago and Rafik
> clearly
> >> suggested a strategy that could help us achieved a more desirable
> >> outcome.
> >> In addition with Rafik suggestion, I would also like to suggest that we
> >> need to put on the hat of nominate ourselves for strategically
> >> positioning.
> >> While we are actively participating, Rafik, Poncelet, Farell, Anriette,
> >> Arsene among others should use their influence to nominate African
> >> colleagues . This would clearly shows that there is potential African
> >> candidates on the list.
> >>
> >> Regards.
> >> Peter
> >>
> >> On Wed, Jul 18, 2018 at 4:05 PM, Thato Mfikwe <thatomfikwe at gmail.com>
> >> wrote:
> >>
> >>> Hi members,
> >>>
> >>> I just wanted to highlight something that maybe some of you might have
> >>> been thinking about.
> >>>
> >>> As you might have received notices about elections and nominations
> >>> taking
> >>> place, I think it would be fruitful to think about how the region gains
> >>> representation in the coming elections of NCSG and NCUC.
> >>>
> >>> It would not cause harm to have candidated standing for leadership at C
> >>> or SG level and the African seat can also be discussed before
> >>> contentions
> >>> start and nomination periods close. Supporting 2 or 3 candidates at
> most
> >>> would be a good start.
> >>>
> >>> Our passive approach will always give us a back seat with our voices
> not
> >>> well represented, unless we collectively take a firm approach to agree
> >>> or
> >>> disagree on who we should rally behind or push ahead.
> >>>
> >>> It would also be wise to know who will be the volunteers or candidates
> >>> so
> >>> that we can support them, any thoughts?
> >>>
> >>> If members are not confident enough to stand,it means that we need to
> >>> strengthen capacity building initiatives focusing on under-serviced
> >>> regions
> >>> in order to encourage meaningfull participation in ICANN PDP and
> related
> >>> activities.
> >>>
> >>> Apologies that I might not finish this communication threat, just
> trying
> >>> to spark communication and collaboration with and among fellow members,
> >>> thanks.
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> Thato Mfikwe.
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> _______________________________________________
> >>> Ncuc-af mailing list
> >>> Ncuc-af at lists.ncuc.org
> >>> https://lists.ncuc.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/ncuc-af
> >>>
> >>>
> >>
> >>
> >> --
> >> *Akinremi Peter Taiwo*
> >> [ West Africa Coordinator ]
> >> African Civil Society on Information Society (*ACSIS*)
> >> *Website: *www.acsis-scasi.org
> >>
> >> *Chief E*xecutive Consultant.
> >> [ Compsoftnet Enterprise ]
> >> www.compsoftnet.com.ng
> >> Nigeria
> >>
> >> *T*echnical Consultant
> >> [ RetailPoint ]
> >> Lagos
> >> Website: www.retailpos.com.ng
> >>
> >> *Phone:* +2347-0638-30177, +2348-1874-76292
> >> *twitter:* @compsoftnet
> >> *Skype:* akinremi.peter
> >>
> >> _______________________________________________
> >> Ncuc-af mailing list
> >> Ncuc-af at lists.ncuc.org
> >> https://lists.ncuc.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/ncuc-af
> >>
> >
>
>
> --
> ------------------------
> **Arsène Tungali* <http://about.me/ArseneTungali>*
> Co-Founder & Executive Director, *Rudi international
> <http://www.rudiinternational.org>*,
> CEO,* Smart Services Sarl <https://www.smart-kitoko.com/>*, *Mabingwa
> Forum
> <http://www.mabingwa-forum.com>*
> Tel: +243 993810967
> GPG: 523644A0
> *Goma, Democratic Republic of Congo*
>
> 2015 Mandela Washington Felllow
> <
> http://tungali.blogspot.com/2015/06/selected-for-2015-mandela-washington.html
> >
> (YALI) - ISOC Ambassador (IGF Brazil
> <
> http://www.internetsociety.org/what-we-do/education-and-leadership-programmes/next-generation-leaders/igf-ambassadors-programme/Past-Ambassadors
> >
> & Mexico
> <
> http://www.internetsociety.org/what-we-do/education-and-leadership-programmes/next-generation-leaders/Current-Ambassadors
> >)
> - AFRISIG 2016 <http://afrisig.org/afrisig-2016/class-of-2016/> - Blogger
> <http://tungali.blogspot.com> - ICANN's GNSO Council
> <https://gnso.icann.org/en/about/gnso-council.htm> Member. AFRINIC Fellow
> (
> Mauritius
> <http://www.afrinic.net/en/library/news/1907-afrinic-25-fellowship-winners
> >)*
> - *IGFSA Member <http://www.igfsa.org/> - Internet Governance - Internet
> Freedom.
>
> Check the *2016 State of Internet Freedom in DRC* report (English
> <http://cipesa.org/?wpfb_dl=234>) and (French
> <http://cipesa.org/?wpfb_dl=242>)
>
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