Charter drafts - and the related process so far => NCUC/ALAC

[Milton L Mueller]

Bill, stop writing to this list and send it to the public comment list. Just cut and paste. It will have a devastating effect on their Big Lie. 

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Non-Commercial User Constituency [mailto:NCUC-
> DISCUSS at LISTSERV.SYR.EDU] On Behalf Of Jeanette Hofmann
> Sent: Friday, July 24, 2009 10:57 AM
> To: NCUC-DISCUSS at LISTSERV.SYR.EDU
> Subject: Re: [NCUC-DISCUSS] Charter drafts - and the related process so
> far => NCUC/ALAC
> 
> > One thing that I found particularly depressing in the comments was the
> > ALAC leadership's decision to endorse the SIC/staff version, and to
> > dismiss NCUC's model as some sort of capture strategy on the part of an
> > apparently evil cabal (that's us, I guess).
> 
> Hi Bill, are you refering to Cheryl's statement?
> http://forum.icann.org/lists/gnso-stakeholder-charters/msg00067.html
> 
> I've been told that it is not an ALAC statement since ALAC didn't
> discuss this matter. What is more, it is not, as Cheryl claims, a
> synopsis of former statements as it clearly contradicts other positions
> of ALAC. Since I am not an EURALO member anymore, I cannot point this
> out to the membership but I've asked two other members to do something
> about Cheryl's statement.
> 
> jeanette
> The former is despite the
> > fact that ALAC earlier disavowed the CP80 proposal, which the SIC/staff
> > version actually mirrors in important respects.  Go ahead and figure
> > that one out.  It is notable too that this is despite the fact that ALAC
> > leadership has not sought any sort of dialogue with NCUC to arrive at a
> > shared understanding of the alternative models, and despite the lack of
> > any real dialogue within ALAC on the relative merits of the two models
> > geared to eliciting a broadly supported verdict.  I have feet in both
> > worlds as an NCUC councilor and a member of Euralo's board, and I at
> > least did not see any effort from the top to seriously canvass ALAC
> > members opinions before arriving at a stance in our names.  All I have
> > seen on the ALAC lists and other lists like that of the Media Democracy
> > Coalition has been messages to the effect that civil society people
> > should work in the first instance through ALAC, not NCUC or NCSG.  And
> > yet the board has said it thinks at large structures should be active in
> > the future NCSG, and we get criticized for somehow failing to include
> > more ALS folks in our work, when of course from our side they're
> > perfectly welcome and just don't choose to engage.
> >
> > Maybe I'm still a bit green (although after almost a year here this
> > excuse is getting lame) but I simply fail to understand why people can't
> > see that ALAC and NCUC/NCSG have different and non-competing functions
> > and should be cross-pollinating and cooperating closely. Whatever stuff
> > went on in the past between whomever just doesn't cut it as an excuse
> > for continuing dysfunctionality today.  Indeed, when we have tried to
> > collaborate of late, as with the IRT, it has been clear that there's
> > often quite a bit of overlap/harmony of view on substantive matters.  So
> > it's hard not to conclude that this is all about turf, personal empires,
> > and interpersonal relations, which is just adolescent and nuts.
> >
> > In any event, once the board has given us the charter and we've decided
> > how to respond, undertaking a serious NCUC/ALAC dialogue should be high
> > on the list of priorities, in my view.  It just doesn't work to have one
> > group actively undermining the other when both could be working toward
> > common objectives.
> >
> > Best,
> >
> > Bill
> >
> >
> >
> > ***********************************************************
> > William J. Drake
> > Senior Associate
> > Centre for International Governance
> > Graduate Institute of International and
> >   Development Studies
> > Geneva, Switzerland
> > william.drake at graduateinstitute.ch
> > www.graduateinstitute.ch/cig/drake.html
> > ***********************************************************