[NCUC-EC] NCUC Outreach Activity during ICANN81

[Amin Hacha]

Thank you for your response, Ken.
At each ICANN meeting, private meeting rooms are available for
private meetings. Andrea can provide information on availability. We need
the room for approximately an hour. It is essential for the Executive
Committee to decide whether to hold a separate meeting or join with others.

Benjamin, I noticed that you discovered from all my email that I haven't
experienced an NCUC Outreach event. It would have been more helpful if you
could have briefly explained about it, instead of continuing in your way of
manipulating the conversation by bringing up unrelated subjects with
incorrect explanations. Additionally, you ignored the questions I asked
before and repeated in my previous email. Anyway, I told you before, I
won't participate in that kind of behavior, and it's not the approach I
support.

On the other hand, I did a quick search and found that the most recent NCUC
Outreach meeting was organized between 2017 and 2018. And, all meetings
were organized in collaboration with NPOC and NCSG, or with EURALO, or with
At-Large. Dear EC members, I noticed that in 2018, an event was organised
under the title  " Civil Society Organizations Roundtable: a joint outreach
by NCUC + NPOC + NCSG.". This aligns with Ken's proposal. My question is,
do you think it would be acceptable to organize a similar meeting in
ICANN81 so that we can communicate with NPOC and NCSG to discuss this
further?
looking for your replies,
Regards,
Amin

On Fri, Oct 18, 2024 at 10:27 PM Benjamin Akinmoyeje <benakin at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Dear Amin,
> Thank you for sharing your concerns.
>
> I believe you have not experienced an NCUC outreach event before, and it
> is understandable,
>
> NCUC outreach activities are just another opportunity for NCUC to
> introduce the organization to new audiences and recruit new members.
>
> I respect your work, but the request was just for us to get
> results(members want to see results). I did not give you an order. Please
> highlight the orders I gave you on this list. I believe your grievance is
> simply because I requested that you please allow us to discuss the
> possibility, and I believe I communicated this to you personally.
> I did not give you orders during your CROP, even when you asked me for
> orders (what should I do), and neither did I give you orders when you led
> other sessions.
>
> No order was given when you were organizing the IGF session - I
> collaborated with you to lead ...why would I give orders now? Something
> must have gone amiss.
>
> In my bid to find a solution, I contacted some community leaders, and I
> was advised to reach out to Adam Peake. I mentioned our intentions to him;
> I believe you also reached out to others as well. Adam informed me of his
> engagement with some civil society organizations. I responded that we were
> interested in engaging with them, and as it was shown today, he responded
> to us.
>
> This present issue is arising because I am exploring other opportunities
> to have the NCUC outreach. I do not understand what you mean by me
> manipulating an event - I would appreciate your clarification on that.
>
> Folks, we have had a great run as a leadership team. We just have less
> than a month to finish this stewardship; there is no point generating
> unnecessary controversies.
>
> All we all want is to continue to keep NCUC vibrant and engaging for the
> benefit of the membership. None of us is paid for this.
>
> All these efforts should be put into creating robust events for the
> membership - all these efforts are needed in our websites, social media
> engagements, NCUC Issue forum, NCUC membership meetings, and recruiting
> more members for the community.
>
>
>
> Kind regards,
> Benjamin
>
>
>
>
>
> On Fri, Oct 18, 2024 at 9:10 PM Amin Hacha <aminhacha at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Benjamin,
>> I need to address something important with you. We're here to work
>> together as professionals, not to give or take orders. It's crucial that we
>> make decisions together rather than you trying to manipulate the situation.
>> I won't participate in that kind of behavior; and it's not the approach I
>> support.
>>
>> Seher (ICANN staff in the Istanbul office) replied to us on 9 August, and
>> you, Ines, and Pedro were also copied on the email. She mentioned:
>>
>> *" ... I reached out 4 civil society organizations who are primary
>> focusing on internet users rights, and the issues at the intersection of
>> technology, society and culture.**Two of them already confirmed their
>> attendance to ICANN81. If NCUC session date/time is fixed, we can also
>> expand the context of invitation and  invite them to join your session.  I
>> talked to our friends from universities, scheduling a lecture/seminar at
>> the time of ICANN event would not be preferred as it is very much likely
>> conflict with exam period." ...*
>>
>> I don't want to remind you of how you underestimated the significance of
>> what I was saying concerning this subject during the followed EC meeting.
>> Anyway, in her email Seher pointed out the challenges of scheduling
>> meetings during the exam period for universities. She also proposed four
>> civil society organizations, with two already confirmed to attend. On the
>> other hand, nothing clear yet regarding ISOC Istanbul, just as you did not
>> share with us details about Adam's reply to you.
>>
>> On my part, in addition to my communication with Seher, I communicated by
>> email to the NCUC members, and I did not say that we could not proceed with
>> the session or anything similar. We had assistance from Seher, which you
>> rejected. The main questions I have been asking from the beginning, and I
>> will repeat: *if you want to organize the event outside the convention,
>> can you tell us where? *Who do you think is ready to organize and invite
>> several local people interested to meet us? *What do you have to offer
>> them? Is there a clear project we can discuss with the attendees or the
>> NGOs?* Especially considering that you want to hold the meeting in the
>> middle of a working day, taking into account what Seher mentioned about the
>> exam period for university students. Also, I raised the challenge of
>> navigating Istanbul due to our unfamiliarity with the city. This could
>> potentially result in significant time loss as we attempt to meet with
>> maybe two or three individuals.
>>
>> I don't want to continue analyzing or explaining further. You were not
>> clear, and you didn't respect the work of others.
>>
>> As EC members, we are responsible for identifying any opportunity that
>> can serve the NCUC mission. I propose organizing a meeting after the
>> opening ceremony at the convention center, where we can invite ISOC
>> Istanbul and other NGOs and academies who are supposed to be at the ICANN
>> opening ceremony. In order to proceed with organizing this meeting, it is
>> essential that the EC members recognize its potential to enhance the NCUC
>> during ICANN81, or EC find that our two other sessions are deemed
>> sufficient.
>>
>> Thank you all for your attention. Let's keep the focus on replies only
>> for the next steps, please.
>> Regards,
>> Amin
>>
>> On Fri, Oct 18, 2024 at 12:45 AM Benjamin Akinmoyeje <benakin at gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> Dear Amin,
>>> Thank you for your email and for bringing up this issue.
>>>
>>> We floated the idea of outreach in August, and we connected with ISOC
>>> TR, and you were supposed to help lead the process. Still, as indicated by
>>> the engagement with Seher, you returned that it was not advisable to have
>>> an offsite event.
>>> Onsite, we already have two events to share in response to the email.
>>>
>>> I requested that you allow us to discuss the issue (those willing to) on
>>> WhatsApp because you keep telling us in the chat that we can not do
>>> outreach (since   ICANN staff said we must not do it).
>>>
>>> Is your concern because we are exploring opportunities to have an
>>> outreach offsite?
>>> I mentioned your concerns about transportation around Istanbul and other
>>> challenges you raised to the ECs.
>>>
>>> There is still no guarantee that the event will happen. The discussion
>>> with Adam Peak was to seek his guidance, and he offered to connect us to a
>>> civil society org.
>>>
>>> Please share the two NCUC meetings at ICANN with Seher to share with the
>>> local communities.
>>>
>>>
>>> Kind regards,
>>> Benjamin
>>>
>>> On Thu, Oct 17, 2024 at 7:23 PM Amin Hacha <aminhacha at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>
>>>> Dear EC members,
>>>> I’m reaching out to seek clarification on the NCUC Outreach session
>>>> during ICANN81. I must express my discomfort with the recent handling of
>>>> this matter.
>>>>
>>>> Previously, I was instructed to liaise with Seher, an ICANN staff
>>>> member working in Istanbul office and in charge of communication with the
>>>> local community. I have attached Seher's positive reply, which was CC'd to
>>>> all of us (Ines, Pedro, and Benjamin) on 9 August. During our recent
>>>> meeting, I expressed my desire to resume communication with Seher. I didn’t
>>>> do it because of Benjamin's response, suggesting to keep out the ICANN
>>>> staff. However, later Benjamin said that he is communicating with Adam
>>>> (ICANN staff) without sharing any emails or communication with us.
>>>>
>>>> I also raised concerns about the location of the session being outside
>>>> the convention center in Istanbul, which could pose logistical challenges.
>>>> We lack vital details about the attendees and the venue, which is
>>>> disconcerting. As visitors to Istanbul, we risk losing precious time, in a
>>>> day with other agendas, finding our way to the location. Despite my
>>>> recommendation to host the meeting at the convention center, Benjamin
>>>> rejected the idea.
>>>>
>>>> Furthermore, I sought clarity on the arrangements for the location and
>>>> other pertinent details. However, I received a response suggesting that I
>>>> stay out of this session. Given our shared responsibility and that this
>>>> will be published as a NCUC EC organized initiative, I am seeking to better
>>>> understand the objectives we aim to achieve.
>>>> Regards,
>>>> Amin
>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>> NCUC-EC mailing list
>>>> NCUC-EC at lists.ncuc.org
>>>> https://lists.ncuc.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/ncuc-ec
>>>>
>>>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.ncuc.org/pipermail/ncuc-ec/attachments/20241019/500599c2/attachment.htm>