[CS Bureau] So what are we talking about ? - Does taking the initiative lead to criticism.....

Thu Jul 15 18:13:18 BST 2004

At 6:02 PM +0200 7/15/04, Georg C. F. Greve wrote:
>
>Quite frankly: I am still considering whether I want to submit the
>level of detailed personal information that you have requested for use
>on your Wiki page.

i did mention - in the original message what points and/or items you 
did not want publically listed.

>
>
>Never having taken part in any meeting and often feeling out of the
>loop even on this list, things still seem very opaque to me. And I
>don't think that a Wiki with personal information about the people
>involved will change any of that.

again - the original message stated very clearly that privacy 
concerns would be respected. if you don't want something to be known, 
fine - say it's not to be listed.

>
>  rg> Failure to reply - will be interpreted as a lack of interest, and
>  rg> bring into question your ability to provide the required minimum
>  rg> level of commitment needed as a CSB member.
>
>I am not sure when you were formally given such level of authority to
>decide on behalf of global civil society who is entitled to be part of
>the CSB and who isn't. It appears to be one of the things I missed.

Authority - all I say , is that "lack of interest will be interpreted 
as a lack of interest". I think that's an obvious point. As to who 
judges that, we'll it's not me for sure.

I'm just being proactive and taking the initiative - if you want to 
do the same, please do...

>Knowing that some people in some parts of the world can occasionally
>be out of touch for more than month, I would strongly advise against
>adopting such a "if you don't reply within 24hrs, you're out" policy.

that's a convenient answer - however,  getting information about CSB 
- making it more "open" and transparent for people to know who's 
involved is something that has been discussed for a long time.

In case you don't remember :

http://mailman.greennet.org.uk/public/bureau/2003-December/000223.html
RunningToddler    Tue, 16 Dec 2003 22:11:10 +0800
Re: Re: CSB Evaluation Process

...the Asia Pacific family is keen to be part of any
evaluation exercise that the CSB undertakes. I do request though that this
takes place not before the second half of January.

NOTE: JANUARY - WE ARE SIX MONTHS OVERDUE!

http://mailman.greennet.org.uk/public/bureau/2004-February/000238.html
Sean O Siochru  -  Tue, 24 Feb 2004 10:40:03 +0000
Re: Meeting in Tunis

... it is now vital that the various organs of civil society enter 
into open dialogue and debate internally and transparently where they 
are going, leading up to whenever the next PrepCom is going to be. 
It is absolutely vital that this be open, and therefore I appeal 
again for the use of the <bureau at wsis-cs.org>  list.

Note: Sean, Alain's and Nick's  call for ideas, dialogue and 
assessment was discussed at the informal meeting in Tunis. That item 
(and many others) were mentioned in the great report that Viola sent 
to us all  on  Mon, 15 Mar 2004 22:50:49 +010. BTW: It's also 
archived on the wiki
<http://cms.privaterra.org/tiki-download_file.php?fileId=44>

In case you haven't  gone through it, on Page 5 you will find -

..Confirmation of Focal points For phase 2 of the WSIS, it is 
necessary to have the position of CS Bureau Members  reconfirmed 
(they will need to get legitimacy from whom they represent, e.g. 
reconfirmation or  elections in each family, as it was done at 
PrepCom 2 of phase 1). The evaluation can help  do this. ....

So in summary - The point about evaluation and re-confirmation of CSB 
points isn't something new, but instead something that has been on 
"the table' for a very long time.

All I have tried to do - is to be blunt and try to scream a bit to 
get the attention of the CSB members. Seeing the amount of replies 
i'm getting, as well as the increase in traffic on the list - my 
effort seems to have yielded a positive result.

Again, all i've done is what ANY of us COULD have done ---- and 
didn't. I just took the initiative to try something to help. In no 
means should it be seen (directly or indirectly) as a move on my part 
to assume any decision making powers, authority or anything of the 
sort.

A discussion on this list, and in other CS spaces - about CS 
structures including "CSB" is long overdue and much needed. It's been 
called for repeatedly, and I for one am keen for that to happen.  if 
my "friendly" threats have the effect of generating movement - hey, 
then wonderful. I'd rather not use that approach, but it seems that 
being kind and gentile yields no action - thus, being loud seems to 
be the only way to  gets people's attention..

Civil Society mentions repeatedly the need for openness and 
transparency - so we should practice what we preach and have as much 
of our contact info, affiliations and communications online. So why 
shouldn't the CSB do the same? sigh!

In summary, two things:

(1) The point you raise -  the ".... level of authority to decide on 
behalf of global civil society who is entitled to be part of the CSB 
and who isn't." is the big question - which has been open and not 
answered for far too long. Like it or not, more responsibilities are 
being given to the CSB - being the opaque structure that it is - its 
own role, responsibility and yes - power needs to be discussed, 
articulated and defined.

(2) I care enough to spend some of my own personal time and energy 
to try to help. I'm not in it for myself, but to help out in as an 
altruistic way as possible. That's always been my aim. You can think 
what you want about me, but what  I always try to be is - open, 
honest, collaborative and  altruistic.

I feel offended and hurt when others see it in another light,  worse 
when they try to discredit me (as has happened in other venues) to 
take my good and honest intentions to be some ploy by outside actors 
to control CS in someway. All i can say is this - i've learned the 
hard way that dealing with CS is something that's difficult. But, 
such is life - I'm interested to be in this space, and  will  try to 
do my best. May my actions over the long term speak for themselves.

regards

Robert

-- 
###
Robert Guerra <rguerra at privaterra.org>
Privaterra - <http://www.privaterra.org>
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