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Africa?</title></head><body>
<div>Renate:</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>I would be free to attend the meeting in Cape Town. The issue is
one of funding - for my travel and accommodation in Cape Town. I would
be very grateful if you and/or others would be able to obtain funding
for me to travel to the meeting from here in Toronto (Canada).</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>As you may know i have been travelling much the last several
months on field work. This allowed me to contact and dialogue with
numerous segments of civil society , particularly those working on
icts , human rights and development. The discussion has been focused
on the core mission of privaterra - namely human rights and icts -
(security, information security and communications).</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>In regions that i have travelled to (central asia, moscow,
berlin, budapest & boston) I have also made a point to discuss and
seek input on WSIS. The most substantial discussions have been in
Berlin (with german civil society, and the Canadian embassy), at the
Canadian Embassy in Moscow, and at the recently held ICTs and Human
rights conference held in Boston.</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>Being able to attend to attend the Cape Town meeting would allow
me to not only share the comments and concerns raised, but also raise
the - personal - concern I have about the ongoing issues of lack of
transparency and organizational effectiveness of civil society
structures at wsis, specifically that of the bureau. The many mails
that have come as a result of the - issues - and lack of
cohesiveness that seem to exist in the education and latin american
caucus are , for me, very troubling indeed.</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>if that weren't enough - there is the very grave concerns
have come as a result of private communications to me from human
rights networks about that the roles GONGOS are playing in the civil
society process. We need, we must be more transparent, strategic,
effective and prepared in the weeks and months leading to the next
prepcom - if not, then it will end up being a larger fiasco then the
meeting this past june in Tunis.</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>In summary - there indeed is much to discuss, much to plan for,
and if funding could be obtained to have a well structured and
effective meeting in Cape Town, then it would be great. I would be
very interested in attending such a meeting, however could only do so
if financial support (funding) could be made available to reimburse my
flight and accommodation. Securing funding for myself and others would
be a sign that there is indeed importance given to the bureau and the
planned meeting.</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>I cross my fingers and hope for a positive reply.</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>regards</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>Robert</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>At 7:29 PM +0100 11/9/04, Renata Bloem wrote:</div>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><font face="Arial" size="-1">TO CS
Bureau</font></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><font face="Arial"
size="-1"> </font></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><font face="Arial" size="-1">Dear
friends,</font></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><font face="Arial"
size="-1"> </font></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><font face="Arial" size="-1">Could you
please tell us<b> urgently</b> who from the existing CS Bureau could
be free to come to Cape Town, South Africa, around the 6-8
December,<b> if</b> funding could be made available? The objective is
to have an in depth discussion on the role and way forward of the CS
Bureau.</font></blockquote>
<div><br></div>
<div><br></div>
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<div>###<br>
Robert Guerra <rguerra@privaterra.org><br>
Privaterra - <http://www.privaterra.org></div>
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