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<P><FONT face="Book Antiqua">Karen,</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Book Antiqua">I'm really sorry to hear this. At the APC party
during the last prepcom he seemed to be holding up reasonably well and in decent
spirits<SPAN class=283573418-01092005>,</SPAN> despite the outlook. <SPAN
class=283573418-01092005> I too didn't know him very well or in life
beyond WSIS, but he was clearly a great person and will be
missed.</SPAN></FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Book Antiqua"><SPAN
class=283573418-01092005>Bill</SPAN></FONT></P></DIV>
<DIV>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT
face="Book Antiqua"></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"></P><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA"></SPAN></DIV><FONT
face=Tahoma size=2>-----Original Message-----<BR><B>From:</B>
plenary-admin@wsis-cs.org [mailto:plenary-admin@wsis-cs.org]<B>On Behalf Of
</B>Rik Panganiban<BR><B>Sent:</B> Thursday, September 01, 2005 7:09
PM<BR><B>To:</B> plenary@wsis-cs.org<BR><B>Subject:</B> Re: [WSIS CS-Plenary] *
APC Tribute to Chris Nicol *<BR><BR></FONT></DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE
style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid">I
did not know Chris well, but always appreciated his keen insights, common
sense and good humor. His ICT primer was personally very helpful to me and
certainly to many many others.<BR><BR>My thoughts and prayers go to his family
and friends.<BR><BR>Rik Panganiban<BR><BR>On Sep 1, 2005, at 12:58 PM, karen
banks wrote:<BR><BR>
<BLOCKQUOTE>[Please note that by using 'REPLY', your response goes to the
entire list. Kindly use individual addresses for responses intended for
specific people. Your cooperation is highly
appreciated]<BR>_______________________________________<BR><BR>Dear all on
plenary,<BR><BR>With great sadness and heavy of heart, i have to share news
that our dear sweet friend - chris nicol - died on August 29th after
battling with cancer for over a year.<BR><BR>Many of you will not have met
chris, some of you have, and those that have will know that chris was one of
the most deeply committed and passionate social activists, who dedicated his
life to creating a more just and equitable world - and the WSIS Process was
one where he fought some tough battles working towards achieving that goal,
with many of us.<BR><BR>Our tribute to chris is below in english, and i will
post spanish and portuguese versions in the next messages.<BR><BR>If you
feel it appropriate, please share this tribute with your own caucuses and
working groups.<BR><BR>regards to all<BR>karen banks, on behalf of the
APC.<BR><BR>~~~~~<BR><BR>online tribute and other links:
http://www.apc.org/english/index.shtml<BR><BR>30 August 2005<BR><BR>To all
in the APC community and to our many friends and partners:<BR><BR>TRIBUTE TO
OUR FRIEND, COUNCIL AND BOARD MEMBER, CHRIS NICOL<BR><BR>On Monday 29 August
2005 the APC network lost someone who was a colleague, a leader and a
friend.<BR><BR>Chris Nicol, member of the APC council and also of the APC
executive board, died in Barcelona after more than a year of struggling
against cancer. For much of the time during this battle Chris was winning,
continuing to work, travel and network when the difficult cycle of surgery
and treatment left him with any spare time.<BR><BR>Chris was an Australian
who had been living in Barcelona for around 25 years. He also spent time in
Nicaragua in the period just after the Sandinistas overthrew the Somoza
dictatorship. Chris worked in the British Council in Barcelona for many
years, he taught English and set down roots in Catalunya in many ways -
politically, culturally, socially and through his long relationship with his
partner Chenchy. Chris was also active in the Barcelona solidarity movement
with the Zapatistas, organising, raising funds, helping out where he could.
And he loved music, wine, and nature. Chris was deeply committed to justice,
to humanity. He was a real activist who also threw himself into practical
and concrete tasks with energy and humour.<BR><BR>Chris became part of the
APC community in 1995. His organisation, Pangea, was part of an association
of Spanish internet activist organisations which together applied for APC
membership. In 2000 Pangea (www.pangea.org) became a member of APC in its
own right. Chris was part of Pangea from its first days, working sometimes
as a volunteer and sometimes as staff, but always giving heart and soul to
the organisation.<BR><BR>He first attended an APC council meeting in 1997 in
South Africa although many APC people had already met him by then. Chris was
first elected onto the APC executive board at the APC council meeting in
Uruguay in 2001 and at the time of his death he was APC treasurer. He worked
tirelessly at a recent executive board meeting in South Africa in April even
though he had only just finished another gruelling round of
treatment.<BR><BR>For all of us in APC it is very hard to express how much
Chris meant in the network. His was always an active voice, supportive and
sometimes critical.<BR><BR>He was deeply committed to APC strengthening its
advocacy role, to being more than a provider of member services. He was one
of the first people in APC to raise the issue of free software, to start
using GNU/Linux on his desktop, and to develop projects to support
organisations in migrate their desktop environments to free and open source
software.<BR><BR>Chris made two contributions to APC's work recently which
will live on for a long time. He was the editor and compiler of "ICT policy:
a beginner's handbook" (http://www.apc.org/books) which we published in
English in late 2003 and in Spanish this year. This book will be updated
with a new version going online on a wiki so that it can remain a living and
growing testimony to Chris' work. And, earlier this year, he drafted the
outline of a free software initiative for the APC network which we have been
building on and which will be presented to APC members later this
year.<BR><BR>Chris was a permanently engaged member of the APC team
participating in the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) process,
from its inception in 2002 through to the latest PrepCom in Geneva, February
2005, one of his last work related trips. In many ways, he was a compass
­ always pointing to those actions that were necessary, just and not
always easy - whether it was in solidarity around redressing unjust
distribution of resources, the fierce battles around intellectual property
and free software, or insisting that the APC team met to communicate and
strategise regularly in the hustle and bustle of the United Nations
conferences.<BR><BR>Every moment was precious to Chris, precious in that he
felt one should never be wasted - whether the moment was spent drafting,
lobbying, meeting, demonstrating, or talking with friends and
colleagues.<BR><BR>Chris was always there, whenever we needed him, and was a
constant reminder of our message and vision - to create "a world in which
all people have easy, equal and affordable access to the creative potential
of ICTs to improve their lives and create more democratic and egalitarian
societies" (the APC vision).<BR><BR>All of us in the APC community want to
share our love and support of Chris with his family and his friends, with
Chenchy and with Chris' mother and sister in Australia, with his colleagues
in Pangea.<BR><BR>APC will not forget Chris and will be honouring and
remembering Chris Nicol through an initiative that will reflect his passion
and committment to creating a more socially just world, and inspire others
to continue the battle to do so.<BR><BR>We will share more news about this
initiative shortly, but at this time, we warmly welcome all of those who
knew or knew of Chris and his life work, to share messages on the editable
website we have created in his
honour.<BR><BR>http://actionapps.org/tikiwiki/tiki-index.php?page=APC+messages+to+Chris+Nicol<BR><BR>Association
for Progressive Communications members and staff<BR>30 August
2005<BR><BR><BR></BLOCKQUOTE><TT><?fontfamily><?param Courier New>=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=--=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=<BR>Rik
Panganiban email: rikp@earthlink.net<BR>UN Reporting & Advocacy tel: (+1)
917-710-5524<BR>Civil Society Organizer web: http://rikomatic.com <BR><BR>**
My book on e-Democracy and the United Nations<BR>can be downloaded at
http://rikomatic.com/work/edemocracyver0304c.pdf
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