WSIS C2C / CàC SMSI : Witnesses 2 Wsis 2

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Witnesses 2 Wsis 2

by DrJ on 2005, October 13 - 11:54am

Greg Hughes , an associate with the eCommons/agora project, is Wsis C2C managing editor. An experienced journalist and netizen based in Toronto, with interests in freedom of expression, human rights and diverse media issues, Greg succeeds Amelia Bryne Potter, whom we thank sincerely for her stellar voluntary efforts on behalf of the Canadian civil society community.
The Wsis Summit in Tunis is days away, and heated debates are happening on many fronts. Human rights violations have been observed in Tunis. The Citizens Summit is organizing outside the official Wsis 2 confines, and meeting with obstruction on the part of Tunisian authorities. Meanwhile, mainstream media are fixated on the summit showdown between the USA and the EU, over who will govern the Internet. That's important, but only part of the story. Hold the phone! Wsis was supposed to be about designing a framework to bridge digital divides and share the benefits of the information society. How can the Internet accomplish the Millenium Development Goals? < http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/ >
There are so many agendas now in play that meeting this basic challenge seems far, far away.
Instead, the agenda of Wsis 2 has been captured by the debates over Internet Governance.
The eCommons/agora team will continue to report on Wsis 2 with open minds. We will try and make sense of the Wsis process. We will post independent, fresh and reliable resources and analysis on this web site. Our first audience is civil society, our fellow community groups and citizens, here in Canada. We are alert to what is happening in Tunis, and in touch with many of those on site. We launched this C2C web site in Geneva in December, 2003. eLab and eCommons/agora members were in Geneva for Wsis 1, while others monitored events from here.
It is especially important to follow closely what The Canadian government is saying in our name. We are not convinced that Canadian civil society has been adequately consulted and included in deliberations. But we shall see what results from Wsis 2.
This site is free, non aligned, and independent. We welcome your posts, questions, comments and resources.
You can take full part in this discussion. To participate, LOG IN after creating an account by clicking on REGISTER on the upper right of this screen, under the search bar. If you need offline advice or help, please email us at ecadmin @ ecommons.net and we will do our best to help you.
Thanks again to Amelia, who has kept the site going on a purely volunteer basis, and a warm welcome to Greg, our new Wsis C2C Canadian civil society managing editor. Volunteers and citizen journalists are most welcome. Just contact us at ecadmin @ ecommons.net if you have time to help out.
- Liss Jeffrey, PhD., executive editor/ producer (for the eCommons/agora and Wsis C2C civil society team).

Wsis 2 count down to November 16th Summit

by Wsis NetiZen on 2005, November 2 - 11:34am

The Wsis 2 summit takes place November 16-18.
On November 11, this C2C Wsis 2 web site endorsed the Citizens Summit, www.citizens-summit.org , due to our ongoing concerns about the summit environment. Civil society organizations should be very careful at playing diplomats when principle is called for. Our concerns include:
1. reports of human rights violations in Tunisia, the implausible denials by the Tunisian regime, and clumsy attempts to silence critics on the eve of Wsis 2 ( and the terrible message this situation sends to other human rights violators worldwide on the eve of a potential agreement on a framework for an Information Society)
2. threats to freedom of association and expression at the Wsis 2 summit (and daily reports of abuses, including the beating of a French journalist)
3. concern over the capacity for effective participation by civil society organizations in the official summit (denial of observer status in key meetings, unreasonable restrictions on CS presenters, marginalization of gender caucus and others)
4. difficulties encountered by "official" CS itself in developing a genuinely representative, inclusive, transparent process for devising positions, presenting final statements, and selecting speakers at Wsis 2 ( we have called attention to this problem, and have tried to work within the process; however at this point, we endorse the citizens-summit and wish courage and clarity to all concerned participants in the Wsis 2 process, whether inside or outside, in Tunisia or elsewhere.
- Witnesses to Wsis 2

On this C2C site, we provide links to sources of official documents, and eyewitness commentary, original insights into what Canada is doing (or not doing), why, why not, and much more.
Our aim from the beginning of our official involvement in Wsis, in June 2003, has been to foster a spirit of cooperation among Canadian citizens and civil society groups, and to ensure greater accountability, transparency, and insight within the process. The "invisible summit' has become more visible, but overall, the results of our efforts have been mixed.
Associates in the not for profit eCommons/agora pan Canadian online public space network ( ecommons.net ) have kept this C2C initiative alive, on a voluntary basis. ( Thanks especially to Amelia!) There is a great deal of work still to be done.
Please register and sign in if you would like to help out, by posting comments and helpful links and documents on this site. Policies that apply - privacy, ethics, civil rules can be found here http://www.ecommons.net/stage/main.phtml?css=default§ion=policies
If you see something of concern on this site, or wish to comment privately to the site stewards, please contact ecadmin @ ecommons.net
- Dr J
Witness 2 Wsis 2 Team Nov. 13 - 20: DrJ, Robert R, amelia, darren alexander, greg hughes, nathan bentley, frax, Dhirender, Francesca, David Mason, Oleg, Fariborz, and many more! Join us.
Francophones especially welcome!