Hello, I second Rebecca in this point @david the problem is that developing countries are less represented, I think that NCUC can show a good example and how diverse it is. I wanted to raise it when Kieren was at conference (I don' trust him so much ), when ICANN organize meetings in NY, London and HongKong, I asked him in twitter why not remote participation for abu dhabi meeting he answered "was there demand" and there is no planned meeting for Africa (maybe just a session in East African IGF, maybe Alex know better than me) Regards Rafik 2009/8/6 Rebecca MacKinnon <[log in to unmask]> > It's highly unfortunate and disappointing. > > Nonetheless, should we encourage NCUC community members to step up for > this, particularly members who come from countries in the developing > world and/or from countries which do not have free and fair elections, > and thus whose governments (and by extension GAC representatives) > arguably do not represent citizens' interests? > > The alternative it seems is that it would be filled with people > currently unknown to the NCUC community. > > They want diversity, we show them we have it? > > Best, > Rebecca > > On Wed, Aug 5, 2009 at 10:59 PM, Robin Gross<[log in to unmask]> wrote: > > Here is ICANN's announcement calling for Statements of Interest from > those > > interested in volunteering to be appointed by the board to represent > > noncommercial users: > > http://www.icann.org/en/announcements/announcement-05aug09-en.htm > > > > "... Of the four new Stakeholder Group Charters approved by the Board > last > > week, this temporary seat selection by the Board is unique to the NCSG. > It > > reflects a fundamental view that the current non-commercial community > > participation in the GNSO is not yet sufficiently diverse or robust to > > select all six of the NCSG's allocated Council seats (as was originally > > intended by the Board's GNSO Improvements initiative)...." > > > > ICANN claims we are not "sufficiently diverse or robust enough to select > all > > six" GNSO Council seats. Yet NCUC represents 137 noncommercial > > organizations and individuals from 48 countries. Our membership has > > increased by 205% since the parity principle was established. There > never > > was any bar for us to meet - that rhetoric was invented by the commercial > > constituencies and selectively adopted by ICANN staff to justify why 137 > > noncommercial organizations and individuals are not entitled to elect > their > > own representation. > > Too bad noncommercial users will not be given electoral parity with > > commercial users as the BGC originally promised. Another empty promise, > > another rigged process. ICANN is more aggressive than ever in squeezing > out > > noncommercial users in policy development. So sad. > > Robin > > > > IP JUSTICE > > Robin Gross, Executive Director > > 1192 Haight Street, San Francisco, CA 94117 USA > > p: +1-415-553-6261 f: +1-415-462-6451 > > w: http://www.ipjustice.org e: [log in to unmask] > > > > > > > > > > -- > Rebecca MacKinnon > Open Society Fellow | Co-founder, GlobalVoicesOnline.org > Assistant Professor, Journalism & Media Studies Centre, University of Hong > Kong > > UK: +44-7759-863406 > USA: +1-617-939-3493 > HK: +852-6334-8843 > Mainland China: +86-13710820364 > > E-mail: [log in to unmask] > Blog: http://RConversation.blogs.com > Twitter: http://twitter.com/rmack > Friendfeed: http://friendfeed.com/rebeccamack >