[IRP] Call notes and next steps...

Mon Aug 8 10:40:12 EEST 2011

Dear All

Thanks Dixie and others for getting us off on the right foot. I was sadly 
one of those trying to get powwoenow to work and so couldn't make it.

Great to hear that others too feel that as a coalition we need to make some 
concrete show of solidarity with the refugees and also, as I have recently 
read, famine-like conditions within Kenya and issues around uneven 
distribution and inefficiency.,  This issue is so pressing and also an 
opportunity for us to put our rights-based mouths where our money is!

There are many possibilities on a modest level, based on the important 
point that a show of solidarity in difficult situations is also worthwhile. 
Not sufficient but a start. I was thinking of three possible approaches

1) A statement to the Kenyan authorities; jointly issued (as we did during 
Tunis and Cairo); flag the issue and possible IG connections...
2) More concretely, get a fund-raising event going or simply raise funds 
leading up to and during the IGF; think now about perhaps a local NGO to 
give  the money to based on the networks of knowledge and access we have in 
the coalition.
3) A statement at the IGF, in strategic moments and places about the link 
between crisis managements, structural poverty and IG;

I mention twice issuing statements because on a conscious-raising level 
there is a strong undercurrent 'out there' about IG issues being way down 
the list when it comes to basic necessities. As I recall Parminder saying 
at some point last year (Parminder hope I have got this right); there is no 
question about food and water coming first. So the IRP coalition and other 
DCs at the IGF can take this opportunity to make this point plain yet also 
contribute to raising funds and/or resources....

Anyway, just a start.

best
MF

--On Friday, August 05, 2011 16:03 +0100 Dixie Hawtin 
<Dixie at global-partners.co.uk> wrote:

>
>
> Dear IRPers,
>
>
>
> Great meeting yesterday ? thanks to those who attended (or tried to
> attend, apologies for any difficulties with the service!) Notes from the
> call are below ? please especially note the "next steps" stage and
> see if you would like to be involved with anything...
>
>
>
> Participants
>
> Rebecca Mackinnon, Brett Solomon, Matthias Ketterman, Sam Gregory and
> Dixie Hawtin.
>
> (A few people were unable to connect in to the call as Powwownow didn't
> work very well ? if anyone has suggestions for a different conference
> call service to use please let me know)
>
>
>
> Discussion
>
> We began the call with a quick overview of what the IRP has achieved so
> far since the IGF 2010 and our ongoing initiatives (for a list see the
> agenda sent around last week). Most of the call was spent preparing for
> the IGF.
>
>
>
> * The IRP workshop: We discussed how best to use our workshop space and
> agreed that a very important issue to address is: copyright and human
> rights. Intellectual property is one of the main IG battlegrounds at
> present. Debates are very polarized, and influential copyright lobbies
> are successfully promoting "solutions" which erode human rights,
> enable unaccountable censorship and privacy violations and undermine due
> process rules. This is a problem in both developed and developing
> countries. We have decided to use our workshop to build support and
> awareness for the fact that while copyright infringement may be a
> problem, solutions cannot undermine human rights standards. We can
> explore how the problem is playing out in different countries and in
> different policy forums (e.g. ICANN, OECD etc.) and define the place of
> intellectual property within the human rights framework. If you would
> like to be involved in organizing the workshop please let me know and we
> can set up a smaller email group to focus on this. If you have
> suggestions for speakers and key questions/initiatives, please put these
> in the Google Doc (see below).
>
> *Effective Advocacy at IGF: As Brett noted ? business lobbies tend to
> be well-organized for maximum impact at the IGF. We are going to try and
> take a leaf out of their books and start strategising now. We need to
> identify: our key messages to promote at the IGF; the key challenges that
> we will need to rebut, and key workshops to attend. Please fill in your
> thoughts in the Google Doc (below). Nearer to the IGF we can have another
> conference call, using the Google Doc as a basis from which to build a
> coherent strategy. Note, there is likely to be disagreement over what
> messages we should be pushing and what are key challenged are ? throw
> everything in the Google Doc and we can argue it out later!
>
> *Solidarity with Somali Refugees: Marianne has suggested that the IRP
> find a way of showing solidarity with Somali refugees and some other IRP
> members have followed up to say this would mean a lot to them. However,
> we are still looking for ideas. Does anyone have any thoughts or any
> insight into which organisations/initiatives are well-respected?
>
>
>
> Next steps:
>
> *Locate further volunteers to help translating the 10 IRPs.  Priority
> languages include: Arabic, Mandarin, Japanese, Russian, Hindi, Urdu,
> Malay, and Persian.
>
> *The DRAFT Charter Commentary will be sent around in the next week. Look
> out for it and please give us comments.
>
> *The Google doc can be accessed here:
> https://spreadsheets.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Ao4pSJn7RgATdEJPcktH
> UVVxSm1GRnVaZ0p2bTFZdEE&hl=en_US Please add your thoughts, or send them
> through to the list if you would rather!
>
>
>
> ALSO NOTE: when booking accommodation/travel make sure you account for
> the Human Rights Pre-event on 26 September ? more details to follow!
>
>
>
> All the best,
>
> Dixie
>
> ___________________________________________________________
>
> Dixie Hawtin
>
> Project Coordinator, Freedom of Expression and Communications Global
> Partners and Associates
>
> 338 City Road, London, EC1V 2PY, UK
>
> Office: + 44 207 239 8251
>
> mailto:dixie at global-partners.co.uk
>
> www.global-partners.co.uk
>
>

Dr Marianne Franklin
Reader/Convener of the Transnational Communications & Global Media Program
Media & Communications
Goldsmiths, University of London
New Cross
London SE14 6NW
United Kingdom
Tel (direct): #44 (0)207 919-7072
Fax: #44 (0) 207 919-7616
email: m.i.franklin at gold.ac.uk
http://www.goldsmiths.ac.uk/media-communications/staff/franklin.php
http://www.goldsmiths.ac.uk/pg/ma-transnational-communications-global-media.php