[chapter-delegates] Re: [MemberPubPol] ISOC and WGIG report

[Patrick Vande Walle]

Ian Peter wrote:

>However I am concerned about merely polling the members. There is a great
>deal of misinformation about WGIG and UN at present
>
Ian,

This is a concern to me as well. I know some people are allergic to the 
word "UN"  and dismiss the WSIS process based on the fact that the UN 
would be inefficient in peacekeeping or humanitarian aid for example. 
This obviouly not productive. AFAIK, there is unfortunately no example 
of efficient peacekeeping.  In humanitarian aid, there are so many 
actors that could act wrongly that it makes little sense to point 
fingers at one actor in particular.

On the other hand, I am reluctant to leave the debate only to a group of 
experts. This sounds too technocratic to me. We had an example recently 
in Europe with the EU constitution debacle. It is not relevant here to 
discuss the outcome. Suffice to say that the technocrats and the common 
people did not agree, and this questions the legitimacy of the whole 
process.

I might be naive but  I think  it is up to each and every individual to 
seek information and advice and make up his/her mind. I do not believe 
that any question is "too complicated" to the point that it can only be 
left to experts. Experts can benefit from what non-experts, or people 
with other fields of expertise, think.

For ISOC in particular, I feel a gap widening between the purely 
technical community and the purely public policy oriented people. I am 
not convinced this is actually as wide as some think. If this poll can 
show that we actually have common views, as Erik mentioned, maybe this 
will allow all parties to return to their priorities, while knowning 
that they have broad support among the whole ISOC community.

Patrick