[chapter-delegates] New Membership Level

[Philippe Le Roux]

Veni,

Thanks for your comentary. I agree with your analyze about the need to 
identify the problems to solve and the solutions. I imagine is the purpose 
of the discusion about the strategic draft sent yesterday.

But as a decision was made and annouced about the new membership, we have 
to react right now without having the time to make this analyze.

IMHO, the Internet was developed on a collaborative and international 
paradigm and ISOC mission is to develop it as is.
Building an american and elitist structure is not the approriate way.

I think the ISOC HQ purpose is to serve ISOC Chapters and do what we need 
and ask, not giving us the ability to survive from their initiatives.

And I have few questions about this enormous mistake.

The first question is :
Why do we need this money ? For sending money to poor chapters who need it 
? For helping more chapters to participate in meetings ? Or for reinforcing 
policy ans burocracy in Washington DC?

The second one is :
How such a decision can be take without consulting us (membres and 
chapters) ? Are we just a pretext or are we the people of ISOC ?

The third one is :
How can we help the chapters to make better actions ? And how, if needed, 
managing membership fees for the HQ in this strategy ?
May be offering at the chapters levels a double level of membership and 
splitting the membership fees obtained between Chapter and HQ...

The fourth one is :
How the HQ of an international organistion such ISOC can ignore that half 
of the planet live with less than 30 $ per month ?
If the membership is 75$ for Poland or Peru, I suggest to put inidvidual 
membership at 20 000$ for american members !!!! HQ will keep the 75$ and 
send the difference to chapters who need money for hosting their website !


At 15:06 2005-03-04, Veni Markovski wrote:
>At 10:10 04-03-05  -0500, Philippe Le Roux wrote:
>
>>A good rule for making ISOC a club of rich people from rich countrys 
>>managing the whole Internet. We're far away from the Internet purpose and 
>>ISOC spirit.
>
>Philippe,
>the ISOC spirit today is not the same one like 10 or 12 years ago. We 
>still need to work to better define it, and make sure it's what people expect.
>I think we also need to define better what the solutions to the problem 
>are. By just stating that this is a problem for the poor, we don't give 
>solution.
>
>
>>>>Second, you just let us know that our work and commitment to ISOC has a 
>>>>price which is estimated to be well below $75/year. All we do can buy 
>>>>us only a  "associate" membership which does not make us a trusted 
>>>>enough to be entitled to vote. OTOH anyone who sends your way a mere 
>>>>$18.825 gets a right to directly nominate his representative to ISOC 
>>>>BoT immediately after he signs 251 cheques for $75 each.
>
>I think that this is a potential danger, but what it means is also that 
>non-paid members (and chapters, thereafter) get less value, less weight on 
>the BoT (there will be 3 more Trustees of which the chapters will not 
>vote). Once upon a time, the elections were held via paper ballots, 
>distributed worldwide, and the only problem so far has been once in 
>Africa, where someone was elected with paper ballots not being 
>distributed, but being tossed back with his name marked. So, there 
>obviously, was a control mechanism.
>
>I think that while it's important to have a paid membership (and thus give 
>memebrs the right to vote), it's also vital to keep the chapter in good 
>shape. I don't know about Poland, but I doubt anyone in Bulgaria will join 
>the $ 75 membership (which, btw, existed before, too, when the "normal" 
>membership was $ 35 (or $ 12 for developing countries).
>I don't think ISOC needs this money, not with the .ORG funding via PIR.
>
>As for the other questions, it should be Jim to respond, as you ask him.
>
>best,
>veni
>
>
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*PLR!

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Philippe Le Roux
Analyste Internet
Associé
V(DL)2 Inc. 



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