[Chapter-delegates] Pacific Islands Regional Advisor bannedfrom major World IT Meeting

[Alan Levin]

Patrick et al,

On 03 Nov 2005, at 9:36 AM, Patrick Vande Walle wrote:
> I know this is common in Northern America and most probably other
> countries but it is not an universal behaviour.

As I understand your reference is specific to the issue of corporate  
sponsors of political parties
but.....

On 02 Nov 2005, at 7:44 PM, Jeffrey Sherman wrote:
> So who is a politician going to listen to - the guy on the street like
> you and me or the big business that pays to get and keep them in  
> office?

Big business keeps politicians in office through many different ways.
Not all are considered 'contribution'.

> There are really two ways of getting a politician's ear: 1) being a
> major (or potentially major) contributor, and 2) being an organization
> that can influence the voting of a large number of voters.
>
> ISOC isn't in either of those categories.

This rings very true in our environment where big telco businesses  
are partly owned by government (or related individuals), which I  
sense is relevant in many other countries.

So from our experience Jeffreys' words are relevant to more countries  
than not, in that ISOC-ZA is not an organisation that can influence  
ZA government policy and after 7 years of lobbying we haven't seen  
any significant success.

> It isn't just a matter of ISOC chapters not educating the politicians;
> it is that the politicians don't really care about being educated...
> they just want to please their corporate donors so they can stay in
> office.

Possibly one may exchange the word donor to patron (or sponsor) and  
the statement may be more portable (even in europe I'm sure).

hth,

aLan