[Chapter-delegates] Resend of August 30 Request for Review and Comment on current proposed revisions to the By-laws

[President of ISOC Cambodia]

On 9/13/2012 11:32 PM, CW Mail wrote:
>
> Dear Eric Burger:
>
> Thankyou. I appreciate the enormous amount of work that the Bylaws 
> Committee has recently undertaken and trust that the new Board of 
> Trustees will be able to draw this excercise to a successful 
> conclusion in the foreseeable future. I would however invite the 
> Committee and the Board to 'go the extra mile' to accommodate the 
> practical consequences of the avowed objective of enhancing the 
> participation and the interests of the Chapters in the Internet 
> Society as a whole.
>
> 1. In Article IV the Chapters are still not recognised as Members, on 
> a par with Organisational Members. For some of us this is a line in 
> the sand. We cannot continue to try and mobilise our members if our 
> Chapters are still treated in the formal texts as second class citizens.
>
The draft for new Bylaws for the Internet Society have been discussed 
since months by e-mail and in webinars. It is disappointing to see that 
the fundamental question about the role and place of the Chapters, 
discussed at that time, seems to be still lost. Some of the related 
"deafening silence" had been deplored at that time -- but it seems 
without much response. We are repeating...

This problem is not only a question of Bylaw formulations, it shows up 
in public announcements, like in the following from 22 August 2012: 
[ISOC] NEWS RELEASE: Internet Society Welcomes Sofie Maddens as Senior 
Director of Global Services, which says:

"The Internet Society is a global organization, at the heart of which 
are our Regional Bureaus," said Walda Roseman, Chief Operating Officer 
of the Internet Society."

Am I the only one who thinks that at the heart of the Internet Society 
are its members?

I admit that I do not know much about ISOC's Global Services, but they 
may be even further away from our reality - where we face challenges of 
a tightening environment for the freedom of communication - than the 
Asia Pacific Regional Office. From there, we got not ONE mail related to 
our predicament during two years, until recently, and then we were told 
that in a "Meet and greet" meeting, for which we had pleaded in 
extensive correspondence to discuss the difficult situation our Chapter 
is facing, that the meeting would be only "to enable me to use my 
powerpoint slides and present the global/APAC activities and plans, and 
no other."

"and no other"! This is an original quote.

Are the future Bylaws of the Internet Society going to recognize the 
Chapters and their Members differently, or are we just an appendix to 
ISOC Global and the Regional Bureaus at the heart of this structure?

Does the Internet Society Global have any interest in our small 
struggling Chapter, when even the /European/Chapters Coordinating 
Council <http://www.isoc-ecc.org/?tag=ga> had to raise the problem of 
not having received a response from staff after one year?

Most of the other points Christopher Wilkinson is raising down here - 
some of them repeatedly - follow from the fundamental problem that the 
Internet Society - in its top structure - does not seem to see us as 
their genuine basis. So what can be the future?

> 2. As I have pointed out on several previous occasions, the number of 
> Trustees elected by the Chapters is not sufficient: a minimum of 5 
> seats would be necessary, with a guarantee of geographical diversity.
>
> Also I have come to understand throughout this process, during the 
> past two years, that the Board does not yet understand that the 
> primary role of many Chapters locally and in other contexts (e.g. 
> ICANN At Large) is as participants in Civil Society. From that point 
> of view a 50:50 representation on the Board of Chapters on the one 
> hand and the industry on the other hand would be more appropriate - 
> and would I believe be applauded internationally.
>
> 3. I appreciate that the functions of Chapters are now expressed in 
> facultative and illustrative manner. That is an improvement.
>
>
> Also, personally, I accept the need for 'standards of performance', 
> provided that they are _negotiated in concert with the Chapters 
> themselves._ That will be something for the Board to address in due 
> course in the context of the proposed exchange of Letters of 
> Affiliation. Meanwhile, it would be appreciated if the staff would 
> refrain from prescriptive statements about performance criteria.
How is "standard performance" to be defined and measured? Only for 
Chapters? Is it standard performance that a Regional Officer announces 
and brings non-members to the "Meet and greet" who say that two hours 
ago they did not know what the Internet Society is - but the Regional 
Officer encourages them to become members - OK - and to stand as 
candidate two weeks later for Chapter leadership? - Is it standard 
procedure that I learn from a mailing list that the Regional Office is 
"working within the government to provide more support and knowledge" 
(relating to Cambodia) - and when expressing my surprise and ask what it 
is - I am still without an answer. Who is monitoring performance over what?
>
> 4. There is still no provision for a 'special meeting' (aka Advisory 
> Committee) for Chapter members, on a par with Organisational members.
>
There is - as the experience of the /European/Chapters Coordinating 
Council shows, <http://www.isoc-ecc.org/?tag=ga> no real standard 
channel to regularly discuss policy.
<http://www.isoc-ecc.org/?tag=ga>
>
> 5. There is still no overarching statement (preferably in Article 1) 
> as to the objectives of the ISOC Association. This would be useful, 
> particularly if it clearly specified the civil society dimension of 
> the work of the Internet Society.
>
Very important - as the international background for us - while we still 
struggle to get locally registered "as a non-profit organization under 
the laws of Cambodia," as our Bylaws say, Bylaws that have been 
"approved by the Internet Society (International)" before they could be 
presented to our members for a vote.
>
> memberRegards
>
>
> Christopher Wilkinson
>

Thanks, Christopher, and greetings to all Chapter colleagues,


Norbert
-- 
Norbert Klein
President - ISOC Cambodia Chapter
president at isoc-kh.org
http://www.isoc-kh.org
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