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

[John More]

Dear Eric and Others

I will attempt to put down more detailed comments.  I am traveling in Italy. However, in case I do not have a chance to do so, I would like to support the general direction of Christopher's and Norbert's comments.  The By-laws have moved some way from where they started, but they fall short of recognizing the role, and providing proper mechanisms for the involvement and treatment, of the Chapters (and hence ordinary members). 

The Internet Society has declared that it wants to substantially increase its membership. The Society is working in involving Chapters in the the Society's crucial efforts to preserve an "open" Internet in the face of significant challenges.  But the By-laws still reflect too much of the Society's earlier mindset.  The Chapters still are not recognized as essential components of an activist Society.  For example, there seems to be no provision for a Chapters annual meeting equivalent to that of the Organizational members. There should be at least five Chapter trustees to permit representation (and hence a feeling of involvement) of the major geographic regions of the Society.

Most essentially Chapters are not recognized as part of a structure that should be on a par with the Organizational Members.  Chapters are not provided protections.  Most importantly there should be a recognition that not all Chapters can be organized the same way because of local law.

Since I have been involved in presenting comments and attending meetings concerning the Bylaws, I know that there has been a lot of hard work and good intentions put into this new draft.  But I fear it still falls short and will only confirm the suspicions of some (not me) that the Society is not serious about the crucial role that Chapters have to play in organizing their members to support the Society's positions and efforts.

Yours,

John H. More
Greater Washington DC Chapter


On Sep 13, 2012, at 8:57 PM, President of ISOC Cambodia <president at isoc-kh.org> wrote:

> 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 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, no real standard channel to regularly discuss policy.
>> 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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