[Chapter-delegates] Request that board member Sunday discuss forming a group to review the chapter proposals

[Olivier MJ Crépin-Leblond]

Well said Dave! Your post just made my Sunday morning!

Olivier

On 04/06/2017 08:25, Dave Burstein wrote:
> Gonzalo and folk
>
> As most of you know, last spring a proposal was made to allocate 3% of
> the ISOC budget for the chapters to spend on their activities.
> Depending on the allocation formula, that would be $15,000-$50,000 per
> active chapter. Careful review to avoid fraud was included.
>
> I believe the majority of the board was supportive and one board
> member said he was confident things would be approved after the
> chapters committee developed a concrete proposal. Instead, staff has
> chosen another path. 
>
> It's time for those on the board to set policy. The staff proposal
> ignores the primary points and instead suggests spending $500,000 on
> branding is the best way to help the chapters. The staff proposal will
> soon be public, I'm told. The differences will be very clear. 
>
> The elephant in the room, of course, is that most ISOC chapters are in
> the Global South, as is most of the board. Almost all policies are
> made by senior staff, almost all in the Global North and strongly
> supportive of the "DC Consensus." I can provide several clear examples
> of ISOC opposing Group of 77 proposals strongly supported by the
> African and Asians because they would lower the price of Internet
> access. (Previously discussed at ISOC events.)
>
> I spend time on ISOC because I think we can deliver concrete progress
> on the Internet for All. I don't think I'm alone in believing our $30M
> PIR subsidy can be far more effectively used. I believe the chapters
> will demonstrative that, if they had support. 
>
> Frankly, the people on the ground in Africa I've met have a far
> clearer understanding of what's needed than D.C. lawyers and
> economists. I'm on a U.S. State Department committee, and I'm amazed
> how in DC ideology takes precedence over knowledge. We can and should
> bring the public interest issues to the forefront. We haven't. 
>
> So I request the board members informally begin looking closely at the
> chapters proposal, with a possibility of forming a group to show
> respect for the opinions of the chapters.
>
> The rest is commentary. I've been up almost 24 hours working on this
> and am fading. If my comments are unclear, please request
> clarification from me or the members of the chapter committee. 
>
> I'll be making concrete proposals after I get some sleep and catch up
> on the technology reporting I do for a living. In particular, we
> should change the symbolic meaning of some old charter rules and
> actively reach out to those not well represented. 
>
> In particular, nearly 1/3rd of the Internet is now Chinese. Both
> Africa and India will soon have more Internet users than the U.S. 
>
> Any global policy is likely ineffective unless a way is found to
> incorporate this missing third of the Internet in decisions. 
>
> How can ISOC build those bridges? Many of us, including Bob Kahn and
> Vint Cerf, have been personally working on this
>
> Ideas needed.
>
> Dave Burstein
> -- 
> Editor, Fast Net News, 5GW News, Net Policy News and DSL Prime
> Author with Jennie Bourne  DSL (Wiley) and Web Video: Making It Great,
> Getting It Noticed (Peachpit)
>
>
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