<div>Dear all, with much respect to all the views that have been shared under this topic, the issue of "effective" participation is very important and capacity to trail the venues is not there. It could be there but not for those who would effectively represent the Region in addition to the representatives of Af*** constituents.</div>
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<div>Remote participation is also as effective as physical - what matters much is a followup of deliberations etc after the Big meeting!</div>
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<div>The Fellowship initiative is, I believe, one of the efforts made to boost up Af - Regional participation (I attended ICANN Lisbon through that arrangement) The outcome of that meeting was to give mscules to At-Large group - that is why we have this forum.</div>
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<div>By asking for what message or concerns to carry to Mexico City, our colleagues are asking us to participate through them since they will be rubbing shoulders with others during the Proceedings.</div>
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<div>I n that case; scathing ICANN at this stage is not fair to the colleagues - please give your aspirations, opions and views. To begin I have ONE question to be carried forward, <em><strong>" The ICANN Strategic Plan 2007 (or 2008?) had a component to boost under-served/ under-respresented Regions through its Outreach Policy: How far has that implementation gone? <br>
</strong></em><br>Will someone get a response to that during Public Forum please? not at individual constituent meetings. Or maybe this has been raised at som point during the years? (apologies - pse direct me)</div>
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<div>Well done all!!</div>
<div> </div>
<div>Yassin Mshana</div>
<div class="gmail_quote">2009/2/25 Vika Mpisane <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:vika@zadna.org.za">vika@zadna.org.za</a>></span><br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="PADDING-LEFT: 1ex; MARGIN: 0px 0px 0px 0.8ex; BORDER-LEFT: #ccc 1px solid">Good points you got there, Michuki, as much as I concede that Maye & Alaa<br>are raising genuine concerns too.<br>
<br>To echo your view, the issue of ICANN meetings "touring" different regions<br>should not cloud the main issue with Africa in global Internet governance<br>fora. Our own African meetings (AfriNIC, AfNOG, AfTLD, etc) are usually<br>
disappointing in terms of people numbers, and the question is always the<br>same: where is Africa's commitment & presence to contribute to the global<br>Internet dialogue?<br><br>Are we as Africans always going to rely on fellowships to attend our own<br>
regional meetings? We honestly do need to have a closer look at ourselves &<br>realize that ICANN is not our main problem, but we are becoming our own<br>enemies! In the process Africa's voice becomes weaker & weaker.<br>
<br>We don't seem to contribute enough in a number of ICANN & IGF discussions.<br>What is our position in relation to the forthcoming new gTLDs? Won't the new<br>gTLDs really cause African ccTLDs to struggle even more than they are<br>
struggling because of .com, .org & .net? What is our view? Can't we find<br>ways to contribute to discussions even when we can't physically be at ICANN<br>& IGF meetings? Remember you can still follow most of these meetings online.<br>
<br>What about the IDN fast-track process? Does it suit us? We need Africa's<br>views here!<br><br>The ICANN Regions issue has re-surfaced & raised its somewhat ugly head<br>again. In the process, some outside have tried to explore splitting Africa<br>
into divisive regions such as Arab Africa, French-speaking Africa, etc! What<br>are we saying about this? I'm happy that the Egyptian government (I'm told)<br>has been quick to stand against any division of Africa.<br>
<br>The point here is this: it's not as important where ICANN meetings go<br>(although I sure hope we can find ways of regulating this as some of these<br>meetings really hit on our budgets!), what's important is our ability (or<br>
lack of it) to contribute to & influence the Internet dialogue.<br><br>But yes, something must be done about the globetrotting nature of ICANN<br>meetings. No offence, Anne-Rachel & Baher:-)<br><br>Regards,<br><br>
Vika Mpisane<br>.za Domain Name Authority<br>Tel: +27 11 275 0082<br>Fax:+27 11 234 5022<br>
<div class="Ih2E3d"><br>-----Original Message-----<br>From: <a href="mailto:africann-bounces@afrinic.net">africann-bounces@afrinic.net</a> [mailto:<a href="mailto:africann-bounces@afrinic.net">africann-bounces@afrinic.net</a>] On<br>
</div>
<div class="Ih2E3d">Behalf Of Michuki Mwangi<br>Sent: Wednesday, February 25, 2009 2:02 PM<br>To: <a href="mailto:africann@afrinic.net">africann@afrinic.net</a><br></div>
<div>
<div></div>
<div class="Wj3C7c">Subject: Re: [AfrICANN-discuss] Mexico City '09<br><br>Hi all,<br><br>While this sort of digresses from the issues raised by Katim, i would<br>seek to beg your indulgence on this for one minute. The reason being<br>
that the issue of participation at ICANN meetings has come up at the<br>ccNSO and other constituencies in the past. This also affects all other<br>regional meets especially within the Af* (AfriNIC, AfNOG, AfTLD, etc).<br>
<br>The question here is we are quick to point at the ICANN model (fair<br>enough). But we still lack in numbers and participation at regional<br>events where such issues need to be discussed. There are those who will<br>
attend but we are still few in numbers, our contributions to the<br>discussions on and off the lists are still wanting in many spaces<br>(AfriNIC is doing a good job i must say). But still ...<br><br>My question is - what would make us consider the meetings any different<br>
regardless of who is organizing them and increase our participation<br>levels and also our contributions as well.<br><br>Regards,<br><br>Michuki (speaking for himself today!.)<br><br><br><br>Maye diop wrote:<br>> Totally aggree with Alaa.<br>
> I think we have to take opportunity of re-organisation of AU to put agenda<br>> of ICT meeting at expert level in the continent for our own perspectives<br>> and most important to have following up of these meetings!<br>
> Best Regards,<br>><br>> 2009/2/25 Alaa S. ElSharif <<a href="mailto:alaedin.elsharif@lttnet.net">alaedin.elsharif@lttnet.net</a>><br>><br>>> I echo your questions Brother Katim,<br>>><br>>> As long as the big shots in ICANN insist on taking advantage of these<br>
>> meetings to tour the world, I doubt that we from the African region can<br>keep<br>>> up with their exotic travel schedule! Mexico, Australia, and then South<br>>> Korea.? Thank God there aren't any trips to Mars or else they would've<br>
held<br>>> a meeting there as well.!<br>>><br>>> Personally I'm not going, but I believe we shouldn't wait until ICANN<br>>> organizes a meeting so that we, members of the African Community can get<br>
>> together and discuss our issues.<br>>><br>>> Those are my two cents,<br>>><br>>> Kind regards.<br>>><br>>><br>>><br>>><br>>><br>>> *Alaedin S. ElSharif*<br>
>><br>>> *Web Services Supervisor*<br>>><br>>> *Commercial Dept.*<br>>><br>>> *LTT*<br>>><br>>> *Tel: +218 21 3400020, ext: 7306*<br>>><br>>> *Fax: +218 21 3400044*<br>
>><br>>> *Mobile**: +218 92 5017303*<br>>><br>>> *Abu Setta, Near Al-Furusia Club, Tripoli, Libya*<br>>><br>>> *Web: **<a href="http://www.ltt.ly/" target="_blank">www.ltt.ly</a>* <<a href="http://www.ltt.ly/" target="_blank">http://www.ltt.ly/</a>><br>
>><br>>><br>>> ------------------------------<br>>><br>>> *From:* <a href="mailto:africann-bounces@afrinic.net">africann-bounces@afrinic.net</a><br>[mailto:<a href="mailto:africann-bounces@afrinic.net">africann-bounces@afrinic.net</a>]<br>
>> *On Behalf Of *Katim S. Touray<br>>> *Sent:* Wednesday, February 25, 2009 12:24 PM<br>>> *To:* <a href="mailto:africann@afrinic.net">africann@afrinic.net</a><br>>> *Subject:* [AfrICANN-discuss] Mexico City '09<br>
>><br>>><br>>><br>>> Dear all,<br>>><br>>> As we get ready for, or are on the way to the ICANN meeting in Mexico<br>City,<br>>> I have a few questions:<br>>><br>>> 1. Are we going to have an Africa-constituency meeting, as we did in<br>
>> Cairo, and if so, when and where?<br>>> 2. Did the Cairo meeting of the Africa-constituency result in any action<br>>> item or items, i.e. things we are supposed to do? If so, what was to be<br>>> done, and who was to do it by when? Or was the Cairo meeting just a<br>
>> getting-to-know-you kind of meeting, with no follow-up actions to be<br>taken?<br>>><br>>> I ask these because I was not at the conclusion of the Cairo<br>>> Africa-constituency meeting, and because I still haven't heard anything<br>
>> about us getting together in Mexico City.<br>>><br>>> Thanks in advance for your replies, and best wishes for a safe and<br>pleasant<br>>> trip to all of you heading to Mexico City!<br>>><br>
>> Sincerely,<br>>><br>>> Katim<br>>><br>>><br>>><br>>> _______________________________________________<br>>> AfrICANN mailing list<br>>> <a href="mailto:AfrICANN@afrinic.net">AfrICANN@afrinic.net</a><br>
>> <a href="https://lists.afrinic.net/mailman/listinfo.cgi/africann" target="_blank">https://lists.afrinic.net/mailman/listinfo.cgi/africann</a><br>>><br>>><br>><br>><br>><br>> ------------------------------------------------------------------------<br>
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