[Community-Discuss] Lu Heng + Larus and the Number Resource Society

[Sander Steffann]

Hi Omo,


> Thanks.  I was trying to understand the dialogue between you and Lu and the "clarification".  How do you mean "may be of influence"?   


At AFRINIC meetings I have seen many cases where there was a lot of "steering" (people being sent to the microphones with pre-defined statements they didn't write themselves, but where it was pretended that it was their own opinion) which I have never seen at other RIRs. AFRINIC seems to be unique in the way there are plays for power and influence that are undermining the true bottom-up way, and people seem to accept this as normal. In other regions there is much less hierarchy (we have no CoE for example) and everybody is treated more equally.

The "power games" I have seen in AFRINIC at all levels (board, management, RPD, community) and the distrust between for example Anglophone and Francophone parts of the community make it very hard to run a true bottom-up system. Such behaviour in AFRINIC and its community make it very vulnerable to top-down influences, because the framework for such influences is already there.

Cheers,
Sander

PS: I am only part of the global internet community, not directly of the AFRINIC community. I can therefore only state how I see things from the outside. I am sure there are many things I interpret differently because of my different background. Please do not take offence, I only try to hold up a mirror. I have no personal, commercial or financial stake in AFRINIC, but I do care about the bottom-up principle and fairness. Those are the only reasons I speak up on AFRINIC mailing lists.