From: [log in to unmask]
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Frederick Noronha
(FN)
Sent: 16 November 2005 07:44
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [bytesforall_readers] WSIS: The side-show is what to watch (Sean O
Siochru/IPS)

INFORMATION SOCIETY SUMMIT :  
THE SIDE-SHOW IS WHAT TO WATCH
By Sean O Siochru (*)  

DUBLIN, Nov (IPS) - "The main objective of the World Summit on the
Information Society to be held November 16 in Tunisia is to ensure that poor
countries get the full benefits that new information and communication
technologies -- including the Internet -- can bring to economic and social
development."


So said Kofi Annan just ten days before the second phase of Summit begins.
He,and many others, are already bracing themselves for a disappointment that
has been inevitable for some time. With so few issues still on the table,
even the most optimistic scenario can add little to the meagre yield so far
-- and fear of total failure still hangs in the air. 

A quick balance sheet of the WSIS process thus far, since its beginning in
December 2003: 

-No significant support has come forward for new paradigms to promote
information and communication technologies (ICTs) for development, for
instance, through community-owned and cooperative networks, an expanded role
for local government, "open access" regulation, innovative use of universal
access funds. There has only been a reaffirmation of the market and private
sector which has so far failed to deliver for the majority of the poor. 

-Nothing new was done or said about the ongoing erosion of civil and human
rights in both developed and developing worlds in relation to internet and
ICT use. 

-No new funds have been released for ICTs for development, and no new
mechanism supported. 

-The empowering potential of civil society media, and the need for
democratisation of mainstream media to counter global concentration of
ownership and growing political collusion, were ignored. 

There were high hopes of a WSIS breakthrough in opening up a genuine and
substantive interaction between government and civil society. 

However, notwithstanding a few high points -- the level of civil society
participation in some informal Working Groups was exceptionally good -- no
new enduring structures or practices ultimately emerged, and the level and
quality of institution building of civil society itself waned towards the
end of the five year process -- hardly surprising, given the minimal
resources they had to work with. 

Perhaps the saddest aspect is the failure of Tunisia's government to use the
occasion of a UN Summit to ease its repressive human rights situation,
choosing instead to clamp down with even greater ferocity. 

So is it all bad news? No. In fact there could be an enduring legacy here. 

Annan might be right about the main objective, officially. But others came
with, or developed, their own goals, and from their achievements we may see
some real benefits emerging from this Summit. 

The Communications Rights in the Information Society (CRIS), a campaign that
advocates communication rights and was involved from the very beginning, had
minimal expectations for the official outcome but presented an explicit
agenda to raise the profile of communication rights in the Summit and to
help civil society organise itself. It has succeeded very well. 

Communication rights were at least discussed by governments, for the first
time since the 1980s when UNESCO (and the UN) purged itself of all
significant action in media and communication rights and governance.
More important, large sections of civil society at the WSIS have begun to
use the term. 

This resonates well with those active in copyright issues, free and open
source software, media concentration and diversity, community and civil
society media, freedom of expression, control and surveillance of the
Internet, equitable access to ICTs, discrimination against minority
languages - all those ''information society'' issues of social justice and
human rights largely ignored by the official agenda. 

The concept of communication rights has evolved and matured from these
interactions, generating collaboration among groups active in disparate
areas of media and communication. A continental campaign for communication
rights in Latin America and the Caribbean has been sparked. These are all
positive outcomes. Similar processes are unfolding throughout civil society.


But will such momentum simply dissipate after Tunis? 

The WSIS has given this particular slice of civil society -- at all levels,
in all regions and most with little prior experience -- a crash course in UN
summitry and international relations and advocacy. Already some have been
active in UNESCO's Cultural Diversity Convention, and with an impact. 

WIPO (World Intellectual Property Organization) is also experiencing some of
the side effects, the civil society impetus there on issues relating to
copyright boosted through the WSIS experience. Other international fora,
such as the Doha round in the WTO, are also being eyed my many coming from
the WSIS. 

Beyond this, media and communication issues, and those of the -- information
society--, have gained a higher prominence in civil society's own fora, in
particular in the World Social Forum and related activities where they now
occupy a seat in the front row. 

Maybe this is where the WSIS can have its most lasting effects.
Hopefully, amid all the frantic politicking and networks, Tunis will be an
opportunity to consolidate these possibilities.(END/COPYRIGHT IPS) 

(*) Sean O Siochru is a writer, advocate and consultant in media and
communication issues relating to development, social justice and rights.
He has been active from the outset in the WSIS with the CRIS Campaign (for
which he is a spokesperson).

http://www.ipsterraviva.net/tv/tunis/viewstory.asp?idnews=344





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