[At-Large] (not really about) Travel Funding

[Khaled KOUBAA]

You said it and you said it well.

Evan Leibovitch a écrit :
> Karl Auerbach wrote:
>
>   
>> I too do not understand why most of the discussion that occurs on this
>> mailing list come from North America and Europe.
>>     
> It is not surprising that so many Americans within ICANN just don't
> grasp what they're dealing with in attempts to empower the global user
> community. What comes naturally to ICANN old-timers (mostly Europeans
> and North Americans)  is, literally, quite foreign to the very people
> ICANN is trying to attract.
>
> As Danny time after time after time rails against the perceived lack of
> communications between ALS and RALO, or between ALS and ALS members, he
> shows total ignorance of what could be a cultural deference to
> leadership, or a difficulty to translate complex technical concepts well
> beyond ICANN's official list of languages. There is a significant number
> of people in the global community who find the direct and often personal
> tone of email used by .... well, Europeans and North Americans ... to be
> at worst highly offensive and at least highly intimidating. Many refuse
> to take their first steps into our forums, knowing that if they say the
> "wrong" thing they'll be at the receiving end of a nastygram the likes
> of which are miles beyond the kind of discourse they're ready to have.
>
> There's an assumption in the kinds of posts that Danny, Milton and Robyn
> (and many others, including myself on occasion) have been making, that
> the audience for these messages have thick virtual skins and are
> supposed to appreciate direct (to the point of crude) speech.
>
> That assumption is a mistake, which I believe is directly attributable
> for the limits on the discussion you see.
>
> Not every culture empowers individuals or encourages free thought (let
> alone free speech).
> In some cultures politeness and respect is the norm, and rudeness is
> just shunned as vulgar and/or uneducated.
> Not all NGOs operate in the communications style of what is generally
> known as "civil society" (which more often than not is quite uncivil).
> And ... guess what ... some people, and some cultures, simply
> communicate better face to face, where eye contact and tone of voice
> matter ... just imagine!!
>
> What this means, of course, is that those who bemoan the lack of
> participation actually help to cause it by belittling those who are
> already here.
> They complain that the system is useless as they actively work to _make_
> it useless. Moaning incessantly about what hasn't been done but
> withholding even faint praise for what has been done.
> "No good deed goes unpunished" and all that...
>
> But it's not just At-Large's own self-destructive elements. There is
> also much .. for lack of a better term .. "cultural imperialism" reeking
> from the way ICANN itself does things. Hasn't it ever bothered anyone
> that, despite all the exotic locales ICANN meets in, it never lifts a
> finger to assist local RALOs to engage in ALS recruitment at these
> meetings? Does it not bother anyone that there's not a single ALS from
> Russia? Are the existing volunteers supposed to burn their own cash to
> make this happen?
>
> The At-Large Community, for all its newly-perceived maturity, is still
> treated as an incapable offspring. ICANN still distrusts the grassroots
> enough to require that one-third of ALAC must be parachuted in. (During
> the ALAC Review there were proposals to *increase* proportion of
> unelected reps, but never did I see any proposals to make ALAC
> all-elected taken seriously.) ALAC has _zero_ discretionary spending of
> its own, every dollar it gets -- whether for travel or outreach or
> research -- is accomplished through a process that's effectively just
> refined begging. When ICANN adds staff on our behalf it doesn't ask what
> *we* need staff to help with, those decisions are made on our behalf.
> And don't even get me started on translation policies.
>
> If you want to dig even deeper, let's not forget the basic difficulties
> presented by ICANN's schizophrenic public-involvement face... if someone
> from the "public" wants to get involved and doesn't know anything about
> ICANN do they enter through At-Large, NCUC, or Kieren's office? The
> lines and reasons that distinguish one from the others are vague and
> confusing, especially to those not yet versed in ICANN culture. For
> anyone with difficulty in English, forget it.
>
> But dealing with ICANN's cultural impediments is a different and
> longer-term issue. Being more welcoming is something we can do for
> ourselves.
>
>   
>> It may well be that other areas and other people are aggregating,
>> discussing, debating, and acting outside of the A-R-A (ALAC-RALO-ALS)
>> mechanism.  I would not find that surprising.
>>     
>
> I was saddened to read the exchange on "civility" being held over at the
> Ombudsman's blog (https://omblog.icann.org/?p=192). On one side are
> Frank and Kieren arguing that codes of conduct must be more strictly
> applied; on the other Milton, Robyn and Avri assert that arbitrary
> bounds of civil behaviour are unfair and stifle expression.
>
> Neither side has it right. Treating this as a regulatory matter (i.e.,
> codes of conduct) only encourages disobedience from those who already
> see themselves as repressed. And those who defend the right to be
> abusive just don't get that their style is severely *narrowing* their
> intended audience.
>
> People need to realize that being civil and positive in ICANN-related
> conversation isn't just a good idea because of codes of conduct. Being
> civil, polite and positive is an act of inclusion and welcoming. Maybe
> it is more difficult to make a polite and assertive ALAC argument, just
> as it's harder to tell a good clean joke. But the effort is not just
> worthwhile, it's critical.
>
> Being "mad as hell [...]" may work personally for some, and I'll agree
> that in some circumstances it may even be the preferred style to enact
> change. But not everyone works that way, or -- more importantly -- is
> willing to work with those who work that way. Is your insistence on a
> certain style worth alienating scores of others who may -- to you -- be
> too meek or slow to act, but each deserve as much of a seat at the table
> as you?
>
> - Evan
>
> Disclaimer: As a white male North American, I am likely not the best
> observer of cultural imperialism on this list. But, as someone who has
> had the fortune to travel extensively (pre-ICANN) and handle
> negotiations in many different locales, I hope my perspective may be useful.
>
>   
> _______________________________________________
> At-Large mailing list
> At-Large at atlarge-lists.icann.org
> http://atlarge-lists.icann.org/mailman/listinfo/at-large_atlarge-lists.icann.org
>
> At-Large Official Site: http://atlarge.icann.org