Re: [Membership] [membership]Divide and rule by geography or language

[edyson@edventure.com (Esther Dyson)]

Thank you. I really agree with the sentiment behind this.  

However....... there *is* language in the by-laws about geographical
diversity *in the Board,* which is appropriate until the real world is less
divided. But I agree with you that we don't want a split into
geography-oriented voting blocs (other than those that self-organize
naturally).  We *do* want broad representation by geography, which is a
different thing. One challenge is how to achieve that without quotas or
excessive complexity.

The "rationale" is that many people - especially outside the US - were
concerned that we woulod be US-dominated, and many people outside both the
US and Europe were concerned that we would be US/Europe-dominated. The goal
was to have the board represent the Net's geographical breadth - a good
goal, I think.  

Esther

At 12:21 AM 31/01/99 +1200, Joop Teernstra wrote:
>Dear MAC list participants,
>
>I do not like where this discussion is taking us. ICANN is asking its MAC
>to define which geographical regions should be used to split up the
>at-large membership.
>I asked Diane to get the Board to tell us the honest rationale for this
>article in the bylaws. 
>Apart from Diane's personal opinion, no answer.
>
>Now we are already proposing cultural/linguistic blocs in the at large
>membership.
>I agree with Joseph that not only lies madness in this direction, (and I
>know what he means by language wars, --I have seen these ruin sane
>discussion on other lists) but also the fragmentation of the unity that the
>at-large members need to meaningfully represent their interests within ICANN.
>
>Does an Arab bloc really need to vote for an Arab ICANN director? A
>Hispanic bloc for a Latino?
>Or are the interests of Domain Name owners and other users similar enough
>to present a united front against registries and others with the power to
>regulate , tax or censor them out of existence?
>
>Frankly, if we do not get a solid and acceptable rationale for this
>division, I would like to ask the MAC to propose to the Board to amend the
>bylaws and do away with all provisions that would allow ICANN to play off
>slices of the General Membership against each other.
>The Internet is global. 
>Cultural aggregations form naturally, if and when needed.
>
>
>
>
>--Joop--
>http://www.democracy.org.nz/ 
>


Esther Dyson			Always make new mistakes!
chairman, EDventure Holdings
interim chairman, Internet Corp. for Assigned Names & Numbers
edyson@edventure.com
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