No. 134 Organising an Internet Social Forum - Occupy the Internet

Workshop Format. Please click here for a description of available Workshop Session Formats.

Flash Session

Duration of proposed workshop

30 minutes

IGF 2015 subtheme that this workshop falls under

Inclusiveness and Diversity

Description

The Internet has become an integral and essential part of our daily lives. It is determining our access to knowledge, how we communicate with each other and increasingly, new arteries of commerce. At the same time, we are alarmed to see how both our private and public spaces are being co-opted and controlled for private gain; how private corporations are carving the public Internet into walled spaces; how our personal data is being manipulated and proprietised; how a global surveillance society is emerging, with little or no privacy; how information on the Internet is being arbitrarily censored, and people's right to communicate curtailed; and, how the Internet is being militarised. Meanwhile, decision-making on public policy matters relating to the Internet remains dangerously removed from the mechanisms of democratic governance. The workshop will discuss the need and the modalities of a global Internet Social Forum, to explore the Internet we want and how to build it, and to begin a process to develop a 'People's Internet Manifesto'.
Internet Social Forum aims to create a global space precisely to take up these issues, where we will discuss the Internet we want, share information on our endeavours and struggles for democracy, human rights and social justice in relation to the Internet, and develop collective action agendas. The Internet Social Forum (ISF) takes its inspiration from the World Social Forum (WSF) process and its visionary call that “Another world is possible”—we are suggesting that "Another (People's) Internet is possible”. See www.InternetSocialForum.net .

Name, stakeholder group, and organizational affiliation of workshop proposal co-organizer(s)

All co-organisers of this workshop are civil society entities, who held a workshop with the same title at the World Social Forum in March, 2015, and the IGF workshop will be another in series of informational and outreach workshops - for this important global initiative on Internet governance, which seeks to obtain real bottom-participation of people, movements and civil society.

IT for Change, alongwith: ActionAid India; Advocates of Science and Technology for the People; Agencia Latinoamericana de Información; All India Peoples Science Network; Alternative Informatics Association; Arab NGO Network for Development; Association for Proper Internet Governance; Centre for Community Informatics Research, Development and Training; Computer Professionals Union; EUROLINC; Free Press; Free Software Movement of India; Global_Geneva; Instituto del Tercer Mundo; Just Net Coalition; Network Institute for Global Democratization; Open-Root; Other News; P2P Foundation; SFLC.IN; Society for Knowledge Commons; Third World Network.

Has the proposer, or any of the co-organizers, organized an IGF workshop before?

yes

The link to the workshop report

Yes, in 2012, http://wsms1.intgovforum.org/sites/default/files/National%20IG%20mechanisms%20-%20IGF%20Baku%20workshop.pdf

Subject matter #tags that describe the workshop

#PeopleInternet, #occupyInternet, #InterentSocialForum

Description of the plan to facilitate discussion amongst speakers, audience members and remote participants

Since it is an information cum outreach workshop, first those among the panel who are associated wit the ISF initiative will describe the initiative. Following it, other panelists will be asked to make their detailed comments and also ask questions. Following this first section, the workshop will get into an intensive mode of participation with all attendees, who will be able to provide their comments, ask questions, and, if interested in the initiative, discuss modalities of their respective participation. The organisers are also interested in hearing views about how best to organise an Internet Social Forum, and what can people and groups present bring to this initiative, and whether they will be interested in subsequently holding local and regional level Internet Social Forums.

Names and affiliations (stakeholder group, organization) of the participants in the proposed workshop

Roberto Bissio – Third World Network, and Social Watch Network (Civil Society) - Roberto is one of the most well known global civil society leaders today and has been involved in early uses of Internet among movements.

Sally Burch - Agencia Latinoamericana de Información (Civil Society) - Leads a key platform in Latin America on communication rights issues, which set of issues underly any claims for a People's Internet

Parminder Jeet Singh - IT for Change - India based NGO in Special Consultative status with UN ECOSOC

Name of in-person Moderator(s)

To be decided

Name of Remote Moderator(s)

To be decided

Name of Rapporteur(s)

Parminder Jeet Singh

Description of the proposer's plans for remote participation

Remote hubs will be developed in all parts of the world, supported by the numerous co-organising groups, and at the IGF venue appropriate handing of such extensive remote participation will also be made.

Background paper

background paper

Agenda

Since it is not a 30 minute flash session, there is time only for a 10 minute introduction to the idea and practice of the Internet Social Forum, and how it will be conducted, avenues of collaboration and participation, and so on. This will be done by three indicted panellists who are associated with the initiative. It will be followed by 20 minutes of taking questions from the workshop attendees, and the responses by the panellists.

Key Issues raised (1 sentence per issue):

- Civil society groups that come to the IGF should have 'balanced' views, which involve some kind of negotiated positions, so that everyone can agree on something. But then the question is, are human rights negotiable? And then, in all this talk of 'multistakeholderism', no one clearly knows what the term means. Who is a stakeholder? None of these things are clear as, for instance, the meaning of democracy itself.
- To develop a new Internet governance model
- Corporations and governments have huge resources at their disposal
- We need a space where all of us can come together, talk and exchange notes freely. Not just some communities, but general people, young and old.

Please describe the discussions that took place during the workshop session (3 paragraphs):

The workshop began with Parminder Jeet Singh, of Just Net Coalition, introducing the idea of an Internet Social Forum (ISF). To explain ISF's purpose, he took the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) itself as a point of departure. He described how the IGF is a forum where civil society speaks with powerful businesses and governments, making it a constrained place for real discussions. We therefore need a space, specifically for civil society, in the area of Internet governance to radicalise ourselves and freely develop an agenda stemming from public interest, with no constraints. ISF is supposed to be such a space. The ISF isrecognised as a thematic forum of the World Social Forum (WSF). Everyone who accepts the charter of the WSF is invited to participate in the ISF.

He then declared that there are two groups that have proposed to hold the first ISF in late 2016, one from Turkey and another from India. The final decision about the venue and dates would be taken soon. He also pointed to the website of the ISF at www.internetsocialforum.net/ where more information about the initiative could be accessed. A major objective of the ISF is to get progressive techies and social justice activists together, who have similar basic objectives but perhaps different ways of working towards them.

The first speaker at the workshop was Mishi Choudhary of the Software Freedom Law Centre. She introduced the work of her organisation in the area of free software, in the US and India. Then she described how both corporations and governments have huge resources at their disposal. They are always able to develop their views well, network internally and push their objectives. And they then make deals among themselves, and after the cast is set, often invite civil society to the table, just to legitimise what they have mutually agreed on. It is important that civil society realises its own power, the power of people, of numbers. She went on to say that we spend a lot of time talking to people who have worked intensely on IG issues but we are really not talking to those on the outside - those who have been waging struggles at the grassroots, groups dealing with open source software, climate change, disarmament, and so on. We need a space where all of us can come together, talk and exchange notes freely. Not just these communities, but general people, young and old. In India we saw with the “Save the Internet” initiative what such coming together can achieve. With that, she invited the participants to come and join the ISF.

Later, Alex Gakuru of CODE-IP Trust addressed the group. He took the constraints of the IGF as his point of departure. He described how when civil society groups come to the IGF they should have 'balanced' views, which involve some kind of negotiated positions, so that everyone can agree on something. But then the question is, are human rights negotiable? And then, in all this talk of 'multistakeholderism', no one clearly knows what the term means. Who is a stakeholder? None of these things are clear as, for instance, the meaning of democracy itself.

Hindenburgo Peres from University of Sao Paolo was the final speaker on the panel. He welcomed the idea of having a forum of real civil society actors, a space where they can collect and collaborate, instead of having to be alongside representatives from private organisations like Facebook or Google. It was necessary to develop a new Internet governance model. The governance of the Internet today, he commented, has become geopolitics of the Internet rather than real Internet governance.

If there were presentations during the workshop session, please provide a 1-paragraph summary for each presentation:

No information provided

Please describe any participant suggestions regarding the way forward/ potential next steps/ key takeaways (3 paragraphs):

One participant from Canada asked whether there are any plans to organise something related to the ISF, at the new WSF, mid-2016, in Montreal. Parminder responded to the question saying that while there are plans to have some event at the WSF in Montreal, the main ISF will be outside, as one of the two mentioned venues. The reason is that for an ISF kind of event there is a need to look at a high level of local volunteer involvement, and that may not be possible at Montreal.

Another participant asked whether instead of just adding another talking shop, many of which exist, there is any scope of a real agenda and action. Any specific program coming out of the ISF that can get social movements behind it. The workshop organisers responded by saying, yes there are a lot of small niche spaces but we also need a large one that brings all activists in this area together. A real program of action and clear outputs are needed. It was also mentioned in this regard that there exist plans to develop an Internet manifesto from this initiative.

Another participant had a similar question trying to understand the objective of the ISF, asking what is being envisioned apart from channeling activist energies and inputs to the IGF and the WSF. In response, it was explained how the WSF and its thematic forums work, attempting to create civil society agendas, and then engage with different policy venues, and IGF could be one of them.

A participant observed that human rights should be the foundation of Internet governance and the binding vision. Another participant stressed the need for making connections with other movements. She also sought greater clarity about who is leading the process, and how the agenda will be constructed going forward. The workshop organisers clarified that the ISF will be a completely open process. To start with, there are no funds yet, and so everything is yet to be organised and people are welcome to take whatever part they wanted to in this initiative. It was also emphasised that while the process is fully open, there are no doubts about the standards or accountability that it is held to. This is why those who proposed the idea of the ISF went to the WSF, earlier this year in Tunis, because the WSF has well-known open process. We ourselves committed to it, by positioning the ISF as a thematic forum of the WSF and that helps us to stay open, inclusive and accountable.

Valentina Pellizzer, of OneWorld – Platform for Southeast Europe Foundation, said that there is a need for a space where civil society can plan, think, strategise and be safe. She said that because there is a lot of work to be done, we become hesitant, but we need this kind of platform. Otherwise, big businesses will keep making the real decisions. People know what they want from technology but we must engage them, beginning with a local dialogue everywhere. ISF must reach everyone, and for this we must go back and talk to our respective groups and movements, to see how our Internet related agendas can connect together.

Estimate the overall number of the participants present at the session:

35-45 and half of the participants were women.

Estimate the overall number of women present at the session:

About half of the participants were women

To what extent did the session discuss gender equality and/or women’s empowerment?

It was mentioned briefly in the presentations and discussions

If the session addressed issues related to gender equality and/or women’s empowerment, please provide a brief summary of the discussion:

No information provided