[seedig] On inclusiveness at SEEDIG

Fri Dec 27 16:06:57 CET 2019

Dear Lianna,

I agree fully that inclusiveness is the key element, yet in order to be
able to maintain the inclusive process, perhaps, first *we need to define
what does inclusiveness mean.  *

1. Isn’t it become a common practice that representation of various
interests are achieved just by appointing the same person to all seats
available, even in different regions without taking into account neither
conflict of interest nor person's capabilities to maintain so many duties.

2. When we access how much successful have been SEEDIG efforts shouldn't we
gather the feedback not only from the “bubble” that have been created: the
same people participating at the same forums with same questions and same
agendas, but go beyond usual circles without being afraid of listening
critique, unusual opinions and unexpected questions.

3.    You said, I am quoting “I can assure that we have always encouraged
and facilitated open discussions, always used every meeting opportunity be
it at ICANN, IGF, EuroDIG, etc. to gather the community and ask for an
advice how to make us even stronger. Isn't this the way to listen to each
other? Isn't this the way for everyone to speak openly?”

Can this paragraph be can understood that the same 5 members of the
Executive committee always used every meeting opportunity to be at ICANN,
IGF, EuroDIG. Speaking on the name of the Community, asking volunteers to
contribute their free time, the same 'privileged few' used all travel and
fellowship opportunities to go to meetings at all possible forums.

3.     If hundreds of hours of work have been dedicated to an initiative
which has caused such deep criticism (as described in the blog, letter,
etc.) maybe a sort of “audit”, why not financial audit is required to what
particularly those volunteering hours have been dedicated to and what have
been achieved.

4.     You said  “We follow the mission we all agreed upon and do our best
to expand the SEEDIG activities and enhance the regional cooperation. We
set milestones and follow them. And this systematic work is the key for the
success we had in the last 5 years”.

May community be aware of which mission of SEEDIG we are speaking at this
moment. Is there any hidden agenda nobody knows.

Best regards, Narine

On Fri, Dec 27, 2019 at 3:50 PM Lianna Galstyan <lianna at isoc.am> wrote:

> Dear Zdravko, All,
>
> I'd like to reflect on some of the raised points in previous emails.
>
> @Zdravko, yes, we are aware of the current challenging situation in SEEDIG
> and this is why we want to bring it on the right track with the help of
> community members.
>
> Yes, inclusiveness is the key element within our initiative and this is
> why we launched a new election process and invite volunteers to step in and
> help with it.
>
> Yes, we had very successful meetings and not only in Ljubljana, but the
> latest one in Bucharest was the best so far and we had received this
> feedback from our supporting organizations and participants. And in every
> meeting we had key persons behind that - Iliya for Sofia meeting, Dusan S.
> for Belgrade meeting, Sasho for Ohrid meeting, Dusan C. for Ljubljana
> meeting, Sorina for Bucharest meeting. Across these 5 years I can say that
> EVERY member of the Executive Committee has his/her invaluable role in its
> success.
>
> I can assure that we have always encouraged and facilitated open
> discussions, always used every meeting opportunity be it at ICANN, IGF,
> EuroDIG, etc. to gather the community and ask for an advice how to make us
> even stronger. Isn't this the way to listen to each other? Isn't this the
> way for everyone to speak openly?
>
> As for resignation of the remaining ExCom and a practical proposal for the
> remaining ExCom to continue the work for the SEEDIG 6 on an interim basis,
> this can't work in both ways. Either the ExCom resigns and we won't have
> the annual meeting in 2020 (as it will take several months to go through
> the process Zdravko suggests), or we continue our work according to the
> ToR, have the partial elections to strengthen the ExCom, and continue our
> endeavors for the future.
>
> I'd like to remind you all that this is a volunteer work for all of us and
> if the community is free to comment, to be active or to stay as an
> observer, we, the ExCom have commitment to move the initiative forward. We
> follow the mission we all agreed upon and do our best to expand the SEEDIG
> activities and enhance the regional cooperation. We set milestones and
> follow them. And this systematic work is the key for the success we had in
> the last 5 years. And after hundreds of hours of dedicated volunteered work
> we receive a proposal to resign or a proposal for Dusan to make "concrete
> amendments to the framework according to which we should function as a
> community". First of all, we have always functioned as a community and we
> will continue to function as a community. Second, why should Dusan only -
> among all other ‘insiders’ (as you put in, Zdravko) – suggest changes to
> the current framework? The ToR was written by the community and its
> development can again be tasked to the community.
>
> If the community wants to make amendments in the ToR, we can launch openly
> this process in parallel and endorse that during the annual meeting (while
> also keeping in mind, as Aleksandar indicated, that there is already a WG
> in place tasked with developing a proposal for a SEEDIG legal entity and a
> governing model for that entity). Meanwhile, let's follow the process of
> partial elections we launched and have this done smoothly and in full
> transparency.
>
> I encourage everyone to focus on the future of our initiative, on the
> planning of the upcoming annual meeting, on expanding our activities in our
> host country Moldova.
>
> Thank you all.
>
> Best,
>
> Lianna
>
>
> On 12/26/2019 2:03 PM, Zdravko Jukić wrote:
>
> Dear SEEDIG friends,
>
>
>
> let us be honest with each other, our initiative is in crisis. I will try
> to simplify the assessment of the situation. What I know is that SEEDIG in
> Ljubljana was a great success and that one of the key people responsible
> for that success was Dušan C. What I also know and it would be very
> difficult to convince me the opposite is the fact that Sorina works 24/7
> for the initiative. For some reason there was a conflict in the Exec
> Committee that could not be resolved internally so it spilled out to the
> community and unfortunately beyond.
>
>
>
> What now?
>
>
>
> I still think that SEEDIG is a valuable place to facilitate regional
> cooperation. Because of all the good heritage collected over the period of
> more than five years now, we should all come together and try to resolve
> the conflict.
>
>
>
> How to do that? I would suggest to do it with as many community members as
> possible.
>
>
>
> As inclusiveness is one of the key values of SEEDIG, we need to get
> everyone back in the discussion and I would propose to ask Dušan to propose
> concrete amendments to the framework according to which we should function
> as a community. After that, we would have a broad consultation within the
> community on those proposals. This should last not more than one month, and
> the final proposed changes would need to be supported by more than (certain
> percentage, tbd in the process) of all the members of the community.
>
>
>
> In order to facilitate this process I would also propose that the current
> remaining members of the Exec Committee resign until the new elections take
> place. The new elections would then be organised according to the new
> framework as agreed by the community.
>
>
>
> I wish you all a happy New Year and hope that we all, as a community, come
> stronger out of the current situation.
>
>
>
> Best regards,
>
> Zdravko
>
>
>
> --
>
> Zdravko Jukić
>
> Deputy Executive Director
>
> tel: +385 1 7007 375
>
> mobile: +385 91 722 3103
>
> email: zdravko.jukic at hakom.hr
>
>
>
> [image: cid:image002.png at 01D39434.9263A350]
>
>
>
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>
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>
>
>
> *From:* seedig [mailto:seedig-bounces at lists.rnids.rs
> <seedig-bounces at lists.rnids.rs>] *On Behalf Of *Peter Sterle
> *Sent:* Tuesday, December 24, 2019 9:15 AM
> *To:* seedig at rnids.rs
> *Subject:* Re: [seedig] Launching a new election process: Call for
> volunteers for the Election Committee
>
>
>
> Dear community,
>
>
> the latest developments in the SEEDIG community really made me depressive.
>
> At a time when we are experiencing ruthless processes of commercialization
> and monopolization of the Internet, and on the other hand the use of the
> Internet to suppress personal freedoms, is a community that her priority
> task should be to scrutinize these developments, trapped in squabbles,
> nudges and deliberate sowing of discord.
>
> Probably I should have come forward earlier when a reputable member of the
> community was under unjust and baseless attack. But the petition was so
> beyond all common sense that I assumed that reason would prevail and the
> matter would calm down. When another experienced and distinguished member
> of the community resigned from his position in executive committee, his
> resignation was immediately presented as something that was unrelated to
> the attack on other member of executive board and a petition. Again a new
> distortion of the facts. Unfortunately, in every community, there is a
> group that is prone to respond to incentives stemming from low intentions.
> For various reasons: inexperience, personal vendetta, tracking his or her
> superior, or just an inability to resist herd instinct.
>
> With all this said, I can understand why most active and reputable members
> of the international Internet community did not respond: the whole matter
> was from the beginning so much below every cultural level of communication
> that you can anticipate in advance that any, even the most
> well-intentioned, intervention would receive a false interpretation as an
> attack on a particular person.
>
> I honestly wonder which executive committee members and why were not able
> to lead by example and withstand open and honest dialogue when it came to
> the values and the future of SEEDIG, and why they were not able to discuss
> and overcome the differences? Why some executive committee members have
> been afraid of open and honest dialogue and have resorted to such abhorrent
> defamation?
>
> With the resignation of the two prominent executive committee members,
> SEEDIG can not be any longer considered as a broad church Internet
> community but rather as an exclusive club for particular purposes. As such,
> I cannot give legitimacy to the existing executive committee members and
> the SEEDIG as a whole with my membership. Therefore, I cancel my membership
> in the SEEDIG community and also ask to be removed from the mailing list.
>
> I wish you all a peaceful and happy holidays and a lot of health and
> success in the new year,
>
> Peter Sterle
>
>
>
>

-- 

   *Narine Khachatryan* | Executive Director
      *STEM Society|**Safer Internet Armenia*

      Yerevan, Armenia

      Tel:         +374 11 735421

      Mob:     +374 55 137907

      www.safe.am

-- 

   *Narine Khachatryan* | Executive Director
      *STEM Society|**Safer Internet Armenia*

      Yerevan, Armenia

      Tel:         +374 11 735421

      Mob:     +374 55 137907

      www.safe.am
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