Hi Njeri, On Sun, Nov 21, 2010 at 9:26 PM, Njeri Rionge <njeri.rionge@igniteconsulting.co.ke> wrote:
Dear Eric,
Thank you for your detailed breakdown and in particular for the clarity on the work and commitment from Pierre over the years. The successes within Africa in relation to Internet development as relates to ICANN activities as mentioned in your email on all the Af* has been tremendous and is indeed encouraging and should be applauded.
+1
I would also want to make sure that we do not and i mean DO NOT disrespect the work that has been done by fellow Africans over the period and in particular the support and engagement of Pierre. It is important to note that he also has been very professional in his interactions as far as i can remember.
Agreed.
What i think is the issue to focus on is the consistent engagement of building a strong conglomerate of Af* institutions (mentioned below) that are very technical in nature and that are indeed very exclusive in the way they operate.
I would have to disagree here. While it is true that AfNOG is technical, there is a policy day at AfNOG. The other Af*s are mostly policy meetings. For example, you can see 4 days of policy stuff and 3 days of more technical training here: http://meeting.afrinic.net/afrinic-13/index.php/the-meeting/agenda#1 The AfrISPA meeting happening concurrently is all planning around how to best implement their part of AXIS (much policy stuff) So its a mix of tech and policy. What I disagree with most is your assertion that they are exclusive organisations. All of the Af*s have open, un-moderated mailing lists which are the core of their activities. For AfNOG (http://afnog.org/mailman/listinfo/afnog) it is capacity building, for AfriNIC it is policy discussions around IP resource distribution @ https://lists.afrinic.net/mailman/listinfo.cgi/rpd. AfrISPA lists are also open: http://www.afrispa.org/index.php?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=41 As is the AfrICANNlist: https://lists.afrinic.net/mailman/listinfo.cgi/africann BTW, I think we both know that the charges of censorship (see quote below) re: AfrICANN are groundless. The list is unmoderated, so subscribing is automatic. IF DCA has evidence to the contrary, I would hope they present it. "The Candidate and his moderator colleagues at ICANN has since February 2010 blocked all and any participation of DCA and it's members" There are no fees to any of these lists. there are remote participation options for folk who can't travel to meetings. In fact the Af*s represent the most open, transparent, bottom-up policy making available in the Internet Governance field. Please participate, you are welcome!
This is made very clear by Eric's detailed articulation of Pierre support and engagement.
I don't see this from that.
My opinion is that we should be careful not to create an African misunderstanding on up coming opportunities that are open for develop and growth FOR ALL. I think its important to be inclusive and open. This i believe is a much needed action from all and i am waiting for the opportunity to engage for our prosperity.
Me too. -- Cheers, McTim "A name indicates what we seek. An address indicates where it is. A route indicates how we get there." Jon Postel