[Advisors] Making the best use of our resources

[Peter Frampton]

we do have resources that are hard to buy. So what can we do with that?

Understanding our Wealth - is always the way to start!  Well Said Marita.

If there is a moment in time where a few - or even a full gaggle - of us will be in Toronto - you can always count on LEF to host and help out in whatever way we can.
Some face to face time - always moves things along



Peter Frampton
pframpton at lefca.org



> On Oct 12, 2018, at 5:37 PM, Marita Moll <mmoll at ca.inter.net> wrote:
> 
> Hello all. We have been having a very interesting discussion about civil society participation in internet governance via ICANN's structures and it's been a lot of bad news. And I won't argue with the evidence that says the system is rigged against civil society success. But that's pretty old news. When have citizens NOT had to fight against powerful interests for their fair share of the pie. 
> 
> The thing is, we have more influence than we think. We can band together. We have a lot of expertise among us, great ideas and wide networks. We have an organization, we don't need to create another one. And TC, as a group, is pretty close to the mythical "end users" the multistakeholder system is so desperately wanting to connect with. A few of our member organizations, Vancouver Community Network & Ottawa Freenet for example, are composed of thousands of end users. Believe it or not, that, by itself, is quite powerful. We do have a right to speak in both national and international fora and I never feel like I am standing alone - although I often wish I could have more evidence to wave around. We may not have any money, but we do have resources that are hard to buy. So what can we do with that?
> 
> We probably can't turn ICANN around .. at least not in the short term. But we can do education and advocacy -- we can collect data, take positions, speak to government reps, participate in events, build up knowledge about internet governance in our own community, support each other, and do a lot more sharing than we have been doing lately to fortify our positions. TC getting involved with larger projects like ICANN does, in the end, boost our position at home, even if we don't manage to change the world on our tour of duty. 
> 
> Just a couple of upcoming meetings to keep on your radar. There will be a Canadian Internet Forum in either Ottawa or Toronto (Toronto seems likely) in late February as well as an ICANN meeting in Montreal next October. There will be lots of ways to participate. Maybe we can find ways to get more of our community to those meetings -- both in person and virtually. 
> 
> Marita
> 
> 
> 
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