Gender Peripheries of WSIS Prep Com 3

HUMPH! I am so pissed off I could punch someone (if I didn’t believe in random acts of violence, I would have by now!! Grr..) To start from the beginning, a civil society side event was organised on “Internet Governance Forum Function” with plenary presentations by members of WGIG. This was to have a space for discussion on how a global forum or interface on internet governance might look like,…

The day started with sun! After two days of feeling like a houseplant, the feeling of optimism that the bright, yellow and warm gaze of actual sun is not to be sneered at...

In the last hour where I sat through the plenary session, my ears were on high alert for the mention of gender. Granted I only managed to catch a few governments’ statements (i.e. Switzerland, Venezuela, Turkey, Burkina Faso, Singapore, South Africa and Republic of Korea) before stakeholders like the ITU, CCBI and the Civil Society Internet Governance Caucus were given the floor for their…

After blogging till pretty late last night, woke up a wee bit late this morning =/ Managed to catch the tail-end of the Sub-Committee A plenary session, which discussed about internet governance issues. ..

The evening reception happening outside of the meeting room really tested the commitment of the participants in this meeting (me! me!). But Tracey Naughton (MISA - Media Institute of Southern Africa) who chaired the meeting was amazingly efficient, and despite it starting almost 20 minutes late, she managed to outline the new method and structure of working, faciliate a discussion on its finer…

Admittedly I was late for this because I got hopelessly lost at the Palais de Nations Building. When I finally arrived, still hungry and panting, the meeting was in full-swing. Kind of...

So, all in all, a much more politically charged day than I thought
it would be. For the first time possibly ever, I was actually impatient
to be on time for the Opening Plenary of an event...
(warning: a rather long post that tries to make sense of the Human Rights in China accreditation issue and the politicisation of international advocacy platforms that it exposes)

The first day of WSIS Prep Com 3 already promises to be volatile. The Civil Society Orientation Session featured at least two white elephants straining to break free...