Re: [atlarge-discuss] Is This The Party To Whom I Am Speaking...

["Richard Henderson" <richardhenderson@ntlworld.com>]

The clear and simple fact is that Joop's first Poll (at the time when
Vittorio was leaning our organisation towards ALAC and the RALOs and the
Panel was threatening to take us where we did not wish to go) attracted more
votes than the preceding election for the panel had attracted. That it is a
simple historical fact.

That Poll - which was distributed not to a minority but to almost the entire
membership - had therefore as strong a mandate as any election of panelists.
It was the People of this organisation speaking.

It was far more reliable in its clear expression of members' wishes than the
renegade panel which was failing to get quorums, which was drifting towards
ALAC and which basically was not operating in a way which set us on the
course we needed to go.

I totally accept that this mechanism needs support, safeguards, a formal
constitutional role. But the fact remains that it can't be marginalised as
glibly as some people have tried to marginalise it.

It has already been a strong expression of our democratic will. It can
become a stronger expression still. I repeat: more people participated in
that Poll than in the election. It was not some small clique at all. It was
a strong expression of the People. And the People said they wanted the Poll,
regularly, and they wanted to use it. (They also showed huge mistrust for
ALAC, for ICANN, for the RALOs.)

ICANN would prefer everything to be contained within panels and committees
and delegates. But the grassroots views are far stronger than these
delegates... far more critical of ICANN... and the grassroots are right to
be sceptical... it is right that power and decision-making for the At Large
is rooted right down there at the bottom... the minute you lose sight of
that, you are on the road to ICANN-LAND.

yrs,

Richard Henderson

----- Original Message -----
From: Jeff Williams <jwkckid1@ix.netcom.com>
To: <bruce@barelyadequate.info>
Cc: <atlarge-discuss@lists.fitug.de>
Sent: Saturday, May 31, 2003 7:36 AM
Subject: Re: [atlarge-discuss] Is This The Party To Whom I Am Speaking...


> Bruce and all fellow members,
>
>   No bruce look it up again.  Richard already posted the results
> as have myself and Walter several times.  The percentage was
> 14% I believe.
>
> bruce@barelyadequate.info wrote:
>
> > Jeff Williams wrote:
> >
> > |    This is true Bruce, but does not and did not apply any longer
> > |  or further when the Panel was devolved or otherwise done
> > |  away with via the poll that Joop took and a representative sample
> > |  of the members voted in favor to remove that Panel in favor of
electing
> > |  a new panel.
> >
> > Joop's poll engaged less than 10% of the membership, was conducted
outside
> > the official auspices of this organization without prior coordination,
was
> > conducted without oversight, used questions that were heavily weighted
to
> > Joop's way of thinking and not reviewed by anyone prior to asking them.
> > Further, the poll was not announced to the membership as a whole in
advance,
> > so that all members had the option to participate!  As a result, the
only
> > members participating were those who were already gravitating to his
forum
> > anyway.  That is like polling the preacher and the choir during choir
> > practice, then saying that this poll indicates the will of the whole
> > congregation!  It was a flawed sample.
> >
> > Currently, the only method of determining the will of the membership is
to
> > ask them.  That is what we are doing.  God forbid we ever allow a
> > so-called "representative sample" chosen in this manner to be used to
set
> > policy for this organization!
> >
> > Bruce Young
> > Portland, Oregon USA
> > bruce@barelyadequate.info
> > http://www.barelyadequate.info
> > --------------------------------------------
> > Support democratic control of the Internet!
> > Go to http://www.icannatlarge.org and Join ICANN At Large!
>
> Regards,
> --
> Jeffrey A. Williams
> Spokesman for INEGroup LLA. - (Over 131k members/stakeholders strong!)
> "Be precise in the use of words and expect precision from others" -
>     Pierre Abelard
> ================================================================
> CEO/DIR. Internet Network Eng. SR. Eng. Network data security
> Information Network Eng. Group. INEG. INC.
> E-Mail jwkckid1@ix.netcom.com
> Contact Number: 214-244-4827 or 214-244-3801
>
>
>
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