Jefsey's vision of the AtLarge is the one which I support, as I've made
fairly clear in the past. It's more messy and it's less under control, but
instead electing for a limited battlefield where we will surely be defeated,
it defines a new battlefield ideally suited to the subversion and
unpredictability which is our strength. Because rest assured, unless we
subvert ICANN on our own imaginative terms, as the wild At Large of ordinary
worldwide people, they will continue to claim that they are the Emperor with
the fine clothes, they will continue to issue Imperial edicts, and they will
pass laws and rules to ensure that ordinary people never get to usurp them
from their power.
What is needed is an At Large apart from Icann, made up of a coalition and
network of ordinary individuals, a multiplicity of groups, self-created,
bottom up, but sharing a vision of internet enfranchisement for all users.
Jefsey's construct offers the scope for precisely that : something beyond
control of ICANN and its manipulations, something alive and local, something
which will stand as a statement that the At Large is independent of Icann,
is the REAL At Large, and lays claim - through its multiplicity of
individuals - to the Internet that belongs, not to a Californian quango and
a power elite, but to the whole world.
I agree and recognise that there are other and alternative strategies
espoused within our organisation. However I find Jefsey's wholly convincing,
and I believe it is the one which will attract the broadest support from the
non-member public we have yet to attract - who care little for Icann
politics, little for ALAC, little for all the trivia of trying to weedle our
way into ICANN's deliberate labyrinth - but who care about their children
and children's children living in a fair and free world, where the rich do
not dominate the less rich, and where the Internet is this precious
opportunity for education, emancipation, communication and development.
The concept of:
Atlarge.org ..... ..... confronting ..... ..... at-large.org
with OUR At Large growing like a virus into a plethora of subdomains
and seen more and more as a true At Large - not just some manufactured
committee of a Californian quango
That is a concept which "tells it as it is"! That is a concept which can
become tangible. That is a revolution. It declares: the Emperor has no
clothes. It declares, we, the people... It declares the rights of the
organisation of millions of people all over our planet to determine (in the
interests of the many) the future of our internet, our freedoms, our rights
to free speech, our access to communication.
So I support the vision which Jefsey has conveyed to me and which I think,
however stupid I may be, I understand at least in considerable part. It is a
journey. It is a protest. It is the Internet Government-in-Exile.
Through the 1970's I worked with Governments-in-Exile for various East
European satellite states, based in London, during the dark days of Soviet
domination of their homelands. They were a "declaration" of what was right,
a "declaration" of an alternative to the status quo. Few at that time could
see how the Empire could crumble, how the Emperor could be exposed. And yet
the light shines on in the darkness. They bore witness to that light.
It is a similar thing with Icann now. No-one sees how their control can be
usurped. But we need to be a "declaration" of the people and their rights.
And we, the people, are not centrally controlled, we share a multiplicity of
spontaneous impulses and convictions, we are varied, but we believe we can
lay hold of our destiny and our future.
Richard
----- Original Message -----
From: J-F C. (Jefsey) Morfin <jefsey@club-internet.fr>
To: Sotiris Sotiropoulos <sotiris@hermesnetwork.com>
Cc: DPF <david@farrar.com>; <atlarge-discuss@lists.fitug.de>
Sent: Monday, October 21, 2002 6:24 PM
Subject: Re: [atlarge-discuss] WG-OUTREACH 003 - Update and Action List
> At 17:47 21/10/02, Sotiris Sotiropoulos wrote:
> >David is right. Your vision of the atlarge is not generally
> >supported. In fact,
> >outsideyourself, I doubt very highly that anyone even understands your
vision.
>
> I certainly agree that you don't :-)
> Nobody is perfect.
> jfc
>
>
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