[atlarge-discuss] Supporting an At Large Alliance outside ICANN

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

I am writing to propose an alliance for all At Large members, supporters,
groups and also sympathetic organisations who want to publicly back the
principles of a worldwide AtLarge movement.

What is the AtLarge movement? It is the coalition of individuals and groups
who believe that millions of ordinary internet users should be fully
represented in the way the Internet and its DNS is administered.

At present, this function is carried out by Icann, which is a largely
unaccountable clique of 'insiders' who have thrown out the user
representatives that were supposed to sit on its Board.

To contain dissent, Icann has developed a site at www.at-large.org which
purports to represent the cause of users, but is actually a top-down effort
to control the disenfranchised voices of the internet public.

The real AtLarge, where users can speak for themselves, is to be found at
groups like IcannatLarge.org/.com and a wide variety of local and regional
organisations. Beyond these groups, the AtLarge is - quite simply - all the
people in the world who benefit from this world resource.

For the Internet is a precious world resource, for sharing information, for
communicating and educating, for development and co-operation, for families,
for children, for the lonely, the creative, for everyone. It is 'OUR'
internet, with so much potential for good - and yet it is being administered
by a tiny clique in league with wealthy players, who have locked out the
representatives of the world's ordinary users by removing them from its
Board.

In response to Icann's www.at-large.org (which is trying to contain the
AtLarge community inside an Icann committee) I propose the construction of
www.atlarge.org (currently registered for the real AtLarge community).

This construction was first proposed by Jefsey Morfin, and the concept is to
create an umbrella where a coalition of AtLarge organisations and supporting
individuals can unite in an alliance OUTSIDE Icann and its mechanisms, and
yet demand a restoration of representation for ordinary people at its heart.

The operation of www.atlarge.org would be truly bottom-up, by enabling a
multiplicity of voices and groups to post to sub-domains and create a real,
diverse, and bottom-up voice for the true AtLarge community.

Thus an atlarge group in France might develop www.france.atlarge.org or a
group in London might develop www.london.atlarge.org . Brazil users might
develop www.brasil.atlarge.org and whole regions could also participate,
developing identity for example at www.africa.atlarge.org .

Equally, ordinary internet users wishing to develop debate on important
issues might participate at www.registrars.atlarge.org or
www.transfers.atlarge.org to publicise AtLarge voices on matters of internet
governance. Those wishing to protect AtLarge interests in Icann's 'mock'
atlarge mechanism, could publicise their dealings at www.icann.atlarge.org .

The significance lies in insisting that, while the AtLarge seeks to be an
integral part of Icann for as long as Icann exists, the real AtLarge is far
bigger than Icann, and exists OUTSIDE it in the real world, as an
independent movement and coalition.

Thus I am proposing the construction of www.atlarge.org in direct
juxtaposition to the Icann-invented www.at-large.org (with a hyphen - which
is being used to 'legitimise' the disenfranchisement of the AtLarge
community, and its expulsion from the Icann Board).

This act of expulsion - against the whole spirit of the Internet and indeed
contrary to Icann's own mandate - is an affront to ordinary users
everywhere, and in the long-term could threaten freedoms and truth. The
control of the DNS and how the Internet operates is a matter of huge
potential importance.

To this end, I propose that supporting organisations and groups are invited
to post pages at www.atlarge.org in order to broaden and publicise the
political and moral dimension of the struggle for internet freedom. So, a
group of Greens in Scotland could post support and views at
www.green.atlarge.org and democrats in Canada could develop a dialogue too
at www.democrat.atlarge.org .

The construction I propose is an ever-broadening multiplicity, the creation
of an umbrella for an AtLarge coalition - not an organisation itself, but
purely a facility, under the guardianship of sympathetic AtLarge
representatives.

Unless the AtLarge community establishes a rallying point, and an alliance
of protesting voices, visible to the public and the US government which
protects Icann, the cause of ordinary people will be engulfed in Icann's
false 'at-large' and marginalised to powerless committees and
sub-committees, lost in a labyrinth of procedures, designed to sideline the
very people all over the world who should be at the heart of Internet
governance : its ordinary users.

I therefore urge the adoption of this proposal - on a provisional one year
basis to discover how well it works, in the cause of internet freedom and
the voices of the AtLarge.

I am part of the panel, elected by ordinary users, at IcannatLarge.org. This
organisation is sincerely upholding the cause of representation of ordinary
users. It is not threatened by the www.atlarge.org proposal. The proposal is
an added facility, creating a vital link with the other AtLarge initiatives.
Indeed, I hope that IcannatLarge.org may act as a guardian, and support the
rallying together of all AtLarge communities.

I care about my own organisation, but I care about all the other AtLarge
groups around the world as well, because in our different ways and with
diverse voices, we share ideals and we deeply believe that Internet users
should play a central part in the protection of the Internet.

When it comes to AtLarge groups we do not think 'them' and 'us' : it is
'we' - a multiplicity of groups, a coalition of voices - who can most
effectively present to the world the REAL AtLarge. We need to argue our
case, on our own ground, not Icann's, from a position of coalition and
strength.

The construction of www.atlarge.org will stand in direct juxtaposition to
www.at-large.org (Icann's pretence), to highlight the lie, and will be an
act of defiance saying to Icann and even the US Government : we shall NEVER
be subsumed, we reject our expulsion, we will fight for the millions of
ordinary people, for the voice of free people everywhere : we are many, you
are few. We are diverse. We are bottom-up. We are HERE!

Richard Henderson



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