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Start Date & Time
November 16, 2005
1:00
AM.
End Date & Time
November 18, 2005
1:00
AM.
Location
TBD
Tunis, Tunis, Tunisia
Event Cost
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Webpage: http://www.itu.int/wsis/
Registration Deadline
November 16, 2005
Categories
Technology
Education
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  HUMAN RIGHTS - Posted By: Adama Nomokho
Human Rights as thought when created should only be profitable to the whole world...but the way the world is living nowadays is really shamefull , discouraging , hopeless , and RISKY...
This coming 60th anniversary of the Human right should let all wise people around the whole world know... in all sphere of decision to question themselves ...deep in their consceous : is it this actual world, where Invasions-Spoluation-Colonialism-civil wars-decease-hunger-asylium-poverty-repression-racism-xenophoby-pedophily-tortures-dictatures..etc., why HUMAN RIGHTS WERE CREATED ?????
If not ...means their is VERY BIG FAILURE ...in the way of Operating and Supervising Human Rights.Its sorryful that the world should wait 60 years before being able to crosscheck failures in something that was implicating people's life... Just to have an idea of the meaning of it ...let we suppose to be at the place of people who are in refugee camps....or people who are in Jails illigally....or people who are living in occupied terrtories...;WHAT HUMAN RIGHT STANDS FOR THEM.???
They are Humans...as far as they are living in the same world like all of us....so, They should HAVE RIGHTS....AS FAR AS ITS HUMAN RIGHTS...
If millions of people are still suffering actually in the world ...coz of lack of Human Rights...means the goals or targets why wise people created United Nation after Second world War...are not reached....So UNITED NATINS HAS FAILED TOTALLY TO HIS MISSION...while the very correct and logic solution....is to Dismissed UN ,And to rebuild a NEW INSTITUT ...where all nations will be represented...all ethny will be respected...all religions will be recognised...all culture will be honored.... It can goes throught coz, that new institution will avoid all previous mistakes of done by UN.....
why not even to creat in each nation a concil that only wise and respected people....and each concil will choose his or her represent that will stand for his country in the New Institution....
Coz the actual biggest MISTAKE OF UN IS HIS PARTIALLITY...for some people UN talk very very loud; for others Nothing is done....That is the Main thing that can creates frustruation and violence...the other problem of UN is: very few nations are truely represented...thats not FAIRE AT ALL....Africa has 53 countries how many countries is at UN...??? That idea of permanent and unpermanent Membership IS NOT FAIRE AND IS ILLOGIC...coz the world has really past the context where some can be permanent ...the others not.....coz " a shared something for everybody, ..what ever it can be should be for everyone...." The day some people will have more rights than others, that day, discriminated people will show their unhappyness...and in their own style....who should tell them to stop ?....Favourited people ??? or poeple in the same position ?? A FAIRE WORLD SHOULD BE FAIRE FOR EVERY NATION....AS WELL AS ISRAELIANS THAN PALESTINIANS...
Now if we think keeping our eyes closed in such discriminations, creating fake resolutions evryday,diabolising islam any moment,keeping UN with his limited number of member with VETO can solve the problems....we are faking ourselves..and if in 60 years UN cannot change nothing in how the world is moving....for sure terrorism and violence have to be supported for long again....who will be reached ??? no body can tell !!!
Its quite time now to change vision ...to build a very peacefull world where HUMAN RIGHTS WILL BE LIVED LIKE WHAT IT REALLY MEANS...
Its just aims ...how wise people did to creat UN ...plenty more wise can do it to creat something far better than UN....its matter of Courage and Will ...and as a member of TIG ..I really Hope the TAKING IT GLOBAL WILL INVOLVE IN THAT very hard and important Challenge..
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  WSIS up in smoke - Posted By: Alex
Two weeks post-WSIS and this is all that is left. Oui mon vieux, this is all she wrote. Fat lady sang and all that jazz. Page has turned, the song remains the same. Fin.
Ah, but the people you say? C'est vrai: Bert, Nick, Terri, Maja, Titi, Adam, Jarra, Jen, Mike, Sush, Andrew, AtotheLam, Melina, Marouen, the Hustler, Maitreyi, Franziska, Master Pintilie, Sofya, Tom/Thomas&Tomislav, Eman, Mustafa, Tim, Abdallah all would not have crossed paths with Mister Camrose if not for the almighty hand of the WSIS.
But new fun awaiteth (amnesty.org/noise) far from the grasp of THE LAW. Oh yes, and someone wanted these lyrics so in lieu of recording devices, here's the words to the Youth Caucus Anthem, Part Deux.
Here's the story of the Youth Caucus
From the start to its fateful end.
It starts in Toronto, 2001
When Nick's still online at 3 AM.
With the backing of TakingITGlobal,
He meets Terri from IISD.
Enter Pearl, Maja and Alberto
We gots YCDO with the GKP.
Hey, hey, hey
Listen to what we say
Cuz the Youth Caucus
Will rock us today, today... [refrain]
With Maitreyi and 'Gbenga from PrepCom 1,
The Youth Caucus is taking shape.
With some weirdos and wackos along the way,
Phase I did turn out great.
Events, awards and national campaigns
And over 100 members in tow,
With a superfly paragraph, just on youth
We rocked the Geneva show
[refrain]
Enter phase two with a new cast and crew,
We gots Titi, Robert and Tom.
Bigger campaigns, youth awards and more,
And a brand spankin' new song.
Marouen's got things ready in Tunis.
With a new, improved Youth Hub space
With a little bit o' bling and a whole lot of blang,
We be bringin' it from outta space
[refrain]
(Freestyle, hip-hop, funk-jive medley)
Tunisia will please ya, you'll never wanna leave'a
When you be sipping that tea and smoking the sheesha
Have you seen the Hub? Can you feel the love?
We the Youth Caucus we can never get enough.
We gots DJs, and dinners, we demandin' some change
In a language, that only the youth can explain
So take your diplomats, bureaucrats and send'em to their habitats
Cuz we the Net generation, yo can you handle that
[refrain]
(slow, nostalgic, chris-isaak style denouement)
Now we come to the end of the road,
I gotta tell y'all the truth
You gotta find yourselves, a brand new caucus
For washed up, has-been youth
[refrain]
| December 5, 2005 | 16:04:39 |
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  Too Marvelous for Words - Posted By: Franziska Seel
Too Marvelous for Words
Staring: A. Fielding and J. McGrath
Supporting actors: U. Nwosu, T. Dawkins, T. Akinsamni,
Produced by: F. Seel
Technical assistance: J. McGrath
| December 4, 2005 | 18:47:00 |
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  Tunisian reflections - Posted By: Nick Moraitis
This time last week I was still in Tunis. Now, the World Summit on the Information Society seems a bit like a dream - you know, those dreams involving 100 of your favourite people from different parts of your life (and indeed the world) doing extraordinary things in a surreal, slightly claustrophobic location – punctured momentarily with fleeting exchanges with world leaders, police with big guns, wonderful panoramic ocean views, and the bed-time lullaby that is BBC World.
It was fascinating to finally come to Tunisia, after hearing so much about this country - great, good, bad and ugly - for the last few years. The nation seemed to be taken over by the WSIS - schools were closed, public employees told to remain home, and half the population apparently newly hired as slightly menacing (but really rather lost?) security guards stationed three to every street corner. The absence of people (other than police) was unsettling and weird to say the least. And let's just say that the Tunisian National Flag Company seems to have done a recent roaring trade, with streets decked out in tens of thousands of coloured flags (totally beautiful, although I'm not sure how I'd feel if the UK lined every street of London with the Union Jack). The Tunisians put on a good show and everything (apart from giving the official bus drivers directions!) seemed to run smoothly.
Inside the Summit venue, it was quite easily to forget or ignore the reports outside (and in the global media) about Tunisia clamping down on freedom of expression just as it was hosting a Summit on the global Information Society. Certainly on the first day I spoke with a nice guy from Intel who seemed genuinely unaware of the human rights issues raised by local groups, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty and others. Although Summit delegates did get a minor taste for arbitrary procedures when plain clothed, un-badged guards would randomly block access between different rooms inside the Summit venue (Some of us tried to run/ram through but were mostly held back). Outside, towards the town centre, there were more serious protests and a counter-Summit organized by excluded human rights activists.
On the surface, with the police presence, pictures of President Ben-Ali ubiquitous, and a media that glowed in the government's triumph and little else, Tunisia certainly seemed totalitarian. At the same time, I got the sense (and was told by expats as well as local people) that there is little public dissatisfaction with the political situation. Certainly, I can appreciate that compared with its neighbours, Tunisia is an island of wealth, peace, religious moderation, and stability. You might say this is because it is not 'cursed' with much oil, or because it lacked the violent or confused de-colonisation of its neighbours. Or you might not care and just say 'well, things work pretty well here and I wouldn't want to live in someplace like Iraq.. or Algeria...or Egypt... or wherever'. In the areas I visited (mostly the more wealthy bits I guess) Tunisia seemed more apathetic than repressed. I wonder where resignation ends and apathy begins? And are there lessons for my own countries(s) and the rest of the world?
Reflecting on Tunisia might seem an odd way to start this blog - I had only a few moments to think about these questions, and it is true that Tunisia is sadly not the worst offender when it comes to Internet censorship. And the country - especially the Tunisian people- deserve everyone's thanks for hospitality and role in making this event happen. But just like I experienced in Johannesburg in 2002, the place - and it's political and economic reality- really does set the scene and the tone of your experience at a UN event.
On the Sunday after the Summit, Tom, Maja, Marouen and I headed to Korbus, a beautiful little hot spring on the beach a few hours out of the capitol, Tunis. It was great to be able to see a bit more of this country, feel its dynamic and unique cultural spirit and natural beauty. I'll have to come back and learn more - anyway I think about it, it was fascinating. And it was great to be able to spend short but very sweet time with these, and so many other good friends.
As for the Summit itself, I feel a deep sense of accomplishment. If you had asked me six weeks ago (as many did) whether I thought everything we had planned would come together, I could not have answered clearly. It is to Marouen's great credit that Youth participation in Tunis was smooth and dynamic. And this time last year, I would never have believed that the WSIS Youth Caucus would do so much in 2005, eclipsing even our work in 2003. From National & Rural Campaigns to the Award programs, the capacity building workshops, and the Youth Hub, we learnt so many lessons from the past, became more efficient and demonstrated once again a model for youth (indeed civil society) participation in global decision-making processes and forums that will be looked to and (for sure) replicated elsewhere. Titi and Robert, who took over from me as the Facilitators of the Caucus did an incredible job managing everyone's contributions as well as high expectations!
The week was also a celebration of TakingITGlobal's growth and maturity. This probably deserves an entire blog entry of its own, but I'm immensely proud of what TIG has achieved in its short five years. It was fitting that on the same day we held our fifth anniversary dinner in Tunis (great night!) TIG launched in its 7th language - Chinese, and reached (well, roughly) 100,000 members! The value of UN Summits is rarely (or never) just the formal documents developed but in their ability to bring great people together- that so many of TIG's active staff and members could attend and gain renewed strength and insight for the work of this unique network was fantastic. I'm also excited about new potential partnerships in the Middle East and Africa, as well TIG's new key role in Telecentre.org, a global support program for local community access initiatives [always a key part of the big TIG vision].
Now finally to the issues that WSIS was supposedly held to address. It's fair to say that in a formal sense, not much really was achieved at all - no huge new financial commitment to bridging the digital divide, no really new paradigm or international legal standards relating to the role of information in development and human rights. And not even really a clear road-map for how the Internet will be governed after the US decided it wasn't ready to cede final control over ICANN's functions - except for a vague new UN Forum that won't have teeth. But really, when was WSIS ever about ICANN anyway? As someone astutely pointed out to me, no one seems to be complaining about the dictatorship of Google, despite the fact that they have far more influence over how people use the net on a daily basis than the U.S., ICANN, or that perennial bogey, Microsoft.
At least however, as a result of WSIS and the great amount of media coverage it generated (including in influential publications) policy makers around the world and in many NGOs (such as those I work with) have started to take these issues much more seriously and are beginning to recognize that new information and communications technologies are truly transforming our educational, professional, political, and social lives. The quality of the discussion and decision-making, as well as the grassroots innovation, can only improve as a result.
It's the end of WSIS, but just the beginning of the story....
| November 28, 2005 | 12:25:47 |
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  About WSIS II - Posted By: Moustafa Mohamed Hussein
When I was planning to go to Tunis for WSIS II, I had in mind to write a daily blog of things going there but I didn’t have time to do this, we had work all the time everywhere.
Let’s start from the beginning, I didn’t get the chance to go to phase I in Geneva even I didn’t know about the WSIS and the youth caucus till my friend Abdallah Diwan was back from Geneva and spoke to me about how things went there and how the youth caucus was great.
At that point, I had in my mind the dream of going to phase II in Tunis and got involved with the WSIS national youth campaign in Egypt. I helped Abdallah (the coordinator for the campaign) in many things with the campaign, its activities and logistic stuff.
Then, it was last October when I had a quick talk with Jennifer and she said that TakingITGlobal will fund my trip to Tunis. I can't explain my happiness at that night. It was really one of the happiest days.
The summit was on 16 November and I should be there by 13 or 14 November and my mid term exams was to start on 12 November, so I had to postpone the exams which took me 10 days running in procedures at my school.
I sat for an exam before I leave, my flight was on 14th November and I arrived Tunis on 14th November at 1pm, arrived my hotel at 5 pm after spending an hour and half in the longest queue I have ever stood in, waiting to enter the badging center.
Without more details which will sound boring after the summit, the best thing in this trip was meeting people that I have been working with for long time from the TIG staff and never met them in person as Mike, Hugh, Franziska, Luke, Alex, Sofya and Trevor besides some others that you see them online on TIG or you see their names through emails on the WSIS Youth Caucus Group as Nick, Robert, Titi, Marouen, Damian and Jarra.
I loved everything there, we had lots and tons of work for all the days since arrival and till Friday 18th November, we only had the chance to go out for some fun on Saturday when we visited Carthage and Sidi Bou Said.
When blogging about WSIS, I should mention Mohamed, the best Tunisian guy who was taking care of everything and hosted me for a whole day and took me for a tour in Tunisia, Tunis center, Hamammat, soussa, monstir and El-Jem, in a trip of 500 Kms.
About the WSIS itself, far from the official summit which didn’t come up with something good, there were more than 200 side events that make you don’t know where to go now or attend half of this event and leave it to attend the other half in another event.
With 23,000 participants, chances for networking and getting new friends were the best there. (Gbenga, UGO, Anas, Samer, Rania, Fatma, Ingela, Pernille and many others.
About our place there, the youth hub, it was the most crowded place ever, people came to us all the time, asking about the youth caucus, TakingITGlobal, sometimes to rest, other times to meet, beside the events that were running most of the time inside the youth hub.
Finally, thanks should go to TakingITGlobal (which we celebrated its 5th birthday there in Tunis) and to Jen and Mike for giving me the chance to go to Tunis and for everyone there who worked hard during the events and organizing the youth hub.
You can view some of the pictures about the event Here!
| November 26, 2005 | 15:59:11 |
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WSIS – reflecting about a 3-year process - Posted By: Franziska Seel
I promised myself and Alberto (coordinator of the WSIS Youth Caucus communications group) to write a daily blog from Tunis, but after returning to Germany, I had to realize that I stopped reporting from WSIS on Wednesday. It is now hard for me to look back and recapture what happened, but I also don’t think that anyone, who didn’t have the chance to attend the Summit itself, is still interested in this. Instead I would like to use this blog to look back and reflect more broadly on what WSIS meant to me and TIG and so many other people.
I first joined the WSIS Youth Caucus during PrepCom 2 in Geneva, February 2003. I was volunteering for YOIS at that time and went to Geneva for a few days with a small team from Hamburg. We had a couple of projects running at YOIS that were connected to WSIS and later on became what was called the German National Information Society Youth Campaign. Looking back at the beginning of 2003, however, I first and foremost remember endless sessions with Maike, going through the draft outcome documents and making amendments with a focus on sustainable development. It was that work which taught me the structures of UN policy documents and how important a comma or slightly different phrase could be.
It is generally interesting to look back and see how much of the work of the Youth Caucus was focused on policy in Phase I, whereas it almost didn’t play a role at all anymore in Phase II. I would just like to mention the ups and downs at the Intersessional meeting in Paris, when the youth paragraph was garbled and only through the help of Abel from Fiji became the strong paragraph again that was adopted in December 2003.
The Youth Caucus was also my first real acquaintance with TakingITGlobal (I knew the organization since summer 2001, but never met any of its staff members). I met Nick and later on at the Summit itself also Jennifer and Mike, although I barely remember speaking a word to either of them – a strange thought as they are both dear friends of mine today.
Asking Nick for an internship opportunity in North America was how I ended up living in Toronto and working for TIG for 10 months. His response in early 2004 was: Why don’t you come to Toronto and work for TakingITGlobal? Yeah why not was my thought and so I went almost a year later, not knowing what I would be doing, how long I would stay and even with some doubts if I’m welcome by Mike and Jen.
WSIS has thus always been strangely connected to my personal life in a very intensive way. And no doubt that many other members of the Youth Caucus can say the same: Nick, Alex, Maja, Titi, Thomas – just to name a few. For all of us (I assume), WSIS has never been just a conference but so much more.
And even for TakingITGlobal itself: looking back three years, of course TIG was still very young at that time, but would it be today what it is without WSIS? I don’t think so.
But now that it is all over, the question is: what comes next? Where to go from here? You could here quite a few voices at WSIS asking for the recreation of YCDO and even more now than ever before, we need to take action and make reality what we promised the world we could do!
One of the greatest memories that I’ll keep from Tunisia are the moments I spent talking to ‘Gbenga about the youth initiatives in Nigeria. These are the initiatives we need, carried out with passion and the conviction that young people can make a change.
And of course there is the personal level as well. It will be quite a bit of a challenge to keep in touch over such great distances, but as we are all global citizens, I’m full of hope that one day I’ll see every single member of the Youth Caucus again somewhere.
P.S.: I’ve uploaded a few pictures from the Summit to my Flickr gallery – Enjoy!
| November 24, 2005 | 11:01:52 |
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 WSIS Civil Society Media Caucus press release... - Posted By: Sofya
Here's yet another piece forwarded by Jocelyn... I'm crashed totally - having been just a few miles from the site and unaware of what was happening until one of the last days in Tunisia...
PRESS RELEASE
November 14, 2005
Posted to the web November 15, 2005
Article 19/IFEX
The following press release has been distributed by ARTICLE 19 on behalf of
the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) Civil Society's Media
Caucus:
Civil Society's Media Caucus at WSIS expresses its indignation over a series
of incidents in which Tunisian authorities have hampered the freedom of
expression of journalists and their freedom of association as well as that
of others attending the Tunis phase of the World Summit on the Information
Society.
In addition to problems involving denial of entry to Tunisia; the following
incidents have occurred in the days preceding the summit:
Christophe Boltanski, a correspondent for the Paris daily newspaper
'Lib?ration', was beaten and stabbed and had his personal effects stolen
near his hotel in the embassy district. When he cried for help, guards
standing outside a nearby embassy did not intervene. The attack took place a
day after Lib?ration published Boltanski's report about clashes between
police and activists protesting in support of seven hunger strikers
campaigning for the release of political prisoners in Tunisia.
Representatives of Tunisian and foreign media and human rights organisations
were prevented by a large number of Tunisian plainclothes police from
entering the Goethe Institute, the cultural centre of the German Embassy in
Tunis, for a meeting to plan events parallel to the Summit.
A Belgian television cameraman approaching the Institute had his camera
seized by plainclothes police who forced themselves into the TV crew's
vehicle. The camera was only returned after the film cassette had been
confiscated. The police stated that no pictures may be taken in Tunisia
without prior official authorisation and prevented another reporter from
taking photographs of the incident. A Tunisian journalist approaching the
site was beaten by police.
Various websites which have contained criticism of Tunisia are available to
the delegates at the official WSIS venue, but remain blocked and censored in
the rest of Tunisia.
Such incidents call into question the seriousness of the Tunisian government
to allow full freedom of expression and association at the WSIS.
The incidents show that prior concerns about the observance of human rights
in Tunisia have been justified, underlining the widespread nature of
official abuses in the country.
They also illustrate that concerns about holding a United Nations Summit
dealing with communication and freedom of expression in such a country were
justified.
To correct the situation the Tunisian government and the International
Communication Union as the relevant UN authority organising the summit,
must:
- Guarantee equal right to access information via the internet both within
and outside of the summit site.
- Guarantee that all journalists have the right to freely report in Tunisia,
without fear or intimidation.
- Guarantee that the international media and summit delegates have the right
to free movement and to meet with colleagues in the Tunisian media and civil
society, outside of the official summit site, without threats or
intimidation from the police or government authorities.
- Ensure that Tunisian journalists and civil society members meeting with
the international community are not subject to retribution and that free
speech, press freedom and other human rights are respected in Tunisia after
Summit delegates have gone home.
Given the above incidents and the overall poor human rights record of
Tunisia it seems to us that the UN system has contracted a moral obligation
to follow up. It should name a special rapporteur to monitor freedom of
expression and other human rights in Tunisia.
| November 22, 2005 | 12:39:31 |
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On human rights in Tunisia - Posted By: Sofya
To elaborate on the situation with human rights in Tunisia - thanks to Jocelyn for this link:
Robert Ménard prevented from attending the UN Internet summit
| November 21, 2005 | 09:42:28 |
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  sitting in the airport and waiting for my flight back to germany - Posted By: Marc Ludwig
so that was the WSIS. now i am sitting here in the lounge in the airport, whitch is pretty nice. they are all invited us to come here and to get some drinks for free and the best think is that we can also use the laptops and computers here whitch are buildt up for us to show us how nice is tunis. it was a really good experience to be here. i met a lot of friends i already met at tig on the internet and i made an interesting film. even if it is not finished at the moment i am sure that it will be a great one.
the most impressing think for me was a speech from kiki and nick who has organized it all. they worked really hard and you could see it here that everythink was organized. when they held their speech yesterday i am really started to cry becouse it is so imazing how youth can work on ICT. (i hope i got all the smiling faces on the tape!!!)
the stand and the youth hub had been the most familiar place at all the kram exhebition hall.
even yesterday we had a great dinner together in a really good restaurant where we talked about all the wsis process and how it will go on...
i think we have to say a BIG thank you to everyone who helped us and who organized the youth hub and the stand from takingitglobal!
I WANT TO SAY THANK YOU !!!
(ps/ at least i am really chocked thaty the site fro, tig i could not visit directly here in the airport - the port was unreachable!!!
| November 19, 2005 | 06:38:20 |
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  Tercer y último Día de la WSIS - Posted By: Damian Profeta
Bueno, acá estamos nuevamente. Retomemos el blog desde donde lo dejé ayer:
La GRAN FIESTA DE CUMPLEAÑOS DE TIG!
Al terminar las actividades de ayer, salimos todos para el Restaurant "La Latina". La cuestión fue que como fuimos en distintos buses, Sessi y yo terminamos en el centro de Túnez... y el restorán era mucho antes. Así que preguntando, preguntando nos fuimos en un taxi hasta donde correspondía. La fiesta fue impresionante, comimos comida típica tunecina: Kouskous (cuscus) y de postre... Una enorme torta con el logo de TIG :P
Bailamos, con odalisca incluida (si,si.. bailamos... yo bailé, jeje.. después de Colombia estoy preparado para safar si es necesario, jijiji). Fue impresionante estar todos juntos ahí (bueno, casi todos... algunos del staff de TIG se quedaron en las oficinas... pero bueh..).
CENSURA EN TUNEZ
Durante la cena, tuve ocasión de charlar con un muchacho tunecino sobre internet en Túnez, a propósito de unos mp3. Yo le hablaba de archivos de 5 o 6 megas y me decía que para él eso era enorme, ya que las conexiones predominantes en Túnez son por teléfono, dial up, y extremadamente lentas. Y lo más signficativo: hay mucho control sobre el uso que le dan los habitantes a internet, incluso llegando muchas veces a la sensura.... con lo cual era bisarro que se realizara acá la Cumbre sobre la Sociedad de la Información, cuando no se garantiza el derecho a la libre expresión.
Y acá les doy un ejemplo: El Gobierno de Túnez boicoteó y censuró la realización de la Cumbre de Ciudadanos de la Sociedad de la Información, que como es usual, se realiza en forma pararela a las cumbres oficiales. El sitio web de esa cumbre fue cerrado por el gobierno, las reservas en los hoteles para los participantes fueron canceladas, y a último momento el lugar donde se iba a realizar también rechazó ser parte... un espanto que merece ser conocido!
MISCELÁNEAS ANTES DE DORMIR
Después de la fiesta (que terminó temprano... supongo que porque La Latina cerraba) nos volvimos cada uno a su hotel. Antes de dormirme estuve charlando con Conail sobre cosas diversas como los modelos de simulación de las naciones unidas, para estudiantes, el rol de los países "pequeños" políticamente hablando, y, siendo él de Irlanda, le pregunté bastante sobre el estado actual del conflicto. En síntesis... hay paz, pero sólo el tiempo dirá si es duradera y real.
LA WSIS EN SU ÚLTIMO DÍA
Volviendo a la WSIS, se presentó el prototipo de la famosa Laptop de 100 dólares, proyecto liderado por Nicolás Negroponte, del MIT. El aparatito se ve simpático. Es del tamaño de una subnotebook, digamos que la mitad de una notebook convencional. Los modelos presentados son en color verde claro. El gobierno argentino presentó una propuesta de compra de un millón de esas laptops desde el Ministerio de Educación. Quienes estén ilusionados con esas pequeñas maravillas, les aviso que sólo estarán disponibles para los Estados, con fines educativos.. y no para el público en general. El gran debate con estas laptops pasa ahora por posiciones como la de Brasil, cuya postura es que las laptops se ensamblen en los países y no en USA, como para generar fuentes de trabajo. Estas laptops tendrán 500mhz y 1gb de memoria ram... nada mal.. de hecho es cuatro veces la memoria ram de mi laptop, jeje..
En cuanto al plenario, en este momento se está discutiendo el Borrador del Reporte de la Fase Túnez de la CMSI para terminar de aprobar -formalmente, porque en los hechos ya está acordado desde la noche del 15/11- los dos documentos finales: El Compromiso de Túnez y la Agenda de Túnez para la Sociedad de la Información.
EL GOBIERNO DE INTERNET
Para los que me escribieron preguntando por la cuestión de quién es el dueño de internet, ya les dije que seguirá siendo EE.UU. y que la "solución" a la que arribó la Cumbre fue la creación de un Foro para el Gobierno de Internet" que "ha de ser multilateral, democrático y transparente y dejar intervenir a las múltiples partes interesadas..." y acá está lo más interesante: "el FGI no debería ejercer ninguna función de supervisión ni reemplazar a disposiciones como mecanismos, instituciones u organizaciones existentes, sino que debería contar con ellas y aprovechar sus competencias. Consistiría en un proceso neutral, no duplicatorio ni vinculante. No debería intervenir en el funcionamiento técnico o cotidiano de Internet".. jejee... así se acordó y figura en los docs oficiales que están circulando como fruto de los acuerdos del 15 de noviembre.
NOTA AL PIÉ
En fin... esto se estará terminando en un par de horas. No tuvo el brillo de la primera fase de la CMSI, pero bueno, el Gobierno de Argentina está conforme con el rol jugado, muchas veces de contemporizador de las posiciones, otras veces incluyendo sus puntos mínimos de interés, como por ejemplo: la mención de las cuestiones relativas a género y a teletrabajo -punto que estaba bastante dejado de lado en las reuniones previas a la conferencia-.
Continúa más tarde :)
| November 18, 2005 | 17:51:16 |
Filed under: tiglacnews |
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third day WSIS - Posted By: Marc Ludwig
so after a really short night yesterday and some hours of sleep i finaly arrived here again at kram expo hall. (tig had a party last night - the 5 aniversary) a lot of people again waited outside to be checked to enter the building and to visit us. i met some german people and spoke about my spot.
its getting less and less people here at the WSIS and we are all some kind of very happy to got in contact with different people from other projects working on the same topic.
on saturday i will return to germany and will go directly to the Student Action Network Meeting of the amnesty students groups to speak about the international youth strategy.
from Monday on i will be two days in Duesseldorf on a workshop.
greets from tunis
marc
| November 18, 2005 | 08:07:02 |
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2do. Día en la WSIS - Posted By: Damian Profeta
Bueno, hoy nos recibió una intensa lluvia que se escuchaba particularmente fuerte en la carpa donde está la Expo de la Cumbre, la ICT4ALL.
Estuve trabajando en algunas cosas de TIG, respondiendo emails, balablabl
Estuve escribiendo algunas cosas que después con más tiempo voy a contar. Una se relaciona con que acá, en la Cumbre sobre la Sociedad de la Información... no existe el Español... no existe América Latina...
Hoy tuvimos una reunión grupal con un representante de la Fundación Soros interesado en trabajar con jóvenes en Africa del Este... je.. no vaya a tener ganas de trabajar en América Latina! De todas maneras la reunión fue buena porque me sirvió para ver qué es lo que buscan los financiadores.. qué les interesa.. etc.
Ahora en un minuto, si ya no me dejaron... me reúno con el resto de TIGers para ir a la cena de celebración de los 5 años de TakingITGlobal. Ahhh estoy feliz de poder ser parte de la TIGfiesta!!!
Saludos y hasta mañana!!!
Damián.
| November 17, 2005 | 12:50:41 |
Filed under: socinfo |
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second day WSIS - Posted By: Marc Ludwig
so now its already the second day and i am not tired any more. just went to the press conference from tig about the youth caucuss and finaly found the german stand. Germany has the best stand here, collourfull and with a lot of people... i even managed to speak some german :-)
today in the evening we will have the party of the five year old birthday from tig !!!
FINALY I WILL RELAX
| November 17, 2005 | 11:13:34 |
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 The rain... - Posted By: Luke Walker
Setting the stage: The ICT4All Exhibition is in two different sections. One inside a building, the other in a very, very large tent. The Youth Hub is definitely in the hot, non-air-conditioned tent. But it's not as if we're being (completely) shafted--Italy, Cisco, the UNDP, and a bunch of much larger organisations than us are here as well.
And as with any large, open space filled with thousands of people, it's a bit noisy. It's hard to hear anyone other than the person beside you at the best of times. Just now, it started to rain, and rain on a tent? It's a great sound and I'm loving it, but it's completely preventing me from paying attention to anything or anyone... It's my tipping point, I guess.
So I decided to blog.
WSIS has been an amazing experience so far. My trip here with Hugh was pretty... rough. First he had some trouble with a crazy Lufthansa manager and his slightly excessive baggage. Then I spent our flight from Toronto to Frankfurt explaining to a lovely old lady how to buckle her seatbelt, find the washroom, etc, and definitely didn't sleep. Then we had a few hours in Frankfurt (14, to be precise), several of which we spent in the city, seeing the sites. That would have been quite a lot of fun had a not been so tired... We saw the first German parliament, some historic churches, some homeless-looking men on corners with donkeys, and some other interesting sites... all before noon. The we spent the rest of the day trying to sleep and/or do as little as possible in the airport.
After we FINALLY got to Tunis, it took us a couple of hours to make our way to the hotel (bus driver was a bit confused as to the location... seems like a common story), but... we were here! And three hours later, we were at WSIS.
The first day was rough. I had had almost no sleep in the past few days, there were many, many people, lots of delays, and my brain capacity wasn't quite high enough to deal with it all. These last two days, though, have been an amazing experience, making lots of connections, trying to be as useful as possible around the Youth Hub, checking out sessions related to education, and getting ready for Online Safety Day.
I'll write more later... It's time to go find a couple of sessions.
| November 17, 2005 | 09:03:44 |
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My eyes are opening... - Posted By: Sofya
Okay, so welcome to the country where you don't see too many women in the streets, huh! With all the consenquences coming when you arive here...
So Elizabeth and I went souvenir shopping this morning. We were walking down the street, talking and laughing, trying to run for the rain that was just pouring down on us. :) As you may've read in these blogs already, most of the people you meet in the streets are men, and they don't get exposed to that much "female flesh" at other times than the WSIS obviously... Anyways, as we were striving to get our way through along the buildings where all the ppl were standing hiding from the rain under the sheds, you can't even imagine HOW MANY leers we got from the men!!! Seriously, I don't usually pay much attention to whether males look at me or not when I'm in Russia, but here it was so very obvious with those men breaking their necks scanning you head to feet and commenting on your appearance...
Gosh! This IS the intercultural experience. So maybe its good to be in a country which is SO much different for the sleeky westernized world I'm coming from - just to get an idea of how things can also be like...
| November 17, 2005 | 08:57:32 |
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WSIS II: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly - Posted By: Alex
So after the years of campaigns, awards, projects and endless policy lobbying, we're at the last hurrah. Strange feeling as to what will happen to the Youth Caucus next week, month, year, but having spent 6 months in Geneva at the heart of the beast, it's both a relief and sad moment to see it coming to a close. Some of my best friends and colleagues have all come about through WSIS and TIG (cue the cheezy music). But anyways, here's some thoughts on the WSIS II thus far...
The good:
1) Youth Hub Space. Hot damn, the posters, presentations, videos, murals and panels look so slick and it's always teeming with energy.
2) World Summit Youth Award Gala. Yes, shameless plug, but it was a full house with some great flash videos of the winning projects, live DJing from Tom Middleton and a chance for WSYA winners - Tom Dawkins (vibewire.net), Ammu Irivinti (www.patentbattles.com) and Wilson Masaka Magambo (nairobits.org) - to rock the house. Despite some the voice-over not working, it went smoothly, and was good to recognize everyone behind the WSYA.
3) Side events. A full-slate of workshops and panels, in the Youth Hub and as parallel events, have been great, telling the stories of the inspiring members of the Caucus
4) A great Tunisian cultural night with local music, dancing (hilarious to see the macho guys dancing with each other!), sheesha (yeeha) and the rest. Once you get away from the Summit madness, there are many so hidden beauties in Tunis!
The bad:
1) Lack of A/C in the ICT4All space, notably the sweltering Youth Hub
2) General feeling of wasted money and resources, when you see a 200,000 dollar stand from Sudan as people starve, and the millions more spent for a three-day trade show which will all be taken down and thrown away. Sometimes seems more like a big fancy spectacle to show off your country/org/business, than a real desire to harness ICTs for development. But, I guess it's what you do in that framework and the National Campaigns and other partnership opportunities really salvaged the tech summit.
3) Missing some key people in the Youth Caucus, like Alberto Nardelli, our Communications Coordinator who had a work conflict at the last minute but had organized all of the media work in advance, Maitreyi Doshi who's been involved since the start, Terri back in Winnipeg (understandably so) and the scores of others who have worked tirelessly but who can't be here to celebrate!
The ugly:
1) The four-hour odyssey from the airport to the hotel. After being sent to register in the middle of nowhere which was closed when we arrived, we waited for 45 minutes for a shuttle bus to central Tunis. Then a 3 hour whirlwind tour trying to find the proper hotels (driver got lost, apparently wasn't "from the area", great), amidst the tightest security I've ever seen. Even the side roads are policed by scary military dudes with massive guns, which is great when your bus driver leaves and they come in to question you. Why didn't I just get a cab you ask? Well, the driver wouldn't let me and insisted on finding his way. So I get in at 2:30 AM to find my room has been given away and I'm forced to bribe my way to a new room. Welcome to Tunis!
2) Clampdown on human rights. Subtle but pervasive stifling of human right groups (Tunisian League for Human Rights), hassling the Citizen's Summit on the Information Society (counter-summit organized by the HR Caucus), and the general feeling of high security everywhere you go. What are we so afraid of?
Will try to snag a Ben Ali poster they've plastered the city with as a propaganda souvenir, and then take off on the weekend to see the Tunisia outside the capital. TIG Dinner tonight, tons of events today and then the closing reception tomorrow, so off to day two...
Alex
| November 17, 2005 | 05:12:09 |
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Damian en Tunez: WSISWISISWSISWSIS! - Posted By: Damian Profeta
Holas... este teclado no tiene acentos, o al menos donde los quisiera. Bueno, estoy en el Kram Palexpo, en medio de la WSIS2005!.
Pero hagamos un racconto, diria Camilo Canegato: El martes febrilmente hice mil cosas, preparar todo lo que tenia que traer, viajar a capital a buscar los pasajes, volver, mandar el traje a la tintoreria, comprarme camisas, medias y demas, mandar al lavadero la ropa que me traje, etc. Mal que mal llegue con todo, excepto con acordarme de comprar pomada para zapatos... pero ya me las arregle.
A las 15 tome el remis con la sensacion de que me olvidaba cosas... (por ahora identifique a la pomada, la pasta de afeitar y la locion post afeitada). 15.30 estaba en Ezeiza haciendo el Check In. Tenia dos misiones antes de subir al avion: cambiar plata a libras y dolares y pasar por la aduana. Me quedo una hora libre despues de todo eso. El vuelo hasta San Pablo ni lo recuerdo, me dormi ni bien subi. De San Pablo a Londres, todo bien... dormi casi todo, pero estuvo bueno... lo mas impresionante fue pasar por justo encima y a no mucha altura del centro turistico de Londres! Fue fuerte estar viendo el Big Ben, el Tamesis, el Ojo de Londres, el Parlamento, etc, etc.. desde arriba. Saque algunas fotos, pero medio a destiempo porque me quede tonto mirando y mirando.
Llegamos a Londres... esta era la parte que mas me preocupaba: al llegar tenia que buscar el equipaje y partir rumbo a otro aeropuerto, de Heathrow a Gatwick. Cosa que no hago jamas, esta vez investigue todo sobre mi viaje antes de salir... este es el mas solitario que hice en el sentido de que nadie me lleva y me trae por ahi y no hablan mi idioma.
Bueno, ya sabia que el National Express me llevaba directo en una hora y monedas, por la friolera suma de 18 libras, lo que equivale a 30 dolares mas o menos, es decir casi 100 mangos. Pregunte por otra cosa mas barata pero todo lo que habia me prometia aventura y posibilidad de perderme en medio de Londres sin llegar a Gatwick en las dos horas que tenia para hacer todo.
Despues de dar algunas vueltas llegue al National Express, Londres estaba fria pero sin humedad...es el tipo de frio que me gusta, aunque a veces me enferma. Pague, subi y llegue a Gatwick. Hice el Check In. Ahora me preocupaba llegar a Tunez sin Dinares... moneda rara si las hay... porque no se puede cambiar de Dinares a Dolares. Bueno, ahi en Gatwick pude cambiar un billete grande en Dinares... justo lo que necesitaba para el taxi que me tendria que tomar del aeropuerto al hotel.
El vuelo de Londres a Tunez fue bastante movido por momentos y ya estaba tan desacostumbrado que me puso mas estresado de lo que venia.. y encima hacia como dos dias que no venia durmiendo... Ahhh en Londres venden yogurt de Aloe Vera.. juas... Y que cara que es Londres.. ahh.. cada libra son mas de cinco pesos.. y una libra vale una barrita de cereal...
Bueno... pero llegamos a Tunez. Como se acuerdan si leyeron mi anterior post, soy miembro de la delegacion oficial de Argentina, es decir, con inmunidad diplomatica y otras ventajas. Entonces, al llegar debia encontrarme con el Secretario de la Embajada de Argentina en Tunez para que me diera la credencial y demas. El flaco, estaba ahi, me estaba haciendo el gran favor, porque yo llegaba a las 10 de la noche y no tenia tiempo de ir hoy por la maniana, porque tenia que hacer mi presentacion de la campania nacional a las 9am en el palacio de la Cumbre.
Ahi estaba el. Me dio la acreditacion y el bolso... capitulo aparte merece el bolso de la cumbre... por dios... en todos estos anios jamas vi un bolso tan grosso, grossisimo... es especial para transporatar laptops y demas, altisima calidad, se hace bolso, morral, mochila... le falta hablar...
A la salida del aeropuerto tunecino tenia los micros oficiales de la cumbre, pero para no tentar a la suerte me gaste unos 7 dinares hasta mi hotel, porque ningun micro me decia bien a cuanto me dejaban -ahora lo se.. a una cuadra, jeje-.
Llegue al hotel Omrane y los tipos no entendian bien mi reserva -que no la habia hecho yo, claro- y me decian que no tenian cuartos... uf... empece a explicarles que yo tenia que tener un cuarto.. les mencione a algunos de mis companieros de TIG en ese hotel, hasta que finalmente entendieron que habia una cama que me esperaba.
Bueno, 15 minutos despues, estaba en mi cama, desempacando todo y luego de una ducha reconfortante, empece a preparar mi power point para hoy... asi que otra noche sin dormir.. y van.
Termine la Power Point justisimo para no tener tiempo de desayunar y correr hasta los micros oficiales... llegue 30 minutos antes, pero por mas credencial oficial que tenga, al menos hoy, la entrada fue a paso de hormiga... muchisima seguridad lentisima.. .nada que ver con la gran seguridad y rapida de la COP10 en Buenos Aires.
El evento del Youth Caucus me tuvo ahi. Presente todo brevemente porque encima no tuvimos el canion! juas.. 14 campanias que debian mostrar las actividades solo fueron contadas oralmente en un ingles de todos los colores...
Lo que pude ver del centro de Tunez, que es donde esta el hotel, se ve muy lindo.. estoy a un paso del barrio historico.
Hoy estoy muy cansado... son las 7 de la tarde y ya se sabe que el manejo de internet lo va a seguir teniendo EEUU.. asi que mucho no le queda a la cumbre.. mas que arreglos de cada delegacion, digamos, las pequenias negociaciones.. y lo que se pueda avanzar con respecto a los mecanismos de financiamiento de internet en los paises en desarrollo. No se alegren.. America Latina no existe en los planes mundiales.. mucho menos Argentina.
Con respecto a las comodidades e infraestructura de la cumbre, la de la COP10, hecha en Buenos Aires, fue muy, pero muy superior. Y para colmo no hay muchas computadoras como aquella vez y para colmo de todos los males esta gente no hace coctailes! Asi que la comida hay que pagarla, jijiji...
Hasta ahora, lo mejor de lo mejor de lo mejor fue haberme podido reencontrar con casi todo el equipo TIG, con algunos que incluso no veia desde el 2002 en Egipto o a algunos con los que interactuamos desde hace anios, pero nunca nos vimos.
Hoy inauguramos el Youth Hub, que es el pabellon de la juventud, que en definitiva es el pabellon de TakingITGlobal. Nick anda juntando firmas para que nos pongan aire acondicionado... porque eso si.. estamos en otonio y hace como 30 grados aca adentro!!!
En fin... esto esta buenisimo... aunque la cumbre no tenga mucho brillo...
Saludos y dejen sus comentarios!!!!!!!!!!
Damian.
Nota: La foto fue tomada por Franziska :D
| November 16, 2005 | 20:17:52 |
Filed under: tiglacnews |
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Do we need all this security? - Posted By: Franziska Seel
It’s 7pm and I would have no problem falling asleep right here right now (I’m still in the youth hub). I went to bed yesterday night at 2am after “interviewing” ‘Gbenga Sesan from Nigeria about their National Information Society Campaign as preparation for a speech that I was giving today on behalf of the Youth Caucus.
But let me start in the early morning… It was the first day of the actual Summit and for some strange reason, there was only one bus going to Le Kram (the exhibition center) – at 7:30am! Too early for me, so Eman, Sofya, Jarra and I decided to take a cap together at 8:30am as we all had to be at the National Information Society panel, which started at 9am. What we didn’t expect was to find a huge line-up in front of the exhibition center. It took us 1,5 hours to get in!! But we still made it for the end of the panel and I was able to take a few pictures (as Titi and Robert had asked me to). After that I went to the Youth Hub, where I gave an interview to BBC about youth in the Information Society. I think the interview went well, although I found it a little strange that the woman was asking me mainly questions focused on the digital divide from the perspective of youth from developing countries. For example she asked what the most frustrating thing is for young people from developing countries in terms of the Internet. But how shall I know? I can guess certain things, based especially on the experience of working with TIG’s regional youth editors who have continuously trouble with their Internet speed. But at some point I really thought: Why is she asking me this and not a person from a developing country who knows the situation better? Oh well, lets see how the final story will actually look like…
After the interview, I had a coffee and prepared my speech for the afternoon. CONGO (Conference of Non-Governmental Organizations in consultative relationship with the United Nations) had invited one speaker from the Youth Caucus to speak on National Level Best Practices from Civil Society in bridging the digital divide, and the Youth Caucus had chosen me to speak. As I had feared it would happen, however, I just received the confirmation yesterday and had no clue what I would be saying. So I ended up preparing my speech one hour before the event started…
The event was quite interesting though. In the session before mine about grassroots best practices, Geeta Malhotra from OneWorld South Asia was focusing her speech a lot about involving youth and especially getting educated young people to go into rural areas and train other young people there – exactly what the Youth Caucus did in some countries as part of their National Campaigns!
My panel actually had two high-level people on it: Nitin Desai, Special Advisor to UN Secretary General for WSIS and Shashi Tharoor, United Nations Under-Secretary General for Communications and Public Information. I had seen Shashi Tharoor speak at the UN DPI-NGO conference and just last week read an interview with him in the magazine of the German United Nations Association and I was really looking forward to meeting him. But of course he was just giving his speech and then rushing to another event. The only thing I could do was handing him an invitation to the World Summit Youth Awards while he was leaving the panel. Pretty sad that he didn’t stay longer – it would have been so cool if he had heard my presentation, which I think went quite well (Rik from CONGO and a few other people told me at least that I did a good job and that it was great to see my enthusiasm – Marc filmed it and I’ll for sure have a look at how I did later on).
After the presentation I went to the youth hub reception and just hang out in the hub, talking to people etc. At 5:30pm me, Eman and Luke wanted to leave to the World Youth Award, which was just a few meters away in another exhibition tent. However, the security guards had decided not to let anybody into the other tent anymore. It was a crazy scene with lots and lots of people trying to convince the guards that they need to go to the other tent, while at the same time pushing them further and further back. Some of them actually came up with crazy reasons why they had to go: “My bag is over there”, “I’m working at a booth in this tent” or “I’m speaking in the plenary right now and have to go there”. I guess, the way Luke finally got us through wasn’t much better, but pretty smart nevertheless. I had Jarra’s camera with me and Luke figured out that one of the security guys was letting media people through, so he just told him that I was a photographer and had to go to the awards ceremony.
About the rest of the evening there isn’t much interesting to say. But to end with a few general thoughts: I’m starting to feel very… how to say: in a cage? All the security people and the fact that there are only men in the street (well, 90%) makes me feel very uncomfortable. In the exhibition area and especially on the way there, I feel totally under control of some external force. And when I’m downtown I’m walking through the streets and feel that there are only guys sitting in the cafes and everyone is staring at me. I don’t like this feeling. I think I would really enjoy Tunisia a lot otherwise. Everything is clean and the old parts of cities are very beautiful. Also the weather is gorgeous and people are extremely friendly (especially to women ;-)
Let’s see what the end of the week brings…
| November 16, 2005 | 13:35:42 |
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first day WSIS - Posted By: Marc Ludwig
hello again,
nice greetings from Tunis. Well so the the first real day finished and i am really tired.
Had done a lot of filmings today which will be hopefully presented online in the next few weeks. we will work on it - i am sure.
Anyway its really great here if i am sure that tunisia is never like this like it is at the moment. everywhere you can find a lot of police and everywhere you are controlled if you have your badge on you. So if you do not have it you are really lost. There are lots of busses and tunis is cleaned up. everywhere there are tunesian peaple asking you what you are thinkin about tunis and so on.
so there are a lot of critical remarks from my side also about all the topics we are speaking here - becouse i am not sure if it will be realized or not.
Also in the evening i had some kind of very interesting happening. sara from australia arrived and walked into our hotel. she had an reservation but the place was not booked. so the man from the bus said that she has to leave and go back to the airport becouse she could get lost. its really great that they care about us like this here, but it was not right, and so we started arguing. even three police man arrived and asked what was happened...
finaly we managed that she got a roum and everything was ok - but the fact that the police and all the tunisian want to controll us was really chocking.
i also heard that the normal live here was closed, students did not had to go to school becouse all the school were claused. I think this is horribel becouse we are here just attending an event.
an other storry was also that a man from ghana had to wait more than four hours to get the key from is roum and it was surely just becouse he is black, becouse when the girl arrived (from Amsterdamm) the key was found quickly.
so i am a kind of pissed of in which fake situation it all is happening here
--> see day two
| November 16, 2005 | 12:49:05 |
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  Finally here - Posted By: Laouini Amel
I arrived yesterday night from casablanca, so tired. Had to pass by the office this morning for confirming my days off. then i went to the badging center, after what i tookthe bus to Kram palexpo. I went straight to attend the YC event about NYC. then attended a session on the IG capacity building program. It`s a very interesting initiative. i`m thinking about getting involved in it next year.
then i went to the youth hub where i attended a discussiong about Ann lindh foudation euromed programm and it`s support for project that aim to empower women in this region thru ICT, it was quiet interesting hearing all these exporiences and success stories. my comment about this session is not to see in the sentence : empowering women thru ICT, the effort to train women computer skills in order to bridge the digital divide so that they not become left by our era IT trend but the efforts that we can (and have to)do helping women resolve their problems (community ones: poverty reduction, health issues, social issues that bring prejudice to women especially in the south) thru the effective use of ICt that are the powerfull tool for development.
| November 16, 2005 | 12:15:27 |
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Do they hear us, or just make the vicinity? - Posted By: Sofya
So being here at the Summit as a TIG person, but also as a Russian citizen, I was excited to go to a roundtable discussion announced by the Russian Ministry of Communications introducing the new huge program for youth. They main goal of the roundtable was aledged to colicit possible ideas from people on youth involvement in different countries to develop their own national program. Suprisingly, there were only 6 young people out of 30 present (um, did they forget to invite more youth?). As the discission (if you can call continuous speech of the chairman interrupted by several remarks from the audience a discussion) went, none of the stated questions got answered. I don't know, probably this is just about being "Russian" and wanting to talk on like a 1000 topics at a time, but if you really need to get an impact on something, why wouldn't you stick to the questions and listen to people attentively? To make things worse, to close the discussion they just read the conclusions that they had typed on their papers even before the event!!! I couldn't believe my eyes! What's the point of hosting an event, promoting it, making a big fuss, and then just reading what you've written down yourself?
| November 16, 2005 | 11:09:24 |
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 WSIS - Day One - Posted By: Hugh Switzer
After arriving at my hotel at 2 am, after travelling for almost 24 hours straight, we finally arrived in Tunis. Luke and I passed quickly thought security and met up with Mike, Moustafa, Eman, Nick and Conail all of who had their flights delayed except for Mike and Mohammed (our Tunisian driver, not TIG member) We had a successful opening day with security at the maxium. We went out to dinner with the entire TIG crew who are here plus most of the Youth Caucus, 20 of us in all. Appearantly the restaurant tried to over charge us, so Moustafa made sure that everything was fair, which made the server very angry. There was lots of arguing, but we eventually left. Trevor and I then went back to my hotel room who now had Conail and the newly arrived Damian at it and got a cab.
As we drove, a 15 minute drive turned into a 40 minute drive. Our cab driver was absolutely crazy! He hit and mashed a rat, and was very passionate about a number of topics. Sometimes swirving, sometimes hitting Trevor in the front seat, he went on in French the entire time. Topics ranging from the UN, Isreal/Palestine conflict, to girls and George Bush, he was always very animated, although at times, the conversation was definitely explicit. In the end, we finally got to the hotel and were none the less, very happy to be at the hotel away from him.
Day 2 is tomorrow with the TIG dinner, bring on the problems....
| November 16, 2005 | 05:45:11 |
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pre day WSIS - Posted By: Marc Ludwig
so it is the first day meeting here iin tunis all the people i spoke to the last weeks. So great to see their face :-)
Arrived today at 12 at monastir and than went by bus to tunis. took three hours and i went directly to the hotel. Later i went to the main hall to get my badge and then get started to film herer at the WSIS. The filming is going well and i really have fun even if it is just running arround and meeting a lot of friends. we are all so opened becouse we are all working for the same idea.
:-)
now sitting here in a stand next to the tig stand at the WSIS area and checking my mails.
Later we sill go eat together and than i will drink the best cold red vine they have - i sweare!
great greetings
Marc
| November 15, 2005 | 13:37:19 |
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  My first WSIS day - Posted By: Luke Cholerton-Bozier
After just four hours sleep and no breakfast, I finally got to the WSIS badging reception. Never in my life have I been in a queue full of such interesting people. The guy in front of our party was from Jordan, and apparently used to work for Queen Noor & Kind Hussein. Having Diplomatic plates on the car you're in really helps with the crazy Tunis traffic controllers, who seem to be keeping a tight rein over the flow of cars & busses. I only got that treatment for to get badged however, and back to Tunis centre; from there it was taxis and busses all the way (not the best way to get around - especially when you have to wait for an hour and be told that the bus you want is three different ones then getting the 'right' one which then drops you off miles from your hotel).
After actually getting through the Kram Palexpo perimeter fence and into the WSIS centre, I realised that the ICT4All exhibition must be at least twice the size of the ICT4Development equivalent at the Geneva summit. Lots of cool new technologies to play with. I'm mildly impressed by the organisation of the whole thing; it's like everyone in Tunis knows why you are here and wants to get you to the Kram centre; although in practice, half of them don't seem to know what the plan is (esp. with the busses). Oh well.
Tomorrow the real action starts, both with my British Council project and WSIS itself. I will report.
Luke
| November 15, 2005 | 13:20:02 |
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Can someone please turn on the air conditioner?! - Posted By: Franziska Seel
After missing my shuttle bus in the morning and spending the time I had to wait in a nice street café downtown, I arrived at the exhibition center and to my surprise there were suddenly thousands of people. The last days, the exhibition center seemed like a ghost area, but this morning it was crowded with people.
Also the youth hub is extremely busy at all times. We have music running all the time, which attracts a lot of people to stay here, hang out and chat/network – and this even though there is no air conditioning in this part of the exhibition center, which means that the tent is heated up by the Tunisian sun and we all feel like in a sauna. It’s terrible and Nick has already started a petition, trying to collect signatures from other booths in this hall to protest against it.
Besides that, everyone seems to be busy running around, attending events, giving interviews. Personally though, I feel as I already did two years ago in Geneva: There are so many parallel events that I have a hard time figuring out where I want to go to. I think I need to make myself a proper plan for the next days, so that I don’t end up just hanging out at the youth hub…
Well, more soon – the Nigerians are taking over the youth hub now, showing a video about their projects Nigeria Rocks! which seems to be a fun event with great African music! Can’t miss it…
| November 15, 2005 | 09:58:01 |
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 The Road to the Kram Palexpo - Posted By: Michael Furdyk
I was crouched down in the back of a tractor, one hand holding onto the side of the flat-bed trailer being pulled behind it, clutching bags with the other hand. As the tractor sped quickly towards the Kram, it was stopped at a police check-point, where we were yelled at to get off and take our bags. I couldn't make out too much of what one of the security guys was saying, but it seemed to be in the order of "This is not a taxi or a bus!"
But why wasn't I on a bus? After picking up the final bags from Hugh and Luke upon their arrive, Mhamed really wanted to take them to the expo: at 2 AM. He convinced me pretty easily since it meant I wouldn't have to lug them via bus in the morning, and we headed to the security checkpoint at the Parking spot. After about 20 minutes of negotiation, they told us a bus would come to pick us up. You see, the closest you can get is about 2 KM to the Kram Centre -- then you have to park your car or disembark from your taxi, and take a shuttle bus with your things to the Kram.
It got to about 2:45, and I was getting tired of playing the "is that a bus coming towards us from a distance?" game with Mhamad, and joking about walking to Kram with our bags. Mhamad went back to speak to them, and came back and told me we were walking. Seeing a police SUV at the checkpoint, I thought this was a joke of course, and loaded up the bags to walk over.
But we walked past them. And kept going... after about 1 KM, a tractor carrying cleaners came by us headed to Kram, and Mhamad managed to convince them to give us a ride. Although the attempt was quickly thwarted, we did save a good 10 minutes of walking.
Around 3:15 AM, we finally arrived to the ICT4All security check, and after getting 3 rounds of "NO WAY" (I think the arabic translation is about 5 minutes of arguing!) someone senior enough to allow us in finally arrived, and after a quick x-ray, we dropped the things off in the Youth Hub. The president visited to expo this morning, so you can imagine security was tight - checkpoints at every corner, flak-jacketed police with shotgun or rifle in hand crouching in bushes along the way.
But we had made it, and by 4:30 AM I was alseep. Today, the summit begins. And now that I've had time to eat breakfast, and post this blog, I'm headed there -- by bus I hope!
| November 15, 2005 | 05:01:45 |
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The Power of Language - Posted By: Michael Furdyk
So yesterday afternoon Jen, Franziska, Mhamed, and I went to the Kram to bring some other items to the youth hub - snacks for those working hard all day on setup, and some other supplies.
I arrived at the security checkpoint with Mhamed, and they had closed the ICT4All expo for security checks. Outside were two people arguing in English with the security chief, who could not understand them at all. The two people speaking in English were actually the Assistance Secretary of Commerce for the United States and a representative of the US Embassy in Tunisia, and they really needed to get in to attend meetings with the head of the US Delegation... that's what I could understand at least!
To the rescue came a young Egyptian who provided enough translation to help the chief understand their importance. As he was talking, he turned to both of them and asked "Do either of you speak French?" -- and they both shook their heads. It was just a striking moment of ignorance... that one of the most important people at the Summit had a locally-based staff member who didn't speak French or Arabic.
But we all managed to get in, and we got to work putting the Finishing touches on the hub... later we would pick up the last of the materials from Hugh and Luke arriving at the airport around 1 AM.
| November 15, 2005 | 04:49:02 |
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Arrived in Tunis - Posted By: Luke Cholerton-Bozier
I just got to my hotel 45 minutes ago after two flights (London-Madrid-Tunis). The flights were okay but Madrid airport is horrible, and I have that wasted feeling when you spend a day travelling. Stupid really, considering that Tunisia is so close to Europe; that's what happens when you book too late I guess.
Tunisair is a cool airline; at least the food was - the two-hour delay in Madrid wasn't that cool though. Tunis is looking clean (cleaner than when I was here in August) and it's 21 degrees outside. Compared to icy cold in London, it's bliss (temporarily at least).
My hotel has free broadband Wi-Fi which is the most useful thing, and surprising seeing as broadband penetration is relatively low in Tunisia. Great.
Until tomorrow then...
| November 14, 2005 | 18:16:12 |
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Rumbo a Túnez, Rumbo a la WSIS! - Posted By: Damian Profeta
Los que me conocen, saben que este año, entre mis grandes ilusiones estaba la de ser delegado en la Cumbre Mundial sobre Sociedad de la Información -CMSI-, que tendrá lugar en Túnez, del 16 al 18 de noviembre.
Ya en el 2003 me acerqué al proceso inicial que desembocó en la primera cumbre, en Ginebra. Empecé a conocer actores nacionales en la materia y me sumé a la dinámica del Youth Caucus, pero desde un lugar casi exclusivamente de lector aprendiz.
Volviendo a este año, con vistas al proceso preparatorio -y claro... habiendo pasado a integrar el staff de TIG!!- me metí mucho más de lleno en la cuestión. Me reuní con el Grupo para la Sociedad de la Información, en la Cancillería, organizamos con Vientos del Sur un Espacio Abierto Juvenil sobre Jóvenes y TICs y me tomé un bus para llegar -tras 48 horas de viaje- a Río de Janeiro, donde se realizó la Conferencia Regional de América Latina y el Caribe, preparatoria a la CMSI2005. Allí conocí a más actores de la sociedad civil argentina involucrados, consensuamos un mensaje conjunto entre el Youth Caucus y la Familia de los Voluntarios y tuve la oportunidad de ser uno de sus presentadores en el plenario de la Conferencia.
Luego vino al campaña nacional SocInfoJoven que incluye una comunidad temática, Espacios Abiertos Juveniles en la Ciudad de Buenos Aires, Lomas de Zamora, Corrientes, General Lamadrid... un seminario y un concurso de ensayos, con la idea de brindar oportunidad a jóvenes de que expresen sus visiones e inquietudes en torno a la Sociedad de la Información, las Tecnologías e Internet.
Y claro... con tanto andarle al tema, la aspiración de poder participar en la CMSI crecían. Mantuvimos el contacto con el GSinf de la Cancillería, y así surgió la posibilidad de poder contar con acreditación de delegáción oficial de Argentina, lo que en términos concretos significa mucha mayor libertad de intervención que el rol de observador que tienen los acreditados como sociedad civil. Pero claro, faltaba lo de siempre: los pasajes a Túnez.
En fin... pasaban los días y cuando ya me había dado por vencido porque faltaba menos de una semana, TIG me dió la noticia que tanto anhelaba: Voy a la CMSI!!
Un anhelo, un paso más en ese camino personal y colectivo de incidencia juvenil en instancias de toma de decisiones, un nuevo desafío que abordar en unas horas cuando esté volando con rumbo a Túnez. Una oportunidad privilegiada de aprendizaje, volver a encontrarme con Jen, Mike y los demás grandes amigos de TIG... tantas cosas que ni siquiera me imagino, tanta emoción que ya estoy viviendo...
La palabra "gracias" no me sirve para expresar mi agradecimiento a quienes hicieron esto posible. Como siempre, creo que la mejor forma de agradecer la confianza, la inversión, la apuesta y el reconocimiento, es redoblar las ganas, el esfuerzo, el compromiso para con la participación, con el camino por hacer de este mundo un espacio más humano.
Acá estoy, allá vamos.
| November 14, 2005 | 14:33:07 |
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WSIS - let it begin! - Posted By: Franziska Seel
On Saturday night, Jennifer, Mike and I arrived in Tunisia for the World Summit on the Information Society. Marouen, Jarra and Kate were waiting for us at the airport and it was great to see them again. After arranging where all of our luggage would go, Mike, Jen, Jarra and I left to our Hotel Resort in Hammamet. The way there was actually quite amazing – it was raining and there were lightings every other minute. I had never seen so many and such impressive lightings before in my life! I wish I’d had the chance to try and take pictures of them – I’m sure I’d had the chance to catch a lighting, which would have been an impressive picture…
Our hotel was awesome as well and even though we went to bed at 5am, we decided not to miss the breakfast buffet, so we got up early and spent the rest of the morning lying at the pool and beach :-) In the afternoon we went to see the old fortress in Hammamet, before heading to Tunis to set up our booth. A lot of other people like Gbenga (who I finally met for the first time) and Abdallah were already there and helped us to set everything up.
Today, after a good night sleep, we spent the morning relaxing in our hotel again before moving to our new Hotels for the week in Tunis. Now I’m back at the Youth Hub, setting the last things up and preparing the Youth Pocket Guides, which were printed incorrectly and now all need to have a sticker put on them. Many other people (like Trevor and Moustafa) have arrived as well, so it’s nice to hang out and work together (or sit aside and write a blog as I’m doing right now :-P)
I actually have a positive feeling about the week ahead of us. I think that the Youth Caucus will do a good job; the booth is already a welcoming space for people to work and hang out, the materials and panels look amazing (great job Andrew and Chris!) and many of us will be organizing or speaking at different events, which will give young people a good visibility in this mass of parallel events going on this week.
Other news are not as positive: Heated discussions are still going on about who will govern the Internet and even big newspapers are picking up the discussion now with a lot of interest (for an article in German, check out Wie die USA die Weltherrschaft im Web verteidigen. It will be interesting to see who will “win this fight”: the US or “the rest of the world”? It’s very unfortunate though that this discussion is so prominent now, as the actual objective of the Summit (to come up with solutions how the digital divide can be bridged) is not being discussed at all anymore. It also shows how much power rich countries have in the United Nations, if they can so easily turn a global Summit - set up to help the poor - completely around and center the attention around an issue, which is barely of interest to any poor person on this globe…
Another issue being discussed widely among civil society is the situation in Tunis itself and the bad human rights record of the Tunisian government. Of course, this discussion has been going on ever since it was decided that Tunisia would host Phase II of the Summit, but now people are here, they see all the police that put up roadblocks every 100 meters and there have actually already been a few clashes, which are obviously heating up the discussion. One incident happened this morning, for example, when the police prevented organizers of the Citizen Summit, which will take place parallel to the Summit from Wednesday to Friday, to have a preparatory meeting in the Goethe Institute in Tunis (Tunisian authorities escalate conflict with civil society. Citizen Summit meeting blocked). Hopefully, there won’t be too many other such incidents or the Summit might even turn out to be a Summit about Tunisia, instead of a Summit in Tunisia…
| November 14, 2005 | 14:21:55 |
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WSIS - Travel Time - Posted By: Hugh Switzer
With the build-up to WSIS being so high-stress, I didn't figure out that I was actually exicted to go to Tunis until I was on the ground in Tunis itself. Last Friday I drove out to the airport with Kate, Mike and Jen to get them on their way to Tunis. Taking two cars, we barely had enought space for everything. Mike and Jen had 6 bags checked between them some which were both oversized and overweight, cost a tidy $150.
Once they retrieved their 7 carry on bags from me (I was far away from the checkin as normally people are retricted to only 1 bag each) they somehow managed to get on their plane without insident. How are they always so lucky?
On Sunday, Luke and I went out and checked in, although we were not as lucky. We successfully checked our bags in, but since I was carrying all the laptops (5 in all) the Lufthansa check-in lady, who happened to be the manager (darn, I couldn't complain) said my carry-on was too heavy! I have never had my carry-on bags weighed. So after arguing with her for a while, I gave my bag to Luke, as she refused to give me my boarding pass while it was in my posession. So she threatened me by saying, "Mr. Switzer, I will be at the gate waiting for you and if I see you with that bag, I will take it from you" I couldn't quite understand why she was so angry, but hey, I got on anyway, as she was checking people in in a different line then I was in! HA!
Tomorrow I'll be in Tunis, after we (Luke and I) sit in Frankfurt for a nice 12 hour layover...
| November 14, 2005 | 05:35:06 |
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First day at WSIS - Posted By: Michael Furdyk
After a long journey (that included a 12-hour stopover in Germany for 2 of us), Jennifer, Franziska, Jarra, and I arrived in Tunis early yesterday morning, and finally got to the hotel and sleep by around 5am. We had 8 checked bags amongst us, including 3 bags that continained huge posters and pop-up displays, weighing together over 100 kilos! We were extremely pleased when they showed up on the baggage belt. Being able to bring them on the plane for only $150 (vs. the $2,500+ FedEx or UPS wanted) saved a lot of money that was put to much better use. Thanks Air Canada! Lufthansa's extra charges are closer to $1,000 so we'll have to see what we do on the way back.
In the early afternoon, we headed to the Badging Centre and were able to register and get our badges in only about 15 minutes. Then, we eagerly headed over to the Kram centre and to the ICT4D Expo to get to work assembling the Youth Hub exhibition space.
After several exhausting hours of assembly and cleanup, the Youth Hub was beginning to look complete. We'll get some more pictures posted later today when we have above dial-up bandwidth. When Hugh and Luke arrive tonight with the final pieces, we will add the finishing touches in the morning.
Today, most others will arrive, so we're enjoying a few hours of calm before the busy schedules begin tommorow... another update soon!
| November 14, 2005 | 05:13:55 |
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 Youth Caucus Coalition ... phase 2 - Posted By: Marouen
 I’m here alone inside the youth pavilion waiting for anyone to come and allow me to go and buy something to eat. My MP3 battery is over so I opened my new “future” very small laptop to hear some music and I had the great idea to remember my blog and to respect the fact that I’m supposed to blog about the WSIS since my RSS feed is published in some WSIS aggregators like www.wsisblogs.org and www.wsis-wire.net .
Well, I’ve spent most of my time during these last 4 days building the Youth Pavilion and solving the several issues we had. Hopefully many members the tunisian youth caucus team helped me a lot in realizing in reality what we were discussing during several weeks and Ramadan nights. I feel good when I see other Tunisian youngsters understanding the importance of this big space (compared the Youth hub of 2003 not the actual pavilions like Italy or UNDP ones just in front of us) and some of them (Mhamed and Hichem) spent the entire night on the pavilion working on lights positioning and carpet . Yesterday, at the end of the day, even if I was really afraid to reach the limit of 5pm allowed to build stands by the organisers, I had a very good feeling for two reasons. First when I saw the pavilion full of young people (including my father who helped us a lot). The when I noticed that WE’ve prepared about 95% of what we were asked to prepare on the youth pavilion. I was trying to remember all the hundreds of emails I read during these last 3 months concerning the needs of the youth caucus and its partners.
After, I had just the time to go home for a shower and a fast dinner before going to the airport to pickup a dear friend I haven’t met since December 2003, Jarra. I’m not sure he’s becoming younger with years not older like all the people. Hopefully we were able to make in time to make the registration and take the beautiful WSIS bags with some presents inside (but unfortunately missing some important documents like the parallel events listing or the ICT4all exhibition book). I enjoyed the time after we’ve spent after in the airport café remembering old souvenirs while waiting for TIG people (Mike, Jen, Fransizka and Kate). We were both so excited to meet them again and to remake the powerful youth coalition we had in Geneva (starting as usual by TIG members coalition ). I think that with the equipments they brought to Tunis, with Mike and Jennifer here, they have just to look for an office to rent and TIG may move here.
To be continued ...
| November 14, 2005 | 02:49:58 |
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The fun begins... - Posted By: Luke Cholerton-Bozier
Tomorrow I travel to Tunis to attend the second phase of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS). I'm in mixed feelings about the trip and the summit. Over the last few days I have read a few stories about potential problems surrounding the summit, and I really hope that they don't get out of hand; WSIS doesn't have to end the way it has been running (i.e. badly and messily).
Being a member of the WSIS Youth Caucus has been a mixed experience for me. It started in the run-up to the first summit in Geneva, and has continued on until now. On the one hand I am glad that young people are pushing to make a stand to be heard at such an important forum, but on the other I don't think the Youth Caucus has been run in an inclusive enough way. At the end of the Geneva summit, I and others had hoped that through Phase II the Caucus would have been more democratic and open to moving in other directions to the previous Phase. As it goes, I think the Youth Caucus is in two pieces: the leadership group which as I see it is a small group that has successfully retained control over the wider group, and the normal YC members - people that work hard and make a difference daily in many countries around the world.
Caucuses are groupings of people with similar aims (in this case to ensure that young people were highlighted as major players in constructing the Information Society) that traditionally take decisions together in wide consultation. I have been in a relatively good position to see how the YC was run, and I don't feel that is how the WSIS Youth Caucus has been conducted.
By the way, for anyone attending WSIS interested in Youth, there are three parallel events taking place inside Le Kram expo centre (where WSIS is being held):
- National Youth Campaigns: Going Global (16th November 09-11.00 room 'La Goulette')
- Youth implementing WSIS action plan (16th November 11-13.00 room 'La Goulette')
- Academia research on the Information Society: Findings by youth (18th November 15-17.00 room 'Matmata')
The fun begins...
| November 13, 2005 | 13:30:56 |
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press information about the german delegation at the WSIS - Posted By: Marc Ludwig
Hallo allerseits,
unter http://www.wsis-koordinierungskreis.de/presse/pressematerialien-wsis-2005.pdf ist die aktuelle Version der Pressemappe als PDF.
| November 11, 2005 | 16:41:55 |
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daily, virtual edition of the IPS conference newspaper (from the WSIS) - Posted By: Marc Ludwig
During the week of the Summit an international team of journalists in Tunis will produce a daily, virtual edition of the IPS conference newspaper
TerraViva.
Find reporting in English, French, Spanish and Arabic, as well as news feeds and radio broadcasts from other partners, all still at http://www.ipsnews.net/new_focus/wsis/
| November 11, 2005 | 16:32:46 |
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 Introducing the WSIS TIG blog - Posted By: Andy Carvin
Hi everyone,
I've just set up this group blog for TIG members to post thoughts and experiences about the WSIS Summit in Tunis. Hope to see a lot of you there! -andy
| October 31, 2005 | 14:25:14 |
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me at the WSIS - Posted By: Marc Ludwig
hey everybody!
today I recived an positive answer to go to the WSIS in November in Tunis! I am so happy :-) !!! It´s so great to find out more about all the projects about youth and media, it´s so great to learn from others worldwide... I am so happy and can´t wait anymore to go to Tunis. Again an international meeting like the International Council Meeting from amnesty in the summer this year...
greetings , marc
| October 30, 2005 | 07:41:46 |
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  Turning the axis of evil - Posted By: Dr.A.Prabaharan
The United States of America is putting all efforts to isolate Iran for opposing its supremacy. New found method is to collect many countries in its favour. America is pressurising, compelling and even threatening other nations to tow its line in the issue of separating Iran in the international arena. When the ultimate verbal force was applied on the Indian prime minister during his U.N general assembly visit, little benefit the US has got. Later the foreign minister, Natwar Singh has categorically refused to bow to the US strategies. He said that the Iran issue should be tackled through consensus.
Whichever way we look at it, US is going to lose its world image as the powerful nation which can bring any country to its circle.
| September 29, 2005 | 11:37:51 |
Filed under: Articles |
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Dangerous Left Turn - Posted By: Dr.A.Prabaharan
The Left parties in India are once again resorting to trade union politics. Today's all India strike called up the left trade unions is the mess which the communists parties are trying to create in the country again.
Apart from unproductive trade unionism, the left parties are interfering in Nepal affairs. To interfere in another country's internal matters and that too Nepal which share open border with India is a dangerous signal.
Without waiting for a minute the government should act seriously on the deviant left politics. Otherwise it will jeopardise the national security and economy strongly.
| September 29, 2005 | 11:30:09 |
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Important information for NGOs, Civil Society, and Business entities - Posted By: Marouen
Non-governmental organizations and civil society and private-sector entities who wish to participate in PrepCom-2 of the Tunis Phase (17-25 February 2005 in Geneva) and who are not yet accredited to the PrepComs (see lists of accredited entities http://www.itu.int/wsis/documents/doc_multi.asp?lang=en&id=280 ), should submit an accreditation request form to the to the Executive Secretariat by 6 January 2005. Requests submitted after the deadline can be considered only for the next WSIS PrepCom. Entities accredited during the first phase of the Summit remain accredited for the second phase.
Specific accreditation and registration procedures apply to the different types of participants: http://www.itu.int/wsis/participation/accreditation/index.html
| November 2, 2004 | 04:47:43 |
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  Seminar on “Youth Involvement in WSIS process” - Posted By: A K Zaman
::Press Release:: Dhaka May19, 2004: A Seminar on “Youth Involvement in WSIS process” held today at BNCU (Bangladesh National Commission for UNESCO) Seminar room arranged by Bangladesh Youth Forum for ICT (BYF), Supported by Bangladesh ICT Journalist Forum (BIJF). BYF on ICT is Young Voices for a Bangladesh Vision on ICT for of the youth segment. They are moving & working dedicatedly with their Slogan “Turn the Local Youth into Digital Work Force”. In the seminar, BYF on ICT showed some their activities with some upcoming activities. They also express their request for the support of Government, Civil Society & Private Sector. They declared that, with the support of the respected sectors, they will be able to show their expertise & dedication to meet the Challenges in relevant field, in WSIS (World Summit on the Information society) process. This Youth movement is very encouraging for our ICT sector. Every guest from respected Government Sector, Civil Society & Private sector has encouraged the initiative of BYF for focusing on a prime sector like ICT. They have expressed their support for BYF. Which is really encouraging for promising youth to give a new look to the ICT sector. Chief Guest was Mr.Omar Faruque Khan. Secretary, Science & ICT Ministry expresses his deep concern of the BYF on ICT activities. He assured his co operation. Mr. Ashhabur Rahman, Additional Secretary, Education Ministry was present there as special guest while Mr. A.N.M Bazlur Rahman,Secretary, BNCU Chaired the function. Md. Shahid Uddin Akbar, coordinator, ICTDPB (Information & communication Technology for the Development Program Bangladesh) presented a key note in the seminar. Also Mr.Golap Munir, Editor, Computer Jagat, Mr.T.I.M Nurul Kabir, Vice-President, BASIS, Mr.Fahim Mashrur, Chief Executive Office, BDJobs, Mr. Ahmedul Islam Babu, President, Bangladesh ICT Journalist forum and Ms. Rozen, Vice President, Bangladesh Youth Forum on ICT also took part as a discussant on the key note paper.
| September 12, 2004 | 11:28:52 |
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WSIS II Prepcom1 News - Posted By: Marouen
There are some news about the 1st WSIS Tunis 2005 prepcom :
- The 1st Official Bulletin of the WSIS Tunis2005 was published and
available at these links
En :
http://www.smsitunis2005.tn/plateforme/pdf/bulen.pdf
Fr: http://www.smsitunis2005.tn/plateforme/pdf/bulfr.pdf
- An online central office for hotel reservations and car rentals is
available for participants at this url (with some useful informations about
Tunisia) :
En : https://reservation.smsitunis2005.tn/home_en.html
Fr : https://reservation.smsitunis2005.tn/home_fr.html
- A lot of practical information on the venue, transports, accommodation,
accreditation/registration, press, etc. for prepcom1 are available on that
link : http://www.itu.int/wsis/documents/doc_multi.asp?lang=en&id=1220|0
- Regsitration forms for propcom1 are available at this link and must be
filled and returned to the organization committee by fax before June 16,
2004 http://www.itu.int/wsis/documents/doc_multi.asp?lang=en&id=1210|1211
- All the invitation letters for the 1st prepcom are here
http://www.itu.int/wsis/documents/doc_multi.asp?lang=en&id=1212|1213|1214|1215
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  plan to attending this event - Posted By: Henry Ekwuruke
hello,
i want to just say that i need more information about this meetinn cos i would like to attend,and about invitation to the conference.who is involved.regards
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Tunisian involvement on the WSIS - Posted By: Marouen
During these last weeks, a lot of good actions were made to better involve different Tunisian society parts on the process of the WSIS. Some of these actions are described below:
Free English and Internet courses for Civil Society members
IFEDA Centre (Centre d'information, de formation, d'études, de documentation sur les associations = Information, training, studies and documentation center about associations) is offering free courses in practical English and Internet use for all the Civil Society members for a better and efficient presence during the WSIS. These courses are planned as following depending on the availability of the participants:
English courses:
- May, 17-21, 2004
- June, 14-18, 2004
- July, 12-16, 2004
- September, 6-10, 2004
Internet:
- May, 17-19, 2004
- June, 14-16, 2004
- September, 6-8, 2004
- December, 20-22, 2004
Other advanced can be planned after.
Youth participation on the organisation
The human resources commission of the Organisation committee of the WSIS started the recruitment volunteers from the great database of young people who helped the success of the Mediterranean Games of year 2001. Each volunteer has received a letter with an invitation letter to join them in this important event hosted by Tunisia in November 2005 and an application form to fill in the two cases of ability or not to do it.
Involvement of the Tunisian Private sector on the WSIS
The Syndicate of companies working on IT sector is encouraging all its members to be involved on the WSIS and all the linked manifestation and meetings inside and outside the country to open the ways of international partnerships and help the use of ICT for development based on Geneva declaration.
| April 23, 2004 | 11:17:32 |
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  iam from Afghanistan - Posted By: yousef dawran
Hi iam yousef dawran
and i love to attend this event,because it is realy important and i love peace and the younity of the youths so that is why i wana atand this one
cheeres
ydawran@yahoo.com
yousef_young@hotmail.com
www.projects.takingitglobal.org/rightofedu
| April 23, 2004 | 07:56:55 |
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Getting involved? - Posted By: Alexis
Hi- how can people get involved? I graduated from a computer science program and am planning on studying law/technology. I'm 29 and will be back in school in Fall. I'm most interested in Latin America, where my family is from. If anyone has information on helping to plan, please let me know. Thanks!
| April 20, 2004 | 16:28:25 |
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Preparation Process Starting - Posted By: Marouen
I want just to say that the preparation process of the second phase of the WSIS has started with the informal meeting made by the tunisian gov.
More informations : http://groups.takingitglobal.org/wsisyouth/messages?MessageID=25238
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Host Organization
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International Telecommunications Union (ITU)
Over the last 135 years, the Union's mandate has expanded to cover the invention of voice telephony, the development of radiocommunications, the launch of the first communications satellites, and, most recently, the technological convergence that heralds the dawn of a new,...
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