[Sigiii-l] Fwd: [GKD] New WSIS and Democracy E-mail List

[Michel J. Menou]

May be a useful follow-up to the session at AM-03 ?

Regards,

Michel


This is a forwarded message
From: Steven Clift <slc at publicus.net>
To: gkd at phoenix.edc.org <gkd at phoenix.edc.org>
Date: Monday, October 20, 2003, 5:12:34 PM
Subject: [GKD] New WSIS and Democracy E-mail List

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DO-WSIS - New E-mail List on E-democracy and Information Society
---------------------------------------------------------------------
An information exchange forum on e-democracy and the World Summit on the
Information Society (WSIS).


DO-WSIS is hosted by Democracies Online. The Democracies Online Newswire
e-mail announcement list reaches over 2500 members from over 75
countries.

To subscribe to DO-WSIS:

      do-wsis-subscribe at yahoogroups.com

To subscribe to DoWire - the Democracies Online Newswire or visit its
archives:

      http://www.e-democracy.org/do


In the WSIS documents <http://www.itu.int/wsis/> being drafted by
participating governments, the word "democracy" only appears once near
the end of the Statement of Principles.  Further, the most powerful
human right in terms of citizen empowerment in the  online world, the
right to _associate_ and therefore communicate, is not mentioned (the
freedom of expression is powerless without an audience or in this case
an "online community" for two-way exchange).

Possible topics for exchange on the DO-WSIS include strengthening the
information society to promote:

1. Participatory democracy at the local, regional, and national levels
of government and in society generally.

2. Online-enhanced participatory international governance processes and
institutions that are transparent, accountable, and provide citizens
with timely electronic access to legally public information. (The WSIS
web video streams set a new high standard for access to other
international bodies!)

3. The realization of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. In
particular, Article 20 on the freedom of assembly and association and
article 19 on the right to freedom of opinion and expression as they
come to life and raise citizens voices through the online environment.

4. Good governance and greater levels of citizen participation through
e-government, media online, and civil society information efforts that
deliver on the democratic potential of the new medium.

5. The establishment of WSIS Plans of Action that develop specific goals
and initiatives to implement the often cited democratic potential of the
information society - this could include specific mention of
"E-democracy" ICT applications through civil society and e-government to
encourage democratic citizen participation and involvement in official
documents.

For more on democracy in the information age, see the links from:
http://www.publicus.net/articles/edemresources.html

Also see the new article by Steven Clift titled, "E-Democracy, E-
Governance and Public Net-Work" for a summary overview of projects that
make the democratizing and collaborative potential of the new medium a
reality:
http://www.publicus.net/articles/edempublicnetwork.html



Steven L. Clift    -    W: http://www.publicus.net
Minneapolis    -   -   -     E: clift at publicus.net
Minnesota  -   -   -   -   -    T: +1.612.822.8667
USA    -   -   -   -   -   -    M: +1.612.203.5181

Join my Democracies Online Newswire: 
     http://e-democracy.org/do
My blogging experiment: 
     http://travelscoops.com



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