Sergio Salinas Porto Presidente Internauta Argentina - LACRALO/ICANN Asociación Argentina de Usuarios de Internet/FeTIA FUILAC- Federación de Usuarios de Internet de LAC facebook: salinasporto twitter: sergiosalinas Mobi:+54 9 223 5 215819 "Ojalá podamos ser desobedientes, cada vez que recibimos órdenes que humillan nuestraconciencia o violan nuestro sentido común" Eduardo Galeano
Ah Bill. I’ve been working inside ICANN’s At-Large community since 2006, and I’ve seen real progress. But the fight is far from over. We’ve gone from being treated like distant cousins no one wanted to invite to dinner to being grudgingly recognized as part of the family. Sure is something. But in my view not enough.The “Empowered Community” label sounds impressive, yet resistance to full At-Large participation still runs deep. We are continually asked — sometimes openly, sometimes with a polite but oily smile — to prove our worth and justify our existence. When it comes from people who I ordinarily would not notice, it rankles.
The truth is, the heavy lifting has always come from individuals: the people who research issues, shape policy, and speak for everyday Internet users. But the institutionalised At-Large in some places system still privileges the institutional shell — the At-Large Structure (ALS) — over the person. NARALO is quite progressive here, largely for the work of people like Alan and Evan.
Look at LACRALO. To give individuals a voice, we created a byzantine framework for “unaffiliated” members. It’s so convoluted that talented recruits take one look and walk away.
If you believe, as I do, that access to the Internet is a fundamental right and that ordinary users deserve representation wherever that right is debated and contested, you know the struggle continues. We in the Caribbean keep showing up. We keep pushing. And, we still have to fight for our place every single day.
Cheers.
Carlton
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Carlton A Samuels
Mobile: 876-818-1799
Strategy, Process, Governance, Assessment & Turnaround
=============================_______________________________________________On Fri, 12 Sept 2025 at 00:45, Bill Jouris <b_jouris@yahoo.com> wrote:Hi Carlton,To say that "It is only recently that participation by an 'unaffiliated' person was recognized. And with this, that person is still relegated to second class status for rights and privileges in participation." is, at minimum, an over-generalization.I personally have never been a member of an ALS. Yet if I have been "relegated to second class status" in the decade plus that I have been involved in ICANN, it has somehow escaped my notice.** For me, being elected by the members of NARALO for a term as their representative on the ALAC didn't feel like second class status.Perhaps other Regional Ogranizations are different in this regard. Or perhaps I simply do not understand what is meant by second class status.Bill Jouris** I except, of course, the second class status that anyone outside the GNSO has. That would seem to be a different discussion from how At Large works (that being the only place where ALSs are noticed).
On Thu, Sep 11, 2025 at 9:38 AM, Carlton Samuels via CPWG<cpwg@icann.org> wrote:_______________________________________________
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