Dear Carlton, I'm astonished to see that you're referring to LACRALO, arguing that it's difficult to join as an individual member, which is far from the truth.
I'm not interested in polemics or creating conflicts, but I have heard many people express their opinions about LACRALO without having read the rules of procedure or the attached documents on the subject, and they say without blushing that LACRALO DOES NOT ALLOW INDIVIDUAL USERS TO PARTICIPATE.
LACRALO is open to individual members. We adopt the same participation procedure as EURALO (an ALS that brings everyone together). This model, we believe, works and guarantees serious and reliable participation for those who want to participate within an organized, rule-based organizational framework.
Best regards.

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 nuestra 
 conciencia o violan nuestro sentido común" Eduardo Galeano

El lun, 15 sept 2025 a las 14:46, Carlton Samuels via CPWG (<cpwg@icann.org>) escribió:

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

==============================
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). 

Sent from Yahoo Mail on Android

On Thu, Sep 11, 2025 at 9:38 AM, Carlton Samuels via CPWG

<cpwg@icann.org> wrote:

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