RE: [ga] Increased foreign attendance

["Roberto Gaetano" <roberto@xxxxxxxxx>]

Michael Froomkin wrote:
> 
> As for the RALOs they're so far from the Board's ear that one 
> wonders whether anyone takes them seriously or if they're 
> just there to let ICANN insiders bamboozle the press.  There 
> is no constitutency now represented in ICANN that would ever 
> settle for such poor representation.  The day that, say, 
> businesses, who also number in the millions, are asked to 
> organzie along the same lines is the day that I'll start to 
> take RALO's seriously.

I would like to offer a different perspective.
Businesses belong to the Business Constituency of the GNSO. That
constituency is one of the 6 in the Council. In the Name Council you have
also the NomCom representatives, and two constituencies (Registries and
Registrars) have weighted voting.
So, they count in the Council for slightly more than 10% of the voting.
The current GNSO-elected Board Directors come from the IPC and Registrars,
and the former came from NCUC. Previous Directors also came, if I am not
mistaken, from IPC or Registrars. So the Business Constituency as such has
zero power on the Board.
The ALAC, on the contrary, has a non-voting Liaison. Although the Liaison
does not have a vote, I can assure you, for having been ALAC Liaison for 3+
years, that his/her voice is heard and taken into account. In simple words,
the Liaison does not have the power of voting, but does have the power of
directly influencing, during Board meetings. Of course, if the Liaison is
only complaining and bitching, he/she will no longer be listened to, while
if he/she is available to debate in a civilized way, there is wide room for
being able to have ALAC's points of view taken into account in shaping the
final decision.

On the same line of reasonment, maybe we could wonder whether there is a
correlation between the fact that most of what goes on now in the GA is
complaining or resuscitating issues that are long closed and the fact that
the Board does not pay attention. Or whether there is a correlation between
the fact that whenever somebody new does not conform to the groupthink
he/she gets attacked and the fact that very few newcomers resist in the GA
for long.

Best regards,
Roberto