[diversity] Overcoming divisions, making participation inclusive

Hi,

I was reading this article & I found it strangely relevant for the RIPE
community, so I wanted to share it with you:

http://netdem.nl/en/articles/new-democracy-overcoming-social-division/


(althou I don't agree with the conclusion of the "fix" )

Vesna

Some quotes:

In my view, the success of the RIPE community is in its ability to

"overcome [] divisions and bring the conflicting groups together at the
negotiation table."

For example: ISPs, governments/regulators & vendors .

And we share some similar challenges:

"it is becoming more difficult to find candidates for [volunteering
positions] ... it has also become increasingly difficult to develop
policy, which would account for the interests of all [] groups."


"How to make [] participation inclusive?"

"That’s why it is important to keep inventing and enlarging the
repertoire of methods for citizens to be active outside of the
established procedures."

Of course, the differences are that the original article talks about
democracy & politics, not the Internet Governance, but the overlap seems
more and more prominent.


OTOH, there is again the sparkling diversity discussion at IETF...
https://www.ietf.org/mail-archive/web/ietf/current/msg109519.html
https://tools.ietf.org/html/draft-carpenter-community-leaders-00
https://www.theengineroom.org/diversity-is-a-competency/