Dear Liza, I donīt think he mentioned civil society, but left parties. "Nobody is taking up the subject, none of the governments, neither on the left or the right." But, if he mentioned the civil society, the problem is really bigger. Even considering it, his statement was a big mistake, because the Regional Conference in Rio was very positive, with a "leftist" agenda approved by the latin american leaders and this reflected in an aggressive participation at WSIS also, headed by thr brazilian representatives. But...why he declared it I really donīt know, and I also donīt know what the chileans thought about it. Cheers, Adilson ----- Original Message ----- From: "Aliza Dichter" <[log in to unmask]> To: <[log in to unmask]> Cc: "Midia Etnica" <[log in to unmask]>; "Karen Higgs" <[log in to unmask]>; "Adilson Cabral" <[log in to unmask]> Sent: Monday, December 19, 2005 12:26 PM Subject: [CRIS Info] IPS - Media Democracy Must Sprout From the Grassroots (lo siento que es solo en ingles) I don't know why he would make this statement with no mention of CRIS, APC, AMARC and their many participating groups in Latin America-- or any of the hundreds of community media and media democracy activists. The reporter makes no effort to reference them either... Perhaps I am wrong here but it seems too often that important leaders and thinkers of progressive/left activism issue important "calls" for activism, saying that it's urgent and people need to take action but rarely mention the important organizing and activism and movement-building that is already happening on the ground. "Nobody in Latin America is discussing the democratisation of the media," Italian-Argentine journalist said Roberto Savio, the founder of the Inter Press Service (IPS) international news agency, durng the three-day seminar on Democracy in the Media: From the MacBride Report to the Summit on the Information Society".