Conference Failure Series: Statements from Civil Society

When did the civil society conference participants decide that the only way to communicate their powerful statements was to conform to the extremely boring, and largely ineffective, manner of dark-suit-and-tie speeches? When did they decide that their actions on the ground could only be communicated through speeches read in monotone voices standing at podiums? Why did it stop being OK to speak off-the-cuff, about real experiences and not generic ones, using phrases like “sustainable pathways for Indigenous Peoples?” and what are those anyway?!!!

These are my thoughts as I plug away at the back of the room at a CSO consultation on land, one of the most important issues of our time. I am bored to tears, but I have a job to do—to try and get the message out, in the most neutral manner humanly possible, without distorting it. The CSOs make this just too easy. There is nothing said that inspires, nothing said that instigates any form of reaction other than a stifled yawn.

I would like to scream at the Kenyan presenter who knows so much more about the county legislation than his strait-jacket speech has permitted him to say, and at the beautifully coiffed Chadian presenter, who obviously doesn’t know enough about the African women she claims to represent.

We’ve decided that there is only one way to communicate at conferences- a boring, dull way. We are actually unable to participate in “open dialogues.” We cannot imagine a situation where we are invited to actually voice the fears, and challenges, hopes and aspirations of those we claim to represent. We seem to have actively made ourselves the barrier on the bridge between the government and the people. 

It’s not about screaming and shouting on the streets (although that will always have its place), and it’s definitely not about the prosaic speech to fit into what we’ve decided conferences are about. It’s really about remembering our constituents, and speaking for them. But maybe we’ve lost those too… as we line up for our daily subsistence allowances, and forgo attending any discussions not specifically labelled “CSO”—forgetting that this just propagates the business-as-usual scenarios we’re known for preaching against.