In this week’s discussion, I’m returning to the subject of Internet Governance and how the Internet is starting to become a weapon in International games of control and manipulation.

Last week, I changed how I link to articles I’ve read to make them more obvious and provide a better link for you to read them. As a bonus, I think it looks better. I hope you do, too.

If you’ve been reading my writing for a while, you know that I have become evermore involved in Internet Governance, and I have even put myself out there to be part of the process that, in a small way, provides the guidance, structure and tools to run the Internet as an open, transparent and fair tool for all to use. This isn’t perfect, and those who are involved in Internet Governance would likely acknowledge that, but it is, at least, the best option we have currently. I was on the election list for the ARIN Advisory Council, and the results were announced while I was away. Unfortunately, I didn’t get elected, but I’ll definitely put my name in the hat again in the next cycle. Honestly, I didn’t think I’d do as well as I did, so that was a pleasant surprise.

I’m back after a much-needed short break where I travelled across the Atlantic Ocean approximately two and a half times. Did anything happen in the world while I was gone? 🤪

I was, however, dismayed and pretty offended by the recent comments from Emmanuel Macron (France’s President), who recently said that Haiti’s problems were the fault of Haitians. While any country is responsible for a number of its troubles —and believe me, France has its shit to deal with that it seems incapable of addressing adequately— the case of Haiti is an altogether different one. Macron’s comments were offensive because we know the real systemic causes of Haiti’s difficulties since its independence in 1804, only recognised in 1825. France imposed a “Freedom Reparations bill” that crippled the country financially and has only recently been fully paid off, to the tune of around 20 to 30 billion USD. The duplicitous and dishonest assessment of a country badly in need of help, not scorn, is just revolting. France owes Haiti an apology to start with; then, it needs to do something about the money it stole from the people it broke.

Last week was a shorter week than normal, as Friday the 1st of November is a bank holiday in France, and hence the island. In fact, we have both the 1st and the 2nd, a lot like in Mexico. Many businesses were open Saturday morning, though, and I’ll get to that a little later.

As you know if you read this regularly, I was on the electoral list for the ARIN Advisory Council. The votes are now closed, as of midnight on the 1st of November. Announcements will be made on (or possibly before) the 8th. I have no idea where I stand, but I would like to thank each one of you if you have either voted for me or endorsed me on the elections site.

The current climate on the island continued this week with several incidents of violence and general unrest. For me, I was pretty much holed up all week as a barricade in two areas persisted, and it was not practical to pass during the week. I could only get some provisions from the island’s commercial centre late Friday afternoon. Things seemed to have calmed down a little, but the tension is still palpable. All things considered, I should be able to get to my office this week.

It has been another week of tension on the island despite an accord being signed by several actors in the discussions. It wasn’t unanimous, meaning the conflict is not over. This will not be resolved until a much deeper discussion is had and a long-term plan is implemented. I’ll let you know how it goes.

There have been no Internet shutdowns so far, and I don’t expect that to happen in the current climate.

It has been a challenging week and not one conducive to reflection or giving me time to think about what I want to write about here. But as this is an exercise in getting me to write regularly, as much as it is a space for me to think about tech and how it relates to our lives, particularly here in the Caribbean.

If you haven’t been following or don’t get to see news from the French West Indies, we’ve been having a week of unrest and violent protests on the Island after a number of peaceful protests seem to stir up a general malaise in the population, which seems to have been hijacked by a small group of well-organised individuals that set about looting, pillaging and burning shops, cars and just about anything that could be burnt. Roadblocks were set up to disrupt circulation, as is always the mode operator here when there is a protest, and several deaths were recorded.

I don’t know. I must have gotten up in a bad mood or something. This is to announce the colour of this issue 😉. These are a few thoughts and are certainly not fully thought out, but I thought I’d put them out there for discussion anyway. 🤷‍♂️

There’s something seriously wrong with Big Tech at the moment. From the proclamations of Mark Zuckerberg (the laughably pathetic Julius Caesar cosplayer) that he no longer should care what he says and does to something like half of the world’s population through his privacy-ignoring “social” media project to Eric Schmidt’s declaration that climate change is bad, but a parlour-game guess-the-next-word text generator will solve it, to Sam Altman’s insistence that his particular brand of LLM is going to “solve all physics”, not that he knows anything about physics of course, and who couldn’t ignore Elon Musk’s Ketamine-fueled descent into fascism and continual abject stupidity.

Good morning. I hope you’re doing well. I’m writing this at the end of a busy week that hasn’t left me much time to think about a specific subject, so this will probably be both short and a little unstructured.

After a lull in activity, it seems the Atlantic is firing up for a busy end-of-season. To remind you, Hurricane season is from June to November, with a peak in early September and a spike in October. I’m looking forward to the end of this season.

If you live in the Caribbean or have interests in the region, you’ll know that we’re now past the peak intensity of hurricane season on average. The statistical peak is the 10th of September, and we’re now two weeks past this (on the day this is sent as a newsletter), and the remarkable thing is that, so far, we haven’t experienced much heavy activity with the lead-up to the peak being particularly quiet in the Atlantic. And aside from the major hurricane at the start of the season that devastated several of the Windward islands to the south, it felt like it was an announcement of a very active season, as predicted by the NOAA and other prognostications, the reality has been very different for most of us. So I’m writing this on a Sunday evening as the sun sets to an orange sky with some angry-looking clouds, thinking about how I’m pleased that things have been calm for us so far. But… there’s often a sting in the tail, so I’m not celebrating just yet.

Finally, after a few days of rain, rain, rain, we’re back to no weather alerts for a little respite. The ground is saturated, and any more rain just runs off or causes localised landslides, but so far, nothing too worrying.

Last week, I mentioned that I had been selected for a second time as an ARIN Fellow, although this time, I won’t be travelling; I am attending as a virtual Fellow. I’ve marked my calendar for the two days in October (24th and 25th), and if anyone is interested in Internet Governance, it is a good conference to attend. Even as a visual attendee, ARIN go out of their way to include comments from remote participants.