There is agreement on the idea of drawing up an "alternative declaration" or "civil society statement", based on the wealth of proposals and content we have produced over the past year. The following is a proposal for how this could be produced, as discussed in a first working group meeting on Friday. It will be presented to the CT group for further discussion. Comments from outside are welcome. Criteria: The document will draw on and enrich the content produced by civil society in the WSIS process, with the different consensus documents as a basis, but also drawing on caucus documents and other input. It will attempt to reflect an overall consensus position, rather than a juxta position of diverse input on different issues, which will require further debate on some issues. Where consensus is hard to reach, it may not be forced, but reference could be made (inside or outside the main text) to "challenges" that will need further debate in the next phase of the WSIS process. The document will not try to mimic the structure of the official declaration nor will be a comment on it as such (although reference can be made). It will state the issues as civil society envisions them. The document will be conceived as both a contribution to the debate within the WSIS process and for raising awareness on the issues among a broader group of organizations and individuals. It must therefore help to frame the issues and use lay language. Length will not necessarily be restricted, though if appropriate a summarized version could also be produced. Drafting Process: A compilation is being made of previous civil society consensus documents, which will also be summarized in an index of themes. A working group has been set up (participation is open to others, including those not in Geneva) that will first discuss the structure of the document (using the index as a basis). Sections will then be assigned to different people and a first draft will be produced this week (as far as possible) based on our previous documents. Towards the end of the week a meeting will be held to read the first draft, suggest how to edit and identify potentially difficult issues. Hopefully there will be time for a first debate on these issues this week. Work will continue on-line with two successive versions being circulated for input and a final version for endorsements before December. We will need to see how to resolve the question of translation for the consultation process and of the final document, and printing costs. September 20 * More information: http://movimientos.org/foro_comunicacion/