From a displaced laptop bag at Table 26 to a warm cross-cultural exchange bridging Nigerian Adire and Balinese Udeng, in this WeekendDigit@ITREALMS column, REMMY NWEKE explores dignity, implicit bias, and the need for Universal Acceptance in shared global spaces, especially as the ICANN87 rounds up in Bali.
Travel and education:
Travel is at its best, an education in human behavior, diplomacy, and global citizenship. Beyond the breathtaking vistas of volcanic landscapes, pristine beaches, and rich cultural heritage, international travel serves as an unfiltered mirror reflecting how individuals navigate presence, identity, territory, and shared space across borders.When we step into foreign domains, whether as diplomats, journalists, corporate executives, or technical experts; we carry not only our passports and credentials, but also the visible symbols of our heritage.
How those symbols are received by others often reveals the unwritten rules of engagement in global hospitality and multi-stakeholder interactions.
Attending the ICANN87 Annual General Meeting in Bali provided a remarkably vivid, two-day study in these subtle dynamics. As delegates gathered from every corner of the globe to deliberate on the future of global Internet governance, multi-stakeholder participation, and digital public infrastructure, a personal experience at a quiet breakfast table became a microcosm of a much broader global discourse.
Attending the ICANN87 Annual General Meeting in Bali provided a remarkably vivid, two-day study in these subtle dynamics. As delegates gathered from every corner of the globe to deliberate on the future of global Internet governance, multi-stakeholder participation, and digital public infrastructure, a personal experience at a quiet breakfast table became a microcosm of a much broader global discourse.
Displaced Bag @Table 26:
It began on a serene Monday morning in Bali. In celebration of African Day at the ICANN87 summit, I stepped down to the hotel restaurant for breakfast, proudly adorned in full traditional African attire.
I wore a finely crafted Ankara ensemble, complemented by my traditional red cap; a distinct emblem of titled authority, cultural pride, and community leadership in Igbo culture.
In international forums where diversity, equity, and inclusion are routinely championed on plenary stages, wearing one’s ancestral identity is far more than a stylistic choice; it is an assertion of presence, dignity, and global leadership.
Upon entering the dining area, I selected Table 26, placed my laptop bag, containing critical conference notes, journalistic equipment, and personal identity documents on a chair, and walked over to the buffet section to retrieve a plate of breakfast. Seated at the adjacent Table 27 was a white couple, clearly vacationing on the tropical island and entirely unassociated with our international technology governance summit.
When I returned to Table 26 moments later with my plate, my laptop bag was nowhere to be seen.
Upon entering the dining area, I selected Table 26, placed my laptop bag, containing critical conference notes, journalistic equipment, and personal identity documents on a chair, and walked over to the buffet section to retrieve a plate of breakfast. Seated at the adjacent Table 27 was a white couple, clearly vacationing on the tropical island and entirely unassociated with our international technology governance summit.
When I returned to Table 26 moments later with my plate, my laptop bag was nowhere to be seen.
Searching for clarity:
Perplexed by the sudden disappearance of my personal belongings, I looked around. The lady seated at Table 27 gestured down the row toward Table 24, quietly indicating that my bag had been relocated there.
Searching for clarity, I approached a young hotel waiter who had been ushering guests. When I asked him why my personal property had been moved from Table 26 to Table 24 without my knowledge, authorization, or consent, he hesitated briefly before admitting that he had moved it at the explicit request of the couple at Table 27. When I pressed further to ask what reason they had offered, he confirmed that they gave no reason at all; it was simply their preference that my bag not remain adjacent to their table.
In the global hospitality and service industry, moving a guest’s personal belongings, particularly an unattended laptop bag containing sensitive professional tools, at the unverified request of another guest constitutes a direct breach of basic hotel protocol, security guidelines, and guest privacy.
In the global hospitality and service industry, moving a guest’s personal belongings, particularly an unattended laptop bag containing sensitive professional tools, at the unverified request of another guest constitutes a direct breach of basic hotel protocol, security guidelines, and guest privacy.
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Yet, in the broader context of international travel and racial dynamics, the incident carried a far deeper, more poignant resonance.
Shared global spaces:
Microaggressions in shared global spaces rarely manifest as loud, confrontational racial slurs or overt hostility. More often than not, they operate in the quiet shadows of spatial exclusion.
They appear as the unearned impulse to establish territorial dominance, the subtle discomfort with an imposing, titled Black presence in a premium space, and the casual reliance on service staff to act as enforcement agents to maintain a perceived comfort zone.
By instructing the staff to shift my bag rather than engaging in a polite direct dialogue or respecting standard venue etiquette, the guests at Table 27 sought to silently redraw boundaries at my expense.
I thanked the lady for pointing out my bag, took my seat at Table 24, and calmly consumed my meal. But as I sat there, my mind wrestled with the underlying reality: even in an era of hyper-globalization, the invisible walls of prejudice travel as light as cabin luggage.
I thanked the lady for pointing out my bag, took my seat at Table 24, and calmly consumed my meal. But as I sat there, my mind wrestled with the underlying reality: even in an era of hyper-globalization, the invisible walls of prejudice travel as light as cabin luggage.
Between Udeng and Adire: Building Bridges
If Monday morning exposed the uncomfortable reality of spatial bias, Tuesday morning at Table 703, alongside Vanda Scartezini, Rohan, Mery Henrica, Tupeh, Syf, Api; offered an inspiring masterclass in mutual respect and cultural exchange.
Waking up early to meet my team before the day’s policy sessions, I chose an attire that reflected a deliberate fusion of heritage and local reverence. I wore a vibrant, hand-dyed Nigerian Adire top and trousers, thoughtfully paired with an Indonesian Udeng; the iconic Balinese traditional headpiece carefully folded to symbolize spiritual mindfulness, respect, emotional balance, and honor for the host country. Walking through the hotel wearing a Nigerian Adire alongside a Balinese Udeng was, in essence, a living, breathing visual bridge between West Africa and Southeast Asia.
Before I could even reach a dining table, a white tourist; wearing casual shorts and a t-shirt, clearly on vacation, approached me with genuine curiosity and visible admiration. Rather than shrinking away or maintaining a distant silence, his eyes lit up as he complimented the striking combination of the African fabric and the Balinese headwear.
He asked where I hailed from and candidly inquired about the significance of the attire, even asking with earnest humility whether his informal holiday clothing was appropriate in the presence of such dignified traditional dress. I smiled and took the time to explain to him that in Africa, attire is deeply contextual; we dress according to tradition, climate, status, and occasion, and that casual wear is perfectly natural for a vacation in a tropical climate.
We stood in the middle of the restaurant exchanging thoughts on culture, climate, and human connection across continents. What could have been a silent passing of strangers turned into a warm, memorable conversation grounded in mutual respect, culminating in a firm, friendly handshake before we both sat down to enjoy our respective meals.
Universal Acceptance: From domain names to physical spaces
The stark contrast between these two consecutive mornings illustrates a profound duality in how human beings react to cultural difference.
Where Table 27 saw an unfamiliar, titled African presence as something to be managed, distanced, and quietly displaced, the traveler on Day Two saw an opportunity for curiosity, learning, and genuine human connection.
As digital policy analysts, journalists, and technology advocates attending ICANN meetings, we spend endless hours debating technical frameworks such as "Universal Acceptance" (UA); the imperative that all domain names and email addresses, regardless of script, language, or character set, must be accepted equally across the global Internet infrastructure.
As digital policy analysts, journalists, and technology advocates attending ICANN meetings, we spend endless hours debating technical frameworks such as "Universal Acceptance" (UA); the imperative that all domain names and email addresses, regardless of script, language, or character set, must be accepted equally across the global Internet infrastructure.
We argue that a domain written in Arabic, Cyrillic, Amharic, or Kanji script deserves the exact same functional validity as one written in American Standard Code for Information Interchange (ASCII); a 7-bit character encoding standard that assigns numeric values to letters, numbers, punctuation marks, and control commands in computers and communication equipment in English.
Yet, as my experience in Bali demonstrates, the physical world urgently requires its own manifestation of Universal Acceptance. In our physical spaces such as hotels, airports, conference halls, and public arenas; we must cultivate a culture where human beings, regardless of their race, national origin, or traditional regalia, are granted equal dignity, equal space, and equal acceptance without friction or bias.
Yet, as my experience in Bali demonstrates, the physical world urgently requires its own manifestation of Universal Acceptance. In our physical spaces such as hotels, airports, conference halls, and public arenas; we must cultivate a culture where human beings, regardless of their race, national origin, or traditional regalia, are granted equal dignity, equal space, and equal acceptance without friction or bias.
Protecting guest privacy
Hospitality institutions globally must recognize that equity requires training staff to recognize implicit bias, protect guest privacy, and uphold strict protocols that prevent one guest’s entitlement from infringing upon another’s dignity.
Travelers, too, carry a responsibility. When we venture into the world, we must decide whether we will sit at Table 27 by clinging to insular biases and enforcing invisible borders, or whether we will embrace the spirit of the Udeng and the Adire; opening our minds to the rich tapestry of human diversity.
Whether at Table 26 in Bali or across the high-stakes corridors of global governance, respect is non-negotiable, presence must be honored, and human dignity must never be displaced.
Postscript:
Following the initial reporting of the incident to the hotel management, a formal feedback regarding Table 26, senior management at the resort personally approached the author the following day, before his departing to the Bali International Convention Centre (BICC), to tender a formal apology, complemented by official written correspondence from hotel management committing to reviewing staff protocols regarding guest privacy and spatial equity.
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