[Imc-africa] Update for Delegates for Dakar-Senegal Conference(20/12/03)

[Libby]

Hello everybody,

Lets start with intorducing myself. My nickname is Libby and i am with 
the Dutch IMC collective. I've been active with indymedia for about two 
years now.
I am affraid i cannot contribute a lot of material, IMC Nl is pretty 
much bankrupt and i will be on a very low income for the next year so i 
cannot contribute a lot financially. My cat killed my laptop a few weeks 
ago and the repairs would cost more than a new one. i can bring my 
camera and the software for it and of course my skills and imagination. 
I may be able to get an old laptop from work for free, but it needs 
reparing (the electrical feeding keeps breaking off the motherboard and 
its allready been solded back togheter once before, so i cannot promise 
it will live long. So if there is someone with enough harware skills to 
crack the thing open and fix it again it might hold through the 
workshops (last time it came apart again only two months after it had 
been fixed)

I think Gatsby raised some interesting topics here. Indymedia can indeed 
present itself in the form of an open publishing website, but there is 
so much more allready and plenty more can be achieved and invented 
within the idea of "open publishing" as newssharing and exchange of info 
and the technical possibilities in a given setting.

The latin American IMC's are doing great things bringing the media to 
the people and giving the people a voice that would otherwise not be 
heard. The website is only one tool, and not even the most omportant one 
in certain situations. For example imc argentina makes a lot of videos 
they show in community cnetres, subsequently they are given info by the 
people they reached with the info and imc is a tool for groups of people 
to inform each other. Articles on the newswire get printed out and are 
circulated and multiplied.

Even in Europe there are some fine initatives that could serve in a 
different setting. there is the European Newsreal with its monthly 
video-newsletter  that is shown in several  places all over europe. 
There is the mural - initiative from imc Lille 
http://lille.indymedia.org/article.php3?id_article=4190 There is free 
radio(Zapatistas) and free television.

And people have allways managed to spread news, even before there was 
radio, before there was the telegraph, even before there was writing, so 
imho media for the people by the people can take any form that can be 
immagined. If you ask me, grassroots griots are indymedia. News can be 
written, broadcasted, shown in pictures and drawings, told in stories 
and even be sung (northern en western africa have long standing 
traditions of popular  protest singers)

If there is one country in Africa i know something about its Morocco. In 
the Moroccan cities there is a cybercafé on allmost every streetcorner 
and a much higher literacy rate then the countryside, so there a 
"classic" indymedia can do the trick, but there would still be need for 
people to go out into the popular areas to collect and spread the news 
under different forms (go read prints and discuss them with the people 
and post feedback on the site, show video's, make video's, interview 
people.... ) in the rural areas there are still lots of place that don't 
have electricity, some of those areas do have cellphone signal, so it 
should be possbile to set up a wireless internet connection with a 
cellphone and a laptop, but i doubt if that would be affordable or have 
a lot of impact. A better sollution could be radio, all people need to 
have is a small transistor radio on batteries or one of those winde-up 
things, then you can access even the communities that don't have access 
to cellphones and in the areas that do have cellphone access two way 
communication is possible. Mural newspapers, spreading pictures and 
drawings are also possibilities, and even if Morocco is a rather big 
country, modern transport can get news from one end of the country to 
the other in under two days.

Well, just putting in my two cents worht. Maybe some of the Latin 
american IMC's should be contacted for more ideas and of course the 
people concerned will prolly come up with even better sollutions.

I'm looking forward to more brianstorming and seeing people reinvent IMC 
in yet another totally different setting.

Greetings,

Libby
GATSby at riseup.net wrote:

>Hello World, Hello Africa!
>
>i'm [The great/de_]GATSby from germany: some of you already met me, others
>have seen some of my work. for all the others: i was involved with indymedia
>germany for the first time a little more than two years ago. since then i
>wrote some heavily link-stuffed features, for example for "buy nothing day",
>reported from some local demonstrations (against war, globalisation, cuts in
>social spending, rightist political parties) and some alternative protests
>and actions (a spiritual commune, anti racist shopping, vegan kitchen, pre
>cancun conferences). i also made by now more or less two dozens audio/video
>interviews (i was the perosn to ask strange questions like "how do you think
>capitalsim is abolished best?") with a minidisc recorder and cut themselves
>(audio) with the most easily usable program on earth, the fabulously open
>sourced Audacity ( http://audacity.sourceforge.net ). it is so simple to use
>i even didn't have to learn it, i just started to cut.
>moreover i was a webdeveloper for an internet company for three years and
>there i taught pupils an internet scripting language.
>last but not least i'm a former social antropolgist so i can deal with
>people scientifically that means deconstruct power structures on the
>organizational level if necessary.
>
>i didn't reply to the roll call on time due to my ability to pay the plane
>myself, i would nevertheless very much appreciate it if we would be able to
>stay with some locals in senegal or at least at a friendly place like an
>university because i despise hotels and would be pleased not to support such
>institutions if it's not really unavoidable.
>
>i could bring at least my minidisc recorder, but i think it shouldn't be to
>difficult to buy two older ones, imc-germany has probably even some money
>left so we could maybe offer those two to our african peers as presents.
>audacity in the current version is already packed with many powerful
>functions, so i would rather propose to use an older simpler version. all of
>the versions are very small in size so you don't have to use the newest
>hardware. best thing about audacity: it is compatible with all three most
>used operating systems, windows, apple mac and linux.
>
>nevertheless, i am somewhat surprised about the overt technical schedule of
>our festival. it seems to me that we are some kind of new media missionaries
>coming to africa, teaching the wild primitives how to do media. sorry if
>that sounds offensive but i perceive it is a little too optimistic teaching
>people internet skills even almost nobody uses here taking into account that
>senegal has (according to the CIA! which is google's first hit for the term
>"senegal") an internet access rate of roughly 1! (that is "one") % which is
>sadly even much for an african country, an analphabetism rate of ca. 50!
>(that is "fifty") % and a below the poverty line rate of also around fifty
>percent of the whole population. so if we want to reach the more general
>public or even some rural areas, we can not just walk in there and teach the
>elite students "alternative media", video, audio and so on. we have to go
>in, say hello, explain who we are and ask politely what the situation is and
>then ask "how could we help?"
>moreover, we should take into account that in africa, and i'm sorry if i
>sound insulting once again, i'm no expert in this case whatsoever, there are
>some of the countries with the most horrendous human rights records you can
>imagine. whereas we risk to be held for a day and questioned people in
>countries like nigeria risk being shot immediately for just taking part in a
>demonstration. so we need a totally different approach to those new imc's if
>we do not want just to show off our overt white media supremacy consisting
>of unaffordable gadgets half of the population would probably kill for just
>to survive.
>
>personally i would like to explain mainly the idea of "independent" grass
>roots media making using my skills from improvisation theatre for example
>and then let the people use it according to what they have on the ground,
>even if that's nothing. if indymedia in africa to be democratic does have to
>be storytelling in the shade of a palm tree by the only person who can read
>in the whole village, then i want an independent media center like that
>installed under every palm tree throughout all of africa and not even
>mention the incredibly white concept of alienated communication called the
>"internet".
>
>so maybe we should just take some steps back "to the roots" and focus on the
>traditional ways of communicating in some areas of the african continent
>which are spoken word (even gossip), images with spoken word (not necesarily
>video but even drawings, comics you could distribute even to analphabets)
>and so on. also radio could be a very good medium but no streaming whatsover
>but just conventional radio. especially the self powered (solar or human
>powered) radios can be used even in the remotest areas:
>http://www.urbanjunkie.co.uk/product.php/169/0/
>
>ok, now that i effectively messed up your day one final blow to the good
>mood: all that said, i'm not even sure if i ago. reason one is, i am really
>ashamed to write that especially as some of you almost got killed while
>reporting and stuff like that, but i am AFRAID to go! i am afraid to be
>treated as a rich white tourist and being killed for my minidisc player
>because a family can live of it for half a year or something. i am afraid of
>being killed for being a rich white postcolonialist, or of getting sick of
>some malaria or other lethal illnesses and just dying because i get sick
>even if i do not sleep not long enough or eat or drink enough, if i get to
>much sun or whatever. moreover i know not enough about senegal, just that
>there is at least one armed conflict down in the south, and several in the
>neighboring countries including liberia, guinea, mauretannia and so on.
>so basically i need to know that we know locals there that could help and
>lead us and that we go there as a collective with a sense of solidarity,
>which very very sadly i until now never really experienced with the local
>german collectives. my impression was the opposite, people are very
>interested when someone was to be expelled from the collective, but just
>mildly interested when some imcista was in jail or surrounded by armed
>police with 5:1 relation and 40 degrees hellish heat and being burned by
>teargas. so what i need to know is that there are people there with me that
>if needed block the plane if someone is taken out or lost, that make a
>global feature out of it one hour after one of the imc people ends up
>missing in the desert or is taken into custody and that there will by a
>group of anarchist superhereos flown in and they rescue us like in an action
>movie. my impression until now with indymedia anarchists is as follows:
>everybody has its own problems and doesn't care for the others whatsoever.
>
>moreover, after being a refugee myself in early childhood, i'm still kind of
>traumatized (i know it's hard to believe tough looking as i am) and almost
>never travel. i never was outside of europe, indeed i don't even travel to
>italy or spain. i'm especially uncomfortable with border guards and borders
>as such, any uniformed personnel, dictatorial countries, armed people and so
>on and so forth. so if i am not sure that when some former child soldiers
>want to kill me so they don't have to starve the next morning somebody will
>help me i will not go.
>so don't laugh at me please and take this seriously because i really would
>like to overcome this inner borders and come forth and help the people from
>the african countries to establish their own independent media structures.
>
>besides i think i just fell in love and i don't know what will be in several
>weeks so i can't promise to go.
>
>i don't speak enough french to talk to people so i would need someone i can
>talk to in german, polish, english or spanish who can speak/translate french
>so i am not completely lost there and just a stupid white tourist asking to
>be robbed. then we could move there together at least two of us.
>
>i am not willing to pay like 500 euros for a flight just to stay for two
>weeks, so i would like to stay at least 4 or 6. therefore i could fly
>earlier and maybe help organizing (but not organize by myself) there or stay
>longer.
>
>
>finally there are also good news from me, i am NOT, i repeat i am NOT afraid
>of wild animals like venomous snakes, scorpions, biting spiders, tigers,
>elephants or whatever. if i can have like 4 liters of clean water, something
>to eat that is also edible for someone who is not accqainted with the local
>bacteria and a place to sleep where i am safe i would really enjoy the
>journey and be very helpful. if you feel that this would be too much of a
>hassle just tell me right now so i don't bother anyone anmore then.
>
>sorry for this long email.
>
>
>p.s.: i also am afraid of dying of a broken heart. even seeing one beggar on
>the public transportation here makes me so sick i want to smash capitalism
>right there with my head. i am therefore not sure i can bear the sight of
>many beggars, really poor ones unlike here, children begging me or
>something. probably i would give away the equipment to the first kids i
>would meet who beg me so they can eat something even before they kill me.
>
>
>
>i now you aren't social workers or something, but i need at least a glimpse
>of assurance or of solidarity to go there, otherwise i just stay here.
>
>
>
>
>sincerely, GATSby, "meet" me at times at irc.indymedia.org
>
>
>
>
>
>Quoting sphinx <sphinx at indymedia.org>:
>
>  
>
>>In responses to the call for the lists of IMC delegates for the
>>Alternative(Indymedia) Conference built for Dakar Senegal from the 1st to
>>the
>>14th March 2004 we got this, as our list this far for the Conference.  If
>>you
>>responded to the call for delegates and you are not in the list, please
>>do
>>indicate . Thanks.
>>-South Africa opted to send 3 delegates 
>>-Ambazonia opted to send 3 delegates
>>-Kenya opted for 1 place though we are still waiting to hear from the
>>other
>>Kenyan group who filled their application in December 2003.
>>-Angola opted to send 2 delegates
>>-Congo opted to send 1 delegate.
>>-Madiaq opted for 2 delegates. 
>>
>>-UCIMC (IGAP) is sponsoring 1 volunteer(delegate) to the conference.
>>-There is a volunteer from IMC-Holland coming to the conference.
>>-There is a volunteer from IMC-Germany. 
>>-IMC Italy showed interest we are still waiting to hear from them.
>>-An activist from North America MAY come.
>>-Four other activists from Switzerland. 
>>-Sadly enough we've not received any reply from IMC-Nigeria which is one
>>of
>>Africa's official IMCs.
>>-We've as well NOT heard from the forming IMC Morocco; of which
>>IMC-Madiaq have
>>been active in helping them in the forming process. 
>>
>>
>>
>>As it stands we need funds to cover Transport fair ESPECIALLY for the
>>African
>>delegates to the conference and the 2 other delegates from IMC-Madiaq who
>>cannot
>> afford the fair to Dakar. We also need material for the conference which
>>
>>include  technical equipments and printed material; which since we sent
>>out 
>>calls, we have not recieved any serious feetback yet.
>>
>>Again;  material needed to run the workshops :
>>
>>   1. -A beamer
>>   2. -Five computers (at least)
>>   3. -Three video recording machines and a video editting machine. 100
>>video
>>cassettes.
>>   4. -Three mini-disc recorder/audio recording machines. 200 pieces of
>>mini-disc/tapes.
>>   5. -Three printers.
>>   6. -5 small radio transmitters.
>>   7. - 10 video cassettes of films made by other indymedia video working
>>groups
>>to be used in screening .
>>
>>Software needs
>>
>>   1. -We need to ask indymedia-tech to load the computers for use in the
>>tour
>>with one of the many freesoftware Operating System.
>>   2. -Need a portable version of an indymedia production system which
>>allows
>>articles and other content to be published and produced on the computer
>>without
>>internet connection.
>>   3. -We need an easy to use audio editing program.
>>   4. -We need an easy to use video editing program.
>>   5. -We need an easy to use lay-out program.
>>
>>    
>>Waiting for your opinion on ways to slove these problems.
>>Sphinx
>> -- 
>> but for fate we could have been one another
>>
>>
>>
>>-- 
>>but for fate we could have been one another 
>>
>>
>>    
>>
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