[Imc-belgium-process] FW: [IMC-Process] Ford & Indymedia : letter from indymedia argentina (english)

Tue Sep 17 03:34:23 PDT 2002

Indymedia Argentina asks the opinion of other IMCs on accepting money from
the Ford Foundation to finance regional Indymedia meetings. More info to
follow.

Françoise

-----Original Message-----
From: imc-process-admin at lists.indymedia.org
[mailto:imc-process-admin at lists.indymedia.org]On Behalf Of Indymedia
Argentina
Sent: zaterdag 14 september 2002 0:13
To: imc-process at lists.indymedia.org
Subject: [IMC-Process] Ford & Indymedia : letter from indymedia
argentina (english and spanish)

[español abajo]
This is a letter that reflects Indymedia Argentina's collective debate, in
relation with the news that the global network was discussing a subsidy of
the  Ford Foundacion to finance regional meetings of Indymedia. We also have
being debating about if it´s good to recive money from that foundation.
Because of the urgency of the things (today we find out that the 15th of
September the formal request), we are asking to all the indymedia´s of the
world to read it and to give their opinions about it. Please add your
comments and your solidarity with copy to argentina at indymedia.org, so that
all the collectives (Alto Valle, Buenos Aires, Rosario) read it.
This letter is also signed by MTD Lanus, one of the community  piqueteros
organizations that we work with. The diferents versions  was translated by
jb (indymedia france) Nina & Katia (indymedia italy) and by member of
indymedia argentina.

-the opinion of the activists in argentina

We received with surprise and concern the news that an idea of carrying out
an indymedia´s international meeting financed by the Ford Foundation was
been discused.
In our country, the Ford Foundation is a reason of permanent polemic, and in
most of the movements, the one that receives a subsidy of that Foundation is
pointed out with a finger like a traitor. For indymedia argentina, to accept
a subsidy of that foundation would be in the first place a suicide; if
everybody here would know it, the place that nowadays indymedia haves here,
based on a year and half of lot´s of effort, would be quickly trowed to the
garbage. And with enough reasons.
We believe that argentina indymedia is a tool that is being used by many
movements and that is playing a very important rol in the last years. It
woluldn´t be correct to sacrifice it in the altar of the corporations.

Here the name Ford is automatically associeted  to the last militar
dictatorship (2); all the operatives of the army to kidnap, to torture and
to murder 30.000 people were carried out in Ford Falcon´s donated directly
from United States. Today, when crossing in the street with one or those
typical green Ford Falcon´s, you associates it with the darkness of those
times.

Many comrades told us that the Ford Foundation is independent of the Ford
company, which can be true, but is not enough for the thousands of persons
that kwnow about the history of both. Here, they are known like part of the
same thing, and it´s a fact that they both have beeing sharing the same
strategy of supporting the imperialistic politics of the United States,
mainly about what concerns to the the impunity for the genocides of the last
militar dictatorship.

We believe that it is not necessary to clarify here again that the
Foundation was created by Henry Ford, a nazi that was even recognized by
Hitler like one his inspiring ones. And to repeat what James Petras have
denounced  many times, the Foundation has a narrow relationship with the
CIA. They have finananced hundred of projects of the agency, some of them
dedicated to study the situation of the social movements in the third world,
and others -the majority - directly to get involved with the politics of
those movements.

Since the early 80´s, when the military dictatorship was over, an important
part of the politics of the Ford Foundacion in our country were about trying
to weaken the human rights movements that were openly in opposition to the
impunity of the army. In fact, they used the same strategy that they used
with the black movement in United States. (see part 2)

We, as the organizations of human rights that didn't negotiate the blood of
their deads, as the organizations of unemployeed and of occupai workers that
maintain their autonomy, we reject to take a coin from those hands taht are
spotted with the blood of our comrades. The "Madres de Plaza de Mayo" think
that they are not individuals' mothers, they are the mothers of  30.000
missing persons. We are also sons, brothers, grandsons, cousins, friends and
partners of the 30.000 desaparecidos. We carry the memory of all those
comrades in our hearts. The force that cames from that love alouds us to
continue fighting for a better world every day. We invite all our comrades
of all the indymedia´s of the world to adopt in their hearts our missing
comrades. We must reject any type of institutional relationship with the
accomplices of the genocide of the military dictatorship, we must preserve
the honor of argentina indymedia and of the global net.

Some comrades of other countries told us that our opinion is just an
infaltile whim. But it´s not like that. We agree with receiving donations,
and as a matter of fact we really need them because we are about to lose our
office in Buenos Aires, and the necessities of the collectives that are
being formed inside the country are enormous and urgent. But we consider
Indymedia a tool that has too much importance, too much transcendency, that
it´s a patrimony of lot s of movements that are using it in our country: it
wouldn´t be all right to put it under risk fore some dirty dollars. And we
prefer, honestly, not to have a cent but to continue looking in the eyes to
people we share a common work each day .We want to be as clear as possible:
we are against maintaining institutional relationships with corporations,
such like Ford in the first place.

It´s  not only a local problem. Associating the name of Ford, even in the
most minimum thing, with Indymedia, it is something that is not only a
dishonor for us, it is also a danger for our own existence.

a) What Ford proposes

As the comrades told us  in the IRC, the F.F. was interested in financing
indymedia meetings for the following reassons and in the following ways:

"they said that Indymedia is the global only ' organization' that has to '
successful - self organized - grassroots - horizontal organization... and so
they want to help us develop our organizational structure so that they dog
share it with other organizations they work with - thats what they say"
"they said they ONLY wanted fund our organizational development. not
hardware - not paying people - but paying for people to travel so that we
dog meet face to face lives - that was basically what they said at the end
of the meeting. (they said they wanted to start vey small and see how it
worked - also the said that they wanted to start in america)"

Regrettably we don't find public documents about it, so we base our
testimony on partners in wich we trust completly. The only chance we have to
disscuse it was the discussion in the meeting carried out in Buenos Aires
and several conversations in IRC with the comrades form Uruguay, Brasil,
Rosario y Buenos Aires. Evendo the partner's testimony, however, it´s enough
to understand why  this foundation is interested in collaborating with
Indymedia.

b) Division and control of the movements. How Ford works.
These are some data of how this foundation usually works. Why many
intellectuals feel affection to the fundaton.

Among human rights organiztions there was a polemic recently (3) that even
arrived to the corporate press, around a journalist of one of those
organisms that received U$S u$s 1.550.000  (1) in subsidies of that
foundation.
After that polemic, it it was known that the strategy of that foundation was
the same than in the 60´s and the 70´s, and during the early 80´s: To help
financially, to collaborate monetarily and to impact inside the social
protest trying to isolate to the most radical sectors promoting those social
sectors not so radical and less polemic, dividing – lake they made it before
with the black community of the United States - and breaking into fragments
the new movements of  social protest that critized the military
dictatorships in the political plane and the capitalist system in the
economic plane. Kirkpatrick had explained it very well. It was necessary to
counteract those that "make politics" with the flag of the human rights.