[IMC-bristol] IMC-UK mini-network meeting report-back

[yossarian]

IMC-UK and the European Social Forum
Meeting notes: 16 May 2004, Cambridge
Attendance: 6 Cambridge, 3 London, 1 Sheffield, 1 other non-collectivized
northerner.

IMC-UK has been trying to figure out its relationship to the European
Social Forum (ESF) for about the past eight months.  This
mini-network-meeting was called to start a process of concrete planning
for coverage during the ESF, which is now only about six  months away.

Not to keep anybody in suspense, here are the tasks that were mapped out.
 If we want to make coverage of this event a success, we need people to
get involved - if you see something you could do, please contact the
network list (imc-uk-network at lists.indymedia.org).  We won't spam the
local lists again, just wanted to make people aware of what has been
going on.  

TASKS LIST
-network call-out to invite people to participate :: not assigned yet
-fundraising (to meet venue and bandwidth costs we could be looking at
about £5000) :: ideas?
-secure a space :: london ppl
-call-out to European IMCs :: Ionnek will draft this
-start/update a wiki page:: ekes
-network with radio ppl from europe to promote a radio stream :: not
assigned yet
-find geeks for 
	networking :: not assigned yet
	mobile public access point :: not assigned yet
-accomodation for euro imc activists :: not assigned yet
-figure out a schedule of meeting places and times around the country,
preferably at least once a month :: ongoing

Next Meeting
12 June London
European Creative Forum's Hackney space (details to follow)


***************************
Meeting details:

There are 3 ways that we could participate in the ESF, inside and/or
outside the official process:  

1) as part of the European Forum on Communication Rights, 
2) by interfacing with the European Creative Forum
3) by getting involved in any autonomous spaces (squats) that appear
prior to the ESF.

Keep in mind that we could do one, two, or all three of these.

1) European Forum on Communication Rights (EFCR)
- a group trying to set up autonomous parallel events around the ESF
- 1 day forum before the ESF starts
- currently lobbying for a plenary on communication rights within the ESF
- will have some sessions within esf
- outreach to global communications rights movements
- hacklab / polymedia lab / indy space

What is the EFCR?
*started through communications rights NGOs who showed up at the
polymedia lab at the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) in
Geneva last December
*cross-fertilization of ideas between these groups
*NGOs want to have communications rights ideas within the ESF
*they recognize that it is difficult to interface with the official ESF
process due to a lack of transparency, no idea when "real" meetings are,
etc.
*so the NGOs are in this process but understand its limitations, and they
are open to working with people who are critical of the process and are
perhaps more "horizontal" and alternative.

The EFCR does not yet have a physical space other than the Thursday
before the ESF proper starts - they are running their own session on that
day.  They should have a space at London School of Economics on the
Saturday.  If we say to them that we will do a hacklab/media centre then
they will likely be excited about that, and may help us find the space to
do it in.

Summary of EFCR actions during the ESF
Thursday: Camden Place space :: a one day session on communications
rights for about 200 people
Saturday: LSE big space
They are still working (including some IMC-UK) ppl to try to get a space
for the whole 4 days

This EFCR group will hopefully bring together all communications rights
groups in Europe, community media groups, etc., and could have components
that are both within and outside the official ESF process.

2) EUROPEAN CREATIVE FORUM
The European Creative Forum is a group working within the official
process that could be an option for us to hook up with.  They have a
whole day event the last Saturday of every month leading up to the ESF,
and do stuff with art, culture, etc.  They will likely have a march
during the ESF itself (sound systems, creative stuff).

On June 12th they will open their London space to us during the morning
so we can have the next meeting in our planning process.

3) AUTONOMOUS SPACES
There may be ESF-related social centre spaces that we could get involved
with.  This will obviously materialize very close to the actual day and
may not be something we can depend on.

Potential stuff we could do in terms of actions during the ESF:

Hacklab
Public access space for people to do their own reporting
Links between Free Software people and activist types
Film screenings
Workshops
Streaming video 
Streaming audio
Reporting dispatch system
Get people more aware of and involved in Indymedia or independent media
activities, with a view towards funnelling energy into G8 coverage.
Socialize the issues of privacy rather than making them private :), bring
them out into the open, get the information out about these issues rather
than having it be co-opted

Questions:
What is the relationship between Indymedia and the EFCR?  With NGOs
generally?
What are real proposals and what is pie in the sky? What is a realistic
goal?
What is the minimum set of things we would like to achieve?
What sort of participation can we expect from European IMCs?
How do we best hook up with people from across Europe, and link people
from outside London with the local scene?

Any IMC-UK participation in the ESF / EFCR must be decided on
democratically by the whole network, so this meeting is a first step in
that.  We need to get people in the network interested in getting
involved in the ESF initiative, otherwise these ideas will go nowhere.

MINIMUM expectations of IMC-UK's achievements during ESF
public access space at least 10 machines for text + video editing
accomodation for IMC activists coming from other places
dispatch system

Some people had higher minimums, and really viewed the above as
"fundamental", and that the amount of work that people have already done
towards covering the  ESF means that we should be doing more than just a
run-of-the-mill media center. Additional ideas about minimum:
hacklab / workshops
mobile public access point

MORE THAN MINIMUM (further ideas)
films
some way of articulating that there is a politics behind what we do, that
we are not just a service provider but that we are trying to allow people
to bypass the corporate media which we see as problematic
hacklab
making connections between EU regulations, corporate power, government
regulations in a way that is digestible for activists and activist groups
to hook into.
subvertising projects
creative action in real space by indymedia activists focused on media /
communications freedoms
participation in the European Creative Forum parade

***************
Important distinction between a hacklab and an Independent Media Centre
space.

Hacklab:  sort of a playground for technology, technological workshops,
social networking, information sharing, film screenings, etc.

Media centre: primarily a space to organize horizontally, providing
facilities for reporting, video and audio streams, to report on the event
(in this case the ESF).



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