[CIMC-working] Re: PROPOSED: compilations on election debates

[Doug Morris]

Note that I said I was going to start with writing a newswire post and 
propose that as a feature.
And if I do write that... well, it would be shaped to be a short intro...

I could reply:  Let's see what are in the wires.
But actually I just put 6 hours or so into the TABD article I sent to the 
wire... and I am probably be out of time.

I don't think we collectively need to work on only one story block...

My thoughts are that we, the various voices on the radical left, need to 
critique voting and electoral process from various angles.... and a 
collection of radical critiques contrasted with more mild progressive hand 
wringing would be helpful for readers.  And a service.  Most are not going 
to read all the posts on this.

This is a very good topic now.  Not old news.

I hear you about being tired of the topic Chris.   I gave up on electoral 
politics not long after 91 when the Green party split into locals, who 
became ineffective, and the reformists for state green parties (leading to 
nader etc).

However, electoral stuff -- and challenges and alternatives to that -- will 
be a relevant topic until our political process is transformed.

If there are no collected presentations of radical voices on this young 
folks and folks new to this stuff will have less options.  We need more 
options these days.

Anyway I didn't propose a huge story block involving lots of editing time...
I propsed an index of posts.
And:  Are all of the indy features in total crap... hmm... perhaps in 
combination there are parts of a puzzle.

The more story blocks the better.

But time slips by ... and alas I think the time isn't here for this stuff 
for me now.

Best, Doug

At 02:51 PM 11/11/02 -0500, you wrote:
>OK, let me say that -- as someone who worked her first precinct for an 
>electoral candidate at the age of 14 I AM NOT KIDDING! -- I really am 
>viscerally not liking the idea of this story block. Couple reasons: 1) 
>it's old news; 2) I oppose having to privilage in any way in the center 
>column the tired old liberal canards about the importance of voting; 3) 
>other Indy center panel coverage of this issue was, IMHO, crappy, and I 
>fail to see why we should expend the effort to do 'better' a day late and 
>a dollar short; 4) I'd much rather see center panel coverage go to 
>important local issues like the impending Dominicks strike, the ongoing 
>Azteca strike, the stunning police presence for the TABD and it's implied 
>threat to the right to dissent (particularly since it's becoming 
>increasingly clear that the City of Chicago is leveraging to get the G8 to 
>Chicago for 2004), etc.
>
>I could go on, but I have other work to do. So let me close by asking: 
>why, why, why?
>
>christine
>
>In a message dated 11/11/2002 12:06:40 AM Central Standard Time, 
>being@enteract.com writes:
>
>
>>Subj:[CIMC-working] PROPOSED: compilations on election debates
>>Date:11/11/2002 12:06:40 AM Central Standard Time
>>From:<mailto:being@enteract.com>being@enteract.com
>>To:<mailto:imc-chicago-working@lists.indymedia.org>imc-chicago-working@lists.indymedia.org
>>Sent from the Internet
>>
>>
>>
>>Hi all,
>>
>>I believe some people won't like this idea.  But I really like it. So I
>>float it out there.
>>Not sure if I have time to do it.  But seems worth thinking about...
>>
>>Based on discussions at this evening's meeting, these ideas come up:
>>
>>Two indy compilations on election debates:
>>
>>One for the chicago wire
>>One for the center column
>>
>>For the wire:   an index of Election debates on the Chicago newswire in
>>last week, and perhaps a few other midwestern imcs
>>     (not necessarily all inclusive, but comprehensive in looking for 
>> many views)
>>
>>Format:
>>- A summary paragraph at top noting issues debated.
>>- Then, index of posts about election:
>>     article number: one short phrase or sentence summarize main point of 
>> each post
>>
>>For center column:   Election Debates
>>
>>Part 1:  Include that summary paragraph above -- and perhaps a list of topics
>>
>>Part 2 (or 2nd feature):  Create a list of features from other imc's on
>>elections/election debates
>>Make an index of the content of those features as above or in this way
>>     name of imc:  short descript of feature content
>>
>>I am thinking of proposing Part 2 as a compilation to the www-features 
>>group...
>>
>>But I'd like to raise it here first.   As I think it would make a great
>>local feature(s).
>>
>>Given that Tuesday is 1 week after the elections and that we had TABD in
>>the meantime, it seems that it would be understandable for us to put this
>>up at that time.
>>
>>We introduce the first summary above with something as simple as this
>>(boiling it down):
>>
>>Head: US ELECTIONS
>>
>>Title:  Debates about the future of democracy
>>
>>One week after the elections and after the TABD protests, we offer this
>>summary and index of debates about the U.S. elections and the future of
>>democracy. In posts to the Chicago IMC newswire, some argued about best
>>strategies for progressive politicing by democrats, greens, independents,
>>etc. Others have advanced more radical critiques, such as of the illusion
>>of democracy in our country, where elections which are bought and paid for
>>by corporations. Other have presented arguments about the inherent problems
>>with elections and representation in any society.
>>
>>[Perhaps also:
>>The following articles are the tip of a national and international debate.
>>Hence, we also included in the second part of this feature links to
>>features by other IMCs on these issues:  ]
>>
>>Comments?
>>
>>Best, Doug
>>
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>