[CIMC-working] (IMC-Argentina, on Soros grant/TMF) FW: [Imc-finance] [Fwd:
[sf-imc] Argentina Statement]
Chris Kaihatsu
ckaihatsu at myrealbox.com
Sun, 26 Jan 2003 13:43:18 -0600
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From: dan <handyman@california.com>
Date: Sat, 25 Jan 2003 20:50:25 -0800
To: imc-finance@indymedia.org
Subject: [Imc-finance] [Fwd: [sf-imc] Argentina Statement]
Hi all,
Dan from sf-imc here.
We are discussiong the TMF situation. as part of this
discussion, one of our collective translated from Spanish
the Argentine statement on this. Here is the translation.
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From: Peter Maiden <pmaiden@pacbell.net>
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Subject: [sf-imc] Argentina Statement
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Date: Sat, 25 Jan 2003 11:56:05 -0800
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Hi,
Here is the statement from our compañeros in Argentina translated into
English. It should inform our decisions on the TMF issue. It is also a
very interesting read.
Peter
Statement of Indymedia Argentina
Translated from the Spanish by Peter Maiden
Permit us to begin by digressing, as we Argentines so enjoy doing. We
wish to inform you that from now on, when you speak with Indymedia
Argentina, you should know that you are not speaking with Indymedia
Argentina.
This sounds strange, but it is so, and it was discovered by DJ Soncho
the other day. We believe that we were the 10, 20, 30, 50 or 3 that met
from time to time. We believe that today we it was us who wet our hair
so we could stand the heat and write these lines. But someone told us
we are not these things, and we return to the Zapatista slogan: we are
not ourselves (nosotros no somos nosotros).
We admit that we are a rock that flew a little over a year ago and got
stuck imbedded in the window of a bank. We went for almost a year
before discovering it—by the old axiom that consciousness runs behind
reality and rarely reaches it—but finally DJ spelled it out.
And now we know who we are, or, better said, we know to a scientific
certainty that we are not ourselves.
And what are we if we are not?
Are we picket line, barricade, burning tire, masked face, nightstick,
bullets that come flying, dining room where all the hands are all one
and the mouths are in the thousands? Are we factory takeover, posted
lookout, machine that makes magic, that reproduces love, that returns to
man what is man’s? Are we neighborhood assembly, woman that changes the
life of her family, eyes that yearn, rebelliousness that speaks out? A
while ago, shut up in an office (it wasn’t as hot as it is right now) we
asked permission of everything to be part of everything, and everything
gave us permission to be part of itself. And we disappeared. And we
changed into all of the above things, without even realizing it.
And our voice got hoarse and spoke in other voices, and later we heard
nothing. Then we discovered that others spoke. That we were not
ourselves and we were a protest, a factory, an assembly.
And so it was, simply, that we stopped being ourselves.
So imagine that every time we wanted to have a meeting, and wanted to
discuss something, how our voices got mixed with the noises of machines
producing, the slogans of picketers, or the shouts of the woman who
prepares the food for everyone. And, once in a while, the police
interrupt, or someone flees simply because we’re facing an eviction.
And so it is that—now—with wet hair, to endure the heat of Buenos
Aires—it is hard for us to say what we have to say.
First of all, we are very appreciative of the initiative of our
compañeros to bring computers to our country. One of us poets sold
his—just so he could eat—and said, “For every fallen computer one
hundred will flower!” If that happens, and dozens of computers arrive
in our country, we will open a prophecy section on our site.
That was what we said, but someone told us that the computers are not
coming by themselves, that there are laws that keep them from taking an
airplane and simply arriving, as so many friends do these days (by the
way, to those that are coming: nikito wants a bottle of imported
whiskey, torniyo a hotdog and others of us are interested in a falafel).
But, nevertheless, someone said they were going to cram all the
computers in a container, and send them in a ship that will someday
arrive. We want to express our concern with the cybernetic rights of
computers due to the means by which they will come to us over the
water. We had a heated discussion about this when they told us that
Soros, through the Tactical Media Fund, was the one who would put up the
money so the computers, which so many people here dreamed of, could be
packed and shipped to us. There was a moment of confusion; someone
thought that Soros was a brand of clothing, and another said that if he
smoked marijuana, he must be a good guy.
The definition of the situation came to us from the land (precisely,
Patagonia, of which Soros bought almost half) and the cattle (you know
that we are a country of cattle, and Soros has around 85,000 head).
We had an incredible discussion! All the cattle together, all the
grains of the earth and all the air of Patagonia wept at once, in our
meeting, as they remembered the 10 Bolivian brothers who died building
shopping centers in Argentina that are the property of the leftist
Soros—because they were forced to work in a way that was totally
illegal.
So anyway, we are not going to bore you with a story abundant in
cud-chewing and cow dung, and where a sector of the collective dedicated
themselves to drinking cold milk (in order, by doing so, to put an end
to this heat). Let’s say nothing more than this: that voices came from
Russia to us, came from all of Southeast Asia, and with an unbearable
stink from Latin America, saying simply “Everything with this Soros is
wrong.”
The meeting ended with DJ discovering that which we said before: that
we are not ourselves, and that above all we cannot disrespect ourselves
by dirtying our hands with money that is stained with our own blood and
sweat. A movement that stood up in confrontation with a system for
years is not going to end its days, even by accident, by surrendering in
exchange for the crumbs offered by that system.
So, humbly, we offer the following thoughts:
-That we are not ourselves, and that we do not have the right to put the
good name, security, honor and credibility of the network at risk
accepting money from a criminal example of corrupted humanity such as
Soros. That we could only do it if it arrived to us in an envelope with
the return address being Durruti, if it’s the case that he left any
relatives still robbing banks somewhere.
-That we propose that the computers travel using solidarity money, that
is to say, money that is gotten in a just fashion (which means for us
money that honest people earn with their labor, be it one or a thousand
dollars) and is put in the collection tin without any strings attached.
Money from friends and unknown people who are not interested in our
knowing their name. Or proceeds of expropriation.
We propose for this to form a solidarity campaign, public and
transparent, utilizing the paypal perhaps, of the SF-IMC, if it is all
right with them. We can contribute with parties, projections, and photo
shows, for which we can provide 5000 photos taken over the last year and
a couple of dozen videos.
-That if we have to wait a while longer in order to maintain our honor,
we are disposed to do so.
-That when the computers are sent, they should include a couple of Bruce
Lee movies; we never knew if he was Asian or gringo.
On a more general level, we also have these things to say:
-From our point of view the only sustainable long-term goal is the
growth of the network. The proposal of Illias of Greece deals with
this; the question of foundations has already been gone over very well,
perhaps too well. We want it to be clear that we are not disposed to
accept grants, subsidies, or supposedly disinterested gifts from any
type of capitalist foundation. Not even invitations to go to dinner.
Or any other kind of thing that throws us together with them.
-From now on, Indymedia projects should face up to taking into account
the opinion of people on the receiving end of their funding. For
example, in our case we do not believe it is necessary right now to
spend money organizing technical workshops, because for this we have a
French tech person, an Italian and another that says he is Argentine.
-We respectfully and cordially call upon the compañeros who funded the
TMF not to speak on behalf of Indymedia with gentlemen like Soros or any
of his colleagues in the business of dominating the world, nor to ask
for money from foundations for Indymedia projects, since (as long as
everyone is in agreement) we want to have nothing to do with those kind
of foundations.
-Put into effect projects that give the Indymedias of the Third World
the kind of funding they want such as: photo shows, videos, parties,
recitals, sandwich sales, smuggling of contraband, etc. . . .
That is all for now. Many voices are yet to be heard, or typed in, but
we do not want to get overwhelmed by writing a book, because it is very
hot, there is a lot to do and—besides—if we write for too long our mail
will pile up without being read.
Greetings to everyone.
Editorial collective of cattle, land, workers male and female,
assemblyists, protesters male and female, air and fire of Indymedia
Argentina.
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