[CIMC-work] Indymedia Caucus from NCMR in Madison

[Mitchell Szczepanczyk]

Some 45 people attended the Indymedia caucus on Saturday in Madison (at
the Humanities building on the UW campus).  The caucus was part of the Be
The Media day of events held concurrent to the National Conference on
Media Reform.  This was a gathering of Indymedia folk from across the
United States; I counted three Chicagoans in the bunch--Thomas 
Yun, a young woman I met over the weekend whose name I don't remember
offhand, and yours truly.  

I moderated the caucus.  Far be it from me to judge my own performance,
but I did get compliments from everyone and a round of applause (and I
probably gave CIMC a ton of karma points across the network).

Among the topics discussed:

(1) Speakeasy/stallman--we've got to be sure not to have any orphaned
IMCs.
(2) FTAA; money and translators are needed (see ftaaimc.org) 
(3) us-imc; it's happening
(4) Legal issues with New Jersey IMC

Paul from Mediageek took notes; he'll probably post the minutes someplace
(if he hasn't already).  Plus, Carlos from Wooster IMC videotaped the
caucus; I'll be asking him for a copy of the tape.

Plus plus, a certain employee of In These Times named A.L.Loy made an
appearance right after the caucus ended.

The CIMC Press Pass which Emily created and gave me proved absolutely
ass-kicking.  It was impressing *everyone*; take a bow, Emily.

Finally, a point that might be controversial: There were five people from
Urbana-Champaign IMC, who were asking me for the possibility of more
collaborations between CIMC and UCIMC.  This struck me as a great idea,
and one we should pursue.  However, I understand that there was some past
tension between the two collectives, but I don't know the details.  What
are/were the details?  Is this still a problem?

----------
_ Z  Mitchell Szczepanczyk
  /  http://home.uchicago.edu/~msszczep http://www.chicagomediaaction.org
     http://www.geocities.com/szczepanczyk http://chicago.indymedia.org