[CIMC-work] (on proposed global editorial policy) Fwd: Re: [IMC-Process] Hello

Fri May 14 12:49:36 PDT 2004

___

World urged to halt crimes by Israel
www.gulf-daily-news.com/Articles.asp?Article=81556&Sn=WORL
www.whatreallyhappened.com/

------- Forwarded Message
To: "Shayne O'Neill" <shayne at guild.murdoch.edu.au>
Cc: imc-process at lists.indymedia.org
Subject: Re: [IMC-Process] Hello
From: nessie at sfbg.com
Date: Fri, 14 May 2004 10:56:58 -0700
Message-ID: <a0501040bbccaa5d63351@[66.81.115.155]>

Thank you for standing up for the anti-fascist position. I was 
beginning to feel like I was the only one.  I was even beginning to 
consider leaving Indymedia, partly  to protect my own reputation. The 
last thing on earth I want to be known as is a person who tolerates 
Nazi sympathizers. Also, I simply don't want to be around people like 
that. They turn my stomach.

I've been fighting Nazis for decades, sometimes literally, with my 
fists and feet. Until we physically drove them out of our 
neighborhood, Nazi skinheads infested Haight St. They routinely 
smashed the windows of the anarchist bookstore where I volunteer. 
They  even fire bombed the place once, after hours. If someone hadn't 
been working late on some bookkeeping, and been very quick with the 
fire extinguisher, the building would have burned, and the people in 
the apartment upstairs would probably have died.

On another occasion, eight of them beat my neighbor to death with 
lead pipes. Needless to say, I wasn't there at the time, or it would 
have turned out differently. My friend Rob was there, and tried to 
break it up. They broke his skull in two places and put him into a 
coma for a week. Two years later, two of the skins were arrested. One 
was sentenced to six months, the other to one year. We can *not* 
depend on the police to protect us from these miscreants. We need to 
do it ourselves. There is a name for people who rely on the police to 
protect them. They're called "victims."

I've been publishing anti-fascist propaganda since 1988, when I 
bought my first computer. It was, in fact, the very reason I bought 
the computer in the first place. I hate fascists, Nazis in particular.

See:

http://www.transbay.net/~nessie/Pages/fourth.reich.htm

I also have been receiving death threats on a routine basis since 
long before I got involved with Indymedia.  They started when i was 
still posting on dial-up BBSs.  They really took off after the Web 
was invented and i got a job writing a column for a local 
"progressive" newspaper's website:

http://www.sfbg.com/nessie/

My very first column there was a piece of anti-Nazi propaganda. Soon 
after, the threats started pouring in. I take them seriously, I don't 
want to end up like radio's Alan Berg. I use a pseudonym, conceal my 
location, live with dogs and own guns. Still, though, anyone who want 
to bad enough could hunt me down and snipe me from a distance. I 
accept this. It comes with the territory. Any active anti-fascist has 
mortal enemies, ruthless, moral and armed to the teeth.

So what are we going to do about their having been able to 
successfully invade Indymedia? I'd really appreciate your help 
brainstorming this problem.

I just don't know what to do.  I have tried to use logic, reason, 
moral persuasion and peer pressure.

See:

http://vancouver.indymedia.org/news/2004/05/133126_comment.php#133205

I have been rebuffed by the editors there, and vehemently attacked in 
the foulest of language, both by the Nazis themselves, and by 
Zionists, especially "Gehrig" from Urbana-Champaign-IMC, who hates me 
because I banned him from SF-IMC for spouting his own brand of racism.

After I posted my concerns to [imc-process], not only did some people 
there seem more concerned that I didn't say it in Spanish, than they 
were with the actually danger, but one even wrote me the following 
personal email, which I find to be quite appalling:

    *************************************************

Date: Sat, 8 May 2004 23:24:08 -0400 (EDT)
From: mtoups at indymedia.org
To: nessie at sfbg.com
Subject: Re: hello

On Sat, 8 May 2004 nessie at sfbg.com wrote:

>  >  >My main objection to your email wasn't in its subject matter,
>  >but in the way that it was said.
>
>
>
>
>  What are you saying here, that potentially fatal damage to
>  Indymedia's credibility is less important than how it is pointed out?
>
>  If so, click here:
>
>  http://www.datanation.com/fallacies/style.htm
>

yes, because because what you said was not constructive,
but inflammatory.  i watched the same thing before on imc-us-process --
was disrupting that list not enough for you?

i do care about indymedia being discredited, but i
know from experience that strating a flamewar about it
will do nothing to help the situation and everything to
further disrupt inter-imc communication and decisionmaking.

>  >  >i moderate the list, and i
>  >am no longer interested in keeping up with it anymore.
>
>
>
>  Then, in all due respect, I think you should turn it over to someone
>  who is willing, and able, to handle the job.
>
>

none of the other moderators i've spoken to (ana, john) are
able to keep up with the volume either.  very few IMCs
from the network are represented and expecting people
from around the world to put up with such a thread will
only drive more people away.

it is clear that you aren't interested in going
anywhere contructive with this, but you just want
to argue -- with me and with the rest of the network.

-matt

**************************************************

Such a response, especially from an IMCista, is utterly disgusting. 
It's scary, too. It bodes very ill for IMC and for the Global Justice 
movement in general.

Frankly, I fear that if we allow people and attitudes like this to 
set Indymedia's policies and agenda, it will destroy everything we 
have worked to hard to build up. Indymedia's credibility will be 
completely destroyed. So will the personal credibility of every 
IMCista, both as journalists and as activists.

What are we going to do? I wish I knew. Let's talk about it. I need 
your advice.

I particularly like what solublefish2002 said

>>create a defense kolektiv who are
exclusive to protect any local imcs from rightwing
spamming or posting.to make dis happen.let the entire
network reaffirm anti-fascist policy.have an agreement
that we dont tolerate racism.sexism.homophobia etc.
sometimes we have to be decisive

* * *

I agree strongly.  How shall we begin? You tell me.

P.S.

I, too, have taken note of the burgeoning panopticon that threatens 
to engulf us all.

See:

http://www.sfbg.com/nessie/46.html

http://www.sfbg.com/nessie/36.html

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