[Imc-finance] funding request from Indymedia South Africa

[francois]

Dear IMC-finance group, 

It has been some time now since we submitted a proposal for assistance 
around our programme on the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) 
and we are disappointed that we have still not received a response from the 
Finance Committee.  Now that the WSSD is upon us and there is significant 
repression of critical voices, we are forced to apply to the emergency fund 
as we are in desperate need of money to ensure a significant Indymedia 
presence at the summit and particularly in covering the protests.  With the 
brute force employed by the police over the last week, it is expected that 
their heavy-handedness will increase over the period of the heads of state 
meeting.  We are in dire need of dv cameras, in particular, to ensure that 
the facts are adequately recorded and to ensure some degree of protection in 
the demonstrations.  With the South African state determined to portray 
protests as the actions of a small group of unruly northern activists who 
have joined with a small group of ‘ultra-leftist’ South Africans, 
Indymedia-SA has a critically important role to play in countering the 
propaganda of the state and the mainstream media. 

We have successfully raised the funds to cover half our core expenses.  At 
present, however, we have only 2 dv cameras as we had the unfortunate 
experience of having our third camera stolen last week.  We are currently 
trying all means to get additional funds to beef up our programme.  We would 
therefore urge the Committee to consider the revised emergency request 
below: 

1 dv camera	        R15 000.00
Mini-disk player	 R4 000.00
Dv & md cassettes	 R2 000.00
Printing	         R1 000.00
TOTAL	                R22 000.00 (2,200 US$) 

The amount above would be a significant contribution towards helping us meet 
our overall costs. 

We hope that you will respond positively and swiftly to our request noting 
the urgency of the matter. 

Yours, 

Prishani Naidoo & Francois L’Ecuyer
for Indymedia South Africa