[Imc-finance] Caravana to Africa / Ways to help imc- Nigeria without money

[Petros Evdokas]

Caravana to Africa / Ways to help imc- Nigeria without
money.

Summary:

* An exploration of the political tasks and principles
involved in helping imc- Nigeria, ways in which the
imc- Finance work- group, and the wider imc- network 
can help.

* Exploration of the political principles related to
the imc-Nigeria question, have direct bearing on the
issue of funding the Caravana to Africa. We need ways
to integrate global imc bodies (imc work- groups, such
as imc- Finance and imc- Communication)  with the needs
of emerging indymedia groups in Africa.

* Appendix - helpful resources

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Our colleagues in Nigeria are doing good work. They are
facing a horrendous colonial and corporate enemy who is
armed with… everything! The oppressor is engaged in
large -scale destruction and exploitation of natural
and human resources, occasional genocide, and attendant
corruption, brutality, and totalitarianism. Our imc-
Nigeria  colleagues are fulfilling their duties as
members of the imc network against difficult
conditions, according to their own understanding and
perceptions of reality. Those of us who wish to help
(such as the Caravana to Africa volunteers, or the
Finance group giving consideration to the project),
need to become conversant in those perceptions which
are guiding our colleagues, and explore with our
Nigerian colleagues how their concepts and perceptions
apply to organizing and to political journalism, if we
wish to have meaningful co-operation and improvement of
our relations. Our colleagues in Nigeria know their
situation best, so this is really an invitation for a
dialogue which would give us the reasoning for better
financial and political arragements. We need to hear
more from imc- Nigeria, on the issues below:
 
An overview of the imc- Nigeria easily shows that many
of the tasks needed to improve are political/
organizational, not financial (this is true of most
imc- groups). Our colleagues in Nigeria will be plagued
with worse problems than the current ones, if instead
of receiving help to address actual obstacles, we
simply throw money into the process to address
imaginary problems. 

Please join me on an overview - here’s material from
the http://nigeria.indymedia.org/ site:

o - The front page main articles in the center column,
published by our colleagues themselves, are all in all
five articles, five articles since November 2001. It is
now June 1, 2002, and the most recent article is a
month old. 
This shows the rhythm of work that the Nigeria group of
our colleagues is able to generate  in this period. It
is an honorable and valuable rhythm of work. It costs
very little to create and publish those articles, so
this is the natural rhythm of the group currently, and
it reflects acurately the realities of its human (not
financial) resources, the level of political activities
of the group, the connections of the group to the
struggles and organizations which actively resist the
globalization of corporate domination in Nigeria.
Giving more money or equipment to imc- Nigeria will not
increase their output as journalists or as activists
(more on that below). 

o - The Open Publishing column on the right- hand of
the page, displays links to the ten most recent
articles, spanning a period of about ten days. None of
them are about Nigeria, or by anyone related
organizationally to the imc- Nigeria group, or related
to any of the struggles going on in the country or the
wider region. Among the items uploaded in the last
three weeks only one article fell in that category, and
it is a re-print from the Associated Press. In the
first week of May there were some articles published on
labor, democracy,  and environmental concerns and
struggles in Nigeria, which is very encouraging. But on
the whole, all this shows that either 
a. Internet- based  journalism in Nigeria is not
currently the most appropriate tool to be promoting to
the communities seeking to be empowered (there might be
more appropriate media of expression, such as imc-
style community Radio, Print, etc. More on that below).
Or, 
b. that if Internet-based journalism really is the
appropriate tool to be promoting in Nigeria, our
colleagues there have not yet developed contacts with
organizations and movements in the region who should
have been invited to use the Open Publishing feature we
offer. None are using it now.  Political contacts in
the resistance community are developed by trust, by
participation in the struggle,  and by patience, not by
more money. Giving more money or equipment to imc-
Nigeria will not increase their contacts with the
community. (In fact, it may hinder it.) Donating a
wireless satellite- facilitated internet connection to
the imc -Nigeria group, or even an entire satellite,
will not expand its contacts with the resistance
movement *within* Nigeria.

o - the "About Us" page: 
http://nigeria.indymedia.org/about.php3 
contains a section titled "The History of the
Independent Media Centre of Nigeria".
It clearly writen in the first person, doing  away with
all sense of striving to create and promote 
Collectivity. I appreciate the honesty of the author,
and I wish more of us were so honest about the
realities of the Caravana to Africa Project. Our imc-
Nigeria colleagues might already have some collective
structures emerging, or being cultivated and being
developed presently, so it would do good to all of us
to hear more about it by them. 

o - The Nigeria- imc email group archives
http://lists.indymedia.org/mailman/listinfo/imc-nigeria
show that in the months of March, April, and May, there
has been very little participation (writing) by the
members of imc- Nigeria, or any other Nigerain
activists, or any other Africa based imc- related
groups on any subject having to do with imc- Nigeria,
or with publishing, or with local struggles. Nothing 
much is discussed except the Caravana to Africa
subject, and that is mostly by foreigners (non-
Africans), in letters which have nothing to do with
(they are external to) Nigerian realities. Again, this
shows that either the internet is not the appropriate
medium of communication/ expression for current
realities in Nigeria, or that or our colleagues need
help on how to cultivate more contacts in the area.
More money will not solve this.

Imc, Politics, and Language.

Nigeria is  a country with the most languages in the
world, with the most difficult communication and
linguistics problem ever faced by media activists in
the world. There is no getting around this problem.
Ignoring  this issue can help no-one. And yet, it is
entirely ignored by our imc- Nigeria colleagues. 

See how it goes:
Due to the nature of imperialism, English is the
"official" language of Nigeria, but it is also the only
language used by imc- Nigeria.
There are three main, entirely distinct, languages in
Nigeria,  named after the (millions of ) peoples they
belong to, and several hundred languages spoken by less
numbers of people. If one counts the dialects, there
are several thousand language variations in the
country. The  languages are named along with their
ethnic and cultural identities. Some of the important
languages in Nigeria, going by the numbers and by
cultural prominence are the Yoruba , Ibo (also spelled
Igbo), and Hausa. Some of the Nigerian languages are
written, some are only spoken. These are *major*
concerns for media activists, and they bear heavily on
decisions of which medium of expression (Radio/ Audio?
Video? Print? Internet?) is appropriate in each case in
any given community mobilzation, alliance, etc. Also,
the types of development and infrasturcture of each
geographic area determine things. For example, Video
might be the most appropriate for a language group or
community, but in the absense of electricity in an
area, battery -powered, or Solar- powered community
Radio might be better. Or, in a highly literate
language- group community, the most important tasks
might be to develop imc- Print publications in that
language. Or Internet -imc, in its own language!
 
Only our colleagues in Nigeria can judge al this, and
they seem to be entirely ignoring the subjects. How can
we help from a distance, if those on site are not
addressing these issues? Sending a Caravana of foreign
computer "experts" will not help this political problem
at all if the local /regional organizers are not
addressing the issue.

The task of anti- globalization, free media activists
(indymedia!), is to defend and promote the peoples’ and
communities’ aspirations for cultural and economic
freedom, in ways which transcend ethnic/ cultural
/linguistic divisions and conflicts, by affirming
cultural identity on the basis of internationalist
values (opposing nationalist/ facscist ideology); it is
to seek to promote the Unity of our communities on
their own terms, by embracing local/ regional language,
religions, social relaities (as opposed to accepting an
unchallenged Imperialist "order" and English culture
imposed from above). Perhaps our colleagues in Nigeria
already have thoughts on all this. We need to hear
them. 

The Indymedia network is *not* about computers and
servers, not about expanding the internet. It is about
community organizing, about creating tools for Free
access to Media, for the expression and communication
(Open Publishing) of the anti-globalization movement,
and for community empowerement. 

As you can see, *everything* about funding for imc-
Nigeria and the Caravana to Africa, relates to
political discussions we need to have among us, and
especially with our colleagues  in Africa, itself, who
need to clarify what political and cultural policies
guide their projects, if we are to fund them.
Obviously, these are questions which the wider,
emerging global imc network needs to address itself to,
so participation from the imc- Communications group of
liaisons, would be essential to helping clarify what 
we are doing. Above all, we can not pretend that the
Caravana to Africa project is only a "financial"
concern. Having this dialogue will help everyone become
more clarified, and it will help the imc- Finance work-
group know what to do (create policy) for similar
situations in the future. It will also help us to
prevent misunderstadings like the ones which had
occured when there was a near-disaster triggered by the
Caravana to Palestine (which was prevented only because
war broke out, and it allowed only the most beautiful
dimensions of solidarity to emerge, instead of the
bungling fiasco it might have been if it were acted on
as it was proposed).

I think we should give good opportunities to our
colleagues from Africa to address all this. 

Thanks,
Petros
http://PetrosEvdokas.cjb.net
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Appendix:

* This is a list of the languages of Nigeria, ordered
alphabetically and by their size- categories:
http://www.uiowa.edu/intlinet/unijos/nigonnet/nlp/langsize.htm

*  A Language- group and Cultural identity map of
Nigeria:
http://www.uiowa.edu/~africart/toc/countries/image/Nigeria.gif

* Brief portraits of language- use:
http://www.nigeriangalleria.com/portrait/language.htm

* Excellent, in depth introduction on many aspects of
Nigerian cultures:
http://www.motherlandnigeria.com/languages.html

*  This popular song, sung by Evi Edna Ogholi, is a
nice description of the extreme language diversity of
Nigeria.

Which of dem we go speak? …

     One metre -- 
     We travel to Umunede, we go speak Isoko, 
     We travel to Borno, say na Fulfulde, 
     We travel to Ughelli, dem go speak Urhobo, 
     We travel to Buguma, say na Kalabari, 
     We travel to Kaduna, dem go speak Hausa, 
     We travel to Okene, dem go speak Ebira, 
     We travel to Abbi, dem go speak Kwale, 
     Ogomola, dem go speak Okrika, 

     One kilometre means another language, 
     half a kilometre means another language, … 
     One metre … 

     We travel to Sokoto, dem go speak Fulani, 
     We go to Benin City, dem go speak Edo, 
     We travel to Onitsha, dem go speak Igbo, 
     We travel to Asaba-Asa, den Bendel we go, 
     We travel to Gboko, dem say na Tiv, 
     We travel to Otukpa, dem go speak Idoma, 
     We travel to Akure, dem go speak Yoruba, 
     We travel to Ase, dem go speak Aboh, 
     We travel to Uyo, na Ibibio, 

     We travel, we travel, we travel travel travel … 
     All I'm saying, Lingua franca … 
     One metre … 

     We travel to Patani, dem go speak Izon, 
     We travel to Vom, dem go speak Berom, 
     We travel to Ekpoma, dem go speak Esan, 
     We travel to Auchi, dem go speak Etsako, 
     We travel to idah, dem go speak Igala, 
     We travel to Bida, dem go speak Nupe, 
     We travel to Ogbakiri, dem go speak Ikwere

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