[Imc-finance] Funding Nigeria-imc: 3 items to consider

[Petros Evdokas]

Funding Nigeria-imc: 3 items to consider

In this article:
o - the 3 items
o - some further thoughts, and Alternatives
------------------------------          

Funding Nigeria-imc: 3 items


In order to make informed, responsible, decisions
regarding the funding of imc-Nigeria, we need to
consider the following items in the list below. I’m
very glad to see that our members of the imc-finance
working group are now asking intelligent questions and
making an effort to get clarifications, and I wish we
had been doing this all along, for *all* of the funding
requests! Here are the items to consider:

1. Nigeria-imc has received imc funding previously,  in
the recent past. This information is not being shared
openly in the discussion, and it should be given some
weight. The money that was given should be accounted
for, the procedures should be examined, and we need to
see :
a.  who were the recipients, what was the money used
for?
b.  who were the recipients accountable to? Did they
give a report on how the money was used? Did the imc
group which approved the money,  remain satisfied with
that exchange? 
c.  who are the imc people who funded imc nigeria in
the past, who are they accountable to, and why are they
not talking about this openly now? Shouldn’t this
funding request be seen in the light of previous
funding?

2. The previous time that imc-Nigeria requested money
(it was for $20.000 !! ) I wrote this article about it:
"[Imc-nigeria] Ways to help imc- Nigeria without money"
http://lists.indymedia.org/mailman/public/imc-nigeria/2002-June/000091.html
It was also published as a part of the imc-finance
dialogue about it, here:
http://lists.indymedia.org/mailman/public/imc-finance/2002-June/001335.html

There was never any response to it, from anyone in
imc-finance. Nor was there any resonse from anyone
related to imc-Nigeria (except I received a very
hostile letter from their supporter, Marcus Sky
{IMC-UK  nessuno}, who wrote to me supposedly on behalf
of Winters, but I do not believe that Winters would
have been so crude or crass, even if we had an apparent
difference of opinion - so far, Winters sounds like a
reasonable person who simply had questionable ally). 

Anyway, now would be a good time again, for imc-Nigeria
to answer some of our questions related to languages,
to community organization, to politics, etc. It’s not
unreasonable for us to ask our Nigeria colleagues what
exactly is happening with the imc group there. For
example, even after my many questions on the group’s
rhythm of activity and process, the group produced
*one* article in the last six months (please see the
imc-nigeria site for yourselves). This contradicts the
claim we have read that supposedly "The IMC-Nigeria has
been a well-established IMC for over a year." 

And the majority of posts from visitors on the site,
are still from Europe and the US ( what makes this
group Nigerian?) And again, since the answer to this
question may re-surface as an excuse: since the
internet hardly exists in Nigeria, its "mission-
orientation" to being online,  might be entirely
inappropriate. It’s very possible that  the country’s
needs for Free (radical) Media might be better served
by Indymedia activists working with *different* media,
such as Radio, Video, Press, etc. But we don’t know
this, and cannot judge this from a distance, only our
colleagues in Nigeria have the familiarity with the
issues and the autonomy to decide this. Except, it
would be nice if they were open to *dialogue* with us
about these issues, since they are asking us for
funding. Why is the group not open to dialogue about
these issues?  

Even the imc-Nigeria email list, was graciously managed
for a whole year until this October by one of our most
committed US- based comrades, Scott Lewis of the
Bandwidth Coop, who is an internationalist American; it
was not managed by any of the Nigerian colleagues. The
current (new) manager of the list, is not in Nigeria. 
These also fly in contradiction to the claim we have
read that supposedly "The IMC-Nigeria has been a
well-established IMC for over a year."  

All these "problems" in publishing and communication,
are not generated by a lack of money! They can be
addressed by any group of activists who have an
interest in organization, tangible politics, and who
are committed to co-operation. It does not take money
to organize. Why do we persist to keep on wanting to
give money to groups (like imc-nigeria) without asking
questions about organization, political orientation,
structure, etc?

3. imc-nigeria seems to have a "special relationship"
to funding requests. This is the third one I have seen
in one year. This is remarkable for a group that has
written six short  articles in one year! (The articles
are about one paragraph- long each.) We need someone
who is "behind the scenes" in relation to imc finances,
to explain to us why this situation exists, what is
this special relationship, and why it keeps coming up.

     ****

Some further thoughts and Alternatives

I am very much in favour of Jay’s visit and imc
contacts in Africa. 

If there is some compelling reason (I don’t see one,
but it might exist), I would feel a whole lot better,
to just give some of this money  directly to Jay (a
much smaller amount), and he can use it at his
discretion for contacts, for getting around,  and for
doing imc work in Africa. It’s just plain and simple. I
don’t know Jay, but I trust him because I have seen
that he is open to dialogue, open to being questioned,
open (and self- motivated) to being accountable. None
of the other parties involved in this deal so far
(either those listed to receive the funds, or those who
have funded them in the past) are showing any self-
motivated openness to democratic procedures. Without
transparency we cannot have democracy among us.

Also, our colleague Winters of the imc-Nigeria group,
seems to have some relationship (physical presence?)
with the UK. It would be so simple for Winters to
co-operate with our imc colleagues there, in the UK -
we have a lot of new, and old imc- groupings all over
the UK - and this co-operation would also generate
whatever "training" is needed, and it would benefit all
of us, at no cost! Why even *think* to fly him to
Nigeria just to meet with Jay?

Regarding the effort to create an Ambazonia- imc, and
its possible participation in a meeting with Jay in
Nigeria (therefore necessitating imc expenses and
funding):
a.  the group, as far as I know is not yet in the imc
network, so, most likely not eligible,
b.  it has not yet clarified its relation to lesbian-
and gay- liberation politics in the various political
position statements it has sent us,
c.  it has apparently good allies within the germany
imc groups, and the washington dc imc groups, so there
are many ways for our new Ambazonia colleagues to
become familiarised, trained, involved in our process
through direct, face- to face contact with solidely
active imc members. 
d.  if there is a pressing political need to speed up
this process, and to make it a priority for us to
finance a meeting of Ambazonia imc contacts with Jay in
Nigeria, it needs to be demonstrated to us in political
terms we can understand.

     ****

I hope our colleagues from Nigeria-imc will want to
answer some of all these questions above.
Also, I hope our imc colleagues who know more about
other, previous,  imc funding to imc-nigeria, will step
forward with the information and share it openly.
These will enable us to help imc-Nigeria better.

All of the above concerns are specifically related to
the current funding request for imc-nigeria, but the
concerns should apply to *all* the requests we receive.
I wish that our procedures here at imc-finance, can
expand to include these political/organizational
concerns and explorations in our dialogue at all times,
instead of just the sterile "yes" or "no" we are asked
to offer as mindless cattle.

Your thoughts would be most welcome,
Petros
http://PetrosEvdokas.mainpage.net
------------------------