[Imc-finance] Re: Funding Nigeria-imc: 3 items to consider/ letter from Winters

[Petros Evdokas]

To: 
Winters, friends at imc-Nigeria, and imc-finance
co-workers, 
on the occasion of the letter from Winters

Hello,

I would like to thank you for your thoughts regarding
the funding which the imc-Nigeria group has requested
from the imc-finance working group.  Your thoughts and
the information you sent us,  will certainly help us
make a better decision! 
(Below is a copy of your letter. The imc-Nigeria
funding application is somehow linked to the
imc-Ambazonia application, so I'm including a copy of
this letter to imc-Ambazonia as well.)

Here is the most important part of what you wrote:

"Nigeria IMC this year got funding from our partner 
UCIMC and we did have a good understanding between us
before the funding came through. it was  approx.
$3,000. Which i Winters received for IMC Nigeria while
i was on a  visit to England. what we know and we are
used to is when you are funded by a group you at the
end of your organisation's accounting year send a copy
of  your account to the funding group or send account
of funds sent to your  group to the donor when they
request for it. We have never at anytime  recieved
funding from IMC global . Or if we may ask , when we
get  independent funding from any source do we send our
account to IMC global or send it to IMC lists? These 
issues are quite confusing. I hope there is a  balance
treatment in handling IMCs affairs globally."

This information should have been shared with all of us
from the very beginning of this application, and the
primary responsibility for this should be shouldered by
Sacha and Winters who were aware of the events; it is
not only a matter of courtesy, but also a matter of
transparency among political co-workers, and it goes
beyond just propriety, it involves a basic respect for
one’s fellow colleagues.

Furthermore, there is still no reply on the issues
raised in the past regarding imc-Nigeria’s work- group
procedures, which are  essentially political concerns
and can not be dismissed by vague references to
poverty, North-South division, access to resources etc.
The questions and issues raised (I will not repeat them
here) have to do with group organization, the mission,
languages, and productivity (output). They are
political, and have political, not finacial solutions.
There is also still no reply to the proposals on how to
help imc-Nigeria without money.

Instead, your reply pretends that there has been a
"direct attack against" your "personality and
integrity". Please remember that I wrote: 
"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". How is this
an attack on your personality?

Also, your letter pretends that our questions amount to
"tagging some IMC BAD". All we are asking for, is a
dialogue as colleagues, on procedures and perceptions
toward a shared goal. How else can we make decisions
about funding imc-Nigeria? 

The clever lever which many thirld world activists have
found for dealing with the machinery of the liberation
movement is  to push the "white guilt button" found
embedded within the psychological structure of most
NorthAmerican and NorthEuropean activists in order to
get allocations of funding, equipment, and leadership
status. This needs to be eradicated from imc
operations, and for that, we need your help Winters,
and the help of the global North people who are aware
of it and who either tend to fall for it, or tend to
cultivate it in others. It’s most often found the
closer one gets to "liberal" political and financial
institutions of the ruling class, and it is not a
coincidence that a cultivation of this approach keeps
surfacing from colleagues who have associations in that
direction. 

Please help us to remove these minefields (mindfields)
from our dialogue, so that we can clarify our
co-operation on a better basis. Please help us look at
our shared mission and political values with a fresh
eye, and help us understand better the "why" and "how"
when it comes to approving funds to imc-Nigeria in this
period.

Rome was not burnt in one day.

Looking forward to more co-operation with you,
Petros
---------------  



winters wrote:
> 
> Hi all,
> 
> I am very happy to respond to the mail below.
> I also highly appreciate the networking systems of our dear indymedia and
> above all the special commitments of different people from all over the
> globe irrespective of age, colour, knowledge, standards, religion etc.
> 
> I hardly respond to mails like this especially when it directly attack
> persons' personality and integrity, I mean when such mails  breaks what i
> may refer to as official conducts.
> 
> we are all bonded together as one big family through our collective believe
> 'indymedia's mission'. Hence we all volunteer to give our time and knowledge
> to it. Some of us have lost our jobs, gave all our savings and even our
> security  for this mission. Some of us have travelled from one continent to
> the other exchanging ideas and building co-operation between people of same
> minds , all to make indymedia  globally and locally work and reach people.
> Most time people that can go this far may be able to sacrifice all they have
> to the mission , but not their last asset- ' their integrity'.  Also, a new
> IMC  like Nigeria , working from global south may be able to  give all it
> takes to be strong , effective, reliable and also meeting global network
> demands , but may also not be ready to be rumoured around the globe as
> unreliable and non existing in any capacity. I have been opportune to travel
> to many continents of the globe and with my work in environment, social and
> community development , i have come to realise that just like all fingers
> are not equal , so also economic, social, and environmental standards
> varies from pole to pole. I have also come to realise that what is
> obtainable in the north may not be obtainable in the south due to different
> problems and  constrains like poverty, people priorities, societal values,
> resource availability etc.  I have always tried to to give equal measurement
> to all people especially when they are all not in same conditions. I also
> believe that tagging some IMC BAD or so even when they are doing their best
> may not be the best way to helping IMCs improve. I am sure no IMC in the
> globe can boast that they have reached perfection.... we are all working to
> achieve that. That i know is our goal. I advise we should be careful in the
> way we attack IMCs especially when you actually sit in one part of the globe
> and shot punches to another group on the other end. Most times  it doesn't
> help their growth . This kind of mails often kill projects and ideas even
> before they are conceived. We all need encouragements rather than
> condemnations to help us all volunteer more time and strength to achieve
> indymedia goals.
> 
> Nigeria IMC this year got funding from our partner  UCIMC and we did have a
> good understanding between us before the funding came through. it was
> approx. $3,000. Which i Winters received for IMC Nigeria while i was on a
> visit to England. what we know and we are used to is when you are funded by
> a group you at the end of your organisation's accounting year send a copy of
> your account to the funding group or send account of funds sent to your
> group to the donor when they request for it. We have never at anytime
> recieved funding from IMC global . Or if we may ask , when we get
> independent funding from any source do we send our account to IMC global or
> send it to IMC lists? These issues are quite confusing. I hope there is a
> balance treatment in handling IMCs affairs globally. This draws our
> attention to the issue of question mark appearing in front of IMC Nigeria
> link in the listing pages of IMC Document website. Same question mark also
> appears for IMC South Africa. This page ( IMC Document
> website)http://docs.indymedia.org/view/Local/WebHome#_Africa_  there are
> links to all other IMC , but non to Nigeria and South Africa. Can some one
> answer this questions?
> 
> As we all work to make indymedia reach out to all , we will be glad if
> volunteers and local IMCs are allow to do there work instead of getting
> condemnation for every little work done. little drop of water makes a great
> ocean. Rome was never built in one day.
> 
> Best wishes,
> 
> Winters
> Nigeria IMC
> 
> 
> 
> Petros Evdokas writes:
> 
> >
> >
> > Funding Nigeria-imc: 3 items to consider
> >
> > In this article:
> > o - the 3 items
> > o - some further thoughts, and Alternatives
> > ------------------------------