[Imc-finance] re: concerns with ford application

[Ana Nogueira]

I just wrote a whole email about this and lost it! argh. 
proabably lucky for all of you, cause this one will be much shorter...

I just read all the emails about the ford grant and changed my mind with every 
salient post i read. Here is my conclusion for all its worth, and a proposal 
for how to proceed.

1. I think Argentina raises very valid concerns, obviously, and the grantees 
should definalty reconsider this proposal. 

2. I dont think that they should not take it just because of what people will 
think about the fact that an imc took a ford grant, as someone warned. It is a 
complex issue and I trust them to make an informed decision. And if our 
supporters question the decision, there should be an explanation available. 

3. I dont think this is a network wide decision. I think the onus falls on the 
UCIMC. They should be very explicit in saying that this is THEIR grant 
proposal, and they should do what they think is right in terms of making / 
accepting it or not. 

4. Individual IMC's must also make this judgement for themselves, as did Italy 
IMC, in terms of accepting this money for a regional convergence near them when 
the time comes. There should be another fund available for those IMC's that 
refuse ford money for regional meetings. (Although I think we will be hard 
pressed to find any "clean money" anywhere.)

4. Deadline for application is today. I think UC IMC should submit the 
proposal, but keep researching and debating about whether they should accept 
it. If they change their minds, they can always refuse the grant. 

5. I think it would be great if the UC IMC wrote something about this debate, 
and did some more detailed investigation into what ford funds and why, 
detailing both cia projects and radical / progressive projects it has funded 
recently. This should be published on their site when and if they accept the 
grant, with an explanation of their decision. 

My persnal opinon on accepting the money comes in the form of a metaphor:
A friend just told me a story about the spanish anarchists:
some of the anarchists hated money and refused to use it. Others only hated 
government money and some printed their own currency to replace the dirty 
money. One day, when somehow a whole bunch of bank money was "liberated" during 
a battle, the anarchists dragged it out into the streets and started burning 
it. But then someone said, 'wait a minute, we can use this money to buy guns!' 
And so they did, and kept fighting the fascists, using their own money against 
them. (for cia/fbi on this list, im not saying we are going to buy guns with 
ford money.... its just a metaphor.)

ana
nyc imc