[Imc-finance] Ford grant - yet again another opinion

[hannides@hawaii.edu]

Greetings to all friends!

Probably partly due to the time difference, I have not had as much time 
as others to formulate a clear opinion on this issue. However, I do 
believe I've read enough to understand the basic parameters. And their 
nature is such that they can be adressed very speedily. The Ford 
Foundation has been acting on a global scale over at least the past half 
century towards very specific goals. They have been detailed very well by 
the imc argentina (http://lists.indymedia.org/mailman/public/imc-finance/
2002-September/001447.html) and books by James Petras and Frances 
Saunders referred to therein. The offering of Ford grants initiates the 
process of fragmentation of large-scale opposition groups, and we can see 
the (thankfully!) very early symptoms of this in the case of this list 
for example. Ford grants have AT LEAST country-wide intentions; they are 
not regional. This case in front of us may be revealing an organizational 
problem with identifying a local's action which negotiates the whole 
network's ientity and dealing with it as a global network without 
negotiating the principle of autonomy of that local. I believe that the 
acceptance of a Ford grant by ANY imc local is ludicrous and unacceptable 
and I wonder as to the global network's PRESENT ability to safeguard 
itself from such an action taken locally.

Love,
Angelos.
hannides@hawaii.edu