[Imc-finance] Re: apologies and request / "someone like to help?"

[Petros Evdokas]

> Date: Tue, 18 Nov 2003 
> From: Sheri Herndon <sheri at speakeasy.org>
> Subject: [Imc-finance] apologies and request
> To: IMC-Finance <imc-finance at indymedia.org>


> 
> hi,
> 
> i just cleared out alot of pending requests (we get alot of them to the imc finance list), alot of spam.  and in the midst of it were two emails that should have been approved a while ago.  my mistake.  these people were not subscribed to the imc because they are not liaisons and this is not a proposal for an established imc.  so that's why it was held.
> 
> as you know, this is a liaison only list and so when people post things that are not from a person subscribed to the list, they don't make it through.
> 
> normally that shouldn't be a problem, but lately i don't have the time to keep up and even though sascha is co list admin, he doesn't have time either.  so we need people who are liaisons on this list to step up and share the load of adminning this list so these kidns of things don't happen in the future.  it is easier to share tasks like this that are heavy administrative and can be time-consuming if not kept up to date.
> 
> apologies to the ftaa people who sent in their request for funds and for not catching it sooner.
> 
> someone like to help?
> 
> sheri
> seattle imc
> 
> ------------------------------
 


Hello Sheri, 
and other imc-finance friends,

I'd like to offer some help, but of a different sort,
if it's acceptable.

As most of you know, Sheri and myself have participated
in this imc-finances dialogue almost since the creation
of the particular email list, and have tried to inject
it with certain principles which would guide our
financial decision- making and operations. 

Even if the way we have articulated our proposals may
have sounded from time to time as if we were
disagreeing, the general spirit in which they were made
is still the same, and I think (even though Sheri and I
have not had any direct contact for a while), we
*still* have a similar vision of the kind of
imc-finance work-group we would like to see evolving
here among us. We have both written many and long
articles/letters published here with suggestions,
proposals, views, approaches, which would help
transform this group into a collective organ of the
emerging global IndyMedia entity.

One problem is that we did not see any avalanche of
liaisons embrace this and work to make happen. Instead
of that, in the last year and a half or so, our
performance as an imc working- group has been more like
a committee thumping rubber stamps under applications,
instead of a collective of colleagues who are involved
in radical politics and free journalism.

The purpose of this letter is not to look for blame, of
course, but to re-state the basic problems and to
request that we look for solutions. 

I have some thoughts, all of them along the same lines
which had shaped my finances- related  articles
published here in the past (most them are in the list
Archives, it's easy to find them online). I'd like to
propose that Sheri and I meet sometime in the early
part of 2004 in the States to look at those thoughts
again together, and to see how we can refresh our
working-group.

Even though I will not be coming as an "official
imc-ambassador" from our region in the Eastern
Mediterranean, my being the liaison for imc-cyprus and
having tangible co-operation in shared projects and
contacts with imc colleagues in our broader region
across war-zones and in areas divided by social hatred,
I feel give me the ability to convey those (same)
imc-finance related messages back to the "metropolitan"
areas of our imc network where IndyMedia originated,
with some degree of realism. And with the hope that we
can be heard in a different way. 

Essentially, the task is "how do we re-structure the
imc-finances working group, so that it can be a
*collective* body, whose work is shaped by the radical
politics of our imc network and reflects our mission as
global activists in the realm of free journalism?"
Given that there's a giant gap between our third- world
realities and the Euro/ North-American culture of
activism which dominates imc, we may mean different
things when we say "radical", or "collective". Perhaps
we can clarify things, and help to create a more
unified reality?

Sheri, would that be an acceptable way to proceed?
Would it be helpful in some way for us to meet and
talk? 

Anyone have any thoughts on this? Your views would be
much appreciated.

Thanks,
Petros
cyprus indymedia volunteer
----------------