[Imc-finance] update on bolivia

[evan]

Hey, folks i figured i'd give a quick update on finances and 
imc-bolivia.

So far we have $500 in emergency funds from imc-finance which have been 
approved. We also have had a donation link up for two funds, one for 
the IMC, and another for the victims of political violence in the 
uprising.

For the IMC we have raised $520 in pay pal donations.

For the victims we have raised $560 in pay pal donations.

In addition the Germany IMC has setup a bank account to receive 
donations and i do not know how much money they have raised.

Total for Indymedia: $1020
Total for Victims: $560

We are still figuring out the best way to transfer the money for both 
funds.

*** Expected use of the funds ***

Victims Fund:
A assembly of victims and family members of those killed during the 
uprising has been organized in El Alto. This group is working with 
human rights groups. They are going to be making the decisions about 
how best to use the money collected for their fund. Given the number of 
people killed and injured $560 will only go so far. I'm sure that 
because they control the fund they will stretch it as far as possible.

Indymedia Bolivia:
There have been meetings among indymedia bolivia activists about what 
to do with the money raised. Money and resources been difficult issues 
within indymedia bolivia in the past. The provisional decision is to 
use most of the money to help indymedia El Alto. El Alto is the poor 
mostly aymara indigenous squatted city which was the center of the 
resistance in the latest gas war. It's been said that what Soweto was 
to the anti-apartheid movement, El Alto is to the movements in Bolivia.

The plan is to use the money to buy a monitor, keyboard, and power 
cable for the computer they have, setup and office, and start a 
newsheet type paper with articles from indymedia. There are many cyber 
cafes in El Alto, but the internet is not an effective mass medium. The 
plan is to use funds to cover costs of the first few issues, selling 
copies of the paper to fund future printing.

The location of the office is not finalized, but COB the bolivian 
unions are one of the groups who have offered space. The location of 
the office is a delicate issue which i'm sure will be discussed at 
length.

in solidarity,
evan