[Imc-finance] Re: [Imc-communication] diplomacy

[ferry Ben]

hi anna,
i would like to thank you for your email..is a really
good summary of the whole crazyness that we are
facing..and you got all the positions and all the
details..really, it is a really good email and I will
be glad to translate it to portuguese ;) and send it
to all collectives in brasil.
if you need help to keep this discussion going on let
me know.
thanks again
toya

--- Anna <anna at mail.nadir.org> wrote:
> hi all
> 
> [this is very long. i'm sorry. take your time. if
> translations are desired 
> i'll try to find people who would go through the
> pain, but only then..;). 
> please let me know.]
> 
> [summary: we need to be more open about what we
> think about each other and how 
> we deal with money and the role money should play in
> indymedia. we really 
> *need* to start talking about these issues instead
> of builduing up more anger 
> behind each others backs]
> 
> not being a liaison what i'm saying only represents
> my opinion and nobody 
> else's and doesn't need to be considered here (on
> imc-finance) - following 
> the theory of how discussions take place here. i
> have some ideas nonetheless.
> 
> the situation around the proposal to spend 3.000 $
> on the party convention in 
> new york circles around some questions that go
> deeper, i believe.
> 
> actually i have the feeling it really is time to be
> open with each other 
> instead of building up anger and being "nice" and
> diplomatic and following 
> the rules of how finance proposals are dealt with.
> (of course i'm *not' 
> against following our own consensus). i think we can
> observe a deep split 
> concerning money issues for a while. keywords are:
> ford foundation, global 
> south fund, 'the' book. other keywords are: paying
> for indymedia work, 
> collaboration with 'the enemy', some european &
> south american vs. some US 
> american imc's.
> 
> i think it's time to make some decisions. 
> 
> - a crucial point is what to spend the money on: i
> think there is an 
> (unwritten? not sure) consensus that the global
> money is spent only for 
> projects in the south/east. it would be good to make
> this a formal decision 
> to avoid situations like this one where many people
> feel it's a provocation 
> when imc's who have considerably easy access to a
> lot of money and apparently 
> have no problems using this access to get money ask
> for such a big amount of 
> the little money that is left. (little compared to
> what we had) 
> (more on the italy legal money below)
> 
> - another crucial point is to talk about what to do
> when the chumbawamba money 
> is gone (we had a donation of 50.000 US$ once - i
> think about 10.000$ are 
> left). so far all proposals how to get more money
> were declined or had strong 
> opposition. people who try to think of ways how to
> get money - mostly to 
> spend it on projects in the south/east - are being
> adressed as if they 
> planned to sell imc to microsoft the next minute.
> yes, i'm being polemic. 
> sorry. sometimes i think exaggerating helps to make
> things clearer. do we 
> prefer not to have money? what kind of money is
> acceptable? how far can the 
> local autonomy go concerning this issue?
> 
> - 3rd crucial point is to talk about whether we want
> a network policy about 
> how money is used. there is a considerable amount of
> anger and aggression in 
> europe, south america and north america against a
> few US imc's who are a lot 
> more 'professional' in the way they work. to my
> knowledge some groups pay 
> large sums for rent of rooms, or have done so, some
> groups pay people for 
> their work, some groups ask for membership fees. imc
> urbana champaign is 
> focus of regular sarcasms in the imc chat channels
> for a rather singular 
> role:
> 
> on the one hand one person of this imc literally
> manages all money 
> transactions. also because they are rather
> institutionalized (i think). 
> therefore it's easy for them to handle these things.
> on the other hand they 
> apparently have very good access to money - they try
> to buy a house for their 
> imc and have already collected more than 60.000$.
> for many imc's who use 
> maybe 100$ a year this is outrageous.
> 
> this is an ideological question. is indymedia
> something that is based on 
> volunteer work and organizing ways that avoid money,
> having money, 
> distributing money? and why? talking to people i get
> the impression that this 
> is something many would like to see as a principle
> for the whole network.
> but also many imc's have some money, and don't talk
> much about how much 
> (unless they claim to be one of the groups who have
> hardly any) and where 
> they get it from. there are also those imc's who
> have money and feel it is ok 
> to be a group with a somewhat formalized structure
> (the infamous 501(??) type 
> of organisation in the US.). my impression is that
> this is perceived as 
> something that in europe would probably be called
> ngo (nongovernmental 
> organisation). ngos tend to be more compromising,
> more professional and more 
> successful in achieving short term goals, but
> sometimes dont´notice how they 
> aren't in touch with the social movements anymore.
> or don't care. ngos are 
> perceived as a structure for those who want to make
> a living and/or career of 
> their political interests. this doesn't have to be
> bad depending on what your 
> interests are, but it is definitely necessary to be
> open about it. and 
> networks like indymedia need to talk about whether
> this is ok within this 
> network.
> 
> [this leads to the point 'how professional is
> indymedia?' do we want to mainly 
> empower people who are no media experts or do we
> want to  be the better 
> media? this sometimes doesn't go along well, and
> we'll never have an answer 
> to this one of course. something we should talk
> about more though. i wish we 
> had the money to have a global conference ;).
> </irony> ]
> 
> i think it would be very helpdul to have statements
> by those US american imc's 
> who are less oriented towards using money. at the
> moment i see a general 
> feeling against US imc's and i think this is a
> destructive generalisation.
> also i think it would be helpful to have statements
> by those groups who don't 
> mind using money  *and* by those who are very much
> against e.g. paying for 
> work, or raising funds in a more organized way,
> about how they think 
> indymedia should deal with the differences between
> these two attitudes.
> 
> 
> i would very much like to start discussing some of
> these questions. not to 
> find an answer tomorrow, but to be on the way to
> find some answers. these 
> questions have bothered social movements for ages.
> we won't be the ones to 
> find the solution for all. maybe it would be a good
> idea to do a survey to 
> find out how the local groups deal with this. also
> to stop assuming we all 
> knew 'how indymedia deals with this'. we have
> different ideas. if we can 
> agree on some points it will help in the future.
> 
> i also think that not dealing with these issues
> means planting a time bomb. 
> aggressions are growing visibly. the split is
> getting deeper and if we want 
> to survive we need to at least look at this problem.
> 
> money corrupts. someone needs to work for it and so
> if we get it we profit of 
> other people's exploitation - this is what it comes
> down to. solution: we 
> only use what we have ourselves. and have worked
> for.
> but then.. this means generally that only the
> already priviledged get to do 
> indymedia work and set up nice imc's. and get to
> travel to summits, and get 
> 
=== message truncated ===


=====
Irmão, o demônio fode tudo ao seu redor!
Pelo rádio, jornal, revista e outdoor,
te oferece dinheiro, conversa com calma.
Contamina seu caráter, rouba sua alma.
Depois te joga na merda sozinho!
É... transforma um um "preto tipo A" num "neguinho"! 
Racionais MCs


		
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