[Imc-france-paris] ESF meeting in Brussels this week-end - URGENT

[JjMeric]

Attention IMC who plan to attend the FSE preparatory meeting in Brussels this
week-end!

Dear friends

Yesterday we attended the Parisian meeting of the French Committee of initiative
for the preparation of the European Social Forum in Paris St Denis  in November.
Gilles, Igor, Roman Vivien and myself (for paris.indymedia.org).

It is an enormous "thing" (at least 300 participants yesterday evening), but
rather opaque: for example, although having asked to be registered 28/11, we
have never received a single e-mail... The procedure to subscribe to the
mailing-list could not be made public yesterday evening... We spent two days to
find when and at what time this meeting was taking place... Gilles rightly
protested on this subject.
On other questions, several persons in the audience, regular members apparently,
protested about other signs of lack of transparency.
Only ATTAC seems to be super-organized for mailing lists, they have probably all
the information which it is necessary, but we are not members there ;-( .

The meeting of yesterday evening had for object to present what was going to be
proposed this weekend in Brussels in the European meeting of the ESF, and to
take in some opinions (not really a discussion, at this scale, it is difficult!).

The different Commissions: organization (memberships, cash and subsidies,
logistics), programs (subjects of plenary meetings, seminars and workshops) and
the cultural and artistic commission presented the syntheses of their group.
Except for this last one, nobody mentioned a place for Independent / alternative
Media . It was demanded by ACRIMED, the Association of the Free Radios, and by
Gilles for Indymedia: creation of an independent group of Media, assembly of a
structure with a place and computers, an addition to the program of workshops
and debates on the independent media, the Open publishing etc.

Finally, beyond the lack of concerns for transparency, it seems that our friends
of the French secretariat of the ESF are, according to their own confessions,
little gifted with computers and internet things. There is certainly a place
also for a "computer" group who would help them to set up, at least, a homepage
with a call and necessary links for the contacts and the registrations, and a
better management of the list (lists!). Their only computer project for the
moment is to register the memberships and the money-contributions $o)

Thus, Here we are, be warned that if you decide too to join this invaluable
adventure, there is still much to be fought for!

I hope that you can pull in the same direction as us, and with more success...

Greetings!