[Imc-india] Re: constructive support for Madurai collective?

[boud]

hi ganesh,
  You are getting quite upset. We are all aware that fascism
and personal threats are extremely serious things. If you 
do a bit of reading as suggested and try to understand how
things work, then maybe there could be constructive 
solutions to this problem.

Please read the material i've pointed to if you wish
to constructively contribute to indymedia.

On Thu, 28 Aug 2003, [iso-8859-1] Montgomery Cheddar wrote:

> Boud,
> 
> What is all this nonsense about "local" activists? I
> REPEAT: I DO NOT LIVE IN MADURAI, I LIVE IN KOLKATA!

We now know that *you* live in Kolkata - but other
people like me who wish to be supportive do not live
anywhere near India. 

> What do I do? Fly to Madurai and join some hunt for an
> elusive "collective" which controls India Indymedia?

You publicly send a polite email and wait a reasonable delay for an
answer.

> Where is this "collective"? They do not answer emails.

India is a poor country - most grassroots activists in
India do not have as good internet access as you
do. The Madurai collective claim that internet access
is very difficult/costly for them - the risk of 
expats or other global supporters dominating the locals
with poor access is an intrinsic problem of indymedia
in poor countries.

> They do not respond to hate on Indymedia.
> 
> Then you tell me I have no right to criticise India
> Indymedia because I am not in Madurai - I am not

You have every right to criticise it. But making
threats is using a method of the groups that we are
opposed to.

> "local". And you are in Poland! Why is someone in
> Poland answering for some people in Madurai?

i'm not the only person answering.
 
> Then you tell me to talk to a "Mumbai collective".

They have an openly archived mailing list. Please try
using it!

imc-mumbai at lists.indymedia.org

the archive:
http://lists.indymedia.org/mailman/public/imc-mumbai/


> You say this is "non-hierarchical" but all I see is a
> small closed group which won't communicate, which only
> meets in one city and won't be accountable to anyone
> but themselves. How long must we wait for a response
> to our concerns?

Please see my proposal (right now it's waiting for
the moderator, though maybe i'll resend it and the
moderator will block the 2nd copy...)

> Meanwhile, a friend and colleague of mine is ritually
> threatened with rape and murder on India Indymedia
> simply because she works for Human Rights Watch. You
> cannot justify this. The newswire must be closed and
> these threats eradicated, NOW! People threatened by
> posts that remain on Indymedia have EVERY right to sue
> Indymedia. It is not an idle threat, but an action of
> last resort.

Threats are not a way of constructively solving problems.

If you want people to accept to give you an editorial password
(via a proposal), then maybe you should show people that you
accept non-hierarchical methods rather than threats.

> I am coming to believe that the "local" element on
> India Indymedia newsire is more and more
> Hindutva-oriented and probably based in the US. The

The people making fascist posts to the newswire may 
well be based in the US. That would make it all the
more important to organise a *local* indymedia collective
in Kolkata, where editorial policy can be discussed
and consensed on.

Are you willing to catalyse a local collective in Kolkata?
http://docs.indymedia.org/view/Global/NewImcHowTo

> Indymedia movement are refusing to take action, taking
> their "devolution" model to such an extreme that it
> becomes tyranny. It is the attitude of the Indymedia

i don't see any tyranny. 

> movement that is hierarchical and WE are the people
> trying to open it up to greater accountability and
> transparency.

It is only since yesterday that it became known (at least
to me) that you live in Kolkata. i'm sure you must be
aware of the fact that expats (NRIs) living in rich 
countries are... generally richer than people living
in India and one of the hopes in the network is to avoid
having rich people dominate poor people in deciding how
to run independent media.

Anyway, hoping you do some recommended reading and try
doing some *work* on a constructive proposal.

boud