[Imc-lwg-work] Re: [Imc-finance] PROPOSAL: empowering imc-finance BLOCK & AMMENDMENTS

[Amber Black]

The wmass imc met yesterday and discussed both the original finance group 
empowering proposal and this block/amendment.  I bring our group's 
questions/concerns back to this discussion.

The proposed amendment states:

>"A local IMC group that actively does work for the Indymedia network 
>*beyond its
>local (geographical) autonomous activities* can be (via its liason) part 
>of the
>Finance Working Group - empowered to make network decisions. That is: the 
>fact
>that a local IMC group exists does not automatically justify its network
>decision-making rights in the Finance Working Group."

We're uncomfortable about making "actively do(ing) work for the Indymedia 
network" a prerequisite condition for a local imc to be allowed to have a 
representative in the Finance Working Group.  For one thing, we're not sure 
about the range of contributions that could be considered "work for the 
network", and we'd really appreciate some concrete suggestions about what 
network-wide work an imc and/or individuals within an imc can do.

Next, we're concerned that this prerequisite will exclude newer groups who 
have not yet figured out how to contribute, or who are most in need of 
resources, assistance, and to be part of the learning and sharing that goes 
on in a global working group.  Excluding imc's that are not contributing 
seems to risk perpetuating the status quo:  that is to say, imc's who are 
"working" for the network will run the show and hold the power; the other 
imc's will be left in the role of asking for handouts and not sharing the 
power of participating and decision making.

Also this concept may be self-defeating, in that one way a local imc could 
contribute work might be *through* their participation in the Finance 
Working Group (for example, wouldn't acting as a facilitator be considered 
"work" for the network?).

We definitely recognize that there need to be safeguards so that rogue 
interests or individuals are not  empowered to disrupt or monopolize, and 
so that local imc's don't see interaction with the global network as a 
one-way street (i.e., as a place to go for hand-outs, with no 
responsibility to "give back").  But wmass imc feels this proposed 
amendment could create additional imbalances of power within the network, 
so we don't support it.

Instead, we support the empowerment proposal in its original form, or would 
be open to considering some other mechanism to address the issues of 
two-way participation.

-Amber
wmass (Western Massachusetts)

PS  I'm the only empowered liaison from wmass right now, but we're actively 
encouraging someone additional to come on board so we'll have the suggested 
two representatives.



At 03:07 PM 4/11/2002 +0000, you wrote:
>Hello everyone,
>
>
>SUMMARY
>
>We are blocking the imc-finance proposal in its current state, we explain the
>reason why, and suggest the actual ammendment needed to approve the proposal
>quickly - as we appreciate that the proposal is very much needed.
>
>
>-------------------------proposal extract--------------------------
>--Be composed of "empowered liaisons" from as many local IMCs as possible, as
>well as individuals from around the network.  All who join this working group
>list must present a roll call.  Individuals who join the group must be 
>there to
>actively do work.  The imc-finance working group will send out an 
>invitation to
>participate to all IMCs on the contact list, and will do so at least every
>three months.
>------------------------------end proposal extract-----------------
>
>
>CONTRADICTION WITH IMC-PROCESS PROPOSAL
>
>1) This contradicts the logic of the other proposal to transform the imc-
>process into a liason list: becuase in this imc-finance proposal, individuals
>that actively do work are recognized as decision-makers *equally* with local
>IMCs; whereas in the imc-process proposal, individuals are differentiated as
>*not being equal* decision-makers with local IMC groups.
>[For analysis that the imc-process list proposal is about decision-making
>please see
>http://lists.indymedia.org/mailman/public/imc-process/2002-April/003101.html ]
>
>Note: This is a positive aspect of the imc-finance proposal. Becuase it is
>recognizes the underlying problem of identifying who actually contributes 
>work
>in Indymedia: some individuals who are not in any local or global group
>*equally* with local IMC groups. In other words: any one person=one group if
>they actively do work.
>
>2) REASON FOR AN AMMENDMENT NEEDED:
>
>The logic that a decision-maker is someone who actually does work is applied
>incompletely in the imc-finance proposal: becuase the reverse case is not
>considered by it: a local IMC group _does not_ deliberately input into the
>network. Such IMCs contribute by existing, but no more than that. But this
>level of contribution is not adequate enough for Indymedia to be a network
>greater than the sum of its parts. However this proposal would still give 
>them
>the curcuitry, and so effectively the rights of decision-making ability 
>_about
>network issues_; the most significant decision-making right in such a case is
>the ability to block proposals. So the imc-finance proposal in its current
>state will also worsen this existing imbalance in the Indymedia network.
>
>THE AMMENDMENT NEEDED:
>A local IMC group that actively does work for the Indymedia network 
>*beyond its
>local (geographical) autonomous activities* can be (via its liason) part 
>of the
>Finance Working Group - empowered to make network decisions. That is: the 
>fact
>that a local IMC group exists does not automatically justify its network
>decision-making rights in the Finance Working Group.
>
>
>Richard Malter & Toni Prug
>  --------------------------
>| imc london working group |
>  --------------------------
>one of the two London groups that administer the IMC UK website.
>http://lists.indymedia.org/mailman/listinfo/imc-london-wg-general
>
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