[IMC Bombay] Re: Networking with Insaaniyat
Shekhar Krishnan
kshekhar at bol.net.in
Thu, 8 Aug 2002 14:39:03 +0530
Dear Insaaniyat:
I wonder if you all can scan the logos for Insaaniyat and send them
around on e-mail, which is cheaper and easier for all of us to see if
we cannot make it to one of the meetings or we aren't in regular
contact with any of the people who are receiving hard copies.
Also, I was concerned that since many of us are unable to attend the
meetings of the various sub-groups because of time constraints or
locational difficulties, is it possible to facilitate more discussion
on e-mail about Insaaniyat. I and Rahul in PUKAR are part of the
Cultural Sub-Group and unfortunately have been unable to attend
several of the recent meetings, but there is no e-mail list that goes
around of who the other members are, in the Cultural Sub-Group or any
of the other Sub-Groups like Media, Law, and Education, about which I
hear a lot but never know when the meetings, who is attending them,
or how we can keep in touch with what is happening. The Insaaniyat
list on Yahoo Groups has been set-up, but the Cultural Sub-Group
mails come from Smriti, but we have no way of responding to everyone
else because their e-mails are bcc-ed and thus hidden from the
recipient.
I had raised this concern in the Cultural Sub-Group meeting that
happened in the PUKAR office, and perhaps was a bit too blunt in the
way I expressed myself, for which I apologise to everyone in the
group. However, it is a serious concern, since Insaaniyat functions
as a network, but information is often difficult to obtain within it
about what others are doing. Perhaps that is the design, and we would
prefer if things were kept decentralised and people work within their
own groups. However, the result has been that some people have been
inordinately burdened with managing things on behalf of everyone
else. Smriti Nevatia has done a heroic job of keeping the Cultural
Sub-Group running despite the odds. What I am suggesting is a more
regularised way of networking within the group, in which face-to-face
meetings, virtual discussions, minutes of meetings, sharing of
information, ideas and suggestions for activities, appeals for
volunteers, etc. are all put on the same platform which many people
can access. This would not only facilitate communication within
Insaaniyat and its Sub-Groups, but also be more effective for
reaching out to the public, not to mention lessen the burden on a
handful of individuals.
One way of doing this is to use the Bombay Independent Media Centre
(IMC), both the web-site and the list-serv, which several of us in
PUKAR and the Comet Media Foundation have set up for this purpose. I
am attaching information about it below. The advantage of the IMC is
that it is part of a global network of secular and progressive media
activists, and people all over the world will come to know of
Insaaniyat's activities. We also have more than two hundred
Bombay-based college students on the mailing list for the IMC, who
can serve as volunteers in colleges for putting up posters, helping
with events, coming to meetings and contributing their ideas. I
really hope that Insaaniyat and the Bombay IMC can work more closely
together. Sanjay and I have already posted whatever we have received
from Insaaniyat onto the IMC site, so please have a look at
http://mumbaidada.bandwidthcoop.org/.
The next meeting of the Bombay IMC is on Saturday 10 August at 5.30
p.m. at the Comet Media Foundation. Smriti said that some posters for
the 15 August Mela will be ready by that time, and we hope to
distribute the posters at this meeting so that people can take them
back to their neighbourhoods, colleges, and offices to put them up. I
hope that people in Insaaniyat can also attend this meeting, and help
us build links between our two networks.
Best
Shekhar
_____
Dear Friends:
As part of its continuing interactions with Mumbai college students
in mass media, arts and commerce courses across the metropolitan
region, PUKAR, along with the Comet Media Foundation and other NGOs,
is facilitating the creation of an Independent Media Centre (IMC) in
Mumbai.
"IndyMedia" has emerged globally as a non-hierarchical,
non-commercial platform for the production and circulation of
alternative news, opinions, and documentation. It is a medium created
and maintained by local, grass-roots networks of activists, students,
media practitioners and journalists organised around Independent
Media Centres (IMCs) all over the world. It is completely open and
inclusive of all opinions, providing a space for open publishing,
information sharing, networking around local issues, events and
protests. IMCs work towards open, democratic, and non-corporate news
and opinion. There are more than fifty IMCs on every continent,
managed autonomously with their own mission statements, resource
bases, and decision-making processes. For more information, visit
http://www.indymedia.org and the existing India site at
http://www.india.indymedia.org/.
The Bombay IMC works as a decentralised network of media producers
and analysts: students, professionals, scholars and sympathisers.
Pending our registration with the global Independent Media Centre
network, we have a web-site up at
http://mumbaidada.bandwidthcoop.org/. This site, like our network, is
completely open. You can publish your news, opinions, photos, videos,
creative expressions. You can freely make your own media and network
with others who do so. The Bombay IMC, and the network of "IndyMedia"
supporters is not be headed by any person, organisation, or
corporation, but will work as a loose and open collective, sharing
information and turning ideas into action.
To join the discussions within the Bombay IMC, go to
http://lists.indymedia.org/mailman/listinfo/imc-mumbai and enter your
name and password. To see our previous discussions, which are open
and public, go to
http://lists.indymedia.org/mailman/public/imc-mumbai/. We are using
this list to coordinate and network in our effort to spread the
message of IndyMedia in Bombay, discuss ideas for reporting and
documentation, and talk about organisational issues for the IMC.
The Bombay IMC's open meetings occur twice a month in Bombay: on the
second Saturday every month at 3.30 p.m. at the Comet Media
Foundation at Lamington Road, and on the fourth Friday every month at
5.30 p.m. at PUKAR near VT Station. For more information, contact
PUKAR at 2077779 or Comet Media Foundation at 3869052. Or e-mail
<pukar@bol.net.in>
In solidarity,
Sanjay Bhangar, Shekhar Krishnan and Rahul Srivastava
PUKAR
Chandita Mukherjee and Patricia Mascarenhas
Comet Media Foundation
_____
Shekhar Krishnan
9, Supriya, 2nd Floor
Plot 709, Parsee Colony Road No.4
Dadar, Bombay 400014
India