[IndyMedia Bombay] PLEASE READ: Progress on IMC Mumbai

[PUKAR @ IndyMedia]

Dear IndyMedia Network:

As you can see from the responses to our technical queries, we are 
moving ahead with setting up the IMC (Independent Media Centre) 
Mumbai web site, which will definitely be up by 1 August, as agreed 
in our meetings. We should also have a meeting next week about 
expanding the network, progress on projects.

IMPORTANT: In order to complete our registration with the global IMC 
network, we must approve several documents collectively. These are 
being sent in separate e-mails to you: 1. the IMC Principles of Unity 
and 2. our responses to the IMC Membership Criteria. drafted by 
Shekhar and Sanjay THESE TWO DOCUMENTS MUST BE PASSED BY EVERYONE ON 
THIS LIST BY SUNDAY 14 JULY. Any objections/additions to the 
Principles of Unity and Membership Criteria responses must be 
communicated  to this list and discussed by then.

Please also send a self-introduction about yourself, your interest in 
IndyMedia, if you would like this to be communicated as part of IMC 
Mumbai's members' introductions. Also being sent to you is the 
"Global IMC Overview" which is on the New IMCs site 
(http://newimc.indymedia.org/) to which you should react.

We are also moving ahead with content provision and documentation 
from student volunteers to the IMC. Several of these will hopefully 
be up and online by the end of the month as well. The IndyMedia 
documentation projects are, briefly:

1. Project on Water in the City
  (Nirupa Bhangar, Karin Menezes)
A multi-sided initiative on: Urban Water Harvesting, Women and Water, 
School Education about Water. With facts about water supply, location 
of water infrastructure in the city and consumption patterns, lists 
of NGOs and architect-planners involved in water management, and 
information about rural drought, water scarcity, and migration to the 
city. Some of the places to be documented and visited are the Narmada 
Valley, clusters of villages in Thane District, and a Coca-Cola water 
bottling plant on tribal lands near Thane. This project will also 
have a presentation slot during the PUKAR Monsoon series of events at 
the end of July/beginning of August.

2. Indo-Pak Project
(Shubhangi, Nazia, Shivangi)
Report of a visit to South Asian students meeting in Singapore 
recently, as well as reporting and facts about other Indo-Pak related 
issues.

3. Interview with Film-Maker Anand Patwardhan
(Riddhi Shah)
Interview with Patwardhan on his battles with the Censor Board with 
his recent film War & Peace and with his earlier films.

4. Reporting on Abdul Kalam
(Nihalf Mohammed)
About the media personality being created around Abdul Kalam, the 
scientist who made the Indian Bomb, and who will soon become 
President of India.

5. The Tyranny of Mediocrity: Brands and Consumerism
(Rachel Lopez and Eklavya Gupte)
Questioning the tyranny of mediocre ideas of what is cool and 
popular, and how brands and consumerism construct these desires to be 
the same. What is the political economy of this desire? What does it 
mean to be different, to make your own choices? Several of us have 
been reading Naomi Klein's book on brands and anti-globalization, "No 
Logo", which is at the PUKAR office and a copy is also floating 
around.

6. PUKAR @ IndyMedia
(Sanjay Bhangar and Shekhar Krishnan)
Bulletins of events/protests/meetings/discussions, interesting 
articles, and updates on the progress being made with the IMC Mumbai 
at PUKAR, Comet Media Foundation and with other organisations 
involved in the IndyMedia network. We hope that other NGOs, resource 
centres, and collectives can post their own news to the IMC Mumbai 
list-serv to develop it as a networking tool across the city region.


Please write to the list if you can input or help on any of these 
small projects for IndyMedia, or suggest your own project and do it 
for the upcoming IMC Mumbai web-site. It can be in print, audio, film 
or any other form, on any issue of concern to you. And if anyone can 
help on the technical side of the web site, please contact Shekhar 
Krishnan at PUKAR, 2077779 (office), 98200.45529 (mobile), or Sanjay 
Bhangar of IMC Mumbai at 4945046 (residence), 98206.02831 (mobile). 
We need all the help we can get from all of you!

Solidarity,


Shekhar Krishnan and Sanjay Bhangar
PUKAR and IMC Mumbai
_____

PUKAR (Partners for Urban Knowledge Action & Research)
P.O. Box 5627
Dadar, Mumbai 400014, India
E-Mail <pukarsecretariat@vsnl.net>
Phone +91 (022) 2077779, +91 98200.45529, +91 98204.04010
Web Site http://www.pukar.org.in/