[imc-tech-solidarity] Timeline & Bad News

[evan]

Hey folks we've got to get moving on this. Eddy and Forrest went down 
and had a chat with the folks at ACCRC. They tried to buy us some more 
time to be able to store the servers. But they didn't get much.

They had to give 30 of the older computers from our shipment to get 
another two weeks of being able to keep our pallets there.  You can do 
the math, but what it means is if we want to have any computers left to 
ship, or get computers from ACCRC in the future we need to ship them 
out really soon.

There are two problems we face. First the paperwork to receive the 
computers in either uruguay, brazil, or argentina is not done. We need 
to get this paperwork done before the container ships. That means 
within the next two weeks!

Secondly we do not have the money to ship. I have worked on raising 
some money but the restrictions put by Argentina indymedia make it hard 
and i have only been able to raise a couple hundred dollars of the 
$7000 we need. Josh in portland is working with an NGO which might 
provide shipping for free. Although they would also not qualify under 
Argentina's strict yet not clearly defined rules. They are not 
leftists, they get money from Microsoft, Nike, and various governments. 
They would be doing us a HUGE favor by shipping our container for free. 
What they do is ship millions of dollars of humanitarian relief goods 
every year.

So we either need to raise at least the initial $2800 (needed to ship 
the container) in the next two weeks or we need to consider 
alternatives.

Those are:
	* Giving the computers to ACCRC/Freegeek and canceling the project.
	* Shipping with the OSI (George Soros) / TMF money. Which means no 
computers to imc argentina.
	* Raising the money needed through mythical solidarity networks.
	* Potentially shipping for free with MercyCorps - Probably also not to 
argentina indymedia.
	* Sending the container to Brazil indymedia instead - Still need 
funding.
	* Using the computers to supply imc's in the US as part of a 'tech 
caravan'

I already raised money for this project once. Specifically, Blicero and 
the Argentina IMC need to pay attention and raise the money NOW or this 
project can not happen. That means actually writing the features and 
setting up the pay pal for donations. Sending the funding letter, 
already written, to X-Y and other funders you would support receiving 
money from. WIthout fundraising progress we need to consider 
alternatives including either to not  include the argentina imc or to 
cancel shipment all together.

in solidarity,
evan