[imc-tech-solidarity] DRAFT: Funding Letter for South America Computer Shipment

[evan@protest.net]

This is a draft draft draft. So please give me feedback. Also i'd be nice
if somebody proof read it. Once it's done, or perhaps now we should get it
translated in to spanish and sent to the relevent indymedia mailinglists
to get more feedback.

Don't forward this on with out getting permission from me first.

Computers for Indymedia and Allies in Argentina and South American
Countries

For the past three years Indymedia has been building a participatory
network of grassroots communication centers around the world to empower
activists and social movements to become their own media.

To extend this mission, we are engaging in a dissident version of Digital
Divide work. Refurbishing computers and shipping them to indymedia centers
in the global south. First, we shipped 235 computers and related equipment
to Ecuador in November. Now we are working on a second shipment of 250
computers to Argentina and from there to Chile, Bolivia, Uruguay, and
Southern Brasil.
An article about our first shipment on salon.com explains a little more
background on the project.
http://www.salon.com/tech/feature/2002/09/23/antiglobal_geeks/

With globalization we are facing a world were communication has become
critically important. Marginalized groups are struggling to make a world
worth living in for themselves and all of humanity. To articulate and
advance their work they need access to computers by which then can
communicate and create their own media. These computers will be used to
equip a series of indymedia centers with full computer labs. We will also
be using the computers as an opportunity to wire and bring online the
breadth of the grassroots movement against neoliberalism including
neighborhood popular assemblies in their community centers, community
radio stations, and many other groups.

We have already received the computers as donations in the US and
refurbished them. Our partners in the US are ACCRC (Alameda County
Computer Resource Center) in Oakland, CA and FreeGeek in Portland, OR.
There are 250 computers ready to be shipped provided we can find ram for
the last 50 computers.

The computers range from 100mhz to 450mhz Pentium I's and II's. The
average box is a 200mhz Pentium pro with 128 megs of ram. We've included
300 15 inch monitors to account for some lose during shipping. There are a
dozen scanners, several dozen printers, a few copiers/fax machines, 40
hubs and switches, boxes of ethernet cable, and everything else needed to
setup activist computer media labs. A full shipment weighs about 9 metric
tons.

We had raised money for this shipment and on the ground training through a
grant to the Open Society Institute. But the Argentina Indymedia Center
has had to refuse this money because they fear that taking money from
George Soros will endanger their reputation and independence within
Argentine social movements. For this reason we need develop alternate
sources of funding. We hope to still use the OSI funding in countries and
with groups where it is less politically sensitive.

The timeline for this project is quite short. We are unable to store the
computers in the Oakland warehouse at ACCRC for very long because they
need the space. The political problems with the money we had raised has
made the situation a little more dificult. Any money we are able to raise
will need to be approved by the recepiant indymedia centers in the global
south. In addition the political situation in many of the countries is
urgent. Argentina is in crisis and there were recently more than a dozen
activists in bolivia killed after activists blocked some highways.

Project Budget:
  Shipping Container Oakland -> South America            $2800
  Shipping within the US to Oakland warehouse            $500
  Fees and Paperwork in Argentina for Customs            $3000
  Logistics, storage, and expenses in Argentina          $500

                                               Total:    $6800



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