[New-imc] virtual palestine and non-local imc's
Jay
jay at tao.ca
Wed Jul 25 23:28:31 PDT 2001
Hi everyone,
Some quick comments on the concept of having issue-based IMCs. I'm
including in my general definition of "issue-based IMCs" any project about
a geographic area that doesn't have people from that geographic area
involved. For example, to me, an IMC-Venus could easily be listed on the
left column if there are people in Venus organizing it. Otherwise, it
seems to me to be more of a project about the issue of Venus. (an
exception would likely be made for ex-pats from Venus who found the
atmosphere oppressive and therefore could not organize there)
Just thoughts here, from my very tired brain. For a while I've been in
favor our our developing Indymedia Issue Pages, projects run in accordance
with most if not all Indymedia principles that focus on keeping people
updated about a particular issue. Currently, finding information about a
particular issue on the global IMC site is nearly impossible. I've given
up trying to use the search function since it is sooooo slow. I think our
having a better system for organizing information and making it more
accessible will be a step forward. Issue pages could be a move in that
direction. I've been envisioning our listing issue pages, if techincally
possible, at "http://www.indymedia.org/XXXXX" rather than
"http://XXXXX.indymedia.org" to firmly indicate that our priority is on
geographically-based organizing. Otherwise, perhaps we could use the many
www.indymedia.org features we have as a jumping-off point for issue-based
organizing. By that I mean that I think the time has come for us to start
using our wonderful store of features as a growing source of background
information. Rather than have them disappear from the front page into some
sort of abyss, I think we should organize, let's say, all the features
dealing with labor issues onto "http://www.indymedia.org/labor" and invite
people involved in labor organizing to keep them updated. These issue
pages wouldn't have to have a newswire attached to them, though if a group
is organized around an issue, let's say like the Climate IMC, they could
develop a submission and posting system and/or open a newswire that
maintains a clear focus on the issue. Also, in a later version of the
Active code, perhaps we would be able to have people categorize their posts
and those posts about that issue would appear on the issue page? WOULD
THIS STEP ON LOCAL IMC ORGANIZING? That's a good question, and perhaps the
most difficult one. I don't have any answers. Will people interested in
labor go only to the labor issue site to see updates, or will they go to
the labor site for labor updates and local IMCs for other things? I'm not
sure.
This type of solution may give us a place to categorize something like the
Climate site, but a virtual-palesetine may be a difficult issue. No matter
how exciting the VirtualPalestine site may be, if it's not coordinated by
Palestinians I personally would not be in favor of us calling it
IMC-Palestine. However, this seems to be a site set up by Palestinian
ex-pats, and that may be another story. Ugh. Can anyone locate
information from the people in Palestine who wanted to form an IMC?
Perhaps someone from IMC-Israel is in touch with them? A great solution
would be for IMC-Palestine to form as a joint project of Virtual Palestine
and people in Palestine now.
Diffucult issues ahead, but all due to the fact that so many people are
doing so much good work,
Jay
At 7/2/01 , you wrote:
>Hey,
>
>enda just sent me this press release about virtualpalestine.org which i
>think you will all be interested
>in...she is also now in touch with electronic intifada. Sounds amazing, and
>i think it should trigger a debate
>in this working group regarding whether we will ever let indymedia move out
>of the locally-based norm.
>Personally, i know that we can't be everything for everyone, but if a group
>like this asks to be recognized
>as an imc, (i.e. want us to link to them) we should figure out how to
>reconcile that with our location-
>based bias.
>
>A similar conversation has been brewing on the sidelines for a year now
>about a youth.indymedia.org.
>Slightly different issue, but again we should consider a wide range of
>possiblities and how we would deal
>with them. One suggestion i liked that dealt with that particular request,
>as well as "issue based" IMC
>requests in general, is www.indymedia.org/youth which places it in a perhaps
>appropriatley different
>category.
>
>i'd be interested to know what your theories are on all this
>xox
>ana
>
> --
>
>
> Virus Media Pty Ltd, 4/6 The Boulevarde, Lewisham, NSW 2049
> Telephone / Fax 00 61 (0)2 9569 1313 Mobile 0407 011176
> Email enda at virusmedia.com.au
> Website <www.virusmedia.com.au>
>
>
> Press Release - Immediate 3/7/2001
>
> New Palestinian youth portal to be launched in Sydney -
>www.virtualpalestine.org
>
> The Virtual Palestine website will be launched into cyberspace with a
>live internet
> music
> performance and a video linkup with young people in Palestine on
>Thursday, July 12 at
>
> the Australian Palestinian Club, 387 Guildford Rd. Guildford .
>
> The Virtual Palestine website is a cutting edge arts initiative,
>developed by young
> Palestinians in Sydney to establish a creative cyber presence for the
>global
> Palestinian
> diaspora. The site uses both English and Arabic.
>
> Sally Dabit, a participant in the project, said, “With Virtual
>Palestine we have an
> opportunity to claim our cyberspace, to express ourselves
>artistically, politically
> and
> independently, in new, young and dynamic ways.”
>
> Virtual Palestine’s content is based around artistic explorations of
>Palestinian
> culture,
> examining individual experiences of identity, culture and place.
>
> This is reflected in the different creative zones of the website a
>gallery; a
> personal
> profile where people can tell their own stories; a map locator for
>Palestinians to
> relate
> where they live now to where their family originally lived in
>Palestine; and a music
> creation area. A news and current affairs area is linked to the
>Indymedia Global
> independent news network.
>
> Stereotypes are challenged, with the opportunity to 'throw your own
>rock' into orbit
> in
> the stonethrower area. Here people can stuff their frustrations
>into a ball and
> send it into
> cyberspace. This plays upon media images of stone-throwers in the
>current Palestinian
>
> Intifada. Reflecting the aims of Virtual Palestine, it transforms a
>negative image
> into
> something positive.
>
> In the course of its creation, Virtual Palestine stimulated robust
>debate among the
> participants about identity and representation, most notably in
>deciding the front
> page
> image for the web site. Patrick Abboud, one of the participants on
>the Virtual
> Palestine
> project said, "We want to move away from what we usually see and hear
>in the
> mainstream media. We want to dispel stereotypical myths, shift
>negativity, oppression
>
> and destruction into positivety. We want the freedom to say and do as
>we please
> without
> being censored."
>
> The launch of Virtual Palestine signals that the debate about
>Palestine - and for
> Palestine -
> has moved to a younger, technologically savvy generation with its own
>dreams, ideals
> and
> visions of place, identity and homeland.
>
> The Virtual Palestine project began in May and the young participants
>in the project
> have
> been taking part in intensive training workshops at Metro Screen in
>Paddington, The
> Soundhouse at the Powerhouse Museum and the Indymedia Centre in
>Newtown. They
> have used digital cameras and high end computers, working with
>broadcast and industry
>
> professionals who introduced them to software programs such as
>Photoshop, Media 100,
> Dreamweaver, Flash animation and the revolutionary DASE midi music
>package which
> allows one to jam on the internet with partners in other countries.
>The site also
> uses
> software developed in Sydney which enables anyone to publish directly
>on to the world
>
> wide web and truly democratises the internet.
>
> The Virtual Palestine website will be launched with a live internet
>jam using DASE in
>
> collaboration with the Elefant Tracks independent record label.
>Reflecting the
> project’s
> emphasis on the need for the Palestinian diaspora to connect and
>communicate, a live
> webcam linkup will take place with a similar youth communication
>project "Across
> Borders" in a Palestinian refugee camp near Jerusalem. "Across
>Borders," is
> equipping
> and training Palestinians in refugee camps to use the internet to
>communicate with
> the
> outside world.
>
> Development pages (work in progress until live launch on July 12) can
>be viewed at
> www.cat.org.au/virpal/vp_design/virtual_palestine_arch.htm
>
> The site URL will be at <www.virtualpalestine.org> from July 12th
>onwards.
>
> The Virtual Palestine project is funded by the Community Cultural
>Development Unit of
>
> the Australia Council and supported by Metro Screen, the Powerhouse
>Museum, the
> Sydney Indymedia Centre, the Australian Palestinian Club, the Council
>of Australian
> Palestinians, Cat at lyst Technology, Singularity Web Hosting, Elefant
>Tracks
> Independent Record Label.
>
> The Virtual Palestine project is coordinated by Virus Media.
>
> ABOUT VIRUS MEDIA
> Virus Media is a social change media production company specialising
>in producing
> cutting edge art in collaboration with young people. The company
>recently produced
> the
> award winning short film "Road" with Koori young people in Redfern,
>Sydney. "Road"
> has already screened on SBS and in major film festivals in Europe and
>in numerous
> short
> film and indigenous festivals in Sydney. The "Road" website documents
>the process of
> collaborative production complete with participant comments and can
>be viewed at
> <www.virusmedia.com.au>
>
> The directors of Virus Media are Enda Murray and Monique Potts. Enda
>has has been
> creating art with young people for 19 years in Ireland, UK, Europe,
>USA and
> Australia.
> Monique Potts has a long history of working in youth media projects
>in Western
> Sydney.
>
>
>
>
>
> For more information about the launch or to arrange interviews with
the
> participants or developers contact:
>
> Enda Murray,
> (phone/fax) 02 9569 1313
> (mobile) 0407 011176
> enda at virusmedia.com.au
> Project Director of Virtual Palestine
>
> Diaa Hadid,
> 0411 966 892
> diaa_hadid at yahoo.com
> Press Representative for Virtual Palestine (English/Arabic)
>
> Patrick Abboud, 0403 233 448
> p-abb at hotmail.com
> participant (English/Arabic)
>
>
> Launch details
> The Australian Palestinian Club,
> 387 Guildford Rd, Guildford, NSW 2161
>
> 100 metres from Guildford Station
>
> 7:00 - 9:00 PM
> Refreshments provided. All welcome!
>
>****
>teargas blinds and disperses... don't let the media do the same
>_______________________________________________
>New-imc mailing list
>New-imc at lists.indymedia.org
>http://lists.indymedia.org/mailman/listinfo/new-imc
More information about the New-imc
mailing list