[New-imc] Iran- imc

[Petros Evdokas]

Subject: Re: [New-imc] Participation on this list (was
PROCESS - rethinking thislist ?)
Date: Tue, 10 Dec 2002 14:37:39 +0100
From: "blue pi" <blue.pi at my-mail.ch>
To: petros_cyprus at burleehost.net,
new-imc at lists.indymedia.org




Upps, I am sorry. I didn't mean to take away your work
field at all, it just sounded like I should, in fact
I'm fine if you keep doing the M.E. as your internet
connection couldn't be worse than mine :)
So what do we do about Iran now? You want to take over
or should I stay on it?

blue

---------------- 

Hello again,

For the particular new contact with a perspective
Iran-imc group, I'd like to just be part of the
dialogue for now, especially the political leg of
whatever dialogue evolves on it - this, politics, is
the most important reason Indymedia exists, and it
should be guiding all the alliances and decisions we
are making. We lack terribly in that department - the
"talking politics department". My main concern is that
the dominant ideologies and approaches to organization
among us, in Indymedia, are very US/Euro- centric and
therefore they include elements which are either
inappropriate, unfeasible, or downright dangerous when
it comes to being applied in communities which are
facing war, overt dictatorships, mass conflict, civil
war, etc, as we face all over the Middle East - I am
specifically refering to ideologies and practices
regarding accountability, centralism, direct democracy,
questions of "open" vs. "selected" membership, and
similar concerns, which we unthinkingly sometimes
impose on new colleagues. 

In practical terms, if we simply use the "CC" function
of our emails, and just keep the dialogue shared by all
who are interested, it should be good enough for now.
Please feel free to take whatever initiatives toward
better actualizing this new contact with our Iran-
based friends, or as you said, please "stay on it".


By the way, Blue, when I read what you wrote here:
"Speaking for myself: Here in Beirut I only have
internet access at work, only one person in our
indymedia group has Internet at home and it always
breaks down, e.g. after every rainfall, which is quite
often now in winter. So this makes it difficult to
participate on all kinds of lists."

...I couldn't stop laughing, because right outside our
building there is a spot on the street with a large
round metal plate that's "magickal": every time a heavy
truck goes over it, I loose my internet connnection.
And when it rains, the largest internet service
provider in the country goes out of business for a
while. Life in the Middle East is full of endless
surprises.

Looking forward to hearing from you and our new
contacts in Iran about politics and the kind of
alliance we can build together as Indymedia.

Petros
http://PetrosEvdokas.mainpage.net
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