[New-imc] ZIMBABWE

[Jay]

Hi Raj,

This is Jay from the IMC-Philadelphia and the new-imc working list.  I
think we've been in touch before in some way, shape or form, haven't we?
Thanks for filling out the new-imc application and getting the ball rolling
on an IMC-Zimbabwe.  I've been to Zimbabwe and am reasonably familiar with
the situation there -- an IMC would be a great and, you're right,
potentially dangerous thing.  I'm glad to see you'll be heading to Zimbabwe
to organize.  As you can imagine, an important if not essential aspect of
being a local IMC site is to be primarily organized by "people on the
ground," people who live in an area so the IMC can really be a grassroots
media project rather than something brought by outsiders.  Different IMCs
that don't initially have many people involved from a particular place have
worked out different things on the way toward developing local
coordination, so there are many possible ways for this to proceed.  In the
meantime, as I think Boud has mentioned, the listwork at indymedia.org would
be happy to set you up with an imc-zimbabwe list if you're ready to ask.
As for specifics of how open to be, that's a difficult question to answer.
So far we've supported total openness but of course in some places that's
not possible.  I guess the operative thing is for the project to find a way
to be open to participation from people with a lot of different ideas,
basically so no one group or individual can control the IMC.  I like Boud's
suggestion of working in some way with NGOs or "safer" groups, if only to
have meetings in their offices.  Having an IMC in Zimbabwe is certainly
possible, and I'm really excited about the possibility of helping it
progress.  

Be in touch when you get to Zimbabwe and/or have solid "on the ground"
participation, at which time we'll start the practical discussions about
how to pull the IMC together.  You may also feel free to contact
imc-tech at indymedia.org and let the tech team know something is in the
formative stages.  

Thanks, and keep in touch,

Jay

At 04:34 PM, 1/14/02, rcp9 at cornell.edu wrote:
>
>A proposed new IMC is being requested.
>Details are as follows:
>
>Proposed IMC Name:	Zimbabwe
>Contact Name:		Raj Patel
>Email:			rcp9 at cornell.edu
>Phone:			+44 7956 314026
>City:			Temporary: London
>State:			
>Country:		
>Tech Contact Name:	
>Tech Contact Email:	rcp9 at cornell.edu
>Tech Contact Phone:	
>Regional Focus:		yes
>Issue Focus:		%issue%
>Event Focus:		%event%
>Critical Dates:		March 2002 elections
>Supporting Groups:	
>Other comments:		
>Resources to contribute: Information!
>
>Why we want to be an IMC: Times are hard for the media in Zimbabwe. Even the 
>government sponsored press, bless them, are having their knuckles rapped for 
>the slightest deviation from the party line. Last week, Robert Mugabe banned 
>all independent media in Zimbabwe. With elections coming up in January, the 
>time for alternative media has never been greater. Editors of the leading 
>newspapers have been gagged, and radical groups have little way of getting 
>information about struggles in rural areas to the outside world.
>
>The proposed Zimbabwe indymedia centre would not, however, be a one-shot 
>deal, based around the March elections. There is a welter of truth and 
>knowledge that needs to be aired in Zimbabwe. While those in the development 
>industry have their own channels and access to the media, many do not. 
>Internet cafes are in most towns, and there seems to be a fair bit of 
>interest in something like this. I have talked to activists in ‘development’ 
>as well as radical fellow travellers in socialist, anarchist and other 
>organisations in Harare. I plan to go there later next month to organise 
>further. 
>
>We have some problems, though. We cannot host a site in Zimbabwe ­ the 
>government will come in and smash us, and the computers, up. Open meetings 
>are going to be difficult too ­ the secret police already monitor many of 
>us, and placing an advertisement in a paper to publicise the meeting will 
>scare away precisely the people we’d like to have write for the site. One 
>option, and perhaps a better one, would be to organise online. It’d be 
>helpful to get some sort of list going to do this. Again, for the reasons 
>mentioned above, a Zimbabwe-based list isn’t viable. And although it is 
>certain that the police will infiltrate any other list, meetings on the net 
>put individual writers in less personal jeopardy. 
>
>We’d like to get something up and running soonish, though. The elections 
>draw ever closer, and it’s going to be increasingly hard to find out what 
>the hell is going on in Zimbabwe from any source ­ foreign journalists have 
>been deported, and the arrests of independent local journalists cannot be 
>far off. The possibility of anonymous and widespread posting is one way of 
>militating against this. 
>
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