[New-imc] Brisbane IMC

[boud]

<cross-post imc-brisbane at lists.cat.org.au, new-imc>

answer to:
http://lists.indymedia.org/mailman/public/new-imc/2002-June/003613.html

earlier messages to new-imc:
hello message:
http://lists.indymedia.org/mailman/public/new-imc/2002-January/002620.html
replies from jay:
http://lists.indymedia.org/mailman/public/new-imc/2002-January/002631.html 
http://lists.indymedia.org/mailman/public/new-imc/2002-January/002676.html

tech help from Oceania group:
http://lists.cat.org.au/pipermail/imc-sydney/2001-December/000297.html



G'day cobbers,
  Sorry if noone from new-imc answered you so far - remember we're all
volunteers and like most activists trying to do more than we possibly
have time to... (And the big news in mainstream newspapers here in
Poland is that shipyard workers - does that ring a bell? - are
protesting... against the *re-nationalisation* of their shipyard in
the North-West corner near Germany.  But would they prefer a private
cooperative or a private authoritarian dictatorship, as in most
private companies? This is the sort of "subtle" question which simply
is not asked in the "free" press, instead the "debate" is about
slightly non-authoritarian (via formal democracy) govt ownership
versus authoritarian private ownership...)

Anyway, back to banana-bending territory ;).  There are some great
posts on your site, it's clear that the Brizzie gang is fair dinkum.


On Tue, 4 Jun 2002, Just Danni wrote:

>  It's the gang from Brissie here, just wanting to make contact again
> after a hectic few months (social forum, fundraising gigs etc
> etc). We of the Brisbane Independent Media Collective have got our
> site up and running, are working towards opening our space up and
> would like to finalise the official imc process/paperwork etc. A few
> months ago Jay directed us the the new-imc process website, which is
> now updated and we're on top of the paperwork side of things; just
> wondering if there's anything else we should do? Any hints or tips
> or recommendations? Any last-minute ideas? Cheers to everyone
> involved for doing a ripper job! Hope you're having a great day!

Well, first a few random comments:

(1) Suggestions for better info on how people can contact you.

On your site, it's difficult to find any info on your mailing lists.

http://www.brisbane.indymedia.org/about.php3
Here i can only find info on the announcement list, plus how to email
to the general list, but no link to the archives, which can all be
found at:

http://lists.cat.org.au/
> brisbane lists   
> Imc-brisbane The indymedia brisbane organising/discussion list 
> Imc-brisbane-editorial brisbane imc editorial collective 
> Imc-brisbane-fundraising brisbane imc fundraising collective 
> Imc-brisbane-kill-your-tv (video and multimedia) indykids 
> Imc-brisbane-space brisbane independent media space 
> Imc-brisbane-tech brisbane imc technical collective 

IMHO, it would be good to add this to the about.php3 page so that
people can get involved much more easily, without having to wait
for a reply from the imc-brisbane mailing list. 

Some of these lists (e.g. imc-brisbane-editorial) have open archives,
and if people can get to these easily, it will be easier to tell
paranoiacs who believe they've been censored to get involved
constructively...

(2) Suggestion to open the imc-brisbane archive to non-subscribers,
at least for web surfers to read it, but.

IMCs are supposed to be open, and it would make it easier for people
to join you and also to develop trust, or to encourage people to
cross-post useful info, if the imc-brisbane archive were readable to
arbitrary web users. Although some groups with high security risks
prefer member-only archives, and i realise that Queensland has the
reputation of being one of the more fascist states in Oz (weren't
gatherings of more than 5 people illegal and broken up by police back
during the Bjolke-Petersen regime in the 1980's?),but an open archive
can also be an advantage for security questions, since (i) it's more
difficult for a government to claim that a group is dangerous, since
too many people can independently check and see that this is bullshit,
and (ii) the secret services are convinced that it's less dangerous
because it's not secret...

Of course, the choice is yours. You should think about it, but.

(3) Open meetings. I couldn't find any info (maybe my fault) on
where/when you hold public, open meetings.

It would be good if you could add this info somewhere obvious on the
site, but.


OK, now for the 10 steps from http://newimc.indymedia.org :

> NEW IMC PROCESS - HOW IT WORKS


"THE NEW-IMC PROCESS:
Please look up the 
http://newimc.indymedia.org
site, in particular the ten steps:

> 1.Pre-organizing: the first step is to talk with people in your community
and try to get the sense if there is interest in
forming an IMC. 

> 2.Look at the documents linked at this site (see below). 

> 3.When you think you're really ready to do some good organizing, fill out
the form at the bottom of this page. 

> 4.Open a mailing list: newlist.indymedia.org 

> 5.O - R - G - A - N - I - Z - E !!!! 

> 6.With your forming collective, write a mission statement (see below) and
editorial policy, maybe contact imc-tech at this stage. 

> 7.When you're really ready, and only when you're ready, reply to each of
the membership criteria points one by one, and send to
> new-imc at indymedia.org. 

> 8.Your new-imc contact proposes your site to new-imc, if no one blocks
within 3 days, this is passed to imc-process; if no one
blocks
> there within 7 days, you become part of the network and are put on the
cities.inc list once your web site is ready. 

> 9.The fun begins. Get involved in the global lists and Indymedia
discussions and decisions. Offer to work with other
IMCs from your area
> or elsewhere around the world. Do good work. 

> 10.Change the world, for the better of course. We wouldn't expect
anything less. "

You've clearly done 1, 2, 4 (many lists!) and 5.

i think you say you've done 6a, 6b, mission statement + editorial policy.
Could you give us the URLs to these, or post the text?

i think you can probably forget about 3, since you're way past that stage
and your mailing lists (above) easily cover all the contact requirements.
(actually, i guess we in PL are guilty of not having done 3 yet... mea
culpa) 

We're waiting for 7 - the membership criteria.


WHAT'S LEFT TO DO:

So, could you please send us at new-imc either the text or URLs of 

* 6a mission statement

* 6b editorial policy   
(The fact that you have an open archive list 

> Imc-brisbane-editorial brisbane imc editorial collective 

already defines a practical aspect of the policy, but it's probably
better to be more specific and say what, if any, articles you want to
hide, i.e. double posts, spam, racist material, incitations to
violence, ...)

and 

* could you please sit down (or stand up, whatever you prefer ;) at
your next face-to-face meeting and go through the membership criteria:

http://lists.indymedia.org/mailman/public/new-imc/2001-May/000155.html

and send us a version edited with what you think of each of the points.
By the sounds of it, this should be fairly easy, but what most people
in Indymedia seem to think is that it's important to make sure that
people really have thought through each of these points. 



SUMMARY:
So, apart from my suggestions (1)-(3), new-imc would like 
* a mission statement, 
* editorial policy, and 
* a membership criteria document.

And then there'll be step 8: the 3+7 day delays through new-imc
and imc-process so that anyone who's unhappy can bring up comments,
and steps 9 and 10 which are beyond any control by new-imc, but ;).

Seeya
boud