[New-imc] Re: [IMC-Process] Help!

Wed Jun 19 23:08:06 PDT 2002

<cross-post new-imc, imc-palestine, imc-france-nouveaux,
imc-eastern-mediterranean>

response to:
http://lists.indymedia.org/mailman/public/imc-process/2002-June/003501.html

[fr] RÉSUMÉ EN FRANÇAIS CI-DESSOUS.

[en]
Dear Barca,
  In your message there are two different requests: 
long term: 
(1) to construct Indymedia in Tunisia
short term (hopefully!): 
(2) to campaign to release Zouhair Yahyaoui

(2) Zouhair Yahyaoui

I'm sure that we all would like to help with (2), and i saw that someone
has already posted an appeal here:
http://france.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=21222
Extra information that would be useful would be postal/fax/email addresses
of Tunisian government authorities, advice on how to best write letters,
etc.

Anyone is welcome to suggest features to www-features at lists.indymedia.org
http://lists.indymedia.org/mailman/listinfo/www-features/
(remember that the archive is public, like most indymedia lists!). If you
can work with  other people on that list to make a paragraph or two with
useful links (background, where to send appeals to), maybe a photo, and
persuade them that this is important enough, then your chances of getting
a "global front page" feature are probably good! (But i'm not on that
list, so this is only my intuition...) 

However, i'm sure you realise that the Indymedia network and individual
IMCs try to concentrate on news distribution (+ comment) rather than
on actions which many, many people are already doing very well independently
of indymedia. 

I'm sure that you also realise there are many actions that need to be
taken, and not everybody can join in every action. My own small
contribution was that i was present at the 1st Feb 2002 demo at the
Tunisian embassy in Paris asking for the political prisoner Hamma
Hammami and his colleagues to be freed and have their civil rights
restored, and i remember encouraging some of the people i met to
consider starting a Tunisian Indymedia site... But there were barely a
few dozen people there. And the whole question of getting big numbers
depends on people from a variety of groups coordinating information
and understanding how the struggles for all the different human rights
(free speech, freedom from hunger, freedom from unemployment, women's
rights for equality, access to science and culture, ...) support each
other and also feeling confident that there are enough checks and
balances that the information they have is more or less reliable, 
or, at least, traceable to its sources...

So,... to your bigger question:

(1) Indymedia in Tunisia

There is a page
http://newimc.indymedia.org
which explains how we hope to help new Indymedia sites start up.
The English version is better updated than the French version.

You'll see many of the things that seem to be useful for Indymedia
collectives - remember, these are collectives of people, not just web
sites. For example, the collectives should be local, non-hierarchical,
be very open, should include a wide variety of grassroots
groups,... but you can see the page for the full list.

We realise that it's difficult to have open, face-to-face meetings in
places with high security risks (like Tunisia, PRChina) and that the
most oppressed groups generally have the poorest internet access.
Nevertheless, there do exist IMC Colombia, IMC Palestine, IMC Jakarta.
And at the moment IMC Zimbabwe exists as a web site, but still only 
has requested status (it is not yet official), because the security
dangers are very high and the people who started the site have not
yet been able to get together a wide variety of different grassroots
groups.

In any case, one thing which should be a *low* security risk (but not
absolute zero risk) would be step 4. of the NEW IMC PROCESS - HOW IT
WORKS on http://newimc.indymedia.org , which is to start a mailing
list.  

If you're ready, you could also do step 3. 

In any case, by starting (and really using) a publicly archived
mailing list, people from around the network who want to help could
make suggestions, and expat Tunisians (e.g. in France) are certainly
welcome to help, and issues like how to contact a variety of
groups and how it could be possible to have face-to-face meetings,
how to overcome the digital divide, etc. can be discussed there.

Anyway, i suggest you start reading through

http://newimc.indymedia.org

and browse the list archives

http://lists.indymedia.org

e.g.
http://lists.indymedia.org/listinfo/imc-france-nouveaux
http://lists.indymedia.org/listinfo/imc-eastern-mediterranean

and then ask to create a list if you still feel that Indymedia is what
you want (it should be more than just a forum for discussion) and you
think you have enough people to start thinking and talking this
through.

Solidarity,
boud (IMC PL and new-imc volunteer)

> [IMC-Process] Help! 
> BARCA HANNIBAL barcahannibal at msn.com 
> Wed Jun 19 03:52:02 2002 

> Hi everyone!
> We are a group of tunisians dissidents  who needs help to build a Tunisian 
> indymedia site.
> We are prepared to contribute financially to the realisation of the project.
> We in tunisia are desperately in need of help,I really don`t know where to 
> start so I send you this letter as an ”introduction ” to the tunisian case.
> Don`t let us down!
> 
> 
> Dear friends,
> 
> 
> By the present letter,the 'editorial staff' of  WWW.TUNeZINE.COM ,or wha is 
> left of it, call for your urgent intervention to help us release our 
> friend,colleague  and webmaster of  the TUNeZINE netforum and 
> magazine;Zouhair Yahyaoui ,who wrote under the cover of a pseudonym 
> :Ettounsi.We  have good reasons to fear for the safety and above all the 
> physical integrity of Ettounsi.Our police forces are not  nown for their 
> kind hospitality but more for their brutality and the records  of their 
...

[fr]
Cher Barca,
   Tu nous as parlé de :
(1) Indymédia Tunisia
(2) une campagne pour libérer Zouhair Yahyaoui

(2) Il y a un article :
http://france.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=21222
et tu as toute liberté pour faire d'autres usages du réseau, ex. proposer
une éditoriale pour la colonne centrale du site « global » : 
http://lists.indymedia.org/mailman/listinfo/www-features/

(1) Veuille lire

http://newimc.indymedia.org 

et 

http://lists.indymedia.org 

pour apprendre un peu plus sur le processus de création des collectifs 
Indymédia et sur comment Indymédia fonctionne en pratique.

On comprend bien la difficulté de réunir face-à-face dans les conditions
actuelles en Tunisie, mais en créant une liste de diffusion vous pourriez
créer un espace où il est possible d'en parler plus largement.

L'Indymédia dans l'hexagone est actuellement en phase de reconstitution,
et ce serait peut-être plutôt les gens actifs sur la liste

http://lists.indymedia.org/mailman/public/imc-france-nouveaux

qui seraient les plus efficaces à apprendre (en même temps que vous !)
comment construire un collectif Indymédia...

Et évidemment les gens du groupe
http://lists.indymedia.org/mailman/public/imc-eastern-mediterranean
auraient peut-être des idées...

Bien sûr, toi et les autres en Tunisie pourriez s'abonner à ces
listes. Il n'y a pas de chef ici, chacun agit de façon responsable
selon son propre jugement !

Bon courage
boud (bénévole IMC PL et new-imc)