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

Sun Jun 23 11:41:02 PDT 2002

Dear Boud,

First, I want to thank you for your show of solidarity with Hamma Hammami,it 
was his "case" which convinced many of us to turn dissidents, we had enough 
of Ben-Ali.So thank you for being there.

My first request is the release of Zouhair, my second request is to 
construct an Indymedia local enter in Tunisia.
Zouhair is actually in this very moment at the "palace of justice" as they 
call it waiting for Ben-Ali`s sentence (the communiqué).His release or 
imprisonment(up to ten years)totally depends on the will of Ben-Ali,because 
there is no justice in Tunisia, not even a semblance of it as in Egypt or 
morocco.
The immediacy of Zouhair`s case leaves us no room to concentrate on the 
second request, but doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s the most important. 
We have to do everything possible to help release Zouhair,there is a lot of 
"symbolism" surrounding his case.It`s the first case of cyber-dissidence in 
the world, as stated in the last bulletin from H.R.W,and Ben-Ali perhaps 
wants to make this case a judicial precedent to intimidate the rest of us 
into submission, but he won’t succeed.
Your advice of suggesting features to www-features at lists.indymedia.org is 
great and we will do just that. We have plenty of background material but as 
you noticed in paris we are not well organised, and the regime in Tunis is 
aware of it and is using it to his adventage.Therefore,we`ve decided to meet 
face to face in Paris this weekend and discuss both issues,Zouhair`s release 
and the creation of a Tunisian indycenter.It´s not a rally or a big meeting 
but just a little gathering of  representatives from different groups and 
mouvements.
As for the creation of our own local center,well the idea never left my mind 
nor the minds of those I will meet with in paris,we`ve discussed several 
times the idea of joining the Indy network of local communities but were 
always deterred to make the first step because of the risks, you can’t 
imagine how risky it is to THINK, let alone to ACT in my country.
But we are confident that we will surmount the obstacles and gain our 
freedom, with the help of our friends.
  Sincerely,

Maherbaal

TNT (tunezine news team)

(I`ve received,while writing this mail,news that Zouhair has been sentenced 
to 2½ years of prison for a satire he wrote on tunezine.)

Ps:I will let you know about the results of the meeting next week.

>From: boud <boud1 at wp.pl>
>Reply-To: barcahannibal at msn.com, new-imc at lists.indymedia.org
>To: barcahannibal at msn.com, new-imc at lists.indymedia.org,        
>imc-france-nouveaux at lists.indymedia.org,        
>imc-eastern-mediterranean at lists.indymedia.org,        
>imc-palestine at lists.indymedia.org
>Subject: Re: [IMC-Process] Help!
>Date: Thu, 20 Jun 2002 05:07:14 +0200 (CEST)
>
><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)
>

_________________________________________________________________
Join the world’s largest e-mail service with MSN Hotmail. 
http://www.hotmail.com