[New-imc] OTTAWA: First application - URGENT

Sun May 26 17:39:02 PDT 2002

Hi, after about a year of building, we're ready to become a full-fledged
IMC. We're REALLY hoping that all of this can happen in time for huge
demonstrations in Ottawa while the G8 meets in Kananaskis, Alberta, June
26-27. Take the Capital! is a regional mobilization against the G8 meetings
and will attract activists from all over Ontario, Quebec and the
north-eastern US. 

http://www.takethecapital.net

Following is all the information we need to submit for our application (to
our knowledge).

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Introductory letter:

In an increasingly globalized world, IMC Ottawa will strive to promote and
protect truth from suppression by corporate media, which we find to be
inadequate as a result of the pressures and hidden agendas of private
enterprise.

Ottawa IMC operates within an anti-oppression framework and will build
strong links with all members of the Ottawa community, giving special
attention to including and creating a safe space for members of oppressed
and marginalized groups.

We are a bilingual IMC and will host a website in both French and English
and encourage publishing in all languages.

Our goal is to become a convergence point for Ottawa's independent media
community  a space where we can convene in mutual respect, share our
resources and skills, and publish freely.

Key areas of expertise and experience include audio and video activism,
coverage of Canadian federal politics, international relations, anti-poverty
activism, cultural diversity, anti-oppression and environmental issues.

--- bios ---

At this time, only two people have submitted bios. They are:

Julien Lamarche, 2nd year software engineering student. I've been
involved since the beginning of IMC Ottawa and wrote many articles
posted on IMC Ontario. Before IMC, i was involved in the Enviro-Action
of OPIRG Ottawa (Canadian PIRGs operate in a much more decentralized way
then americain ones) and i did a major contribution for Climate Change
Caravan, a bike caravan that crossed the country.

David-James Fernandes, graphic designer with a national union in Canada.
My interests are in doing short web video and audio pieces and working with
local groups fighting poverty and oppression. When I lived in Toronto I was
a member of the Toronto Video Activist Collective - I created our website
and helped set us up to do web video. Since moving to Ottawa last September
for my job, I've been trying to find a group of local activists to conspire
with on independent videos. While Ottawa has a rich arts community, I'm
finding little to nothing has been done in terms of activist / advocacy
video in this town. The Ottawa Video Activist Collective, of which I'm one
of about 8 founding members, is currently working with a local anti-poverty
group on a video about welfare policy in ontario. We're also gearing up to
provide video coverage of the Take the Capital! actions here in Ottawa this
June, which we'll be cross-posting to IMC-Ottawa.

---

The following criteria submission was debated, modified and approved by the
IMC Ottawa Collective on Thursday, May 23, 2002.

Members in attendance:  Chris, David, Derek, Greg, Ian, Jared, Stephanie,
Julien.

IMC MEMBERSHIP CRITERIA - DRAFT
Each IMC and Global Working Group is expected to:

a.   Agree in spirit to the NIMC Mission Statement and Principles of Unity,

We agree with both.

b.   Have a committed membership substantial enough to sustain a functional
IMC,

·    We have 10 active members and over 80 people signed up to our list

·    We had a fundraiser which raised $2000

·    Interest is very strong in building a website, especially in time for
the G8 meetings in June in Alberta. Ottawa has become an eastern focal point
and an Ottawa-based Indy Media centre is highly needed to cover Take the
Capital! actions. 

·    We hosted a Media Centre when the G20 met in Ottawa in November 2001 -
it was used by over 30 activists representing various independent media
groups in Ontario, Quebec and abroad.

·    We are hosting a media centre for the Take the Capital! actions in
June. 

·    We have recorded audio at local events and done radio broadcasts in
conjunction with CHUO (local university radio)

·    We have our own server hardware and several options for bandwidth

·    We have actively contributed to IMC-Ontario

·    We have the capacity to provide video coverage

·    We have strong ties to other local independent media groups, including
Manufacturing Dissent (newspaper), the Activist Newsstand and the Ottawa
Video Activist Collective.

·    We have a working server at: http://ottawa.indymedia.ca (if it's down,
please check back soon).

c.   Have open and public meetings (no one group can have exclusionary
"ownership" of an IMC),

Our meetings are always open and we strive to hold them in places easily
accessible by public transit. We are a group of citizens, journalists,
students, and union activists.  We announce our meetings on the largest
activist mailing list in the Ottawa area (OPIRG events).

d.   Work toward developing a local Mission Statement or Statement of
Purpose. Network Mission Statement may be adopted or used on an interim
basis,

In an increasingly globalized world, IMC Ottawa will strive to promote and
protect truth from suppression by corporate media, which we find to be
inadequate as a result of the pressures and hidden agendas of private
enterprise.

Ottawa IMC operates within an anti-oppression framework and will build
strong links with all members of the Ottawa community, giving special
attention to including and creating a safe space for members of oppressed
and marginalized groups.

We are a bilingual IMC and will host a website in both French and English
and encourage publishing in all languages.

Our goal is to become a convergence point for Ottawa's independent media
community  a space where we can convene in mutual respect, share our
resources and skills, and publish freely.

e.   Establish and publish an editorial policy which is developed and
functions through democratic process, and with full transparency,

IMC Ottawa Editorial Policy

The Ottawa IMC editorial collective uses an open publishing model, which
means when articles, pictures, audio, and video are posted to our site, they
will be immediately available to be read and commented on by others.

The Ottawa IMC stands firmly against all forms of oppression and so will not
tolerate the abuse of our site, our collective or our members by sexist,
racist, homophobic or otherwise oppressive individuals or groups.

We will strive to maintain an appropriate balance between an open publishing
model and respect for the basic right of members to feel safe and
comfortable in our collective.

We reserve the right to "hide" articles that violate the editorial criteria
below. These articles can still be viewed from a link on our site, but will
NOT appear on the newswire.

Article Criteria

We will "hide" postings that:

·    incite hatred or violence against individuals or groups of people

·    have been requested hidden by the poster

·    have been posted by someone who is found to be impersonating someone
else 

·    have been posted by someone who claims a false affiliation with an
organization 

·    are duplicates

·    have no content other than advertising a business or another web site

·    are garbage (e.g. pictures submitted as text)

·    have been cross-posted to multiple IMCs and are relevant mainly to a
jurisdiction outside Ottawa. These posts should go to another IMC, or to the
Global page.  

·    contain false information about events (such as cancellation) that
would cause confusion

·    are organizing specific illegal acts (i.e. saying to meet at a certain
place and time togo do something illegal.)

Process for Hiding Articles

If we receive a complaint, or someone from our editorial collective sees an
article that falls into one of the categories above, they will:

1.             E-mail the author, and the editorial list
(imc-ottawa-editorial at indymedia.org) with the URL of the article, and the
reason for its removal.
2.             Post a comment on the article, stating why it was removed.
3.             "Hide" the article (though it will still be visible from a
link on our site). 

Complaints about this process

If you feel that an article was removed unfairly, or that there is a posting
displayed on the site that violates the above criteria, you may bring this
up on our editorial list, by e-mailing imc-ottawa-editorial at indymedia.org.

f.   Agree to the use of Open Publishing as described in the NIMC Editorial
Policy [editorial collective comments: "We did agree that the term "Open
Publishing" was one that is still being defined by the Global Network
Collective, and we would wait and see what the results were before rewriting
this criteria], 

We agree in principle and will discuss it formally when this term is fully
defined.

g.   Adopt a decision-making policy that is in alignment with consensus
principles which include open, transparent and egalitarian processes,

We agree with and abide by the principles of consensus decision-making and
are working on a formal policy.

h.   Have a spokesperson(s) willing and capable of participating in the
global decision-making process and meetings as a rotating
liaison/representative, with a clear understanding of the responsibilities
that come with this role,

Julien Lamarche is our spokesperson. We will rotate this position as needed.

i.   Participate in the key IMC Network Communication Methods that pertain
to the health and vitality of the Network and that contribute to the work of
the IMC. Assure that at least one person from your local IMC participates at
any given time is on the IMC-Communications list,

Derek Reid and Julien Lamarche are our group members on this list.

j.   (NOT FINALIZED): Have no official affiliation with any political party,
state or candidate for office (comments: but individual producers have
freedom to do whatever they like and local IMCs can "feature" stories about
various political parties and initiatives),

We have no affiliations with political parties or candidates.

k.   IMCs shall in no way engage in commercial for-profit enterprises. [We
could add: The IMCN is committed to the decommercialization of information
and will disassociate from any local IMC that decides to become a for profit
media corporation.]

We agree.

l.   Display a 'local version' of the IMC 'i' logo on your website and
literature. 

We have and will continue to do this.

m.   Include the IMC Network current 'Cities List' on your site, preferably
on the front page.

We will do this once we have a website.

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