[New-imc] Re: IMC Cairo and IMC Beirut

[Jay]

blue,

>The question is what is the political ideology behind questioning the 
>number of foreigners in a group. Are we just making sure the group is 
>sustainable and locally based? Or do we think in nationalist terms? Those 
>are just the two extremes of a scale. Of course I know there are many good 
>reasons in between those two. But I would like to ask people to keep this 
>in mind and also to be aware that there are strong nationalist currents in 
>the Left in certain countries that I think we as indymedia should not 
>neccesarily support.

For me, it's really the former.  The strongest IMCs, as far as I've seen, 
are the ones that have broad participation and are really, truly part of 
the community.  I agree that having long-term foreign visitors as part of 
an IMC can really add diversity and perspective.  That's great.  The 
problem is when the IMC is composed primarily of foreign visitors and is 
not in touch with people who are differently connected with the culture 
there.  I'm not saying that's the case in any IMC, and certainly not in the 
forming Cairo group, it's just something we've been trying to avoid.

Jay