[New-imc] Membership application

[semk imb]

The following is IMC Beirut's membership application 

Please see our initial application at:
http://lists.indymedia.org/mailman/public/new-imc/2002-December/003080.html


These are our responses to the Membership Criteria.
All of these were agreed upon on January 25, 2003.

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

--we agree with the IMC Mission Statement and
Principles of Unity

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

--there are currently 15 individuals involved, of
which about 8 are dedicated members. Since we work
closely with other activist groups, several
individuals from these groups are working with us on
projects. 

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

--we announce our meetings on our mailing list. We are
trying to publicize the existence of our group at any
event where activists get together - like last
weekend’s Anti-War conference. We will also have an
article and advertisement in the local underground
leftist magazine. Our meetings are always open to
anyone.

d. Our Local Mission Statement:

    Indymedia Beirut is an independent alternative
media collective. It seeks to cover all events without
censorship - especially those events marginalized by
existing local media outlets, the vast majority of
which are affiliated with dominating capitalist and
political parties and/or individuals. It is concerned
with the coverage of activism and the struggles for
democracy, social justice, and environmental and human
rights. It is also committed to the exposure of all
regional political infractions of Lebanese sovereignty
– from those within Lebanese-Syrian relations, to the
continued Israeli military aggressions.
    Indymedia Beirut is moreover dedicated to the
disclosure of the Lebanese government’s domestic
policies, which propagate the goals of corporate
globalization.
    We seek also to publicize the "unpublishable,"
from the violations – "legal" and illegal – of
Palestinian refugees' rights, to the violations of
political, sexual and ethnic  minorities' rights, to
the plights of all those marginalized due to
migration/immigration trying to escape war and/or
neo-liberal policies.


e. Editorial policy:

Indymedia Beirut will not accept any articles which
make racist or sexist allegations.
Should an article be racist and/or sexist or overtly
offensive, IMC Beirut’s editorial group retains the
right to remove it. Any comment to an article deemed
racist, sexist or overtly offensive may be removed
without discussion.
Upon the discovery of an article posted on IMC Beirut
which could be racist or sexist, a member from the
editorial group will tag the article. This alerts all
readers that the article may contain a violation of
our editorial policy, and begins an open debate on the
article, which lasts for three days. At the end of the
three days, a decision will be made by the editorial
group (based on consensus) to either remove or leave
the article in question.


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],

--agreed.

g. Decision-making policy

IMC Beirut functions, like all IMCs, on consensus. All
decisions are based on consensus, and where
disagreement arises, discussion continues until
consensus is found.
All fundamental issues must be decided upon in a
meeting, and then left on the list for discussion for
a week following the meeting, at which point the
decision taken is final.
Regarding minor decisions which may be decided  via
the mailing list - and not in a meeting - the issue
will have a three-day discussion time, at which point
- if consensus is reached - the decision reached is
final.
If no consensus is reached, the decision will be
delayed for further debate, preferable in a meeting.

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,

--we have decided that for now two people will perform
that role: Semk will sign up for imc-communication,
Imad will sign up for process, we didn’t really have
anyone who would like to be on finance (we wondered
whether that was absolutely necessary, since we are
not that large). Bassem and blue are already on East
Mediterranean, Europe and New-IMC.
 
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 on the
IMC-Communications list,

--see h.

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),

--agreed. we don’t like the political parties here,
anyhow!

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.]

--agreed.

l. Display a 3local version2 of the IMC 3i2 logo on
your website and literature.

We did a really neat design with the Arabic "B" (for
Beirut) being part of the dot of the i, but
unfortunately, it’s not online yet.

m. Include the IMC Network current 3Cities List2 on
your site, preferably on the front page.

IMC Beirut will not be able to include the name
“Israel” in the “cities list.” Instead, we will write
that our country/city list is incomplete, and offer a
link to Palestine IMC’s country/city list - which
includes IMC Israel.
(http://jerusalem.indymedia.org/network.php) 

The IMC Beirut group completely agrees with the goals
and ideas of an international identity, and the
eventual end of nations and borders. Indeed, Lebanon
has witnessed more than enough of fighting over
borders, and “identities.”

Unfortunately, the Lebanese government is officially
at war with the State of Israel. 

If one were to have a stamp on one’s passport from
Israel, or the Palestinian territories, one would be
denied entry to Lebanon. At the Francophone Summit
(held in Beirut last November), a French reporter was
expelled from the country for broadcasting to Israel
from Beirut. Many of the prominent journalists in
Lebanon called for his expulsion.

Another example of the potential legal repercussions,
should IMC Beirut “acknowledge” IMC Israel, is what
happened with the website GayLebanon.com. (“Acts of
sodomy” are illegal under the current Lebanese Penal
Code, which is used as a way of harassing any gay
rights campaigns.) Although currently the site is up
and running, it’s using a foreign server (based in the
US). Three years ago, when the site first came out,
its server (or host, I don’t remember which) was in
Lebanon. The Lebanese Internal Security Forces raided
the internet office that was providing the server/host
and imprisoned both the Lebanese administrator of the
site and the Lebanese server/host. Although both have
since been released, the ISF attempted to try them
under emergency laws - previously made defunct – and
later accused them of desecrating the name of Lebanon.


We don’t want to endanger the Lebanese activists or
cause the non-nationals working with IMC Beirut to be
expelled - nor do we want to conform to the
prejudiced, limiting view of the Lebanese government,
and of certain Lebanese political parties.

The idea behind linking to the Palestine IMC list is
to show the extent of the Lebanese government’s
stupidity in making all contact with Israel illegal –
if the Palestinians have CHOSEN to do it, why can’t
we?

The idea was generated after extensive discussion (and
many meetings) and was, of course, agreed upon in
consensus. 

Out of respect for the work of IMC Israel, I (a
foreigner working with IMC Beirut) have contacted IMC
Israel, explaining our situation and our proposal to
get around it. They have been very understanding, and
agree with our solution.

We hope you understand as well.





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