[New-imc] Re: IMC BEIRUT internal new-imc DEADLINE Mon 17 Feb 2003 23:00 GMT

[blue.pi]

Petros Evdokas writes: 

> > 
> Boud, thanks for taking this initiative! *and* for your
> much- needed sense of lightness and humour.  And I
> certainly agree with your proposal. If only we had
> taken this step earlier.... 
> 

Well, I don’t know, but we didn’t have the documents ready earlier, so how 
should that have worked? I am also confused about your mixed messages, or 
what seems to be mixed to me. Didn’t you keep telling us to slow down with 
the process? 

> I feel that imc-Beirut has been ready to be a member of
> Indymedia for more than a few months now, and has been
> artificially held back due to our own errors,
> especially in terms of allowing mixed messages to
> filter toward the group from imc sources which helped
> disorient, rather than help to focus.  
> 
> The recent messages from the group also show that there
> is a good sense of group cohesion, internationalist
> politics, and (unfortunately), still a confusion
> between a website and a membership to imc (this is
> something that all of us in the new-imc working group
> need to keep working to clarify, to all new imc
> groups). It is *our* responsibility that our colleagues
> in Beirut are still being told by imc sources,
> erroneously, that having an imc group and having a 
> website is the same thing. We need to give relief to
> our Beirut colleagues from this terrible dilemma which
> has been placed on them. The group *is worthy and
> ready* to be a member of indymedia, even if it never
> gets a chance to publish online (due to the current
> level of development, there are technical difficulties
> to render text in arabic); free access to community and
> radical media can take many forms, for example radio,
> print, video, etc, and the Beirut group already has
> enough combined political and journalistic experience
> and community roots to more than qualify as an imc - it
> will find its own appropriate medium of expression and
> publication at its own terms and its own rhythm. 

Well, I believe having a website, is exactly what the group here wants 
urgently and wanted from the beginning. When I attended the first meeting in 
September the group was already talking about what articles they should 
write to put on the website, and there was some irritation when I said that 
it wouldn’t be until in a while that we could have the website up and 
running. So if there was any misinformation at all, it surely wasn’t me who 
is responsible for that. 

But I don’t really think there was misinformation about this issue.
I think them wanting a website as soon as possible made total sense: As 
Petros says, the group had been ready to join the network for a long time. 
It consisted from the beginning of very activ people who had already worked 
together in many projects. Many of them already work in a newspaper project, 
within the indymedia group we’ve also done some video thanks to comrades 
from IMC Italy and we also filmed on F15 demonstration. So basically a 
website is all that is missing. (radio, I don’t know that seems a bit 
difficult technically, but I have never done radio so I don’t know, anyhow 
it was never anything anyone here talked about) 

And some technical words about Arabic, because there are many new IMC’s who 
that might concern: There is no general problem with Arabic. Maybe Bassem 
and I have not been very clear on this and some people were confused because 
we kept mentioning problems. There are two “problems”: One is that we need 
to install a software for the search engine, however, we can certainly have 
a website without the search funtioning. Second: we talked about workshops 
and mentioned that we have to make sure we explain how people need to 
convert the text when transferring it from word into the open publishing 
form. 

I get the impression Petros, that you are taking your experiences from IMC 
Cyprus as true for everyone. It is really important to realize that there 
are different needs and different approaches within the network and it is 
not simple: Just because the Internet connections here (or anywhere else) 
aren’t that great doesn’t mean a website is a bad idea. It may still be 
easier to have a website than e.g. do a radio program. In most countries of 
the region it may even be easier to have a website than print a newspaper. 
And a website may be more accesible to people. 

blue 


> 
> Again, thanks to Boud, and my very best wishes to
> everyone in the imc-Beirut group to continue with the
> great work.  
> 
> The next step will involve sending the application
> "upstairs" to the imc-communication group, where there
> will be a period during which we might hear comments,
> suggestions, questions, etc.  
> 
> Everyone I know of in the Eastern Mediterranean imc
> community (most of us are in imc groups also stuck with
> computer + language problems *and* still begging for
> technical help) are eager to see the imc-beirut group
> become a member of the network. If any discussions
> break out at imc-communication regarding the
> application of imc-beirut, you will find there is some
> sense of dependable solidarity among us. 
> 
> Thanks,
> Petros
> ------------------- 
>