[New-imc] Online form: Proposed new IMC! (housing.indymedia.org)

[Chuck0]

boud wrote:

> 
>>have to take a hard line on IMCs being location-based? If we can put
>>together a network of people to do this project in Indymedia
>>fashion, then why should anybody else care?
> 
> 
> Because Indymedia is a network. If the network you propose is
> composed of people working constructively with their local IMCs,
> then it could, in principle, be part of the network, but there's no
> particular reason to call it an IMC, rather use a more modest and realistic
> term such as a "mailing list based working group".

Why can't a local IMC be just a "mailing list based working group".

How do we post multimedia on a mailing list?

>>I think there is a real need for a non-local IMC dedicated to housing, 
> 
> 
> i would think that housing is an issue which particularly *needs*
> grounding in local IMCs.

Some local IMCs are doing good work on housing, but housing activists could 
be stronger if they had a way to network and share news with activists in 
other cities. If housing activists in Key West, Florida post news to the 
local IMC about the crackdown there on the homeless, how are activists San 
Francisco or San Jose going to know about it?

>>homeless and economic justice issues. There is lots of good work being done 
>>by local IMC participants on these issues, but most of the housing activists 
>>remain unaware of what other groups and activists are doing. One exception 
>>might be OCAP, which does a good job of promoting itself. And it is difficult 
>>to find out what different cities are doing on these issues.
>>
>>There is already lots of content on this issue being posted to local IMCs. 
>>There are IMCistas out there who are writing on these issues. I think a 
>>subject-focused IMC like this would be a motivating project for many housing 
>>activists and DIY journalists interested on these issues.

This proposal has nothing to do with the quality of work being done by local 
IMCs. This proposal is about pulling that work together more, to benefit 
activists and citizens and to allow for meta-collaboration on DIY journalism 
by people working on these issues.

> Calling it "an IMC" would just confuse people. 

Why? What does it matter if an IMC project is IMC-Housing or IMC-Milwaukee or 
whatever?

>>As far as groups are concerned, I think that local housing coalitions, 
>>homeless advocates, Homes not Jails, OCAP, KWRU, and other groups would be 
>>interested.

> We would prefer that homeless people themselves can participate in
> f2f meetings and participate in decision-making as much as homeful people.

Actually, a homeless person brought up this idea which I formally proposed.

> Otherwise we support coordinatorism - where a class of "representatives" 
> is created, who are sincere and well-intentioned people, but who nevertheless
> redirect the energy for change into reformist reforms, rather than 
> non-reformist reforms. Homeless people who criticise the coordinators are
> then looked at as ungrateful, irrational people, who refuse to acknowledge
> the help of those who most want to help them.

Hey, this is about a project that would create a place for people concerned 
with housing issues to share news and collaborate on projects that aren't 
just local.

> previous email:
> 
>>housing need a centralized news source and resource for their work. Right now
>>there has been an increase in anti-homeless policies in many American cities.

> Sounds like you're interested in a regional site, or a feature on a
> regional site. The USA is only a small part of America, and America is
> only one (or two, depending on your culture) of the continents. Here
> is a big site on housing:
> 
> http://www.narmada.org
> 
> 50 million people thrown out of their houses since independence, simply
> based on government estimates. Maybe you should get into contact.

Well, hey, why should we bother setting up new local IMCs? There are 
alternative news outlets in each city. Let's ditch the NYC-IMC. People could 
always go to the Village Voice.

Chuck0

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