[New-imc] IMC BELGRADE - new imc internal deadline - june 26th 2003

[Krsmanović Dražen]

Dear Evan,

Seeing your questions we (IMC Belgrade) have concluded the following answers:

1.

Everyone as an person can post on Indymedia, but proclamations of a whole party shall be hidden. We stick to the motto: "YES to the facts, NO to the propaganda!";

2.

We are not directly connected to any corporate media, including the USA backed B92, but we may be indirectly connected to them in the way that people, for example, who work in one of these media also contribute in IMC collective. Sometimes the news and features from corporate medias will be published on the IMC site if they sounds objective and interesting by the standards of IMC collective.

On the other hand, we are well connected with alternative medias in SiCG (Serbia and Montenegro), like famous Kontrapunkt (http://www.tao.ca/~kontrapunkt/ , anarchist internet magazine) and Anarchy Serbia (http://www.inventati.org/anarchy-serbia/ , anarchists internet forum). You can also include in this group the trockist internet publication called "Pobunjeni-Um" (http://members.tripod.com/crveni/index2.htm), the editorial of the Z-Net Balkan Watch (http://www.zmag.org/balkanwatch/balkanwatch.htm), and the people behind the site "Prigovor savesti" (http://prigovor.politicalemergency.com/).
Although it may be concluded that we are anarcho-sectists considering the previous sites, we will not cover only anarchist actions, but of the other organisations too.

Members of the IMC Belgrade collective are themselves active in or have been activist of the different movements or organisations like: alter-globalist "Drugaciji svet je moguc!", feminist "Association of Women Initiatives", ecological "Artemis", anarcho-syndicalist "Anarhosindikalisiticka inicijativa", and besides that we are very different in our political stands, varying from social-democrats, trockists, towards anarchists. Some of collective members don't even want to express their political opinion, and declare themselves only as leftists.

We hope that this answer will clarify any doubts about us, if you had any.

Best regards,
IMC Belgrade



-----Original Message-----
From: evan [mailto:evan at protest.net] 
Sent: Monday, June 23, 2003 3:48 PM
To: new-imc at lists.indymedia.org
Cc: diabolik at yubc.net; analakc at eunet.yu; mzoric at infosky.net; vangel at eunet.yu; rebelmouse at bastardi.net
Subject: Re: [New-imc] IMC BELGRADE - new imc internal deadline - june 26th 2003


Summary:
	Seems good.
	Two questions
		one about the editorial policy
		one about the background of the people involved

First off it seems like a good imc application. Blicero and the other 
italian indymedia activists who you seem to be working with have a good 
grasp about what is indymedia and media activism in general, even if in 
my opinion they tend towards fundamentalism.

My questions below are more clarifications than anything else. What 
makes sense and implicit in a Balkan political context is not implicit 
or understood in other parts of the world.

On to the questions:

The editorial policy has two parts. Which i like, one states the 
values, and then it goes on to outline specifically what will be 
removed. A lot of imc's could benefit from this approach to an 
editorial policy. My question is that the first part says:

> Indymedia is an Internet news service where political parties and
> other hierarchically structured organisations will not be able to 
> pursue their interests.

Does that mean that any posts by people who are from, involved with, or 
advocate political parties or hierarchically structured organizations 
will have their posts removed?

The Brazil imc has an editorial policy of removing posts which are 
explictly party propaganda. They have a distinction between covering, 
and even posting positive articles about parties and what they call 
propaganda. The propaganda is official publications of the party. They 
allow publications from NGO's which, almost all, are by definition, 
hierarchically structured organizations.

My point is, i've seen other places, such as indymedia peru before it's 
recent restructuring, where the imc so strictly tied self to anarchist 
movements that they didn't bother to mention or do any coverage of 
national wide general strikes or other major actions because they were 
not 'anarchist' things.

I also am a little concerned about the definition of indymedia as an 
internet news service, rather than a network of media activist networks 
and collectives who use an open publishing website as one of many 
tools, mediums, and tactics for building a media revolution. But that's 
a secondary issue because we are talking about the editorial policy of 
the website here.

After the editorial preamble, the application goes on to describe the 
points the normal reasons most imc's give for hiding posts.

My question is, is it the preamble or the points of how you decide what 
to remove that is important. Because they are contradictory.



> The members of the initial collective of IMC Belgrade come from
> various groups and backgrounds, which mean that we have been a diverse 
> group that welcomes new activists as equals. The IMC Belgrade 
> collective regularly holds open meetings in order to coordinate 
> activities. The meetings are open to all people who comply with the 
> principles of IMC collective.

Could you be a little more specific about what the background of the 
participants are? Perhaps talk about your relationship with other media 
activists. There's the infamous B92, who i assume you don't work with, 
but who are you? You don't have to name specific groups if you don't 
feel comfortable for security reasons. But are most of you from a 
music/alternative culture background, ecological groups, the 
pro-democracy student movement, anarcho-communist cadres, trotskist 
parties, professional journalists, etc?

in solidarity,
evan

On Monday, June 23, 2003, at 05:45  AM, Blicero wrote:

> IMC belgrade is in our opinion fully ready to join teh network
>
> you can see their site at belgrade.indymedia.it
> below i send you the membership criteria, editorial policy and mission
> statement
> i am really happy of how we worked togetehr to have it alive and 
> kicking and
> hoep they will soon join us officially :))))))))))))
>
> the deadline (3 days starting from now) is june 26th, after that i
> will pass it
> on to imc-process 7-days deadline :))))))))
>
> ----------
>
>
> IMC Belgrade – Application for membership in the Network of
> Independent Media Centres
>
>
>
>
> Who are we?
>
>
> The idea to launch IMC Belgrade came from several grass-roots
> organisations in light of a striking absence of genuine free 
> information flow devoid of influence from political and commercial 
> power centres. After drafting a basic mission statement that leans on 
> the experience of several well-established Indymedia, IMC Belgrade has 
> to date managed to find a host ( http://ahimsa2.solipsists.org/ >>> 
> http://belgrade.indymedia.it <http://belgrade.indymedia.it/>  ), 
> develop an initial structure of the web site and welcome the first 
> posts and contributors whose number is now steadily on the rise.
>
>
>
>
> Why we want to be an IMC?
>
>
> As previously said, bearing in mind that there is a general lack of
> information sources in Serbia and Montenegro that do not promote 
> certain political or commercial fronts/options, we have decided to 
> pioneer an information service that will strive to connect to the 
> emerging alternative global information network, known as Indymedia, 
> and provide an open source environment to all who wish to spread 
> information, ideas, initiatives and engage in concrete action that has 
> as its goal to (re)assert positive human values that have been 
> dissolved by the world order of today.
>
>
>
>
> Response to the membership criteria
>
>
>
>
> a. Agree in spirit to the NIMC Mission Statement and Principles of
> Unity,
>
>
>
> We have discussed and agreed to abide by the Principles of Unity and
> the Mission Statement.
>
>
>
> b. Have a committed membership substantial enough to sustain a
> functional IMC,
>
>
>
> IMC Belgrade numbers 8 activists who are skilled in translation,
> journalism and media analysis, programming and graphical design. The 
> collective is still young, but we are firm in our belief that after we 
> are accepted into the NIMC we will rapidly attract new activists and 
> expand into a respectable IMC.
>
>
>
> c. Have open and public meetings (no one group can have exclusionary
> "ownership" of an IMC),
>
>
>
> The members of the initial collective of IMC Belgrade come from
> various groups and backgrounds, which mean that we have been a diverse 
> group that welcomes new activists as equals. The IMC Belgrade 
> collective regularly holds open meetings in order to coordinate 
> activities. The meetings are open to all people who comply with the 
> principles of IMC collective.
>
>
>
> d. Work toward developing a local Mission Statement or Statement of
> Purpose. Network Mission Statement may be adopted or used on an 
> interim basis,
>
>
>
> We have already drafted a Mission Statement, which is often, in these
> early stages, the subject of discussions, proposals and amendments. We 
> have envisioned the Mission Statement as a dynamic framework that will 
> always be open to adjustments in light of new incentives and 
> developments in our cause.
>
>
>
> Mission Statement: The Independent Media Centre Beograd (IMC Beograd)
> is a media network of activists and organisations that provide 
> non-corporate, grass-roots and non-commercial reporting and coverage 
> of significant social and political issues, with an ultimate goal to 
> create a better society based on equality and solidarity.
>
>
>
> e. Establish and publish an editorial policy which is developed and
> functions through democratic process, and with full transparency,
>
>
>
> Editorial Policy:
>
>
>
> Indymedia is an Internet news service where political parties and
> other hierarchically structured organisations will not be able to 
> pursue their interests. We will strive to maintain the service as an 
> open forum, but will, nevertheless, monitor the content of posts and 
> remove them if necessary.
>
>
>
> 1. IMC Belgrade will take the role of editorial staff;
>
>
>
> 2. Posts on IMC Belgrade are to be hidden if they are:
>
>
>
> 2.1.  Discriminatory: posts that aim to abuse through text, image or
> other forms of communication by advocating racism, fascism, 
> xenophobia, sexism and other discriminatory ideas;
>
>
>
> 2.2. Insulting: posts must satisfy basic standards of decency;
>
>
>
> 2.3. Advertisements: posts that promote commercial products;
>
>
>
> 2.4. Fabrication: posts found to contain false information;
>
>
>
> 2.5. Redundant: if the same post appears more than once;
>
>
>
> 2.6. Pornographic: images or links to web sites with pornographic
> content;
>
>
>
> 2.7. Technically corrupt: if the message is not complete or defective
> because of bad connections et al.
>
>
>
> 3. Everyone is permitted to comment messages posted to IMC Belgrade
> and to voice their opinion concerning news and comments posted by 
> other visitors.
>
>
>
> 4. Announcements.
>
>
>
> The posts will be of a non-profit character, with exceptions
> accompanied with acceptable arguments
>
>
>
> IMC Belgrade fore mostly encourages posts:
>
>
>
> 1. That are timely, based on facts and are of interest to the global
> and/or local public;
>
>
>
> 2. That expose injustice;
>
>
>
> 3. That pertain to marginalised social groups;
>
>
>
> 4. That are sent by marginalised groups;
>
>
>
> 5. That pertain to activities aimed to improve the economic and social
> rights of people.
>
>
>
> Our editorial policy is conceived to welcome and broaden the
> population of activists struggling against the powers that be. With 
> the following exceptions, activists are free to post any piece of 
> information they feel is of value to IMC Belgrade viewers.
>
>
>
>
>
> 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],
>
>
>
> Aye!
>
>
>
> g. Adopt a decision-making policy that is in alignment with consensus
> principles which include open, transparent and egalitarian processes,
>
>
>
> As individuals and a group, we have embraced equity, tolerance,
> transparency and democratic decision-making in our activities within 
> and outside this particular collective (IMC Belgrade). It is only 
> natural that we will continue to do so.
>
>
>
> 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,
>
>
>
> For starters, we have decided that Fotini Bazoni ( rita_gdb at yahoo.gr )
> will represent us internationally, as liaison, since she is 
> well-connected in the worldwide IMC community. In perspective, we will 
> establish a rotating system that will see a different liaison on the 
> list every six months.
>
>
>
>
>
> 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,
>
>
>
> *	for imc-process: Krsmanovic Drazen ( <mailto:diabolik at yubc.net> 
> diabolik at yubc.net)
> *	for imc-communication: Ana Lakcevic ( <mailto:analakc at eunet.yu> 
> analakc at eunet.yu)
> *	for imc-finance: Milos Zoric ( <mailto:mzoric at infosky.net> 
> mzoric at infosky.net)
> *	for imc-summaries: Violeta Andjelkovic ( <mailto:vangel at eunet.yu> 
> vangel at eunet.yu)
> *	for imc-proposal: Sasa ( <mailto:rebelmouse at bastardi.net> 
> rebelmouse at bastardi.net)
>
> In perspective, we will establish a rotating system that will see
> different liaisons on the lists every six months.
>
>
>
> 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 political affiliation or to propagate political or
> commercial interests.
>
>
>
> 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 absolutely have no intention to gain any kind of commercial profit
> as a result of our activities in IMC Belgrade. Our motives are 
> strictly in line with what we have stated above.
>
>
>
> l. Display a (((i))) logo on your website and literature.
>
>
>
> We have ideas for a logo design that will be both locally recognisable
> and familiar to the international IMC community. For the time being, 
> we will use the international logo (((i)))
>
>
>
> m. Include the IMC Network current &Cities List² on your site,
> preferably on the front page.
>
>
>
> Yes, we have the list of IMCN members on our front page.
>
>
>
> 4. Special Issues - <none>
>
>
>
>
>
> --
> ciao
> blicero