[New-imc] Travel Stipend for Indymedia Organizer / Indymedia Growth in Africa Project

[boud]

hi sascha, petros, everyone,
   i suggest everyone interested discuss this issue with
African Indymedia people (or others who feel they can
validly comment) on

imc-africa at lists.indymedia.org 

since it is not (right now) a new-imc issue. 


On Wed, 8 Oct 2003, Petros Evdokas wrote:

> Date: Tue, 7 Oct 2003
> From: Sascha Meinrath <sascha at ucimc.org>
> Subject: [New-imc]  Travel Stipend for Indymedia
> Organizer:
>         Applications due by Nov 1, 2003.

> I am writing to let folks know that the
> Urbana-Champaing IMC (UCIMC) is
> soliciting applications for a travel stipend to an
> Indymedia Organizer who
> is willing to help with the Indymedia Growth in Africa
> Project (IGAP).
 
> http://brainstorm.ucimc.org/ucimcWiki/igap


> ---------------------------
> 
> 
> Sascha and other imc friends and colleagues,
> 
> I believe in the good intentions of yours and everyone

> 1. Trust.
> Right now, the "global south" and thirld- world
> countries (whether we have an imc group or not) view
> anything like this with mistrust. Western, and
> specifically, US/ UK- based activists, must do a *hell
> of a lot* of trust- building before anything like this
> is not viewed as a "benign" intervention.

On the wiki:
http://brainstorm.ucimc.org/ucimcWiki/igap
it is said that at least one individual from each of 
IMC SA and IMC Nigeria are involved in the project.

However,
(1) the imc-sa mailing list has secret archives:
http://lists.indymedia.org/mailman/listinfo/imc-sa
(see
http://docs.indymedia.org/view/Global/NewImcMailingListIssues
for arguments for/against secret archives etc.)

(2) nothing has been said on the imc-nigeria mailing list 
since Jan 2003:
http://lists.indymedia.org/mailman/listinfo/imc-nigeria
 
So there might be a problem of transparency here.  i agree
with petros in the sense that more transparency (use of
open mailing lists) might help build up more trust among
African activists.

i am a bit curious as to whether IMC Ambazonia and IMC
Estrecho-Madiak are interested or have been consulted. In
any case, some IMC Ambazonia people use the imc-africa
list, and i'm cc-ing imc-estrecho in case it doesn't yet
have a liaison on imc-africa. So now everyone is hopefully
in contact.


> 2. Consensus.
> This is a decision which is absolutely political, but
> being promoted (disguised ) as a financial transaction.  
> A project like this can only be part of a global
> IndyMedia policy if there is a global consensus (or a
> severely heavy majority globally, among us) to back it
> up. Do we have that among us?

As i understand it, this is a horizontal cooperation
between one IMC in N America and two existing IMCs in
Africa.  As i understand it, it's not claiming to be a
global indymedia project, and it's not trying to avoid
the new-imc process - on the contrary, it asks the
"candidate" to have experience in starting new IMCs
and in going through the new-imc process.


> 4. Evaluation.
> Whe isn't this project aimed directly and specifically
> at African IndyMedia activists?

See above - we could also ask why *criticism* of this project
is not directed to the imc-africa mailing list?

> but who happen to be steering the imc boat without
> realizing the depth of the waters. The depth can be
> learned, and there are maps.

Nice metaphor :))  

i suggest everyone interested get together on imc-africa 
and sort things out there.

solidarity
boud