[New-imc] Re: task rotation - quitting new-imc to be more local

[Petros Evdokas]

>
> Date: Thu, 23 Oct 2003
> From: boud <boud1 at wp.pl>
> Subject: [New-imc] task rotation - quitting new-imc
to be more local
> To: new-imc at lists.indymedia.org
> Cc: imc-romania at lists.indymedia.org
>
> hi everyone,
>    i've been active in the new-imc working group for
2 years now - since
> August 2001.
>
> In August 2001, there were no IMCs in Asia (apart
from IMC Israel, in
> West Asia), and the only IMC in central/eastern
europe was IMC Prague,
> which didn't have a genuine local collective.
>
> And there was no indymedia collective where i live
(Torun, Poland).
>
> Now, there are several functioning IMCs in South,
East and South-East
> Asia (Oceania ;), and half-a-dozen functioning IMCs
in CE Europe:
>
> http://docs.indymedia.org/view/Local/ImcCEEurope
>
> including IMC Poland and what might eventually turn
into a local IMC
> Torun collective.
>
> i feel i've done my share of work in helping some of
these new IMCs
> get going, and in helping IMC France get through its
crisis and reform
> as a horizontal network of city IMCs, so now i'd like
to get more
> involved in my local IMC.
>
> IMHO, IMC PL has started to have some real effects on
the activist
> community, acting as a catalyst, helping
communication, inspiring
> alternative websites, and also providing new
information for debate on
> some issues in the (tiny) community, such as the
issue of how much
> free speech is acceptable. It also has had a role in
clarifying some
> elements of the debate between "acting local" and
fascism. A
> widely distributed magazine, "Obywatel" (citizen),
which is (was!)
> widely respected by activists as a radical
publication analysing and
> opposing economic globalisation, published an article
by Horst Mahler.
> Not everyone agreed on whether this was acceptable or
not in the name
> of free speech, but when it was made clear that Horst
Mahler
> had given a talk "The Final Solution: Solving the
Jewish Problem"
> http://www.alphalink.com.au/~radnat/mahler/
> there was not much left to debate. (This was only one
element of the
> "Obywatel" debate, but to me it was the clearest.)
>
> IMHO we (in IMC PL) haven't really started doing
outreach to
> grassroots groups, we've only networked more or less
among people,
> nearly all young, perceiving themselves as activists.
And we still
> have a lot of work to do to get the basics of
face-to-face meetings
> going in a way which are genuinely non-hierarchical.
>
> And the fact that our server has been offline for 6
days and we haven't
> organised yet to do anything shows that as a group we
are not yet as
> functional as we really need to be...
>
> On the positive side, for anybody who read the global
feature on the
> homeless people in the house Guliwer, they are no
longer threatened
> with eviction. It seems that the Soros foundation was
not willing to
> risk the publicity of evicting homeless people, and
so is now
"sponsoring"
> Guliwer rather than evicting it :). (This is not an
official report, BTW,
> i'm just summarising my interpretation.)
>
> Anyway, it's time i quit new-imc and act local. Most
of my experience in
> the group (learnt and copied from others) is
documented "howto" style
> on the TWiki
> http://docs.indymedia.org/view/Global/NewImc
>
> and i've just added a brief history of IMCs in India:

> http://docs.indymedia.org/view/Local/ImcIndia
>
> The World Social Forum in Jan 2004 will be in Mumbai
- and chances
> are new-imc volunteers will have to deal with more
demands by
> people who insist on having their collective urgently
recognised without
> actually going through a minimum of organising.
(People wanted
> IMC Hyderabad for the Asian Social Forum, claiming
that it would keep
> going afterwards, but after a few days they
disappeared into thin air
> and we have a ghost mailing list).
>
> So if people ask, just point to the above page - i
invited imc-india
> and imc-mumbai lists to correct/improve the TWiki
page.
>
> The only IMC i'm still "officially" responsible for
is IMC Romania,
> (which is why i'm cc-ing to imc-romania), and i think
they're now well
> enough into the process that when they're ready to
submit their
> documents, they should be easy for any volunteer in
the group to
> do the formalities - no need to wait for me.
>
> So i'm unsubscribing from new-imc, but you can find
me around more
> locally (imc-pl-torun at lists.indymedia.org) if
you're wondering
> where i am :).
>
> i should say thanks to everyone for the way we've
worked together.
> The group has been quiet for about half a year, but i
think it's
> continuing to develop one of the crucial
communication nodes of the
> network for making the world a better place.
>
> BTW, Torun is the city where a famous revolutionary
was born: Nicolaus
> Copernicus ;) .
>
> solidarity
> boud
>
> ------------------------------

Boud you've done so much good work for the entire
global imc network all
these years, the amount and the quality is exceptional
and fantastic. I
don't even kow if you realise the depth of it. Perhaps
when you become more
involved in the local effort you may find also how
distant the reality of
the global indymedia network is from our locals
(another weakness of our
organization, well, we can address that another time).
I want you to know
that many of us value your work greatly!

You will be shouldering new duties. But please keep an
eye here,
occasionally, on new-imc working- group situations? I
agree with your
prediction, that more troubles are up ahead for us with
problematic
memberhips. And usually, these types of problems are
fueled by our own
people (not by the new members/ applicants), who keep
on falling victim to
and becoming zealots of :
- the crusader mentality (want to enlarge IndyMedia at
the cost of quality)
,
- or to the techno- missionary mentality ("we must get
more computers and
internet to the natives")
- the "no politics" mentality ("imc is only about
information")
- the individualist mentality (any effort at group
co-operation is blasted
or subverted)
- the finances mentality ("the movement just needs more
money").

Your active presence these years helped us curtail much
of the impact of
those mentalities on our policy. I hope we can count on
you to help out if
we get into trouble? Your "seniority" here will count
for quite a while.

I wish you the very best,
Petros
http://Petros-Evdokas.cyprus-org.net
----------------------