[New-imc] Re: [Imc-vlaanderen] IMC Belgium and proposed new IMC Vlaanderen

Thu Sep 25 01:42:58 PDT 2003

hello there

In response to Lize's mail, I would like to set some thing straight. Lize looks at the IMC.vl collective from a wide distance and thus seems to make some wrong assumptions. I feel it as very sad that Lize says her enthousiasm for our efforts is waning, since I really appreciated it when she stated some months ago that it seemed we were really trying to set up an IMC like it is meant to be. It is a gross understatement to say that external support for our project is outnumbered by external sarcasm and critisism.

I really do not understand why her enthousiasm is dropping. We have held three open meetings until today and at the moment the group dynamics are improving. There are plans for some features and a lot of outreach effort. while this may not be very much, it is a lot considering the fact that only two months ago we got the 'go' sign from the people present at our first meeting.

To set matters straight and to repeat something we have said numerous times: it is not the intention of the imc.vl collective to go into confrontation or competition with imc.be. We have stated before that we just want the space for a positive constructive project. The matter of cooperation has not been answered as to today, but we are in favour of cooperation. This matter will be dealt with as soon as we get the collective working at decent stability.

Next on the matter of bombstopping: what we plan to do is go out, write articles about it and make the people taking part in the action aware of our ambitions to build up an IMC. This is not the official launch of our collective, but it is the first time we walk out to write articles and do outreach in an organized way. I hope that people understand the importance of this work.

Then we still have a lot of technical questions and outreach to resolve. Our priority now is getting our site to work and our collective to run, when we are launched then we can get a lot of feature work. To speak for myself, I have a lot of ideas for articles, but my time within imc.vl should go first to getting other people to write and to open up a space where this is possible. First things first.

To end my comment, I would like to say that if our archives show a lot of messages on personal questions, this is a logical first step since we have never before worked together and a lot of personal questions on who does what and how, and the inevitable misunderstandings typical for a new group (any group) have still to be answered. As we begin to understand what we are up to, I have no doubt that the contents of the archive will evolve.

I would like that whoever reads this email just gives us what we are due: some honest patience and tolerance. The road is long but we will get there if we are given a chance. And whatever it will be in the end, it will not be a 'competitive medium' but an independent and constructive free space. I would also like that the people from global do not make their judgements on imc.vl based only on opinions from imc.wvl or imc.be, but that the voice of our collective can be also so as not to be misjudged or forgotten.

Thanks.

Maarten, imc.vl

------------------------
 "Temporary list to discuss the proposed new imc: IMC Vlaanderen" <imc-vlaanderen at lists.indymedia.org> wrote:
------------------------

>Hey,
>
>Almost 1 month has passed since I' ve sent out my last mail about my
>view/my report on the proceeding of the proposed new IMC Vlaanderen.
>http://lists.indymedia.org/pipermail/new-imc/2003-August/004187.html
>http://lists.indymedia.org/pipermail/new-imc/2003-August/004300.html
>
>The new imc.vl collective has organized some open meetings and finally
>opened an open maillinglist for all communication. 
>
>** the testsite **
>newswire : The site is getting more known and some postings are done. A
>lot of postings are double (also posted on imc.be or imc.wvl), which I
>regret, but still imc.be bashing articles are banned, which seems very
>positive to me.
>features : a background feature on Cancun was made and from the next 5
>features 3 were posted by the imc.wvl collective (all 3 also posted on
>imc.be). the other 2 features were made by the imc.vl collective. 
>
>**undone, double and competing work**
>My original enthousiasm about an extra (although separately working)
>Indymedia workforce in Belgium is slowing down again. 
>- Except from 2 or 3 background articles no covering was done of the
>protests of Cancun at the imc.vl site, although some members announced
>to do this.  
>- On 11 september a feature was made with kind of the same info at the
>imc.be feature, but talking to guido (imc.be) and vlo (imc.nl) in irc
>they were not in favour of linking to the 11 september imc.vl feature
>because they considered it 'bad quality' (e.g. the sentence : 'another
>11 september is possible' !??) It looks a lot like this feature was made
>in a spirit of "let's compete with imc.be and try to do better". Of
>course this isn't the right spirit and only creates double work and
>energy spilling.
>
>**imc-vlaanderen list**
>the communication is now open and done through a mailinglist. 
>http://lists.indymedia.org/pipermail/imc-vlaanderen/
>- The list is made for process and edito work, but contains a lot of
>'psychological' and 'therapeutic' mails between the members of the
>collective. My estimation is 3 out of 5 mails are not really about
>decision making, which makes this list look more like
>'let's-help-ourselve-list' than a list of a collective preparing
>themselves to get approved by global as a new IMC.
>- the decision process about making a new feature seems to be very slow.
>I think (hope) the collective will learn that when covering news, it is
>very difficult to first have a coverage strategy and a task division :
>before you agreed on this, the news has become old.
>
>**approval by global**
>I dunno about the final procedure to be recognized as a new IMC but I
>read in the report of the imc.vl meeting that they are planning to go
>'online', to make flyers, to do mega outreach, to have an Indymedia url
>etc. before the Bombspotting action of 25th October 2003. In fact I
>don't read in their report any feedback on how the recognition process
>with global is going on. 
>
>**My view**
>Of course I am still convinced that we need extra Indymedia activists in
>Belgium. I regret deeply both collectives cannot work together. But at
>this point, it looks to me like the main motivation of imc.vl is 'to
>compete' with imc.be although I don't see a lot of energy spilled on
>thorough covering. A lot of discussion among the imc.vl members is what
>most energy is spilled on now. 
>
>The competing imc situation in Belgium is a very sad situation and I'm
>afraid it will only get worse. The proud of both collectives is
>enormous. At the bombspotting action, the two collectives will be
>fysically present and will be 'competing' each other in front of all the
>peace activists. We are ridiculous.
>
>Regards,
>lize
>
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