[New-imc] Online form: Proposed new IMC! ()

[anonimized at indymedia.org]

Submitted by:  on Wednesday, April 14th, 2004 @ 9:45:00 am (-0400)

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HTTP_USER_AGENT:
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Online Form Fields
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proposed_imc_name:
Indymedia Armenia

proposed_imc_url:
armenia

current_url:


city:
Yerevan

state:


country:
Armenia

contact_name:
Kevin

contact_email:
grr_spam_mer at yahoo.com

contact_phone:


tech_name:
Tigran

tech_email:
grr_spam_mer at yahoo.com

tech_phone:


focus:
regional_focus

critical_dates:


supporting_groups:
Ynternet.org, Falkor I.C.Y, CMI

introductory_statement:
Armenia lacks an independent media. Recently protesters outside the Parliament in central Yerevan were attacked and pursued through darkened streets by riot police and the military, armed with fire hoses, clubs, and tasers. Leaders of the protest, even cameramen covering it, wound up imprisoned or hospitalized. There were explosions after midnight that many people heard, but no mention of the events the following day on state-run television. Journalism students at the university circulated broadsheets to get the word out and reports appeared later on a few web sites. Otherwise, nothing.

Journalists still cover press conferences and follow the government’s lead. The only non-state owned television station has been denied a license for two years and protests over this have fed a growing opposition movement that lacks media outlets. The government is taking steps to ban meetings and demonstrations and photographers at protests have been attacked. Still, these photographers are not necessarily independent, but only covering news in favor of the opposition… And the opposition is not necessarily any better than the government in power.

There is no independent source of information about what goes on. Protests are growing, traffic, on the roads and in the air has been intermittently blocked from Yerevan, riot police have been called out to monitor opposition protests. But the opposition includes members of the former Communist government as well artists who gave up their former positions in protest, elements both corrupt and idealistic. No means of covering the conflict exist beyond state owned media, and the (thwarted) attempts at establishing opposition media, all of them necessarily biased, none of them effective at truly gauging opinion among the people and reporting fairly on the many contradictions inherent in the current situation. As the opposition grows, it becomes more and more important to publish, and publish widely, independent reporting on the situation in Armenia. Especially with travel restrictions in place, which prevent foreign journalists from operating effectively as well. 

But this is not simply an issue of reporting on a nascent revolution. Transparency is low or altogether absent, corruption prevalent. Environmental issues are not well publicized and people persist in destructive behavior because of a lack of education about options. Women’s issues are rarely discussed and there is no open clearinghouse of information about rights and birth control – abortion is a commonly used method of ‘birth control’. The need to establish and grow an independent media will not fade with the success or failure of the present round of protests. All of this is valid even more especially in the more isolated areas outside of the capital, Yerevan. There exists a lack of resources, of information, of independent reporting, of media facilities and meeting places. 

We propose to create an independent media center based in Yerevan, the capital of Armenia. The project is one part of a larger project directed by YPAC – Youth Progressive Action Coalition, which aims to provide a center with computers, a darkroom, video equipment, scanners, and a website linking up to the larger Indymedia global group, enough to try to begin to fill the media void, at least in Yerevan, and to begin to increase connectivity so that the regions can participate. The YPAC group working on the Indymedia center is comprised of members of several local and international groups working or based in the Yerevan and the regions, including Falkor I.C.Y., Ynternet.org, CENN (Caucasus Environmental NGO Network), Bars Media (a local documentary film studio), as well as independent journalists and programmers. We a mixed group, mostly Armenians,  some returned Diaspora, and three expats. We are also supported by the Caucasus Media Institute, which in additions to reso
 urces and advice offers journalism and language classes.  We are in discussions with Project Harmony Armenia as well as Ynternet.org about collaborating on Internet connectivity issues so that people in the regions will be able to participate.

We will establish a website in Armenian, Russian, and English so that the reporting will be accessible throughout Armenia, so that we will be able to foster collaboration with readers in the NIS, and throughout the world.


resources:
We\'ve found a host that meets our needs, within Armenia, so that the site will be accessible to users of Freenet, the most common dial-up here. We\'ve also arranged for mirror sites in Denmark and Sweden. We have an experienced technical team and, coming from several organizations ourselves, already have experience organizing and branching out via contacts.

outreach:
We\'ve been active in recruiting at different activist organizations in Yerevan, meeting people at protests and events, word of mouth. It\'s something we\'d like to continue, by building an internet presence, by continuing to be active in meeting people in the community and spreading through relationships.

identity_makeup:
Most of our collective comes from the local community, most of them from the progressive community as it exists in Yerevan. About 50-50 men and women, skewed towards the latter. Everyone is open sexually, but spirituality has never come up. The Armenian Church is not strongly represented in our ranks, if at all. Generally in our twenties, but many ties to older individuals, and we\'ve been expanding a lot.

steps_represent_diversity:


steps_involve_new_workfields:
So far we\'ve been operating on a volunteer basis - people have had to jump in involve themselves in new workfields through their own volition, or we wouldn\'t be in a position to apply. All have some experience with at least one field, but not enough to do everything related to it, and not enough time to learn everything about it. Everyone has had to try something new; we wouldn\'t make progress otherwise. And I think this wil continue as we grow. No one has any postion on more than a temporary, voluntary basis - we intend to keep that structure. Everyone learns everything, no one becomes static.

As for gendered work division, we feel that having a rotating parecon xtructure will overcome that. And some of the primary issues driving the formation of this Indymedia collective are women\'s issues. The male/female ratio, in terms of number and of voice, favors women. And if it should skew too far in that direction, all the better, given the general oppression faced by women in Armenian society. Already, we\'ve traded off authority back and forth, and the system has worked so far.