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

[evan at protest.net]

On Fri, 20 Feb 2004, akha at akha.org wrote:

> imc_name:
> Thailand
>
> supporting_groups:
> Akha International
> FPCN
> Cultural Survival
> Survival International
> Amnesty International
> Human Rights Watch Asia
>
> Indy Media has a standardized activism/media format that is working.
> It is simple to use, straightforward and clearly presented web data for
> countries and regions.  Our goal is to set up a forum for internationals
> who want to assist the democratic process in Thailand and a forum for
> activists in Thailand to be able to contribute to, while we think it
> would be unlikely to locate such a site on a Thai server.
>

I have a few initial concerns about this application. We should talk to
them to figure out more and what path to take with this.

First it seems to be looking at indymedia as a primarily a website, and
not a form or organization for media activism. My other concerns are that
the supporting groups are mostly internationals and profesionalized
institutional NGO's.

Where indymedia has worked in the global south such as argentina, brazil,
ecuador, and south africa it has been because there were strong local lead
organizing and a lot of focus on doing work which is not online. There
have been a number of conflicts related to the role of first world NGO's
and indymedia in the global south.

This is not to say that something couldn't be done, just that i think it's
important to address these issues as it related to this application.

Another issue is that the name was asked for Thailand Indymedia, but the
groups and issues seem to be focused in the north and with the hill tribes
which are important but also not at the center of Thai politics or
culture. Perhaps another name might work better which focused more
precisely on the region and activists involved.

in solidarity,
evan

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