[New-imc] THAILAND/Akha

[Jay]

Hi there Matthew, Evan and new-imc,

This is Jay from the Philadelphia IMC.  Matthew, you may recognize my name 
because I was involved with the Direct Action Media Network and I've been 
on your Akha mailing list for quite a while.  I'm writing because I'm 
involved with the new-imc working group and sometimes help aspiring IMCs 
like your own get through the process to joining the Indymedia network.

I'm really excited to hear you're interested in working to form an IMC in 
Thailand!  I think that could be really fantastic.  I do seem to agree in 
general with what Evan has said below but, as he suggests as well, I'm sure 
these things can be worked out.

As you know, IMCs are composed primarily of people who live in the 
city/country/region the IMC "represents."  An IMC Thailand should obviously 
be composed primarily of Thai people, though of course there can be 
necessary involvement from non-Thai people who live long-term in the area 
and are deeply involved in situations there.  While international NGOs 
sometimes provide infrastructure for IMC groups, especially technical 
infrastructure, they should of course be but a part of the mix and not 
compose the whole picture.

I guess one primary question then is what kind of active involvement by 
Thai people do you imagine a Thailand IMC having?  Not to say that Thai 
nationals aren't invovled in NGOS (if you can follow all my 
double-negatives there :), but what kind of involvement do you project from 
folks "in the street?"  I know these are all complicated questions to 
address and the answers may be very complicated as well.  At the very least 
we can open up a dialogue to figure out the nuances of what an future 
Thailand IMC (or northern Thailand IMC, if that's more of a focus) could 
become.

If you haven't already, take a look through 
"http://docs.indymedia.org/view/Global/NewImcHowTo".  That will give you a 
lot more information about the process.

An IMC Thailand could be quite an excellent resource and I'm sure could 
become quite importanat in and outside of the region.

Looking forward to hearing any response,

Jay

At 2/21/2004, evan at protest.net wrote:
>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
>
>--
>-------------------------------------------------------------------------
>| blog: anarchogeek.com                    pgp: anarchogeek.com/pgp.txt |
>-------------------------------------------------------------------------
>| Protest.net is an anti-this, anti-that website to divide, demoralize, |
>| and bring down the very frabric of America. Proudly lead by pacifist, |
>| godless, demented, berkenstock wearing, granola eating, peace-freak,  |
>| moronic, unamerican, green, muslim, communist, faggot, liberal,       |
>| serbian, arab, rag-head, anarchist, terrorist, scum, pigs and         |
>| traitors. We're underemployed scumbag welfare sucking parasitic       |
>| shelted uneducated intellecutals who are always explaining the root   |
>| causes of terrorism, blaming america first, and whining about         |
>| non-existant threats to civil liberties.                              |
>| GOD BLESS AMERICA!!! DEATH TO THOSE WHO STAND AGAINST US!!!           |
>|                      - All words from hate mail sent to protest.net   |
>-------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>_______________________________________________
>New-imc mailing list. Lista de correo New-imc
>New-imc at lists.indymedia.org
>http://lists.indymedia.org/mailman/listinfo/new-imc