[New-imc] Proposed new IMC!

[kshekhar at bol.net.in]

A proposed new IMC is being requested.
Details are as follows:

Proposed IMC Name:	IMC-Bombay (bombay.indymedia.org)
Contact Name:		Shekhar Krishnan
Email:			kshekhar at bol.net.in
Phone:			91-22-4142843
City:			Mumbai
State:			Maharashtra
Country:		India
Tech Contact Name:	Sanjay Bhangar
Tech Contact Email:	halfworm at postmark.net
Tech Contact Phone:	91-22-4945046
Regional Focus:		yes
Issue Focus:		yes
Event Focus:		yes
Critical Dates:		ideally, we'd like to get the site started by June 13th, if thats possible.
Supporting Groups:	PUKAR (Partners for Urban Knowledge and Research)

Comet Media Foundation.

Students from all over.
Other comments:		We've brought together a group of activists, media groups and students from all over and already had 2 face to face meetings. We've set up an IMC-Mumbai mailing list that currently has over 50 subscribers. We are continuing to do our best to do outreach and network with as large a base as possible.
Resources to contribute: With regards to server space and hosting, it would be nice if we could start off by hosting through the indymedia servers - hopefully as we get going, we would be able to soon shift to locally hosted servers. We're still working out the technical angles, as unfortunately, our technical team isn't the best and we're still in the process of learning.

Why we want to be an IMC: INDY MEDIA BOMBAY:

As we watch the political situation in our country deteriorate, a lot of us want a voice - a chance to make a difference - our hope is that Indymedia here gives concerned people a common platform to interact with eachother and serves as a catalyst to transform that into real action. Also, a platform which takes the "freedom of press" away from the few who actually happen to own the press, to the people - a place where everyone is the media, and everyone is part of the process of "news reporting" and shaping public opinion.

Perhaps one of the biggest problems facing our country today is that the majority of people don’t have a voice, have no way of being heard. While we fully understand that the internet isn't something the majority has access to, we will endeavour to give the "silent majority", the powerless and the down-trodden a voice as far as possible by not restricting the concept of a "free and independent media outlet" only to the internet.

Indy media Bombay is a forum for students, mediapersons, activists, academics and other citizens who feel the need for an independent space to express their ideas, report news, encourage debate and stimulate public discussion. A space that their own professional structures are unable to provide. 

The tendency of some narrow local, national and global forces to monopolize public discourse makes it difficult for an open expression of ideas and political action within the mainstream media and other such public institutions. Especially those concerned with environmentalism, gender issues, sexuality, ethnic violence, secularism, freedom of expression, hunger and deprivation. 

Indymedia Bombay hopes to bring in these issues within public attention through information exchange as well as action. It acknowledges that even within mainstream structures there are individuals and groups who sympathize and are willing to act on these issues, provided they can find a space to operate from. This, in turn, can also shape the way mainstream public discourse operates and perhaps even radicalize itself.

We also believe that we must be as open and creative as possible in the articulation of our political vision and use the forum to innovate and experiment in terms of form as well as content.