[New-imc] indymedia--cleveland and choice

[Jay]

Hi Deb,

This is Jay from IMC Philadelphia, as well as from the new-imc working 
group, the group that helps new IMCs join the network.  I don't know much 
about the specifics of the incident with protectchoice.org, and I'm sorry 
things became so messy.  I'm also sorry to hear some people who are 
involved with Indymedia around the world sent along comments that weren't 
helpful.

I just want to reassure you that as far as I know, (though I generally 
don't know too much about this sort of thing,) the only reason the 
Cleveland IMC site stalled was because there ceased to be an active group 
of people who were keeping it up, and not specifically because of any 
particular incident with the site being used "inappropriately."  There have 
been some incidents in which local IMCs have done things like used their 
site to promote a particular political party, for example, which isn't in 
tune with the indymedia "principles of unity."  In all of those cases the 
IMCs in question have realized that they were doing something that didn't 
fit with the way other IMCs were running and made changes -- or, 
legitmately defended what they were doing in a way that made sense to 
everyone else.  All that is understandable.  It's all part of our learning, 
together, what an "independent media movement" is, and what role Indymedia 
can play in that.  However, in no case, as far as I know, has a local IMC's 
site been stopped specifically because of things like that, especially not 
when there is an active group present to address the situation.

Now that the Cleveland IMC is back together, with a new group, they're 
working their way through the new-imc process 
(http://newimc.indymedia.org).  It's sometimes a pretty slow process, both 
because it requires an IMC to have some pretty important discussions before 
starting up (mission statement, editorial policy, etc.) but also because 
those of us helping with the new-imc working group are swamped and 
sometimes slow to respond to e-mails.  As I said, I don't know much about 
what happened previously, and may be wrong about the way incidents 
unfolded, but at the moment, there's nothing stalling the Cleveland IMC as 
far as I know.

Hope this helps,

Jay

At 10/2/2002, Solidaritynow at aol.com wrote:
>greetings.
>
>the other day i fed "cleveland indymedia" in for a search
>to check on a post someone was doing for me
>about the NE-OHIO 10 who were busted in
>dc.
>
>i was startled to find a thread dated jan. 2002
>complaining about the protectchoice.org site that
>was created for me ====> i wrote an email
>response ages ago taking full responsibility
>for what happened and asked that all of
>cleveland, ohio, not be "punished" for what
>was done on my behalf.
>
>except, it isn't quite so simple to stop there.
>
>you see, i didn't know that we were using the
>site in a way that was considered unacceptable,
>or i wouldn't have done it. anyone who is familiar
>with me as a street activist can tell you this. it's
>not my way.
>
>i find a few things about all of this unsettling.
>
>-no one posted my email of explanation and apology
>-anyone who knows about abortion rights' street activism
>could've found me and asked about the site
>-the person who did the coding for me was told
>we were shut down and not given a password
>because of something to do with servers
>-no one ever mentioned this was an inappropriate
>use of the site---> neither of us found that out
>until someone sent me a posting--> the posting
>i wrote an apology for eons ago
>
>i write this because i want to make sure that
>people know the truth of what happened here
>in cleveland.
>
>i write this because i don't want people who
>are working hard on getting the new indymedia
>site up and running to be held back as a result of
>this. (i'm not sure if they are still being stalled
>OR if what i did has any bearing on that.)
>
>i write this because it's disappointing that
>people involved in national indymedia, who were concerned
>about this, didn't ask local activists to ask questions.
>as a street activist, i'm not real hard to find.
>
>what is even more baffling is why some of the
>leftists/progressive/anarchists that do indymedia
>stuff seemed to write responses that
>seemed more akin to a dictatorship
>--a capitalist dictatorship.
>
>granted, not all of the posts were like that.
>however, using a gavel on all of cleveland
>and not asking how the protectchoice.org
>site came to exist was unjust.
>
>we have enough people who we need to direct
>our righteous anger at without turning on one
>another. we need to work together, not tear
>one another apart.
>
>a simple conversation could've solved this =
>COMMUNICATE.
>
>so--to all of the cleveland indymedia people who were
>working hard on getting this off and running--> i apologize
>that my actions resulted in a delay. as you have
>already read, i tried to correct it as soon as i found
>out what was going on. it's unfortunate that the email
>i sent wasn't shared with others. please let me know
>if you need additional help in this due to my actions.
>
>in solidarity,
>deb ~: