[New-imc] HAWAI'I (reviving or new?)

[Jay]

SUMMARY:
My opinion that the Hawai'i IMC may not have to go through the "formal" 
new-imc process, but should fill out the documents anyway as a way to have 
the important discussions necessary to revive the group in a sustainable way.
***

Aloha Charles,

Jay from IMC Philadelphia here, and also from the new-imc working 
group.  I'm cc'ing this to the new-imc at indymedia.org list so everyone there 
can be sure to take a look.

Great news that the Hawai'i IMC is reviving!  The questions you raise below 
about whether the reviving IMC should go through the new-imc process or not 
are interesting ones.  As you know, a few collectives have chosen to go 
through the new-imc process while undergoing revival, especially when 
substantially changing their core group.  Others have not.  There hasn't 
been any hard and fast rule on what has to happen when a dormant IMC 
revives, and I don't think there should be.  Every situation has its own 
components, and I think we can look at each situation on its own.

The way it sounds to me, the new Hawai'i IMC is composed of a bunch of new 
people, but also some who were involved previously.  You have many of your 
old documents around, and are working on new versions.  You're trying to 
figure out when to have meetings, and how to do outreach.  In short, you're 
doing all the things a new IMC does when it's getting its act together in 
the first place.

My instinct is that you should continue on your path, making sure you have 
all the discussions involved in forming a new imc -- talking about the 
principles, of unity, honing your mission statement and editorial policy, 
having open meetings and doing good outreach.  As long as you're doing 
those things, I personally don't think there should be the absolute need 
for you to go through the formal new-imc process.

Perhaps think of it as an informal new-imc process.  You seem to realize 
how important all the principles/criteria discussions are to developing a 
workable, sustainable IMC, and understand that solidifying that foundation 
is key to being effective.  With that in mind, and because there are some 
"original" collective members still around, my sense is that you should 
proceed with filling out the documents, maybe even send them to the new-imc 
working group and imc-process when you're done, but I don't know if you 
need to go through things more formally.

I'd be interested to hear what others on the new-imc working group think 
though.

Again, glad to hear the Hawai'i IMC is back,

Jay





>Aloha Fine Peoples,
>
>I apologize if some of you were waiting at the edge of your virtual seats 
>for a reportback on the IMC-Hawai'i Booth at the Festival Of Resistance 
>and our last meeting.  In short:  The booth was a success (in my humble 
>opinion) - we got the word out about IMC-Hawai'i and we gained several new 
>volunteers.  Excellent!
>
>We are pretty darn close to the 'critical mass' needed to for a dynamic 
>community Independent Media Center.  An active Hawai'i IMC could be a 
>powerful and positive advocate for justice, peace and truth in these 
>islands.  There is, however, some work that still needs to be done.
>
>The Hawai'i IMC is 'dormant' and has been since last year.  How can we go 
>about kick-starting this collective again?
>
>Here are some of my ideas, several framed as questions and answers.  Feel 
>Free to Add your own Questions or Answers.  This is your IMC too!
>
>
>
>  o Before we start work on IMC-Hawai'i projects, should we go through the
>    `NewIMC Process'?
>
>    http://newimc.indymedia.org - The New IMC page.  A great document that
>    I recommend to anyone interested in how many local IMC's function.
>
>While the NewIMC Process might be a good way to 'revitalize' the Hawai'i 
>collective, it may take a month or more before we get approved (waits like 
>that have happened before).
>
>This, I feel, will sap our energy, and waste time that could be used for 
>writing editorials, taking pictures and muckraking.  Besides, there are 
>still active people on this list who were around when IMC-Hawai'i was 
>initially created (Matt DeMello comes to mind) -- so we are not creating a 
>"new" IMC, we're just working to revitalize an existing one.
>
>There are some great process and policy ideas in the NewIMC documents 
>though. Regardless of whether or not we go through with the NewIMC 
>registration process, we should all take a look at the techniques other 
>IMCs use to help foster healthy and active collectives.  In particular:
>
>   - The Principles of Unity for Indymedia
>      http://lists.indymedia.org/mailman/public/new-imc/2001-May/000160.html
>
>
>
>  o Should We Draft a New Mission Statement?
>
>    Current mission statement:
>    ------
>    The Hawai'i Independent Media Center is a grassroots organization
>    committed to using media production and distribution as a tool for
>    promoting social and economic justice in Hawai'i. It is our goal
>    to give voice to Native Hawaiians and Native Hawaiian allies
>    actively seeking a Sovereign and Independent Hawai'i and to
>    everyone under-represented in the mainstream media. We intend to
>    illuminate and analyze local and global issues that are affected
>    by the increasing corporate domination of American society and the
>    subsequent erosion of democracy. We seek to generate alternatives
>    to the current biases in the corporate media and to contribute to
>    the development of an equitable and sustainable society.
>
>
>I think that our existing mission statement is superb - especially since 
>it ASSERTIVELY addresses Native Hawai'ian self-determination and the 
>sovereignty movement.
>
>(side-note: Why the fack are we under "USA" in the Indymedia 
>listing?  Shouldn't we be under "Pacific"?  Australia and Canada aren't 
>listed under "British Commonwealth"...)
>
>One issue I see in our mission statement is that it does not emphasize the 
>Open Publishing aspect of Indymedia; the idea that "Everyone is a Journalist."
>
>I also think that our mission statement should advertise the fact that the 
>Hawai'i Indymedia Collective is an Open Community.  People could get the 
>wrong impression of the Hawai'ian IMC and think that we are a closed group 
>that functions with an 'invite-only' policy for volunteers.
>
>In addition, some volunteers (me included) have expressed interest in 
>writing features about animal rights, the environment, immigrant issues, 
>technology access, and the effects of the War on Terrorism on these 
>heavily militarized islands.  Maybe we can figure out a way to have a 
>mission policy that also addresses these issues.
>
>
>
>  o Webserver Access
>
>I have been trying to get access to the IMC-Hawai'i webserver in order to 
>make changes to the site and to upgrade web software being used.
>
>I am hoping that this will be resolved soon, or that someone from LA will 
>commit to managing the website; although I have volunteered my tech 
>services (IMC-Hawai'i is being hosted at RegenerationTV in Los 
>Angeles).  The delay, however, is understandable - I am figuring that the 
>LA Folks have a pretty busy schedule.
>
>
>
>  o How Should We Organize/Schedule Collective Meetings?
>
>Should we have meetings every month?  Every two weeks?
>Oahu?  Big Island?  Molokai?
>Should we have a general collective meeting, and more frequent editorial 
>meetings for the people who volunteer to work on the website features?
>
>
>
>  o What kind of structure should we use to decide what content should be
>    placed in the center column?
>
>This is a question that is still being debated by many IMCs around the 
>world.  It seems that creating an open editorial structure WITH safeguards 
>to protect the Mission Statement and the Indymedia Statement of Unity is hard.
>
>I think that our Editorial Policy should be broad enough to include the 
>voices and the views of us volunteers - but there should be a mechanism to 
>veto an editorial that goes against the mission statement or the 
>collective's will.
>
>Having a 'loose' and informal editorial policy agreed upon by the 
>editorial volunteers might be a good way to prevent 'wierdos' from 
>updating the center column -- but this might end up isolating the 
>non-editorial volunteers in the collective, and could even discourage 
>volunteers from joining the editorial group.
>
>
>
>  o Pacific Alliances
>
>I have spoken to people from Aotearea (New Zealand) about possible 
>alliances between our IMCs.  These kinds of connections, I think, will be 
>good for our collective and the Indymedia network in general.
>
>We sit smack dab in the middle of the Pacific and most of us either grew 
>up in, or have had deep exposure to the cultures of the Pacific. (Hawai'i, 
>Polynesia, Micronesia, Aotearea, Phillipines, Japan, Korea, etc...)  In 
>many ways, the many peoples of Hawai'i are far more 'Pacific' than they 
>are 'American' - and our connections with the rest of the IMC Network, I 
>feel, should reflect this.
>
>Also important in an alliance with Aotearea are the parallels in the 
>Kanaka Maoli and the Maori Peoples' struggle against several centuries 
>worth of Western colonial bullshit.
>
>
>pau,
>Charles Paul
>