[IMC-Boston-Editorial] Pete's email to US Indymedia about BIMC
Sofia JarrinT
sofiajt at yahoo.com
Sun Jan 29 17:53:20 PST 2006
hi,
ok, I'm breathing in and out as my "therapist" suggested... Please see below an email Pete Stidman sent to US IMC discuss list about BIMC. Notice that his post followed Bradley's annoucement about BIMC's closing around the country.
I think we should post a collective response to US Indymedia about Pete's post. It's clear that he is still hurt about what happened, but making the BIMC conflict public on the US Indymedia list is a bit much.
I would like to keep the response civil, non-accusatory, and professional. Is anyone interested in working on this? What are your opinions on the situation as a whole?
As an obvious party in the original "dispute", I feel responsible in helping write up a response. See below.
peace,
Sofia
-------------------------------
Sample Response:
In response to Pete Stidman's comments about Boston Indymedia, we object to making BIMC's internal conflicts with past members public on the US Indymedia discuss list.
Pete left the group in October 2005, after parties involved in the conflict had reached a stalemate. The conflict was a painful experience for everyone involved in the group and forced us to look inside as a collective and as our purpose under the IMC's Principles of Unity.
We do not believe, however, that the BIMC suffered irreparable losses from these events. In November and December alone, there were more than 30 articles featured on our web site. A new generation of IMCers are slowly becoming aware of Indymedia and joining the group. The Boston Video collective has been producing a weekly show on community television since June 2005. Old and current Boston IMCers have moved on to paid journalistic positions in print, video, audio, including Pete himself.
In regards to the future of IMCs, one thing we surely learned is that growth and evolution at an IMC cannot be forced, that participatory democracy starts at home by making sure that everyone's voice is heard, and that respectful dialogue is at the heart of a healthy community.
Today's Topics:
1. Re: IMC's changing, going and re-evolving (deva)
2. Re: IMC's changing, going and re-evolving (Pete Stidman)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Message: 1
Date: Sat, 28 Jan 2006 10:49:42 -0800
From: deva
Subject: Re: [IMC-US] IMC's changing, going and re-evolving
To: imc-us-process at lists.indymedia.org, Working Group for IMC-US.
, Pete Stidman
Cc: imc-ar at lists.indymedia.org, sfbay-web at lists.indymedia.org,
info at phillyimc.org, imc at michiganimc.org
Message-ID: <09c4a355ee95312d01340bddd052cd74 at riseup.net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed
Hi Pete,
Sorry to hear about the trouble in Boston. It is something that has
happened to many, if not most US imc's. Portland went through some
serious conflict a few years back that resulted in some people leaving,
lots of negativity and so on. Fortunately it did emerge stronger and
smarter.
I personally learned so much out of that time. I was deeply frustrated
by ideological structures that were held above recognition of what is
going on. I have heard it repeated over and over how one person was
allowed to act badly, and causing the many working people to leave,
while all the people who knew what was going on did nothing because
that is against indymedia dogma.
I have personally been involved in kicking 3 people out of portland
indymedia. I have been called authoritarian, fascist etc. I do not
care. I will not stand by while someone, particularly someone who is
not doing much useful, creates a negative climate that chases good
people away.
Particularly in this country, there is a strong conditioning to be
nice. This pattern of passive accommodating niceness, allows noxious
weeds to take root and begin to take over the garden. The longer one
waits, the harder it is to pull and correct.
Openness is not blind. It is alert and aware. It responds accordingly.
A local indymedia is like a living organism. If a persons immune system
becomes overactive, or closedminded, it rejects too much, including
nutrients that sustain the body. If it becomes too passive, or
chronically open, it allows pathogens to gain a foothold which can lead
to illness of death. A healthy immune system is essential to a healthy
person. So to a healthy immune system is necessary to a healthy group.
It is not easy to develop the skills and internal balance to be able to
respond intelligently to the ever changing situation. To not become
overly suspicious, or over protective, to not erect walls, yet be able
to say no with strength when needed. This is the area in the activist
community that I find most in need of growth. An internal, or spiritual
development/aspect if you will. We ourselves are the tools we must
fashion to carry out the outer visions of social change.
I hope these words are of use to other indymedia's struggling with
these issues.
cheers,
deva
portland indymedia contributor
On Jan 27, 2006, at 1:57 PM, Pete Stidman wrote:
> I am also sorry for the crossposting, and I'll try to
> keep this short.
>
> I am dismayed to see so much strife in the indymedia
> network. I was a devoted and hardworking member of
> Boston IMC for just over a year including during the
> DNC in July 2004 when I met many in the greater
> network.
>
> After that time Boston IMC wnt through some
> signinficant growth due to the excitement carried over
> from that event and renewed energy from new and old
> volunteers that wanted to engage the community in new
> ways. We were writing grants and contacting local
> non-profits, tabling at community events, and covering
> local events. Our website content and traffic were up
> considerably. It was also a good time. I met and
> worked with tons of really great amazing people.
>
> As all good things do, this came to an end.
> Fortunately, Boston IMC is still operating, although
> as many as half of the volunteers from that time
> either left or severely curtailed their involvement.
>
> The reasons easily devolve into a he said she said,
> and this is one of the reasons that the strife that
> developed in the group was so difficult to contain.
> The group was unwilling to face and deal with the
> conflict. Instead it became an ugly smear campaign
> waged by one against the other.
>
> I ultimately grew really tired of the infighting,
> which directly involved me (although I made every
> effort to resolve things and act civilly) and left the
> group for good.
>
> Now, after experience in other forms of media, I
> realize that the governance of indymedia is severely
> flawed. Either it works based on affinity and
> exclusiveness, it somehow develops new rules for
> itself, or its own openness prevents it from having
> the tools to deal with unstable individuals. Much of
> it depends upon the individuals involved and the
> timing of the trials they face.
>
> I'm still working in media and hope to continue my
> relationships with folks in the greater network of
> indymedia. Our ideals are in the right place, but I
> fel that Indymedia taken as a whole must evolve or
> die. I can't help but compare our situation in Boston
> to what happened in Florida, and also Michigan.
>
> Boston IMC now has an active video group, the main
> interest of one side of the argument we had.
>
> The website, which was in my and other's interest, has
> in my opinion slowed down a bit, the editing is still
> doing ok. But the point isn't whether the website
> survived the storm, it's that a person who was
> dedicated to making it thrive was attacked while the
> rest of the collective watched.
>
> No matter how many told me privately they thought the
> attacks were wrong, they had no tool as a collective
> to deal with them. I was called every name in the
> right wing pantheon, from capitalist to fascist to
> white supremacist.
>
> For someone like me, that really hurt. It also made it
> impossible to stay involved.
>
> -Pete
>
>
>
> --- bradley
wrote:
>
>> hey there,
>>
>> Sorry for the cross-posting... I know that people
>> are on various
>> lists....
>>
>> I just wanted to call some attention to a few
>> updates from local IMCs
>> in the US.
>>
>> Seeking input --- What should the future of
>> OKIMC.org be?
>> http://okimc.org/newswire.php?story_id=1406
>>
>> Shutting Down the Michigan Independent Media Center
>> http://michiganimc.org/
>>
>> Unfortunately, it is time we said goodbye
>> http://miami.indymedia.org/news/2006/01/3523.php
>>
>> Santa Cruz Indymedia's Regional Integration with
>> Indybay.org
>> http://www.indybay.org/news/2006/01/1797769.php
>>
>> Arkansas IMC is celebrating a 3rd B-day and has a
>> new look
>> http://arkansas.indymedia.org
>>
>> Philly IMC also has a new look
>> http://www.phillyimc.org
>>
>> Ok, y'all can check out the other IMCs on your own
>> to see what you
>> can learn from the websites... but maybe sending out
>> this email with
>> updates from a few IMCs is helpful. Hopefully IMC in
>> the US and
>> globally will have a great year in 2006.
>>
>> Best of luck to everyone and all the IMCs!
>>
>> If anyone has questions or advice, this might be a
>> good time and
>> place to speak up.
>>
>> In one way or another, we are a network. Let's do
>> our best to support
>> each other.
>>
>> sincerely,
>> Bradley
>>
>> (( ( i ) )))
>>
>> --
>>
>> Santa Cruz Indymedia: http://Indybay.org/SantaCruz
>> //
>> Free Radio Santa Cruz: http://www.FreakRadio.org
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> IMC-US mailing list
>> IMC-US at lists.ucimc.org
>> http://lists.chambana.net/cgi-bin/listinfo/imc-us
>>
>
>
> __________________________________________________
> Do You Yahoo!?
> Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around
> http://mail.yahoo.com
> _______________________________________________
> IMC-US mailing list
> IMC-US at lists.ucimc.org
> http://lists.chambana.net/cgi-bin/listinfo/imc-us
------------------------------
Message: 2
Date: Sat, 28 Jan 2006 14:35:11 -0800 (PST)
From: Pete Stidman
Subject: Re: [IMC-US] IMC's changing, going and re-evolving
To: deva , imc-us-process at lists.indymedia.org,
"Working Group for IMC-US."
Cc: imc-ar at lists.indymedia.org, sfbay-web at lists.indymedia.org,
info at phillyimc.org, imc at michiganimc.org
Message-ID: <20060128223511.38525.qmail at web33801.mail.mud.yahoo.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1
Thanks Deva,
That was a really eloquent little ditty, and sounding
very wise too. I would join in and say pay attention
to those early "noxious weeds" when theyr're new. We
had an opportunity early on after one person had
actually posted a viscous attack on the whole
collective on our site. When the person came back I
actually led the charge to be forgiving. BIG mistake.
Although the new work I am doing is pretty great, I
wish I could've left on a happy note and still have
the possibility for collaboration open.
-Pete
--- deva wrote:
> Hi Pete,
>
> Sorry to hear about the trouble in Boston. It is
> something that has
> happened to many, if not most US imc's. Portland
> went through some
> serious conflict a few years back that resulted in
> some people leaving,
> lots of negativity and so on. Fortunately it did
> emerge stronger and
> smarter.
>
> I personally learned so much out of that time. I was
> deeply frustrated
> by ideological structures that were held above
> recognition of what is
> going on. I have heard it repeated over and over how
> one person was
> allowed to act badly, and causing the many working
> people to leave,
> while all the people who knew what was going on did
> nothing because
> that is against indymedia dogma.
>
> I have personally been involved in kicking 3 people
> out of portland
> indymedia. I have been called authoritarian, fascist
> etc. I do not
> care. I will not stand by while someone,
> particularly someone who is
> not doing much useful, creates a negative climate
> that chases good
> people away.
>
> Particularly in this country, there is a strong
> conditioning to be
> nice. This pattern of passive accommodating
> niceness, allows noxious
> weeds to take root and begin to take over the
> garden. The longer one
> waits, the harder it is to pull and correct.
>
> Openness is not blind. It is alert and aware. It
> responds accordingly.
> A local indymedia is like a living organism. If a
> persons immune system
> becomes overactive, or closedminded, it rejects too
> much, including
> nutrients that sustain the body. If it becomes too
> passive, or
> chronically open, it allows pathogens to gain a
> foothold which can lead
> to illness of death. A healthy immune system is
> essential to a healthy
> person. So to a healthy immune system is necessary
> to a healthy group.
>
> It is not easy to develop the skills and internal
> balance to be able to
> respond intelligently to the ever changing
> situation. To not become
> overly suspicious, or over protective, to not erect
> walls, yet be able
> to say no with strength when needed. This is the
> area in the activist
> community that I find most in need of growth. An
> internal, or spiritual
> development/aspect if you will. We ourselves are the
> tools we must
> fashion to carry out the outer visions of social
> change.
>
> I hope these words are of use to other indymedia's
> struggling with
> these issues.
>
> cheers,
> deva
> portland indymedia contributor
>
>
>
> On Jan 27, 2006, at 1:57 PM, Pete Stidman wrote:
>
> > I am also sorry for the crossposting, and I'll try
> to
> > keep this short.
> >
> > I am dismayed to see so much strife in the
> indymedia
> > network. I was a devoted and hardworking member of
> > Boston IMC for just over a year including during
> the
> > DNC in July 2004 when I met many in the greater
> > network.
> >
> > After that time Boston IMC wnt through some
> > signinficant growth due to the excitement carried
> over
> > from that event and renewed energy from new and
> old
> > volunteers that wanted to engage the community in
> new
> > ways. We were writing grants and contacting local
> > non-profits, tabling at community events, and
> covering
> > local events. Our website content and traffic were
> up
> > considerably. It was also a good time. I met and
> > worked with tons of really great amazing people.
> >
> > As all good things do, this came to an end.
> > Fortunately, Boston IMC is still operating,
> although
> > as many as half of the volunteers from that time
> > either left or severely curtailed their
> involvement.
> >
> > The reasons easily devolve into a he said she
> said,
> > and this is one of the reasons that the strife
> that
> > developed in the group was so difficult to
> contain.
> > The group was unwilling to face and deal with the
> > conflict. Instead it became an ugly smear campaign
> > waged by one against the other.
> >
> > I ultimately grew really tired of the infighting,
> > which directly involved me (although I made every
> > effort to resolve things and act civilly) and left
> the
> > group for good.
> >
> > Now, after experience in other forms of media, I
> > realize that the governance of indymedia is
> severely
> > flawed. Either it works based on affinity and
> > exclusiveness, it somehow develops new rules for
> > itself, or its own openness prevents it from
> having
> > the tools to deal with unstable individuals. Much
> of
> > it depends upon the individuals involved and the
> > timing of the trials they face.
> >
> > I'm still working in media and hope to continue my
> > relationships with folks in the greater network of
> > indymedia. Our ideals are in the right place, but
> I
> > fel that Indymedia taken as a whole must evolve or
> > die. I can't help but compare our situation in
> Boston
> > to what happened in Florida, and also Michigan.
> >
> > Boston IMC now has an active video group, the main
> > interest of one side of the argument we had.
> >
> > The website, which was in my and other's interest,
> has
> > in my opinion slowed down a bit, the editing is
> still
> > doing ok. But the point isn't whether the website
> > survived the storm, it's that a person who was
> > dedicated to making it thrive was attacked while
> the
> > rest of the collective watched.
> >
> > No matter how many told me privately they thought
> the
> > attacks were wrong, they had no tool as a
> collective
> > to deal with them. I was called every name in the
> > right wing pantheon, from capitalist to fascist to
> > white supremacist.
> >
> > For someone like me, that really hurt. It also
> made it
> > impossible to stay involved.
> >
> > -Pete
> >
> >
> >
> > --- bradley
wrote:
> >
> >> hey there,
> >>
> >> Sorry for the cross-posting... I know that people
> >> are on various
> >> lists....
> >>
> >> I just wanted to call some attention to a few
> >> updates from local IMCs
> >> in the US.
> >>
> >> Seeking input --- What should the future of
> >> OKIMC.org be?
> >> http://okimc.org/newswire.php?story_id=1406
> >>
> >> Shutting Down the Michigan Independent Media
> Center
> >> http://michiganimc.org/
> >>
> >> Unfortunately, it is time we said goodbye
> >> http://miami.indymedia.org/news/2006/01/3523.php
> >>
> >> Santa Cruz Indymedia's Regional Integration with
> >> Indybay.org
> >> http://www.indybay.org/news/2006/01/1797769.php
> >>
> >> Arkansas IMC is celebrating a 3rd B-day and has a
> >> new look
> >> http://arkansas.indymedia.org
> >>
> >> Philly IMC also has a new look
> >> http://www.phillyimc.org
> >>
> >> Ok, y'all can check out the other IMCs on your
> own
> >> to see what you
> >> can learn from the websites... but maybe sending
> out
> >> this email with
> >> updates from a few IMCs is helpful. Hopefully IMC
> in
> >> the US and
> >> globally will have a great year in 2006.
> >>
> >> Best of luck to everyone and all the IMCs!
> >>
> >> If anyone has questions or advice, this might be
> a
> >> good time and
> >> place to speak up.
> >>
> >> In one way or another, we are a network. Let's do
> >> our best to support
> >> each other.
> >>
> >> sincerely,
> >> Bradley
> >>
> >> (( ( i ) )))
> >>
> >> --
> >>
> >> Santa Cruz Indymedia:
> http://Indybay.org/SantaCruz
> >> //
> >> Free Radio Santa Cruz: http://www.FreakRadio.org
> >>
> >>
> >> _______________________________________________
> >> IMC-US mailing list
> >> IMC-US at lists.ucimc.org
> >> http://lists.chambana.net/cgi-bin/listinfo/imc-us
> >>
> >
> >
> > __________________________________________________
> > Do You Yahoo!?
> > Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam
> protection around
> > http://mail.yahoo.com
> > _______________________________________________
> > IMC-US mailing list
> > IMC-US at lists.ucimc.org
> > http://lists.chambana.net/cgi-bin/listinfo/imc-us
>
>
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Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around
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