[Imc-africa] preliminary thoughts about the imc-africaconvergence (2)

Sun Feb 4 16:40:35 PST 2007

Thanks to both CT and Terna for their comments. I don't really have much to 
add, but I appreciate that this discussion is coming up. I'm sorry that it 
wasn't brought up in Nairobi, and I acknowledge that I also did not step up 
to put the question of power dynamics on the table.

Terna's suggestion of bilateral relations within Africa seems very good to 
me, at least as a step towards building a network and skills in Africa. 
Additionally, given the difference in access to technology between most of 
Africa and Northern countries, it makes a lot of sense to have local people 
figuring out what works best for them.

For future events, I also agree that it makes sense to have a more 
structured way of handling not only arrivals, but also participation so that 
the spirit of the event is clear to everyone from the start. Some of the 
Ugandans never got it, and while Indymedia is open to anyone, if we are 
going to live together and coordinate activities together, there have to be 
some baseline agreements, otherwise it will be impossible to accomplish 
much.

Zoe

<html><DIV><FONT size=2></FONT><FONT color=#000000 size=3><STRONG>We are the 
ones we have waited for.</STRONG></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4></FONT>&nbsp;</DIV></html>

>From: C.T. Lawrence Butler <ctbutler at together.net>
>Reply-To: African IMCs and the imc project in 
>Africa<imc-africa at lists.indymedia.org>
>To: African IMCs and the imc project in Africa 
><imc-africa at lists.indymedia.org>
>Subject: Re: [Imc-africa] preliminary thoughts about the 
>imc-africaconvergence (2)
>Date: Sun, 4 Feb 2007 17:24:53 -0500
>
>More . . .
>
>It is significant to note that during this time, at the end of the
>first week, beginning of the second week, almost everyone in the house
>became ill with the flu. I became the "permanent facilitator" during
>this time in part because no one else would do it and partly because
>almost everyone else was sick. There was only ever one Formal Consensus
>training (on the first weekend). As more people arrived during the
>second week, the evening plenary became less and less democractic and
>the process deteriorated rapidly to the rule of the quickest, loudest
>and "most knowledgeable".
>
>Just for the record, towards the third week, I decided, on my own,
>without consulting anyone, that I could not continue to be the only
>facilitator for the evening plenaries so I started inviting others to
>facilitate at least every other meeting; that was, until the most
>horrible of all the plenaries, in the middle of the WSF, on the night
>of the armed robbery, which I facilitated, which was also the last
>plenary I facilitated. We actually held a vote; even though I was
>technically the facilitator at the time, I had little to no control of
>the process.
>
>Ultimately, from my perspective, one of the fundamental circumstances
>that created a set-up for failure was how few Africans participated in
>this convergence, and especially, how few indymedia activists were
>there. For the entire convergence (during all three weeks), about half
>the group was northerners (mostly made up of "consultants" or the
>"managerial class") and the other half was Africans (most of whom were
>not strongly identified with Indymedia before arriving and
>consequently, did not have a strong vision or opinion about how the
>convergence should be, especially given the "less than friendly"
>environment they likely encountered at the plenaries). Terna is
>accurate, in my opinion, that the northern "technocrats" (including
>myself) dominated the meetings, inhibited the "collective" process and
>controlled the direction of the convergence and how "we" allocated
>"our" resources. The handful of Indymedia activists that were a part of
>the convergence were generally so busy dealing with the business of
>putting on the convergence that they had little time to participate in
>the meetings and community life with the rest of us. As a group, the
>convergence never dealt with this dynamic and it undermined everything
>we did.
>
>
>C.T. Butler
>"There is nothing more unequal than
>the equal treatment of unequals."
>
>_______________________________________________
>Imc-africa mailing list
>Imc-africa at lists.indymedia.org
>http://lists.indymedia.org/mailman/listinfo/imc-africa

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