[imc-baghdad] current fundraising proposal?

[Sheri Herndon]

hi everyone,

i wanted to be able to send a proposal about the project to a few people i know
(regardless of whether it's an imc) before i leave tomorrow at midnight.  if
there's a current proposal for the newspaper (phase 1) and the other requests
for more media making (phase 2), please send it to me.  i'll do my best to
generate some interest and get some people aware of the project.

much peace and thanks for the great work to all of you.  

love
sheri


>1. Printing update
>2. Where to send
>3. Summary for website
>4. Contraints to publishing
>5. Politics
>6. Getting into Iraq
>
>Dear All,
>
>1. We've run into some snags in getting the paper
>layed out & published. It looks like we'll have it
>printed and ready for distribution on Thursday or
>Saturday (Sunday at latest). 
>
>2. Much thanks to everyone involved in setting up the
>website. It is appreciated. Thanks also to
>Christopher, Jacquie, Spike & Mike for volunteering to
>post the paper. I'll send it to all of you, along with
>the extra articles that didn't make the cut this week.
>Inshallah (God willing), we'll post for ourselves
>soon... 
>
>3. Please write this yourselves - you're welcome to
>use language from the proposal...
>
>4. Our major problems, so far, and in no particular
>order, continue to be:
>
>a. limited electricity (fairly self-explanatory ;-))
>
>b. limited communications (no phones at all, except in
>some neighborhoods, and then only w/i those
>neighborhoods - no intra-city phone service)
>
>c. security concerns limiting movement after dark, and
>even during the day - especially for women
>
>d. no money to pay transportation costs for people
>coming to the hotel to drop off
>stories/edit/type/talk/etc... gas prices have
>skyrocketed, relatively speaking, and cabs are much
>more then folks can afford - especially if they need
>them to cover events too...
>
>e. no office space. the paper itself has no money
>whatsoever, so no money for renting a place. voices
>will let them use space when we get a house, but our
>search has been unsuccessful so far. part of that
>problem is that the 2 groups have somewhat different
>needs/goals. another part is the requirement that
>foreigners pay an entire year's rent ahead of time (or
>at least 6 months at once), and, again, no money to do
>that. but, inshallah, we'll find something soon...
>
>f. very limited equipment. we have 2 laptops (mine and
>voices') on which we've installed arabic fonts, so we
>can type/edit stories in arabic on them. but neither
>has arabic-windows, so we can't use any publishing
>software to lay-out the arabic text for the newspaper.
>this is a *MAJOR* hassle. if we could get at least one
>computer here w/full arabic-language support, that
>would be very, very, very helpful!
>
>5. Folks working on this tend to be anti-Saddam,
>anti-Occupation, but we are pro-actively trying to be
>as inclusive of all points-of-view as possible, and
>presenting ourselves this way too. Most Iraqis I've
>spoken to are a divided on whether or not they want US
>troops to remain, but all are pretty well united on
>fearing total chaos (crime) and the possibility of
>civil war if the troops just pull out (not that that's
>likely to happen anytime soon, lol). Anyway, the point
>is that I hope folks on this list would be supportive
>of all opinions being expressed through this project,
>regardless of whether we, personally, agree with them.
>I understand that this is the general
>approach/philosophy to indymedia, but just want to be
>very clear... 
>
>6. The situation has changed since I entered. My
>understanding is that currently you have to apply for
>permission (not a "visa" - those don't exist) through
>the Iraqi embassy in Amman, Jordan, and that only
>journalists and NGOs are being allowed in. Most
>journalists are staying at the Intercontinental or
>Hyatt hotels in Amman, and you can probably get info
>on renting a car/joining a convoy at those hotels.
>We're at the al-Fanar hotel on Abu Nuwas Street (next
>door to the Palestine), until we find a house. Anyone
>working on this project is welcome to come live with
>us at $11/night at the Fanar, or whatever we work out
>for the house (either free or maybe $50/wk if folks
>can swing it). Regardless, anyone at all is welcome to
>come visit with us, in either location, at any time
>:-)))
>
>Cheers,
>Ramzi Kysia, Baghdad
>
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