[Imc-be] Mail from han about syndication site

[turlututu]

>
> Sujet:
> belgium.indymedia.org on belgium.indymedia.org & the syndication project.
> Expéditeur:
> "han at indymedia.be" <han at indymedia.be>
> Date:
> Tue, 07 Sep 2004 18:01:13 +0200
> Destinataire:
> imc-process at lists.indymedia.org
>
> Destinataire:
> imc-process at lists.indymedia.org
> Copie à:
> imc-be at lists.indymedia.org, imc-belgium-process at lists.indymedia.org
>
>
>General assembly of belgium.indymedia.org:
>
>Report on the discussion  on the issue of the proposed syndication website and the use of the belgium.indymedia.org url.
>
>present:
>
>Mara (Bxl), Bruno (BXL), Danny (Leuven), Frank (OVL), Mauricio (bxl),
>Manolis (Leuven), Christophe DV (Bxl), Raf (bxl), Renaat (OVL), Peter
>(WVL), Jacco (Bxl), Marthe (Bxl), Christophe C (Bxl), Linde (Bxl), Jan
>(Bxl), Antonio (Liege), Flo (Bxl), Marc (Antwerpen), han (Bxl), Steven
>(Bxl), Rosario (Liege), Joanthan (Liege), Dominique (Antwerpen),
>Brunhilde (Antwerpen), Kristina (Antwerpen)
>
>
># Two IMC's in belgium???
>Today's reality is that are two existing national indymedia projects in belgium.  
>There is the original belgium.indymedia.org project whose initiators and founders all are still taking part/cooperating & active,  it also has growing number of people involved and collaborating. (belgium.indymedia.org / www.indymedia.be)
>Next to that there is a new project that grew out of people who splitted from the original project.  The reasons why people splitted and/or started with a local IMC are variable and not all local IMC's have the same dynamics. Still the different local IMC's have a common project, the syndication project.
>The two national indymedia projects clearly have a different vision, which is inevitable as the new project(s) defined themselves in contradiction/opposition with the existing indymedia project and developed their own profile and vision.
>We do not feel it as our duty to speak out on the legitimacy of the new indymedia project in Belgium, in fact we see nobody who would be able to do that.  We do not want to make a value judgement of neither the syndication project or the local IMC's in Belgium.
>
>Many will regret it, but today's situation in Belgium is that there exist two different national indymedia projects, each with their own profile, vision.... We think that there are certainly possibilities for cooperation but we think also that such cooperation is only possible if there is respect for each other and each other's autonomy. We are also aware of the fact that there are deep wounds and that time necessary is needed to heal these.
>
>On the General assembly of September 2003 we decided with belgium.indymedia.org to start start working more localy. We have undertaken attempts to start local groups. 
>We lost a number of new volunteers in Molenbeek and limburg because we asked them to set up a local indymedia instead of cooperating with the existing Belgian collective. 
>They announced themselves to make media and we asked them to form a collective,  work out principles of unity, manage a web infrastructure, .... on which those people pulled out. 
>
>Belgium is smaller than Paris, London, New York, San Fransisco, Manilla... both in number of inhabitants and in scope. You are faster from Ghent, Liege, Kortrijk ... in Brussels then it takes you to get from the suburbs of  New York/Paris/London/... into the town center. . 
>We must take into account that Get-Basic aims to give a trainings in media-activism to 500 people in the coming five years. That will lead to the birth of all kinds of groups, teams.... collectives, which is something that Get-basic wants to stimulate. Belgium.indymedia.org will continue to function as a national collective but does not exclude the birth of local/topic/... collectives within the belgium.indymedia.org framework.
>
>Moreover the Belgian collective chose also to be a place were Dutch-speaking and French-speaking people can cooperate, subdividing in local collectives would make that cooperation a lot more difficult.
>
># The syndication project.
>
>We do not think that this is the way to build indymedia indymedia in
>Belgium. The syndication site aims to be nothing more than a
>technological solution, an empty box which is filled with contributions
>of different indymedia's in Belgium. We do not think that this is a way
>to create dynamic media. 
>We do not wish take part in the syndication project. We clearly have
>another vision concerning indymedia and rather want that it is clear
>that it concerns two different projects. 
>
>We can prohibit of course nobody to use our newswire
>(http:/belgium.indymedia.org/newswire.rss).
>
># Belgium.indymedia.org
>        We concider Belgium.indymedia.org as our link to the indymedia network. 
>        We wish under no circumstances give up that link as we feel 100% at home within the overall indymedia project.
>        Belgium.indymedia.org is a url where thousands of webpages link to. Those people link consciously to the existing Belgian indymedia, and not to the new syndication project. 
>        The reality is that there are in Belgium two national indymedia projects. It is no precedent in the indymedia network that different indymedia's operate in same a region because they keep another vision. 
>        Even if we do not wish to take part in the syndication project we do not want to stop, impede /...the project 
>        # however, we find that the initiators must be consequent: 
>        - they wish to build a  national structure/Internet site parallel to the existing belgium.indymedia.org, it also normal that they conquer themselves a place under the sun and make their own url known to the world. 
>        - We think that it is rather normal that the new Belgian indymedia project has another url then the existing belgium.indymedia.org, it concerns a new project that developped beside the existing project. 
>Of course we want to cooperate with other indymedia initiatives in Belgium, if that cooperation can happen with reciprocal respect. We repeat our proposal to meet with the two national indymedia projects and examine possibilities of cooperation. Such conversations can of course also take place with a local indymedia.
>
>The full conclusions of our general assembly can be found in dutch on
>http://lists.indymedia.org/pipermail/imc-belgium/2004-September/0906-fm.html
>
>  
>