[Imc-birmingham] a compendium of grassroots struggles..?

Tue Sep 11 05:18:41 PDT 2007

thanks for the reply D. 

  yea, clearly there is little point in going ahead with any such project unless there is a need for it. this would be the first thing to determine. 

  my initial thoughts were that this would be worthwhile in Brum, although I have to admit that having had a little more time to think about it, Indymedia itself provides just such a portal, and without political censure, i.e. user-generated, radical editability. As you point out, one of the major obstacles would be to decide what groups to include. Obviously this would be quite a contentious decision in some cases and - this would be my major concern - it could well prove a decision that might alienate groups more than it serves to forge connections between them... I'm not really sure I (or anyone, for that matter) would be prepared or be in any sort of position to make these decisions...

  aww, shit... sounds like I've completely abandoned my own proposal here... - they were clearly indeed half-formed thoughts! 

  perhaps it is something that might arise a little more organically in the future though; a time in which it seems blindingly obvious and utterly necessary that such a publication exists, more than in the minds of a few individuals - a kind of, 'it couldn't be otherwise...' , if that makes any sense!?

  it was perhaps more a desire to see something unify some existing and nascent struggles in Brum. The virtual realm can't fully substitute for physical connections (whether literature or social centre or mass action) in my opinion...

  if anyone has any further thoughts it would be good to hear... if this isn't clogging up a list, of course...

  A

"dougbrum at tiscali.co.uk" <dougbrum at tiscali.co.uk> wrote:
    I don't think it would take long to put together hard copy version of Brum groups, political yellow pages if you will (black and red pages would be better!). May be people need to discuss, firstly, if it's really needed? Can an on-line version be used/updated.
  A few practical items would also have to be sorted out:
  Printing costs and number required
  Distribution - where and who by
  Size and layout
  The other consideration would be who exactly to include. Would we want authoritarian left wing groups included? Self-promoting arts council fundanistas? State sponsored groups? Who would the target audience be? My suggestion would be groups connected/involved with Brum indymedia only be included (may be a few others). We could get each group to write a very small introduction and a financial contribution for printing?
  Up the Proles!
  D

  ----Original Message----
From: drn_hopkins at yahoo.co.uk
Date: 06/09/2007 11:25 
To: <imc-birmingham at lists.indymedia.org>
Subj: [Imc-birmingham] a compendium of grassroots struggles..?

  Hi,

  I was wondering if anyone knew of any hard-copy literature that brought together some of the grass-roots struggles and campaigns that are active in Birmingham/West-Mids area? A sort of social change yellow pages was what i was thinking of. If not, anyone know of any attempt to publish such a thing in the past? I'm fairly new to Birmingham and its activist activity and am not aware of anything like it being produced since I've been around. 

  I'm thinking of perhaps putting something together, as there seems to be a lot of positive stuff going on in Brum (taking my cue from the Indymedia pages) that it would be good for people to be able to access in print form. Something that could be distributed around and about: libraries, stalls, community centres... Perhaps also something that makes connections between various struggles... climate change, immigration issues, police oppression, workers rights, gender and racial discrimination, media control... all clearly have links and overlap with each other (particularly once the striking elephant in the corner is introduced: capitalism). Also of course groups actively promoting alternatives to the capitalist system of exploitation could be contacted...

  i dunno, still a collection of half-formed thoughts at the moment. But clearly, Indy-Brum is the first  point of call for this sort of thing as it is already a fine resource for forging the aforementioned connections, so thought I'd see if there was any precedent to this, or indeed, if anyone might have any further thoughts on how such a project might proceed...

  Cheers

  A

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