[Imc-communication] What is the UCIMC?

[Sascha Meinrath]

Hi Deva (et al.),

Time and again Portland IMC folks have put out misinformation about the UCIMC
and berated the UCIMC for not being radical enough.  And yet, you seem to have
done particularly _bad_ due diligence about what the UCIMC actually is, how it
works, and what its politics are.

In your most recent e-mail you say, "Indymedia was born of the militant spirit
of the Seattle WTO protests and which expresses itself even more fully in many
other places in the world. Watch the video from Argentina 'Eye of the Storm' for
an example."  Eye of the Storm Films is a project of the UCIMC and has been
under our umbrella for years.

I feel that you see what you want to see, regardless of the the UCIMC actually
is and does.  Take a look at our front page: www.ucimc.org, take a look at our
books2prisoners program: http://www.books2prisoners.org, listen to our radio
station: http://www.radiofreeurbana.org/station/programs, or take a look at
what's actually happening at the UCIMC this month: http://tinyurl.com/tzgqf --
the UCIMC isn't some monolithic entity with a singular perspective or rhetoric.

Maybe the UCIMC doesn't fit your definition of what is "radical," but I find it
ironic that you point to one of our programs as an exemplar of what you do
consider to be radical Indymedia.

--Sascha

> Date: Wed, 29 Nov 2006 09:51:58 -0800
> From: deva <drdartist at riseup.net>
> Subject: Re: [Imc-communication] [Imc] UCIMC: Concern about the
> 	direction	UCis going
> To: imc-communication at lists.indymedia.org
> 
> hi eric,
> 
> At some point, you would not longer feel comfortable with the  
> direction of another collective. If some collective decided to pay  
> their 'president' $200,000 per year, I think you would not be happy  
> with that choice, and perhaps would not wish to be affiliated with  
> that group. I give this exaggerated example to make the point that  
> everyone, individual or group will have some place where they will  
> draw a line and say this has gone too far from the spirit of where it  
> started. The meaningful discussion is regarding those lines, not  
> castigating people for their feelings and views.
> 
> There have been some frank discussions among Portland folks. There  
> has been discussion about what is the indymedia network, should  
> affiliations be voluntary, and what effects such an action as taking  
> UC off the Portland cities list would have on the network.
> 
> Looking over the UC imc site, it is easy to see why it will attract  
> $30,000 grants from the state agency. There are almost no militant/ 
> radical voices expressed there. Indymedia was born of the militant  
> spirit of the Seattle WTO protests and which expresses itself even  
> more fully in many other places in the world. Watch the video from  
> Argentina "Eye of the Storm" for an example. UC takes money from the  
> State, has ongoing paid positions for people who deal with money, and  
> has little radical voice. It is becoming a mainstream, money based  
> organization that moves farther and farther from the roots of  
> worldwide indymedia and its message of radical social change.
> 
> After Martin Luther King delivered his famous speech in 1967  
> denouncing the war in Vietnam, mainstream Black leaders rebuked him  
> for jeopardizing the financial support of liberal whites. "You might  
> get yourself a foundation grant," King retorted, "but you won't get  
> yourself into the Kingdom of Truth."
> 
> regards,
> deva

-- 
Sascha Meinrath
Executive Director  *  Principal          *  President
CUWiN              *** The Ethos Group   *** Acorn Active Media
CUWiN.net           *  EthosWireless.com  *  AcornActiveMedia.com