[Imc-communication] What is the UCIMC?

[deva]

What misinformation are you talking about? Did UC-IMC take $30,000  
from the state? Do you have paid positions for money people? Do you  
have a dues paying membership? The answer to all of them is Yes. No  
mis-information there at all.

As for what I said about the lack of radical voices on the website,  
that is not mis-information either, it is my opinion after looking at  
the site.

And claiming that Eye of the Storm is a project of UC-IMC shows this  
sort of arrogant legalese mindset. Same like you claimed one time  
that UC was the global headquarters. Eye of the Storm Films is its  
own project. It is not your program! Anymore than Global is YOUR  
program just because UC is the fiscal sponsor, though you seem to  
think so. People/projects find it useful to have a fiscal sponsor,  
but that does not make that project yours. UC deserves credit for the  
role it plays in fiscally sponsoring projects, but I am far from the  
only person who has expressed dislike over the sense of ownership  
that you have expressed and are expressing again. It is the  
combination of attitude and direction that sets a warning bell  
ringing in the consciousness.

Portland IMC folks are not putting out misinformation. They are  
expressing their deep concern about the direction of UC. I would say  
we especially feel a responsibility to speak up because Portland IMC  
is in the US and it is in the US (not unexpectedly) that the urge for  
money, almost regardless of source, has manifest. I consider it  
dangerous and long term detrimental to the wider indymedia movement.  
Thus I speak my mind about it. Portland folks are far from the only  
ones. Plenty of people say negative things about UC in regards to  
paying people, dues paying membership and taking state money, just  
few try to talk about it on global lists because of the general  
feeling that the lists and global process are dysfunctional enough  
that it is hard to even have a sustained conversation, let alone  
positive outcomes.


deva






On Nov 29, 2006, at 12:52 PM, Sascha Meinrath wrote:

> 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
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