[Imc-g8-2005] IMC UK G8 debt, hierarchy and regional 'pawns'

[clara]

hi,
maybe those who want to critize other peoples work should first of all
get their facts right.

>>Also the IMC coverage was heavily criticised by many.
>>There was no centre running on the Wednesday morning
>>(day of action) when it was most needed and the people
>>who were supposed to be running it could not be found or
>>were in bed.
>>

On Wednesday, the main day of the G8 protests, the dipatch group on the
telephones in the IMC started working at 3 am (with no or only 1 hour
sleep from some if us because we were also setting up the wireless on
the roof in the few hours of darkness, and because we still had a few
reports coming in around midnight on tuesday.)

We did dispatch with about 20 people, some of which in different
countries and continents - not counting those people who went out on the
streets with the outspoken goal to cover from the action by phone. We
were teaching people how to do dispatch while we were going along
because we had a number of sponatous volunteers. For the biggest part of
the day there were 7 or 8 people working in the IMC on dispatch only at
once.
In addition 2 people were staffing the picture desk to upload images
fast, the video people were making videos in the IMC of the actions
themselves, the radio was broadcasting, and others made sure that the
IMC wasn't overrun by people who only wanted to check their email,
provided the dispatch table with coffee and food. We also dealt with
stop-and-search actions in front of the IMC.

We were covering actions in Edingburgh, Stirling, on the motorway
between Stirling and Gleneagles, from the blockade of the train tracks
between Stirling and Perth, motorway blockades at Perth, the buses
stopped going to Gleneagles and the spontanous demonstration in
Edinburgh because of that, the actual march in Gleneagles as well as
prison support actions in the evening.

Starting form 3 am in the morning we worked through doing dispatch for
17 hours or so. In the evening the IMC space was so packed, you could
barely move, including quite a number of people coming up to the
dispatch table to tell us their stories directly. The IMC closed only
after midnight that day - as on so many other days.

It's true that between about 3 and 9 am we kept the downstairs doors
closed because we couldn't afford to have one person sitting at the desk
downstairs instead of answering the three telefons from the different
actions. But people who banged on the door loud enough or had the
indymedia dispatch number got in without problems, and we got first hand
information from the action in Edingburgh from people who walked in to
the IMC anyway.

Honestly, I find such mails insulting. Steve, you apparently were not in
Edinburgh, but also not in the chatrooms where we worked with quite a
few other people as well. The IMC spaces in Edingburgh, Stirling and
Glasgow were not only run by people from the UK network, but with the
help of other IMCistas (like me) from Europe and the US.
What is the point of spreading lies about the IMC during the G8?

Clara