[IMC-UK-Features] withdrawal of feature proposal about Atzmon-Greenstein

[Shiar]

Hi,

In light of the several objections and two blocks, and Atzmon's request
for  all his writings to be removed from the site, and after a lot of
reflection and exchanges with various people, i would like to withdraw
'my' feature proposal about the Atzmon-Greenstein affair. I don't think
there's much point in trying to 'improve' it or reach a compromise after
this.

I have just proposed it for the Birmingham site and am planning to tick
Indymedia and Anti-Racism on it, which's a normal practice for regional
features. Are there any objections to that?

I have also come to some 'conclusions' that i would like to share with the
rest of the collective.

1. From this discussion and previous ones as well, i am now convinced that
some people within Indymedia don't seem to really believe in Open
Publishing or understand it well. They like it when it suits them or their
political agendas, but don't like it or even slag it off when it doesn't.
Perhaps it is better for the 'movement' to run a semi-closed site where
only activists with logs can post, and after their posts are approved by
admins. To me, OP today has a greater mission than being merely a vehicle
for the movement; that is, liberating news production from the monopoly of
professional journalists and corporations. That shouldn't be translated
into putting it in the monopoly of professional activists!

2. We don't seem to have fully embraced openness and transparency either.
Like all other groups i've seen in my short life, 'conspiracies' and
people saying one thing in private and another in public are still a
common practice within Indymedia. This was probably happening in this
recent affair too, on both sides of the conflict. But perhaps that's
'normal', given the world we were brought up and live in.

3. As i said in a previous email, our collective understanding and
handling of some political issues is not very developed. This is certainly
true for the bigger political questions (world politics, the ME,
political-religious discourses etc.). But this problem is probably bigger
than Indymedia and is to true of the wider leftist/anarchist movement(s)
in the West.

To be honest with you, i am much less enthusiastic now about Indymedia
than when i first joined. I have also been involved with other (more
exciting) projects that i think are a better use of my time. But yet, i
haven't given up hope yet and still believe there are many good things
about Indymedia.. so this is not a resignation as such :)

-- 
Shiar