[New-imc] Fwd: [Imc-communication] question from Georgia

[boud]

[cc: 
i will send a copy of this to the IMCs which are closest to Georgia AFAIK -
Istanbul - contact.indymedia.org/contact.php only has personal addresses,
            i put one of these two
Cyprus - active and good contact since long back 
Ukraine - (not official yet, but on the way and has good contact with network:)
Israel - active 
Beirut - active and good contact

For Armenia, i can't find an email contact, which is consistent with:
http://docs.indymedia.org/view/Local/ImcArmeniaConcerns 
]


Hi everyone,

A law student "leader" from Georgia (Caucusus, not USA), who is
clearly interested in internet activity in favour of human rights, has
asked about starting indymedia in Georgia - jay (philly IMC) forwarded
this to new-imc:

On Wed, 28 Dec 2005, Jay wrote:

>> From: Roman Tskhovrebadze <roman_yu4hr at yahoo.com>
>> 
>> Dear Friends
>> 
>> I am International Law Student from Republic of
>> Georgia; Simultaneously I am leader of Youth national
>> NGO "Youth Union for Human Rights" (YU4HR)  I want to
>> establish Indymedia in Georgia, because in my Country
>> there are really lockage of Free media,  I am
>> interested how I can corporate with you, we can work
>> on the bases of  voluntarily  because we want to stand
>> for Human Rights and mainly for Freedom of Expression.
>> 
>> Thanks in advance for Answer
>> 
>> Best Regards

Clearly he is interested in what he understands as effective
methods of improving human rights:
  http://groups.yahoo.com/group/YU4HR/message/213 - Euro Green Party internships
  http://groups.yahoo.com/group/YU4HR/message/236 - women's rights
  http://groups.yahoo.com/group/YU4HR/message/269 - South Caucasus School on 
Human Rights

and it's clear he has been active since the northern summer:
  http://groups.yahoo.com/group/YU4HR/message/5
trying to get some different people together to get organised in some way.


However, his web site is hosted by one of the world's most deadly 
terrorist organisations, the US Department of State:

>>   Roman Tskhovrebadze
>>
>>   Youth Union for Human Rights (YU4HR)
>>
>>   Tskhaltubo Str II/52.Tbilisi 0119, Georgia.
>>   Phone: +995 93 23 11 27
>>   E-mail: roman_yu4hr at yahoo.com
>>   Web: http://yu4hr.ge.iatp.net
>
>
>
>> From: Libertinus <libertinus at riseup.net>
>> 
>> auch! :S
>> 
>> this people have a site here:
>> http://iatp.net/
>> 
>> which is a program of the Bureau of Educational & Cultural Affairs (ECA), 
>> US Department of State
>> http://exchanges.state.gov/


My guess is he probably has the best of intentions, but he probably does
not yet have any understanding of what indymedia is nor of the fact of 
how closely he is associated with a terrorist organisation which makes
Ossama bin Laden look like a kindergarten teacher by comparison.

IMHO this is nothing like a real request from a diverse bunch of local
grassroots activist groups, and i'm not sure i have the patience to
write a "non-aggressive" reply.

On the other hand, after reading pages like these:
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgia_%28country%29
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rose_Revolution
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberty_Institute

i can understand that someone sincere has got trapped into believing
that a terrorist network (IATP/US Dept State/NED/IRI/USAID/...) and is
genuinely interested in supporting human rights, and i don't think
it's a good idea to frighten off someone enthusiastic, active but
(involuntarily) ignorant.

If someone *does* want to respond to him or thinks that this is a real
request, then i would suggest at least coordinating with regional
IMCs: Istanbul, Cyprus, Ukraine, Israel, Beirut, and (if someone 
knows their secret contacts) Armenia.

petros evokas from IMC Cyprus reminded us several times in the last
few years about the need to consult regional IMCs.

And people in not-yet-official-IMC Ukraine have an analogous situation
to Georgia - both countries have been through a "color revolution" and
IMC Ukraine seems to have found a way to have a network of real
activist groups rejecting all NED/IRI/USAID stuff but at the same time
profiting from the fact that a lot of young people have been "newly
politicised".

NED/IRI/USAID etc presumably want the "color revolution youth groups"
(see  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/color_revolution )
to support change from one authoritarian political party
(Russian-business associated) to another (US-business-associated), but
don't want them to actually *change* the system to a non-hierarchical,
participative political system or any participative type of economy.

But if these groups start learning some facts about US terrorism and
the catastrophes of the "free market", then they might quickly grow
out of control of the US terrorist hierarchy.

And from what i've heard (so far), i think IMC Ukraine is aware of 
this and dealing with it. So that's why i think they may have some
thoughts about whether it's worth contacting roman from Georgia...

Anyway, if someone does want to reply to roman, then maybe cc new-imc.

i'm unlikely to be active in contacting him, but i don't want to 
discourage a person or IMC willing to try...

pozdr
boud