[New-imc] Arafura IMC collective response to IMC membership criteria

[Cameron Gregg]

Hi NewIMC,

here is the Arafura response to IMC membership criteria.

Cam
Sydney Indymedia (Sponsoring Arafura)

--------------------------



IMC MEMBERSHIP CRITERIA - DRAFT Each IMC and Global Working Group is
expected to:
a. Agree in spirit to the NIMC MissionStatement and PrinciplesOfUnity,

The Arafura IMC Collective agrees in spirit with the global mission
statement and IMC principles of unity.

b. Have a committed membership substantial enough to sustain a 
functional IMC,

At this stage we have five fully active collective members, however,
when our site goes online, we expect the size of the collective to
grow. All of the current collective members are long-term residents of
Darwin and they will not be leaving town anytime soon. The current
collective is made up of committed human rights/social justice
activists who between them have years of activism in Australia's Top
End. Our collective members have diverse networks and it is by using
these networks that we intend to grow the collective.

c. Have open and public meetings (no one group can have exclusionary
"ownership" of an IMC),

Meetings are held monthly at a café in Darwin City, the Roma Bar. This
venue has been chosen because it is easily accessible by public
transport and it has big enough space for us. The next collective
meeting will be held on May 20 and we are hoping to have our site up
and running well before then so that the meeting can be promoted. Our
site will always promote the date, time and venue of the Arafura IMC
meetings. Minutes of meetings will be posted on our site.

d. Work toward developing a local Mission Statement or Statement of
Purpose. Network Mission Statement may be adopted or used on an
interim basis,

Please see our proposed charter and ed pol:

Arafura IMC Proposed Charter and Editorial Policy
==================================================

Arafura IMC is a news activist collective and a website based in
Darwin in the Top End of Australia.

The goal of the website is to have a place where articles produced by
independent journalists can be published. One of the main requirements
for having an Arafura IMC website is that it is a source of news not
normally attainable in mainstream and commercial outlets with a
distinct Northern Territory flavour.

A set of posting guidelines for the website is required for both
articles and commentors. The guidelines are used to:

* Make the website a more useful tool for activists in Darwin,
Northern Territory and the rest of Australia as well as activists
abroad interested in local issues.

* Ensure that the website does not become cumbersome with flame wars,
personal attacks and an overabundance of foreign news.

* Protect the members of the editorial and technical collective from
potential defamation and breach of copyright court actions.

* Provide clarity as to which articles can remain on the website
without the collective being accused of censorship. All of us in the
collective are anti-censorship but this policy is open to abuse and
thus some guidelines are required.

The posting guidelines:
=======================

* Arafura IMC is primarily a community news website. Articles posted
on the imc newswire should contain an element of news or journalistic
commentary. Anything posted on the newswire that does not contain an
element of news or journalism is liable to be removed.

* Pornography very rarely contains any journalistic merit and is
liable to be removed as soon as it appears.

* Even blatant racism, homophobism and sexism, if it is in the context
of a news article will not be removed. The editorial board believes in
the spirit of free speech. Such denigrations against large chunks of
humanity are better out in the open where they be argued against than
hidden away. An editor hiding such an article should notify the
collective as outlined below.

* Any threat of personal attack will be removed from the website:
firstly to protect the individual threatened. Secondly to protect the
collective from threats of legal action. In truth, such attacks rarely
contain any jouralistic content.

* Regarding personalattacks, it is much more acceptable to say "john
howard has racist policies" than to say "john howard is a racist". The
latter form of personality attack can leave the collective open to
libel cases. It is much more acceptable to say "Phillip Ruddock is
doing a arsehole of a job" than to say "Phillip Ruddock is a
arsehole". We are here to facilitate intelligent debate. An editor
hiding such an article should notify the collective as outlined below.

* Any article that is in definite breach of copyright may be removed.
It is far better to provide a link and commentary about an important
article than to copy it in it's entirety to the Arafura IMC newswire.
The collective will always be in favour of original material and want
to hear what the readership has to say.

* Arafura IMC is not to be used to promote or announce upcoming events.

* If an article is posted more than once, repeat copies will be
removed. If an article is posted by foreign sources across multiple
IMC websites, it may be removed.

* The Arafura IMC website is primarily for Darwin and Northern
Territory activists. Recurring articles about the evils of particular
foreign nations are prone to being removed. If there is an abundance
of news from a particular foreign source, it will be removed.

Hidden Articles
===============

Any article that is hidden from the Arafura IMC newswire should state
the reason (from the list above), and the editor's name.

The goal here is to have an open transparent independent media network
and the ideal is to be open about all our policies and practices.

We aim to differ from the mainstream and corporate media by being
answerable, open and progressive as well as realistic.

If an article has been hidden and the original poster feels it fits
with the posting guidelines, the poster is invited to contact [need to
insert email address here]  and raise the issue.

In essence, an editor should only hide an article if they are almost
certain that the collective would agree that it should be hidden.

When an article is hidden because it is controversial, the editor
should mail the collective with "REMOVAL" in the subject header and a
description of what was hidden and the reasons.

The Editorial Collective
===============

The editorial collective of Arafura IMC is responsible for maintaining
the website and newswire. We always welcome new members for the
editorial collective, and the process for this is detailed below.
Should you have any queries, please contact us at [insert email
address here].

Process For Adding New Members To The Editorial Collective

If a person is active in some way on Arafura IMC, and wishes to become
an editor, they should inform [insert email address here].

There will then be a week of discussion amongst the current editorial
collective. If there are no objections, the applicant will be given a
"buddy" from the collective who will help familiarise them with the
editorial policy and other relevant documents, and teach them how to
use the Drupal editorial software. Where possible, this will be done
in person, however it can also be done online or over the phone.

Process For Removing Editors From The Editorial Collective

If an editor is inactive on Arafura Indymedia for 2 months, they will
be sent an email by another member of the editorial collective, asking
if they wish to remain a part of the collective. If they do not
respond after a week, their editorial privileges will be removed. If
an editor has advance knowledge that they will be away for more than 2
months, they are expected to inform the collective and this will
result in their privileges not being removed.

Former editors are welcome to rejoin the collective at any time
through the standard process for adding new editors.

Process For Adding Administrators

Arafura Indymedia aims to have 3 active admins in Arafura at any given
time. Should a current admin decide to leave the collective or leave
Arafura, the other admins will discuss and decide on a new
administrator from the Editorial Collective.

Reference:
===============

Aotearoa IMC
http://indymedia.org.nz/mod/info/display/edcollect/index.php

Sydney IMC
http://sydney.indymedia.org/editorialGuidelines

Melbourne IMC
http://melbourne.indymedia.org/edpol.php3

e. Establish and publish an editorial policy which is developed and
functions through democratic process, and with full transparency,

As per above Arafura IMC Proposed Charter and Editorial Policy.

f. Agree to the use of Open Publishing as described in the NIMC
Editorial Policy [editorial collective comments: "We did agree that
the term "Open Publishing" was one that is still being defined by the
Global Network Collective, and we would wait and see what the results
were before rewriting this criteria],

The Arafura IMC supports open publishing.

g. Adopt a decision-making policy that is in alignment with consensus
principles which include open, transparent and egalitarian processes,

All decisions such as editorial decisions will be made by the Arafura
IMC Collective either through face-to-face meetings or via email.
Meetings will be held on a monthly basis. There will be no chairperson
at the meetings and all decisions will be reached through consensus.
See our Arafura IMC Proposed Charter and Editorial Policy above.

h. Have a spokesperson(s) willing and capable of participating in the
global decision-making process and meetings as a rotating
liaison/representative, with a clear understanding of the
responsibilities that come with this role,

Our initial spokesperson is Robert Fyffe [fyffe_robert at yahoo.com.au]
however our spokesperson to Global IMC will be rotated through the
collective.

i. Participate in the key IMC Network Communication Methods that
pertain to the health and vitality of the Network and that contribute
to the work of the IMC. Assure that at least one person from your
local IMC participates at any given time on the IMC-Communication
list,

Our global spokesperson will deal with this responsibility.

j. (NOT FINALIZED): Have no official affiliation with any political
party, state or candidate for office (comments: but individual
producers have freedom to do whatever they like and local IMCs can
"feature" stories about various political parties and initiatives),

N/A

k. IMCs shall in no way engage in commercial for-profit enterprises.
[We could add: The IMCN is committed to the decommercialization of
information and will disassociate from any local IMC that decides to
become a for profit media corporation.]

The Arafura IMC is a totally non-profit and non-commercial collective.

l. Display a ³local version² of the IMC ³i² logo on your website and
literature.

We are currently designing this.

m. Include the IMC Network current ³Cities List² on your site,
preferably on the front page.

Our site should be online within a couple of weeks and it will contain
the latest cities list.

Further to the above, please find Indonesian and French language
versions of our initial application:

Nama IMC yang diusulkan:  Arafura IMC

URL  indymedia yang usulkan:  http://arafura.indymedia.org

URL sekarang ini: belum ada

Kota:  Darwin dan daerah sekitarnya

Negara Bagian/Propinsi:  Wilayah Utara

Negara:  Australia

Nama Orang Hubungan:  Robert Fyffe

Emailnya:  fyffe_robert at yahoo.com.au

Telepon:  +61 406198704

Nama Orang Hubungan Teknik:  Gary Meyerhoff

Emailnya:  garywmeyerhoff at gmail.com

Telepon:  +61 434393008

Soal2 yang dipusatkan:  Ada

Golongan2 yang mendukung:

Jaringan Lawan Larangan2 Wilayah Utara
Golongan Anarkis Kota Darwin
Aktivis2 HAM yang perseorangan
Indymedia Sydney

Tolong tulislah pernyataan pengantar tentang sebab2 ingin ikut
Jaringan Indymedia.

Darwin dan daerah sekitarnya membutuhkan situs indymedia sendirinya
yang nyata, sama seperti daerah2 lainnya.

Para aktivis sudah maklum, perusahaan2 berita yang besar serta dinas2
berita pemerintah tidak mau membantu kita dengan sungguh2.  Yang
dibutuhkan ialah alat mandiri di tingkatan rakyat biasa supaya para
aktivis bisa bercerita dari pihak kami.

Kota Darwin sudah terkenal sebagai ibu kota Wilayah Utara Australia
dan pintu gerbang Asia tenggara.  Juga sebagai pintu gerbang Australia
utara.  (Tergantung pada arah!)  Namun dalam kenyataan Darwin masih
hanya kota kecil saja yang terletak di pantai utara yang terpencil.
Bahkan pada masa kini kami terasa terpencil dari sebelah selatan
Australia dan daerah2 lain dunia ini.

Rasisme persoalan besar di kota Darwin.  29 persen dari jumlah
penduduk Wilayah Utara orang2 asli.  Sudah sepuluh tahun di bawah
rezim Howard hubungan2 antar-ras mundur.  Sebagai umpama, para napi
Wilayah Utara  orang2 asli telah 80 atau 90 persen.   Kaum aborijin
inilah yang menderita paling dahsyat di bawah system kini.

Kini lebih daripada dulu kita ditimpa kapitalisme, rasisme,
militarisme serta Perang lawan Obat2 Bius.  Sedang iklimnya sudah
berubah pada.  Lingkungan2 hayat meninggal pada di sekitar kita.  Di
depan semua ini kebanyakan orang tidak bisa atau tidak mau
menanggulangi persoalan2 ini.  Ketidakpedulian bersama sinisme
merajalela.  Mengeluh dan menggerutu takkan mengubahi keadaannya.
Hanya mengharapkan nasib baik pun tak ada gunanya.  Kami harus
bertindak hendak memecahkan persoalan2 itu.

Situs berita yang mandiri merupakan alat yang berguna, yang membantu
orang2 supaya tahu apa yang terjadi sebenarnya.  Supaya kami bisa
mengorganisir diri dengan lebih baik, berhubungan dengan orang2 di
daerah2 lain, untuk memperjuangkan dunia yang lebih baik.

Lautan Arafura anak laut Lautan Teduh yang terletak di atas dasar
benua di antara Australia dengan pulau Papua.  Lautan tersebut
berbataskan Lautan Karang di sebelah timur, Lautan Timor di sebelah
barat dan Teluk Carpentaria di sebelah selatan.

Stuart Highway

Apakah jenisnya sumber2 yang dapat saudara-saudari sumbangi dipandang
dari segi server, bandwidth, ketrampilan2 teknis dan mengorganisir?

Pada tahap ini kami belum punya situs tetapi punya janji dari
seseorang yang sudah setuju akan memberikan ruang server pada kami.
Kami bicara sama seorang juru teknik yang telah kenal Drupal.  Ada di
antara anggota2 kolektif kami yang sudah berpengalaman secara luas
dalam bidang masyarakat.

Pengumuman dan penghubungan apa yang sudah dilakukan untuk
mengumpulkan segolongan orang2 yang beraneka ragam?

Waktu situsnya sudah berjalan nanti kami bermaksud mempromosikan
Arafura Indymedia dengan menggunakan beraneka cara2 termasuk sticker2
dan poster2.  Kami juga bermaksud berhubungan dengan desa2 orang2 asli
yang terpencil lalu memperkenalkannya kepada gagasan indymedia.
Mudah2an indymedia2 lagi akan didirikan di seluruh Australia khususnya
di desa2 orang2 asli yang terpencil tersebut.

Bagaimanakah susunan kolektif saudara-saudari mencerminkan
keanekaragaman masyarakat setempat (misalnya dalam arti identitas
kelamin, seksual, keagamaan, kebudayaan?)

Kami ada sebuah kolektif yang kecil tapi beraneka ragam.  Ada laki2
dan perempuan, orang2 yang punya cacat (termasuk HIV dan Hepatitis C,)
ada orang2 heteroseks dan ada yang tidak menentukan seksualitasnya.
Separuh kolektif ini mahasiswa2 di universitas kedaerahan.  Kolektif
ini juga ada bekas napi.  Kolektif ini belum beranggotakan orang2 asli
namun inilah prioritas utama bagi kolektif kami.  Menurut pendapat
kami tujuan ini lebih mudah dicapai nanti waktu situs sudah berjalan
dan bisa dipromosikan sebagai sumber.
Kalau golonganmu sekarang ini belum mewakili keanekaragaman masyarakat
setempat, khususnya dalam hubungan dengan golongan2 yang kurang
terwakil dalam masyarakat pokok dan dicegah menggunakan wahana untuk
mengungkapkan pandangannya, langkah2 apa yang akan diambil untuk
menyelesaikan hal ini secara terus-menerus?

Ada di antara anggota2 kolektif kami yang punya jaringan2 luas dengan
orang2 dari aneka ragam bagian masyarakat, termasuk orang2 asli.
Kolektif tersebut bermaksud mempromosikan indymedia melalui jaringan2
ini untuk menjamin keanekaragaman.  Paling sedikit seorang anggota
kolektif kami sudah tahu bahasa lain.  Dia bisa bicara bahasa Tetum,
bahasa Indonesia serta bahasa2 lain dengan lancar.

Langkah2 apa yang akan diambil untuk melibatkan orang2 dalam bidang2
kerja yang baru bagi mereka?  Langkah2 apa yang akan diambil untuk
mengatasi pembagian kerja yang menurut kelamin anggota2?

Mudah2an anggota2 kolektif yang punya ketrampilan2 dan keahlian akan
membagikannya dengan anggota2 lain.  Mungkin melalui lokakarya2
sehabis rapat2 kolektif kami tiap2 bulan.

Kebanyakan anggota2 kolektif kami condong ke pandangan anarkis, namun
kami mengakui bahwa hal ini mungkin berubah.  Kami akan menggunakan
daftar2 email serta rapat2 kolektif untuk perundingan dan berusaha
memantau hubungan2 kerja untuk menjaga supaya pembagian kerja menurut
kelamin jangan menyisip ke cara kerja kami.

==========
Nom de l'Association Collective d'Indymedia propose:  Arafura IMC

URL d'Indymedia propose:  http://arafura.indymedia.org

URL actuel:  aucun a ce point-ci

Ville:  Darwin et alentours

Etat/Province:  le Territoire du Nord

Pays:  l'Australie

Nom du contact:  Robert Fyffe

Email:  fyffe_robert at yahoo.com.au

Telephone:  +61 406 198 704

Nom du contact technique:  Gary Meyerhoff

Email:  garywmeyerhoff at gmail.com

Phone:  +61 434 393 008

Questions au centre d'interet:  Oui

Groupes qui soutiennent:

     Reseau Contre la Prohibition, Territoire du Nord
     Anarchistes de Darwin
     Militant(e)s individuel(le)s pour les droits humains
     L'Indymedia de Sydney

Ecrivez s'il vous plait une declaration d'introduction au sujet de
pourquoi vous voulez participer au Reseau de L'Indymedia.

Darwin et notre region a besoin de son propre reel website d'indymedia
comme n'importe quelle autre region.

Nous ne pouvons pas nous attendre que les grands medias et ceux du
gouvernement nous soutiennent.  Nous avons besoin d'un vehicule de
base, independant et militant,
pour conter NOTRE  point de vue.

Darwin est connue comme la capitale du Territoire du Nord de
l'Australie, soit la porte d'entree pour l'Asie du sud-est soit pour
le nord de l'Australie (ca depend de votre sens!)  En realite, elle
reste une grande ville de la campagne sur la cote nord isole.  Meme
aujourd'hui on se sent isole du sud de l'Australie et du reste du
monde.

Le racisme, c'est un grand probleme a Darwin.  29% de la population du
Territoire du Nord est indigene.  Les relations interraciales sont
allees a reculons depuis 10 ans sous le regime Howardien.  Par
exemple, territorien(ne)s indigenes representent 80 ou 90% de la
population du Territoire du Nord.  Ce sont celles-ci et ceux-ci qui
ont trinque le pire sous le systeme actuel.

Maintenant, plus que jamais, on est agresse du capitalisme, racisme,
militarisme et de la Guerre contre La Drogue, pendant que le climat
change et des ecosystemes meurent autour de nous.  Devant tout ca la
plupart des gens ne peuvent pas, ou ne veulent pas,  faire quelque
chose pour aborder ces problemes.  L'apathie et le cynicisme regnent.
Seulement rouspeter et ronchonner ne changeront pas les choses.
Seulement etre optimiste non plus.  Il nous faut agir et trouver des
solutions.

Un website de nouvelles independant, c'est un outil utile pour aider
des gens a se renseigner sur ce qui se passe veritablement, pour que
nous puissions nous organiser mieux et lutter pour un meilleur monde,
tout en nous joignant avec d'autres gens ailleurs.

La mer Arafura c'est un bras peu profond de l'ocean Pacifique qui
couvre la plateforme continentale entre l'Australie et la
Nouvelle-Guinee.  Elle est avoisinee par la mer du Corail a l'est, la
mer de Timor a l'ouest et par le golfe de Carpentaria au sud.

Stuart Highway

Quel genre de ressources est-ce que vous pouvez contribuer, sur le
plan de server/bandwidth/competences techniques et organisatrices?

A ce stade nous n'avons pas de site mais nous avons un engagement de
quelqu'un qui a consenti a nous offrir de la place de server.   Nous
nous entretenons avec un technicien qui connaît Drupal.  Certain(e)s
de nos membres ont de l'experience repandu dans le secteur
communautaire.

Quelle genre de reclame/publicite est-ce que vous avez fait pour
rassembler un groupe divers de personnes?

Une fois que le site est en marche nous avons l'intention de
promouvoir l'Indymedia d'Arafura en employant plusieurs moyens, y
compris des autocollants et des prospectus.  Nous avons l'intention
aussi de contacter divers villages aborigenes isoles et leur
introduire le concept de l'indymedia.   On espere voir encore des
indymedias fondes d'un cote a l'autre de l'Australie, en particulier
en des villages indigenes isoles.

Comment la constitution de votre association collective reflete-t-elle
la diversite de la communaute locale (par exemple, par rapport a
l'identite du sexe, l'identite sexuelle, spirituelle et/ou
culturelle?)

Nous sommes une association collective qui est petite mais divers, qui
comprend des hommes et des femmes, des gens avec des incapacites (y
compris le SIDA et l'hepatite C,) des gens heterosexuel(le)s et des
gens qui ne s'identifient pas la sexualite.  La moitie de
l'association sont etudiants a l'universite locale.  L'association
comprend egalement des anciens prisonniers.  A ce point-ci il n'y a
pas de membres indigenes dans l'association neanmoins ceci est une
priorite pour nous et nous croyons qu'il sera plus facile lorsque nous
aurons le site en marche et nous pourrons le promouvoir comme
ressource.

Si votre groupe maintenant ne represente pas la diversite de la
communaute locale, en particulier par rapport a des groupes qui sont
sous-represente en la societe dominante et qui sont prives d'acces aux
vehicules de l'expression,  quelles mesures est-ce que vous prendrez
pour aborder ca en base suivi?

Plusieurs membres de notre association ont de larges reseaux avec des
gens de divers milieux y compris des gens indigenes.  L'association a
l'intention de promouvoir l'indymedia par ces reseaux pour assurer la
diversite.
Au moins un des membres de notre association sait plus d'une langue.
Il parle courrament le tetum, l'indonesien et d'autres langues.

Quelles mesures est-ce que vous prendrez pour engager des individus
dans des domaines de travail qui leur sont nouveaux?   Quelles mesures
est-ce qu'on prendra pour surmonter une repartition de travaux d'apres
le sexe des gens?

On espere que les membres de l'association qui ont des competences et
de l'adresse partageront celles-ci avec des autres, peut-etre par
formation qui suivront les reunions mensuelles de notre association.

La plupart des membres de notre association ont des tendances
anarchistes, nous avouons cependant que ca pourrait changer.  Nous
allons utiliser des listes d'email et des reunions d'association pour
echange de points de vue et nous essayerons de suivre de pres nos
relations de travail pour nous assurer qu'une repartition de travaux
d'apres le sexe ne s'introduite pas dans notre facon de travailler.