[New-imc] Online form: Proposed new IMC! (kuna)

[Petros Evdokas]

CC: Nick, Gregg Osofsky.


nick wrote:

> I bet it would be an uphill battle to get this imc through the
> process of joining the network.  People would all be wondering how
> you could have a consensus decision making process with this group
> you haven't met yet and wouldn't be able to hold meetings with.  It
> it could be seen as people in the global north trying to set up an
> IMC for a group in the global south, instead of providing resources
> for them to do it themselves.  This is all just my personal opinion.
> 
> peace, Nick

Friends,

I would like to add my voice in total agreement with Nick. I hope this 
can be seen in its proper meaning, given that (as many of the long-term 
members of the new-imc work group know), Nick and I have often disagreed 
  on various items related to new-imc projects and the sour mood from 
our previous contacts had spread outwards to infect our other colleagues 
as well.

So, to re-iterate, I fully agree with Nick's concerns.

The problem identified by Nick is the same one that has plagued several 
imc groups. The most notable case was imc-Palestine, which still 
continues to suffer in a nebulous realm of paralyzed non-existence, 
primarily due to interference from "enlightened" Westerners setting it 
up without any organic connection to the local Palestinian activist 
community or its struggles, equipped with only a scant cartoon-like 
simplistic perception of the politics of the region.

Another imc group whose fate was sealed before it even started (again, 
by the same vehicle: Westerners on a "crusade" to bring "internet-based 
liberation" to the heathen natives), was the imc-Baghdad group. If you 
all remember, that particular effort had the shameful legacy of being 
introduced to our Iraqi colleagues by Westerners who rode into Baghdad 
directly on the wake of the invading US armies, unable to avoid giving 
off the same bad smell that all the spies, mercenaries, torturers, 
"independent contractors" and missionaries were exuding as they 
descended into Baghdad with the US troops. As a result, we were never 
able to establish a real bond of trust with our Iraqi colleagues, nor to 
empower a local group to form and function independently on its own.

There are many more examples from which we can learn. I hope that Nick's 
opinion can be seen not as just "a personal opinion", but as an opinion 
born from experience and good reflection and evaluation of things that 
have actually occurred.


We should also add an element of concern to this particular proposal 
where it relates to collaboration with certain branches of the United 
Nations and certain non-governmental organizations (NGOs).

In the case of the UN, I hope it is obvious that major branches of the 
organization have become despicable vehicles of Imperialism, and that we 
should be mindful of what type of relationships we are building; we 
should ask for more information about which particular UN Agencies are 
involved and explore it further.

In the case of the NGO's, given the recent trend of the last few years 
of the US founding, funding, training and using various NGOs to promote 
"velvet revolutions" around the globe to promote its own interests, we 
should again ask which *particular* NGOs are involved in this project 
and explore it further.


This proposal and all similar ones, can still be a viable and worthwhile 
imc project if we can get into studying the details of the contacts (UN 
Agencies, NGOs) and if we can find ways for politically engaged or 
socially aware members of the *local* community to become empowered to 
shoulder the project. The alliance and support of Westerners (activists 
from the Global North) in that context can be meaningful and supportive 
if it can find its rightful place as *secondary* to local 
community-based realities. Above all, we need to be mindful and 
respectful of the principles of non-intervention and support for the 
process of community self-organization.


I hope the above can be useful so that we can proceed on this and 
similar imc projects. If the concerns listed above are heard, I think 
there's plenty of good work to be done.

Thanks,
Petros
________