[IMC-US] RE: Indymedia Newsreal Tour Grant Proposal

[deva]

Hi People,

The basic problem, is that the individuals planning this tour, are 
paying themselves $5000 each out of the grant money to do it. Since 
they are doing this in the name of the indymedia newsreal project, then 
you have people being paid to do indymedia work.

Making profit off of the work of others aint gonna fly in my book.  
Using the name indymedia in order to get money, then taking some of 
that money for oneself, is a using of all the people who volunteer 
their time to make the indymedia name something of value.

Being paid to do work that others are volunteering their time for, 
creates a split, a heirarchy and breeds resentment and mistrust. It is 
a bad idea. I am adamantly opposed to people being paid to do indymedia 
work. I believe if such practice becomes common, that this will mark 
the death of indymedia.

There also seems to be unclarity about how the currently selected tour 
director obtained the position as at least 2 applicants have complained 
about the process. There also appears to have been no little or no 
outreach to the local IMC's this tour is supposed to visit.

Beyond these things is a deeper issue. Right use of resources. This 
grant is going to fund this tour. Somewhere between $20,000 and 
$30,000. That is an enormous amount of money!  Half of it goes to 
salary. Another significant portion goes to rental car and hotel. What 
a waste of resources.

Here we stand, on the brink of environmental catastrophe, in large part 
due to unnecessary consumption. Isn't it high time we give more 
consideration to the right use of resources?

deva
portland imc


On Jun 17, 2004, at 12:20 PM, Sascha Meinrath wrote:

> Hi all,
>
> Just a bit of background and some suggestions:
>
>> Hey all,
>>
>> I want to express my personal concern about this tour and grant
>> proposal.
>>
>> Why does the group of people (I bet they are great people!) proposing
>> this tour want to call themself "Indymedia Newsreal"?
>
> The Indymedia Newsreal has been an ongoing project begun in 2000.  It 
> is a
> collaboration among IMCs that predates many of the global network's
> working groups (and probably quite a few IMCs as well).  Information on
> the project is available at:  http://satellite.indymedia.org
>
>> Why would a group want to plan this thing, under the name of 
>> "Indymedia
>> Newsreal" and then contact the local IMCs to set up local events.
>> "Indymedia Newsreal" has not, to my knowledge, asked local IMCs how 
>> they
>> would feel about this tour or anything! "Indymedia Newsreal" should 
>> ask
>> local IMCs for support, not the Funding Exchange “Mobilize the Vote”
>> Fund (even though the Funding Exchagne may be a made up of a great 
>> group
>> of people as well).
>
> Actually, there was an open (and long) discussion about the Indymedia
> Newsreal several years back.  It might predate many people's active
> involvement in Global Indymedia, but the discussions should be 
> archived.
> Because the project is a collaboration among IMCs and is open to
> participation from all IMCs, I think the name makes a lot of sense.
> Recently, several people who have been heavily involved in the project
> have wanted to make a tour to raise awareness of the project and 
> increase
> involvement -- which is probably a very good thing given the confusion 
> of
> this project's history.
>
>> http://www.fex.org/voting_is_a_basic_right.shtml
>> http://www.fex.org/mjf.shtml
>>
>> Again, I want to express serious concern about an Indymedia Newsreal
>> Tour, as currently proposed.
>>
>> If there is concern from people about this tour, then I do not feel it
>> should take place under the name of Indymedia (and putting a price on
>> priceless Independent Media footage.)
>
> If anyone is concerned with the project's name, I encourage you to 
> make a
> proposal to the Global Indymedia Process list and forge a new 
> consensus to
> change the name of the project.  It has taken many years to get the
> project to the point where it is today and the tour is a logical 
> outgrowth
> of the Newsreal's maturation.  Given the confusion over things, if 
> people
> have questions over the history of the project I'd strongly encourage
> folks to either read through the Indymedia archives or ask questions
> before assuming things.
>
>> The more I think about this proposal
>> http://deproduction.org/Mobilize_Draft6.htm the more problems I have
>> with it.
>
> There's been a lot of false assumptions made of late about various
> Indymedia projects.  And I think it's important that folks don't jump 
> to
> conclusions -- especially since so many of them have been way off-base.
> Over the last few years Indymedia has grown to become a fairly massive
> organization with a tremendous number of highly autonomous initiatives.
>
> It's no longer possible to keep track of all the different projects 
> that
> are going on -- I worry that some folks are pushing for a more 
> centralized
> decision-making process rather than decentralizing control over 
> projects
> to those who are directly participating and doing the work.  Indymedia 
> has
> been built upon a foundation of trust and individual initiative; I 
> worry
> that we undermine this core strength when we fail to engage each other
> constructively, ask questions first, or assume things without
> understanding Indymedia's history and past precedents.
>
> In solidarity,
>
> --Sascha Meinrath
> Urbana-Champaign IMC
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