[IMC-US] all volunteer PROPOSAL

[Joshua Breitbart]

I don't know if this is what Aaron was getting at, but I do not think 
this proposal is supported by the arguments.

- There are plenty of hierarchies without payment, and payment often 
minimizes unaccountability, which I think is worse than hierarchy.
- I don't think paying someone automatically makes that person 
motivated by money; not paying someone can ultimately do that more.
- Clear boundaries are great, and I don't want the US IMC to be a 
typical NGO, but that doesn't mean the clear boundaries have to be 
written in this way.
- True, Indymedia is a tactic/network, but many local IMCs are 
undeniably organizations.
- And, although I am certainly no expert on the Zapatistas, I'm not 
convinced that if they were in New York City they wouldn't allow some 
people to receive a subsistence wage in US$.

That doesn't mean I'm opposed to it, because it is probably 
appropriate for the US IMC, as it is appropriate for many other IMCs. 
But as a member of an IMC that this proposal seeks to isolate, I 
would like to see clearer, stronger reasoning for it. And I would 
like more detail about how it would look in practice. What is the 
definition of a volunteer? What if you are paid in food, or by 
another IMC, or by another media organization? What if you don't 
actually do any work, can you still call yourself a volunteer?

It makes more sense for the US IMC to adopt all of Portland IMC's 
Principles of Unity 
<http://portland.indymedia.org/en/static/about.shtml>. (I would only 
add the phrase "by the US IMC" onto the end of the first one.)

I'm down to discuss this further in IRC or over email. We've got the 
Inauguration and the WSF coming up in the next two weeks. But we 
should resolve it before the Austin Indyconference in mid-February, 
if possible.


Josh