[IMC-US] paid and volunteer IMC staff:

[nick]

Sascha,

>I do not think it forwards our goals of inclusion and diversity to
alienate the less prosperous by rubbing their faces in our own
affluence.

I think it is possible that IMCs in countries with incredibly high
unemployment rates and even more lethal forms of poverty have
nonetheless chosen to remain all-volunteer.  Such a survey (and as I
said all along, I want feedback about how to ask the most helpful
questions) could give insight as to how such choices were made.

You might be right, that we have here a situation with those that are
affluent running the faces of the less affluent in something, but it
also well might be that it is only the IMCs in the relatively affluent
US which are open to the ideas of having IMCistas as paid employees. 
I think we are both approaching this question out of concerns about
those with less resources from ourselves, which is exactly why we need
to get more information and feedback before speaking on behalf of
those with less resources.  And if it is true that all or almost all
of the IMCs in the countries which have the most severe forms of
suffering and poverty have nonetheless committed themselves to
remaining all-volunteer, it is something about which we in the USIMC
need to be aware, and to consider in deciding the simple question of
whether we want to declare ourselves an all-volunteer collective.

Peace
Nick

On Mon, 14 Mar 2005 09:31:41 -0600 (CST), Sascha Meinrath
<sascha at ucimc.org> wrote:
> Hi all,
> 
> I want to second Josh's take on this.  I've stayed rather quiet on this
> topic, but thought I should weigh in.
> 
> The defining characteristics behind Indymedia are our committment to
> social and economic justice, our focus on featuring and amplifying the
> voices of the disenfranchised and marginalized, and our solidarity with
> peoples and constituencies who are our allies.  Not our attention to money
> and pay.
> 
> We are an incredibly diverse network of networks.  I applaud the work of
> all IMC volunteers; however, some people are not privileged to be able to
> work for free.  I think it is short-sighted to further stigmatize the
> working poor -- and that some of the proposals that Nick is forwarding
> reinforce, rather than break down, a classist mentality.
> 
> In essence, IMC's that announce they are "all volunteer" are saying "we're
> rich enough to not have to worry about money" -- and meanwhile, other
> Indymedia activists are made to feel somehow less worthy because they need
> to accept payment for their work.  I really don't see the benefit of this
> sort of statment to the Indymedia Network as a whole.  I do not think it
> forwards our goals of inclusion and diversity to alienate the less
> prosperous by rubbing their faces in our own affluence.
> 
> --Sascha
> 
> **
> 
> Date: Sat, 12 Mar 2005 15:44:26 -0500
> From: Joshua Breitbart <breitbart at indymedia.org>
> Subject: Re: [IMC-US] all-volunteer survey questions draft
> To: "Working Group for IMC-US." <imc-us at lists.ucimc.org>
> Message-ID: <p06100507be590462ab8d@[192.168.1.109]>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" ; format="flowed"
> 
> I think this will do more harm than good.
> 
> Can you define volunteer?
> 
> Josh
> 
> At 11:02 PM -0600 3/8/05, nick wrote:
> 
> >for IMCs in our hemisphere - any feedback before I translate and send it?
> >Peace,
> >Nick
> >-----------------------------------------------
> >
> >For each of these, do you and / or your local imc agree or disagree?
> >
> >1) Our imc is currently all volunteer.
> >
> >2) Our imc intends to remain all volunteer in the future.
> >
> >3) The Principles of Unity should have included a statement against the
> >payment of money to imc members for doing imc work.
> >
> >4) The question of having paid members is best left to each imc to
> >decide, instead of imposing authoritarian rules now, after some imcs have
> >already created paid positions.
> >
> >5) It would be a good step if some imcs publicly announce themselves as
> >all-volunteer.
> >
> >6) This is not such an important question and not worth spending much
> >time or effort on.
> 
> --
> Sascha Meinrath
> President                 *   Project Coordinator   *   Policy Analyst
> Acorn Worker Collective  ***  CU Wireless Network  ***  Free Press
> www.acorncollective.com   *   www.cuwireless.net    *   www.freepress.net
> 
> _______________________________________________
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> IMC-US at lists.ucimc.org
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> 


-- 
peace,
Nick
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