[IMC-US] personal reprtback for indy folks about the NationalCOnference on Media Reform.

[onto]

Thank you everyone for writing your accounts of this event. To all those 
who went, I hope Carly from SD brought the love of the entire SD 
collective. I'm so happy to read that such quick thinking combined 
diverse tactics of action and media making were discussed and actualized 
in such a short time period. Thats a beautiful thing. It feels good to 
know that I belong to such a network as indymedia.

Its strange. In the states, saying I work with indymedia always got me 
blank looks or rolled eyes. Yet, here, a little south, the zapatista 
community I was with and the guatemalan journalists I've met only give 
hugs and smiles when I mention it.

still outside america,
onto

(anyone coming down to san diego for BorderHack? . . Aug 3-7)

inner_alchemy at Safe-mail.net wrote:
> bht! thanks for the update... here's my version
> 
> i want to first apologize that st. louis wasn't organized to do more.  that was all in the plans when josh and i first started talking, but as usual, i over-extended myself.  between tyring to get CAMP up and running, getting the imc site functional before the conference, and causing a lot of chaos with the police oversight board issue, i was stretched, but i only freaked out once so i thought that was good :)
> 
> the original plan would have been to have seperate caucuses at the CAMP building with a focus on imc and freepress was willing to help bus people over, but that wasn't an option thanks to the city of st. louis who won't let us open.
> 
> but back to the conference... bht laid out the weekend events. so i'll just throw in my two cents..
> 
> WHAT I LIKED:  
> - meeting lovely imc folks from all over the country.
> - those people who helped out with CAMP, promote stlimc, and just in general how imcistas help each other out
> - the thursday night party (and i kinda liked the party at my house, although i was exhausted)
> - seeing imc in action saturay night with the impromptu computer lab.  
> - spreading word about imc to people to have never heard of it
> 
> WHAT I DISLIKED: 
> - not being able to particpate more in the panels.  we got a lot of talking TO us
> - being hungry
> - area african american journalists not present at the conference
> - not talking more about media justice (i've never really heard this specific term before, but understand it's concept and want to look more into it)
> - was that i was tired the whole time and kinda cranky and too tired to have a lot of fun
> 
> WHAT I EXPECTED (AND GOT):
> - lots of white, well off faces
> - REFORM REFORM REFORM conversation that i didn't understand
> - liberals 
> - support from people that i both knew and didn't know and how people were helpful
> 
> WHAT I DIDN'T EXPECT:
> - so many different imc's represented
> - people to read the confluence and go to freepress to confront them about the issue.  it was media action in process and really great :)
> - so much enthusiasm from folks who WEREN'T imcistas
> 
> OVERALL - the sessions were kind of irritating, however, they were exactly as i would have expected.  hearing lots of comments about how freepress didn't include imc in the past, i expected reservations from them this year, however, i'm sure it didn't help when i was the same person trying to get them to sign the letter to the mayor that they refused to do.  i was a consistant pain in their ass and i was okay with that.  i felt inspired, as i usually do with imc gatherings, with the energy and people and ideas and refuse to get upset with the reform conversations because it was a reform conference.  i would like to continue the imc pressence at these events, but only to promote imc's in general, bring together media reform and media justice, and of course challenge their means of reform and their general conference happenings.    however, i don't want myself to concentrate on the negative, but use it for a driving force in the next couple months to increase my contacts and
 knowledge and kick ass in the future.
> 
> sincerely and thoughtfully - betsy :)
> 
> 
>><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><
> 
> 
> BE THE MEDIA
> www.stlimc.org
> 
> -------- Original Message --------
> From: bht <bht at indymedia.org>
> Apparently from: imc-us-bounces at lists.ucimc.org
> To: "Working Group for IMC-US." <imc-us at lists.ucimc.org>
> Subject: [IMC-US] personal reprtback for indy folks about the NationalCOnference on Media Reform.
> Date: Sun, 15 May 2005 15:30:00 -0700
> 
> 
>>So, I arrived in St. Louis about four days prior to the beginning of the 
>>conference.  I caught up with frinds that I hadnt seen for months and 
>>started to get more involved/interested with what was happening in the 
>>Lou.  I think this started right when I pulled up to CAMP (Community 
>>Arts and Media Project, stlcamp.org) and a bunch of little kids from the 
>>neighbourhood ran up to me, hugged me, and called me daddy.  (Then they 
>>dug a big hole in the backyard.)
>>
>>By Thursday, I had a decent grasp of what was going on in the Lou and 
>>had met folks from here.  Josh Breitbart came into town and we started 
>>working on Wednesday.  We stuffed bags for the Allied Media Conference.
>>
>>By Thursday night many of the Indymedia folks had arrived, and many of 
>>the reformers arrived and we converged at City Museum (citymuseum.org) 
>>in the Lou for the conference pre-party.  And I think we partied.  I 
>>made some real good connections there and had a very fun time, leaving 
>>with only a few scrapes and a lot of sweat.  We danced two out of three 
>>floors, and we danced hard.
>>
>>The next day the reforming began and it mostly included sitting at a 
>>table, poking my head into a few places having conversations with many 
>>different people about indymedia and about St Louis, and basically just 
>>working the idea into peoples heads that by coming to this conference 
>>you are affecting the local community and you have to have respect for 
>>where you are and awareness for the issues at hand.  THings went over 
>>well, many folks thought I was from the Lou, although my name badge 
>>clearly repped pdx imc.
>>
>>That was the first day of the conference and it was mostly low energy 
>>networking catching up with folks feeling things out.  It was a good day 
>>and we went back to CAMP that night and made friends.
>>
>>The next day, day two of the conference, was the big day in my book.  We 
>>had seen that media reform was ignoring or missing the independant media 
>>network and the idea that people can be the media nd do away with the 
>>industry that they are trying to reform.  The disgust was thick.  Indy 
>>activists were moving about the conference and promoting the indymedia 
>>movement.  I was working the table most of the day where we had a much 
>>better setup with three laptops and a few people engaging people walking 
>>by and pointing them to their nearest local imc.
>>
>>One person asked how much it cost to post to the site.  I got to explain 
>>to this person that indymedia is not about the money it is not about 
>>haveing a hold on the media, it is about media justice and putting the 
>>tools of media production back in the hands of the people.  I think it 
>>was tough to grasp because the conference was very academic.
>>
>>I got to talk to quite a few people and then the 4 o clock caucus' 
>>came.  Inclusing the one that was going to have two indy folks as 
>>moderators and called independant media producers and the one for folks 
>>from the northwest.  I went to indymedia one first and there was another 
>>white guy standing in front of everyone telling them how it was and that 
>>media is a big issue and that reform is working.  And i got disgusted, 
>>partly because it wasnt a caucus but mostly because the two indymedia 
>>folks that were also supposed to moderate were women...and this was just 
>>another guy.
>>
>>So I went to the northwest one and it was much smaller I got to inject 
>>some of the more radical aims of media justice to people like the 
>>director of cable access in oregon, and someone similar from 
>>washington.  I talked to media proiducers working for reform through 
>>legislation and when i asked them if they had a contingency plan like 
>>what would they do to attain media justice if legislation fell through, 
>>they had nothing.
>>
>>I stuck that out to the end, because I felt it was important to let 
>>northwest folks know that someone from cascadia was there.  Then I went 
>>back to the INdependant Media Producers one, where apparently all hell 
>>broke loose once the indy folks realized that they were being taken for 
>>a ride.
>>
>>SOmeone else can explain what i mean because I wasnt there.
>>
>>So the indymedia folks planned an indymedia caucus to start in a half 
>>hour, and there we would discuss how to make amends for this washing 
>>over by free press.  40-50 people gathered in that room, from all across 
>>the country, philly, la, portland, seattle, arizona, michigan, san 
>>diego, nyc, tallahassee, idaho, chicago, bay area, houston, austin, 
>>tennessee, urbana, carbondale, and others.  One person from Canada in 
>>the room.  Alot of passion.  Alot of resentment.
>>
>>WE had a bitch session for awhile and then talked about what we could 
>>do.  WE decided that we could take action and create a media center in 
>>the most travelled place of the conference, right in front of the doors 
>>to the keynote speech that was happening in a half an hour.  Just a bit 
>>away from where pacifica was streaming.  And right where Left Bank Books 
>>was selling.
>>
>>One person volunteered a free printing connection.  Two people made the 
>>flier.  A few people donated laptops.  Others started gathered power 
>>strips and making signs.  We were reclaiming the media.  In about a halg 
>>hour we had a bank of about ten laptops all opened to stlimc.org where 
>>articles about the conference had been posted and people were encourage 
>>to post their feelings and their ideas about the conference, how it was 
>>going, good, bad or otherwise.  We put the tools in peoples hands and 
>>let them know that some people werent necessarily happy with what was 
>>happening.
>>
>>Then the people slowed as the conference room filled.  The flyer 
>>returned after about 45 minutes, Left Bank Books asked us to leave their 
>>space, so we moved across the hall.  We re set up the laptops and 
>>started flyering people and continued to encourage people to make 
>>media.  Quite a few did.  The conference staff were trying to stop us 
>>and move our things, they didnt know what to do.  THis conference was 
>>about reform and we were just taking action.  Something reformists may 
>>or may not do, I have never been one.
>>
>>Then, a funny things happened.  The internet network went away.  The 
>>wireless didnt work, the stream of the keynote died, people making media 
>>were franctically trying to get it back up.  Dru from IMC Maritimes 
>>whipped up a word document and opened it on each computer.  people were 
>>still writing comments and they would be posted later.  The media 
>>production on the indymedia side didnt stop.  Becuase we are agile and 
>>think on our feet, because we move with the happenings and work with our 
>>environment. 
>>
>>Pacifica asked to interview someone from the imc becuase they had heard 
>>about the discontent and the action and the breakout caucus.  People 
>>were talking about media.  People were making media, nd apparently David 
>>Martinez  was rocking out to Patti Smith behind the doors we were in 
>>front of.  Eventually though we had to leave.  We had also planned a 
>>networking party at CAMP for that night and indy folks were tired.
>>
>>We packed up, statement made, and went to CAMP.  At CAMP various 
>>independant media folks from around the world, but mostly int he US were 
>>shortly milling about.  Maybe 60 or more folks showed up to relax and 
>>talk network and have fun.  Some very serious conversations happened, 
>>but mostly people were letting their hair down and Josh Breitbart 
>>couldnt stop talking about how great indymedia is. 
>>
>>Anyway, I think that is it in a nutshell.  Sadly, I didnt make it to 
>>anything the next day.  Other folks, please fill in more or different, 
>>make your own, whatever.  This is just from my eyes.  And, oh yeah, 
>>there is documentation in video audio and photo of the indy action and 
>>hopefully more reports of it from people that were there. 
>>
>>-- 
>>"Having a feeling is not illegitemate, unprofessional etc. Being emotionally unbiased is living a life with no passion." --Laila Imc-Sweden
>>
>>_______________________________________________
>>IMC-US mailing list
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> 
> 
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