[Imc-tech] Re: [IMC-Process] RE: the urbana-champagne IMC

[safe dropbox]

http://jerusalem.indymedia.org/news/2002/09/78120_comment.php#78176

Indymedia: internal Class Struggle erupts...

qb w/help from M Parenti & otros

The problem of differences re the IMCP collective found me on the recommend of both "sides" posting & subbing to the IMC Process List. What I discovered shocked the shit out of me...

The long essay below is "Exhibit A" in an attempt I am initiating this morning to focus attention on the whole "IMC Phenomenon" as a locus of Class Struggle -- that is a place where the interests of the Masters of the Universe and the interests of the rest of the species (and specieses?) meet and contend.

For people like me who focus mainly on the Palestine issue -- more precisely describable, perhaps, as the "Jewish Community Problem"? -- it came as a bit of a surprise to realize how the global IMC Network has grown and developed; all the resources that are now available and in use, the sophistication of the software and flowchart options, the TWiki freebies and on and on.

IMC is now a "major institution". It is being run by people with fantastic vision about the possibilities of media.

(I hope Philo T Farnsworth has enough hardware available up there in heaven to see what is going on -- if you have ever read any of his writings about his motivations for inventing TV and his vision of the potential for human liberation, it is fascinating to see how what is happening with IMC and all the other links in the "progressive" internet media networks are realizing his vision.)

If any reading this were following the IMC-Palestine lists back in Feb and March shortly before imcp went online, you will recall some exchanges that had to do with a group associated with the Urbana-Champaign IMC (a central Illinois "twin cities", site of football powerhouse U of Ill.). Said exchanges had to do with some initiatives by the "Urbane Champagne" (sic) group which gave rise to some objections by those already at work on IMCP.

So when I saw -- purely as chance propinquity -- that this UC IMC was pushing to be allowed to accept a grant from the Ford Foundation with its record of fronting for the CIA around the world, and that even though the IMC Argentina collective was protesting this vociferously the UC folks continued to push -- I decided to offer my two cents, as somebody who had been around the left for a while and knew some of the facts of life re funding, angels etc.

Immediately the shit hit the fan. That nasty trash-job posted here as "Up Close and Personal" -- do see it if you haven't -- was posted to the Process List minus graphics (http://lists.indymedia.org/mailman/public/imc-process/2002-September/003837.html & http://lists.indymedia.org/mailman/public/imc-process/2002-September/003889.html); next some creep named Hagy who is apparently the head honcho at IMC UC posted a totally unfounded claim that I had been engaged in spamming "his" site in the past (http://lists.indymedia.org/mailman/public/imc-process/2002-September/003867.html).

The usual zionist "Ad-Hominem Defense": bullshit to king four.

But to my surprise, none of the digital genii running IMC Process found anything objectional in the zionist counterattack. In fact when I posted rebuttal I was criticized roundly for misusing the Process List, posting stuff that was "not germane to the Process process" (http://lists.indymedia.org/mailman/public/imc-process/2002-September/003896.html).

I was deluged by crank emails from people who claimed to be responsible members of the Process group (http://lists.indymedia.org/mailman/public/imc-process/2002-September/003909.html), berating me for misusing their email list to try and defend myself from charges of being an antisemite, made on said list by a member of their group.

I replied to most of the emails, but found it to be a waste of time. So I unsubbed myself from the list and decided to try to understand what had happened, and what to do about it if anything.

But it looks pretty simple. If you have ever been on a college campus when some big issue "broke", like at the beginning of Vietnam protest etc, or the Bakke Decision, the early days of the UFW boycott effort -- you will recognize the mix of consciousness-es now observable on the Process List and also on the http://www.indymedia dot org page.

It's a big Cattle Call; Opportunity abounds; aspiring Commissars and GenSecs cooperate with CIA stooges to keep the momentum going, while hoping to eventually turn it all into channels favoring their respective agendi... (can you say that? "agendi"?)

So it seems to me the first step in approaching the problem of diffuzed focus at IMC dot org, and what appears to me to be a nest of vipers at Urbane Champagne, is to get clear about the Ford Foundation (or if you prefer, and I do: the Fraud F.) and its CIA links, hankypanky involvement in "left" projects etc. 

The following is offered as a first step toward establishing such clarity:

The following essay by Michael Parenti was penned in the wake of the furor over Oliver Stone's JFK (http://jerusalem.indymedia.org/news/2002/09/78120_comment.php#78176), but it contains many points about prevailing mindsets that are perfectly relevant to the current refusal of some otherwise activist and politically-minded people to allow honest and open consideration of the growing evidence for official prior knowledge of 9/11 and covert planning and manipulation behind the so-called "War on Terror." It was emailed to me out of the blue by a visitor to questionsquesitons.net, and much to my delight follows much of the same line of reasoning that I have been pursuing in past articles such as And Now... Will the Real Skeptic Please Stand Up? — albeit much more expertly, of course, and with more historical depth.

As a preface and for background, this article may be of interest as well: 

JFK Conspiracy: The Intellectual Dishonesty and Cowardice of Alexander Cockburn and Noam Chomsky, by Michael Worsham

As reported in the Washington Post, a top-notch scientific study of audio recordings from the JFK assasination recently presented its findings: it is more than 99% certain that shots were fired by at least one additional gunman from the notorious "grassy knoll." So how does it look now, seeing that Chomsky and Cockburn have stood behind the Warren Commission's findings of a lone gunman and "magic bullet" and, as you will read below, have simply refused to become acquainted with the mountains of evidence to the contrary?

Does "America's leading dissident" have anything to say?

In any case, Parenti's writing affirms for me a disturbing conclusion at which I had already arrived some time ago: that the adamant, knee-jerk critics of "conspiracy theory" on the old ideological Left are, under the sly rubric of guarding against "extremism" and "captivating populist myths," waging war on real truthseeking. I have personally seen, over and over, what Parenti laments here: those who most loudly disparage "conspiracy theory" are most often the ones with the least knowledge of the actual evidence being presented. A second issue which Parenti deals with here is the tired canard of a simplistic "conspiracy theory vs. structural / institutional analysis" dichotomy which is constantly hammered out by the Left foes of conspiracy investigation, who then turn around and offer little of their preferred "institutional analysis" at all, instead usually engaging in typical headline-chasing. Truly, the Emperor wears no clothes.

The situation would almost be funny if it weren't so pathetic. And dangerous. 

--------------------------------------------------

Get your facts straight

Sascha

qb,

Your insults are ridiculous, your accusations baseless, your own ignorance of the IMC's process and history enormous, and your inability to constructively participate in group decision-making and coalition-building unbelievable.

I was the UCIMC liaison who helped get funding to IMC Palestine. The donations were raised from IMC-Palestine's own website at their initiative and the UCIMC got involved at the request of IMC Palestine participants. I personally worked with multiple people in IMC Palestine to forge a consensus decision about how to disburse their funding.

Had you any clue or involvement with this group you would have known that there was initially disagreement but that everyone eventually agreed about how to disburse the funds. This took multiple weeks, and was at times contentious; however, this is how the consensus decision-making process works.

Many people have attempted to engage you in constructive dialogue and discussion. However, you seem more bent on trolling IMC websites, abusing existing web-use policies, spamming e-mail lists, and otherwise undermining your own concerns through your destructive behaviors. Your postings are full of paranoid ramblings, your syntax is often garbled, and the main point of your communications unintelligible.

I would strongly suggest you think seriously about the deleterious effect your own behavior is having on your reputation rather than looking for externalities to blame.

--Sascha

Urbana-Champaign IMC

 
 "gekked at blackflag.net" wrote:safe dropbox said:
> Regarding the "extremist ideology" and the IMC ethos -- when does prejudice and racism become intolerable within the IMC volunteer community? Should there be an expectation that "extremism" would preclude an "extremists" participation in the Indymedia project? 

I have no idea what you are talking about. 

If you have specific concerns, please speak specifically. Otherwise, I
only joined this conversation to share what I know about the Palestine
IMC project because I have worked on it intensely since it went up.

-gek/sfimc



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