I like Max's blog and have made efforts to alert folks to its existence. Common Dreams is quite useful also. It's important for organizers to introduce existing resources to new activists.
At 12:06 AM -0500 11/23/02, Chuck0 wrote:
>The Indymedia network is an incredible alternative media
>institution. In four years, this international network that runs on
>anarchist principles and software, has set up dozens of media
>centers on every continent save that really cold one. One of the
>core Indymedia geeks recently speculated that all of the Indymedia
>websites get around 48 million page views per month.
In October, we in Columbus, OH held a forum featuring Marie Trigona, to show videos made by independent media collectives involved in Indymedia in Argentina and to discuss the link between media activism and social movements (see <http://www.service.ohio-state.edu/students/sif/Marie_Trigona.doc>). Also in October, we had three activists for the International Solidarity Movement (Cf. <http://www.directactionpalestine.com/>) present their eyewitness reports, slides, and a new video on Palestine made by Big Noise Films (see <http://www.service.ohio-state.edu/students/sif/PalTruth-GazaStrip.doc>). Columbus does not have Indymedia yet, but we got _The Free Press_ (founded in October, 1970 and still going strong -- <http://www.freepress.org/>).
At 12:06 AM -0500 11/23/02, Chuck0 wrote:
>I agree with Yoshie that it would be great to have more independent,
>quality foreign correspondents. The problem is not one of
>distributing their views, but one of financing the basic stuff to
>make their field work possible. I've been trying to find more good
>writers for my website, which gets alot of visitors. I see the
>problem not as one of distribution of lack of audience, but one of
>finding people who can do good writing or basic journalism.
Financing is the biggest problem. I love documentary videos and films (and movies in general -- as you can see from my postings here), but documentary video/film makers can seldom make a living by doing what they love to do. In Columbus, we have a wonderful documentary maker named Tom Hayes (the director of _People and the Land_ -- buy a copy at <http://store.globalexchange.org/peopleland.html>). He wants to do another film on Palestine, but he currently has no financial backer for another project like _People and the Land_, so he teaches video making at OSU instead. Rich and generous LBO-talkers willing to help finance a new Tom Hayes film are encouraged to contact me, and I'll give you his phone number.
As for foreign correspondents, we have Robert Fisk, Amy Goodman, Kevin McKiernan, John Pilger, Jeremy Scarhill (@ <http://www.iraqjournal.org/>), etc. who have and/or are currently doing great work; it's just that there are not enough of them employed full-time to do so. Nor is there any cheap method of mass distributing their work beyond those who have internet connections.
Ideally, US left wingers should have easy access to regular reporting from left-wing US correspondents stationed full-time in all nations in the world and articles written by foreign left-wing journalists immediately translated into English, but that's only a dream at this point. -- Yoshie
* Calendar of Events in Columbus: <http://www.osu.edu/students/sif/calendar.html> * Anti-War Activist Resources: <http://www.osu.edu/students/sif/activist.html> * Student International Forum: <http://www.osu.edu/students/sif/> * Committee for Justice in Palestine: <http://www.osu.edu/students/CJP/>