seattle indymedia center

Who does Seattle Indymedia serve?

author: Ben Seattle
Mar 04, 2006 12:21

Does Seattle Indymedia serve the progessive community -- or the state and their racist, violent thugs?
Is the Seattle Indymedia editorial group accountable to the community -- or closed off and insular?
Will this post be placed in the center column?

In the past several weeks the Seattle Indymedia newswire has been flooded with pro-nazi posts and comments. This has been in addition to the more typical spam from right-wing jerks and the clueless.

In response to this, a number of readers have posted complaints (see threads below).

So far, no one on the editorial board of Seattle Indymedia has replied to these complaints or indicated, in any way, that they are listening or are even aware of what is going on.

SO there are really two (related but separate) issues here:

(1) Will the Seattle Indymedia editorial group
continue to allow organized neo-nazis to
flood the newswire with their racist propoganda?

(2) Will the Seattle Indymedia editorial group
be accountable to the community and openly
(here on the newswire) reply to its critics?

I have requested that these issues be made into a center-column post in order to make these issues and principles more accessible to indymedia readers.

The liberal "neutral in the class struggle" policy of allowing the nazis to use the newswire on the same basis as anyone else both:

(a) drives away readership and undermines the usefulness
of Seattle Indymedia and
(b) will make it easier for these aggressive and violent
racists to organize locally.

Do we need to wait until the nazis kill someone locally?
--------------------------------------------------------

In the 1980's and 1990's, nazis and racist skinheads murdered someone in Olympia, stabbed a black man here in Seattle and bombed a gay bar on Capitol Hill. I personally witnessed a brutal and unprovoked attack in the University district by a racist who shattered someone's facial bones with a 16" wrench. More recently, neo-nazis (with their yellow "no war for israel" pickets signs) have shown up at progressive antiwar marches, in military formation, ready to assault activists who opposed their presence (ie: some were giving orders to others concerning who to attack if a scuffle broke out). Do we need to wait until nazis kill someone locally before realizing that a liberal attitude toward them does not work?

The nazis are tools of the rich. The nazis are used by the rich as part of their divide-and-rule tactic of getting sections of the working class to fight one another. The nazis and the nazi movement could not exist without support and protection from the state. The most recent examples of this have been the recent Olympia rally where a handful of nazis were protected by the police -- and the recent actions in Florida where the police arrested a number of anti-racist protesters at a nazi rally.

We must be more like Portland:
------------------------------

Portland Indymedia does a much better job. I don't claim to know about everything they do and I cannot claim that they are "perfect" (whatever that would be). But they serve progressive readers! Here is how one of the Portland editors described it:

> Same reasons also for not allowing a bunch
> of racist sexist bigots to poison the well
> we are trying to drink from. [...]
>
> the Portland site was drowing in garbage posts
> until it was decided to start moving it to the
> compost page. Many readers were leaving, people
> saw no point to post an article they had written
> if it was going to receive a bunch of crude,
> thoughtless, or malicious comments. Taking that
> decision the site immediately became more healthy
> and started attracting better quality content.
>
> I heartily recommend Seattle take a similar step,
> whatever the specifics of the policies might be.

There is some concern that, if Seattle Indymedia censored nazi posts, where would this censorship end? The previous editorial group here in Seattle (ie: before the current group took over) had begun to place all posts about the middle east on a separate page (ie: effectively hiding these posts from readers). This shows that censorship can have problems when the people making the decisions are insulated from the progressive movement and the community.

My personal view is that:

(1) posts and comments which are obviously insincere
or which consist mainly of personal insult with
little political content should be composted.

(2) the editorial board which makes decisions on
these matters must make an effort to be open
and transparent in its actions and to reply
to questions and criticisms from readers

Who does Seattle Indymedia serve?
---------------------------------

The attitude of the Seattle Indymedia editorial group has been frustrating to local activists. Seattle Indymedia should serve the progressive movement -- not the state or their violent, racist thugs.

The editorial policies that guide Seattle Indymedia need discussion in an open forum, such as the center column.

There is also a need for militant activists to volunteer to join the Seattle Indymedia editorial group -- and for the Seattle Indymedia editorial group to drop the bureaucratic barriers that are keeping the editorial group closed off from the community.

I am posting this to both Seattle and Portland indymedias. (Various related threads are below my signature.)

Ben Seattle
 http://struggle.net/ben

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An example (one of many) of the nazi theads
that has been spamming the newswire (March 1)
 http://seattle.indymedia.org/en/2006/03/251911.shtml
------------------------------------------------------------

------------------------------------------------------------
Who IS responsible for editorial at indymedia? (March 2)
 http://seattle.indymedia.org/en/2006/03/251941.shtml
------------------------------------------------------------

thread started by E. Miesner, comments by Frank, Ben and others
Includes: "background on indymedia editorial group" by Ben

------------------------------------------------------------
Boycott Seattle Indymedia (February 27)
 http://seattle.indymedia.org/en/2006/02/251877.shtml
------------------------------------------------------------

This is the thread that started this off, by "2 friends"
(I wish, by the way, that posters would use
consistent pseudonyms. That way each person can
develop his or her reputation and readers can
more easily find what is deserving of attention)
comments by Edward, Ben, "Don Quixote", Ktesibios, Frank,
TheTroll and a member of the portland indymedia collective

A quote from the Portland guy:

> Same reasons also for not allowing a bunch
> of racist sexist bigots to poison the well
> we are trying to drink from. [...]
>
> the Portland site was drowing in garbage posts
> until it was decided to start moving it to the
> compost page. Many readers were leaving, people
> saw no point to post an article they had written
> if it was going to receive a bunch of crude,
> thoughtless, or malicious comments. Taking that
> decision the site immediately became more healthy
> and started attracting better quality content.
>
> I heartily recommend Seattle take a similar step,
> whatever the specifics of the policies might be.

------------------------------------------------------------
(March 1)
 http://seattle.indymedia.org/en/2006/03/251919.shtml
------------------------------------------------------------

Mostly a repost of the 251877 thread, with a few additional comments

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