Feature Archives

Women have always been integral participants, creators, and organizers within Indymedia. Unfortunatley, the Indymedia movement has not always maintained a welcoming or sustainable environment in which women media-makers and activists can thrive. Lately, it has become evident to many people that women within Indymedia are facing a crisis. Women have been leaving IMCs at an alarming rate, and many site sexist attitudes within their IMC as part of the reason for their leaving. Other challenges facing women in Indymedia include having less spare time to do internet activism, either because of family responsibilities, lack of technical equipment, or the necessity of working more hours for economic survival than their male IMC-counterparts. To combat the isolation that women can sometimes feel, a global Indymedia women’s list was created as a forum for women in Indymedia to discuss the problems they face and to share information. A proposal to enhance women’s participation was drafted by the members of the Indymedia Women’s list and is now being circulated and discussed throughout the Indymedia network.
Read the Indymedia Women's Proposal   (old thread here) | Read Indybay's Response of Support
Some IMCs have feature pages devoted to gender issues:
Melbourne | Italy | Germany | United Kingdom | Argentina

Women have always been integral participants, creators, and organizers within Indymedia. Unfotunatley, the Indymedia movement has not always maintained a welcoming or sustainable environment in which women media-makers and activists can thrive. Lately, it has become evident to many people that women within Indymedia are facing a crisis. Women have been leaving IMCs at an alarming rate, and many site sexist attitudes within their IMC as part of the reason for their leaving. Other challenges facing women in Indymedia include having less spare time to do internet activism, either because of family responsibilities, lack of technical equipment, or the necessity of working more hours for economic survival than their male IMC-counterparts. To combat the isolation that women can sometimes feel, a global Indymedia women’s list was created as a forum for women in Indymedia to discuss the problems they face and to share information. A proposal to enhance women’s participation was drafted by the members of the Indymedia Women’s list and is now being circulated and discussed throughout the Indymedia network. Some IMCs have feature pages devoted to gender issues: Melbourne | Italy | Germany | United Kingdom

Saturday 12/20/03 8PM Winter Solstice eve, get your groove on, meet cool people, help this new and improved awesome collective. Liberate your ass, free your mind, the rest will come...
8pm till ? (not all night)  $5-10 sliding scale, All ages, Benefiting Indybay.org
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Crowd counts at demonstrations have always been a vital measure of the strength of the protest message. Corporate and independent media, along with the police, activists, and the public are all players in the numbers game. In San Francisco, as massive demonstrations continue (1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5) to be mounted against war with Iraq, controversy over aerial photos has blown the question of accurate counts wide open. An Indymedia reporter covering the protests tells his story: Read more

Independent Media Centers (IMC), since their inception in late 1999, have attracted much attention from the corporate media. Most reports fail to recognize the legitimacy of the grassroots journalism that gives the IMC network its vitality, and tend to lump IMCs into a big mass of anti-war or so-called anti-globalization demonstrators. Often reporters have focused on the use of technology in organizing demonstrations, with a local collective at the center of the discussion due to the self-publishing feature common to all IMCs.

Though the distinction between demonstrators and IMC reporters rarely is seen when you're a cop, readers and participants of SF Indymedia are clear on the subject. Surprisingly, the Associated Press hasn't been able to grasp the distinction. In an article from 3/27, the AP wrote, "Before the invasion of Iraq began, the San Francisco Bay Area Independent Media Center solicited volunteers to stage sit-ins in particular intersections. When sit-ins sparked police confrontations, the group published live video on its Web site." This statement is humorous, given that while there are all kinds of calls from people who publish to this site, none come from the collective that maintains it.

AP reporters are encouraged to continue struggling against the ideological framework that inhibits their understanding of the open publishing and the Independent Media Center phenomenon.

On April 5, the new Indymedia TV program Newsreal premiered on Free Speech TV. Local shorts featured on the pilot include "MAC Attack on Big Step" and "On Toxic Ground: Midway Village" by Sleeping Giant, "BOOM!" by Whispered Media, "SF J20 Reclaim The Streets" by Wingnut Flag Productions, and "Report from Behind the Redwood Curtain" by HAVC. See satellite.indymedia.org for more info.

SF Indymedia and Revolutionary Anti-Authoritarians of Color for Equality (RACE) will be hosting a film screening on Tue, Nov 13. Films will include an Italy IMC video from July's G-8 summit, September and October Indymedia Newsreels, shorts by Guerilla News Network, and more. Details