anybody know what's wrong with LA IMC?

anybody know why? it's frustrating that I'm hearing way more about the protests on right wing talk radio (stammering ineffective hours of damage control) than on Pacifica. and the local IMC (LA) keeps breaking down, which is especially bad because ever since the LA protest on the 11th the IMC was getting so much more interaction on the site than usual (more than 30 threads commented on a day, compared with like ten or less); rare opportunity to involve tons more people in our local IMC.... so today is another opportunity down the drain. does anybody know what's going on?

I am very upset with all those problems at Indymedias webs, even the main http://www.indymedia.org is lately always a mess... I was trying yesterday to post news about a TV ad against the war in Iraq that is being boradcasted in all USA (the video can be seen in the net also), but I couldn't, first I tried at SF indymedia, more than an hour lost without success, then I went to UK indymedia, the same shit, then I went to http://www.indymedia.org, and the same errors... I am tired, I know that we activists of the world sometimes work with small resources, but Indymedias worldwide must expand they servers and computer power, it is clear... Must find a way.

Trastor
P.S. here is the TV ad against war in Iraq:
---------------------------------------------------------------
ENGLISH BELOW,
------------------------
ESPAÑOL: Noticia sobre coalicion en USA contra la guerra en Irak. se puede
bajar un video en ingles que es un anuncio de television corto pero
poderoso que estan pasando en las televisoras de EE.UU.:
http://www.moveon.org
--Trastor

----- Original Message -----
From: Wes Boyd, MoveOn.org <moveon-help [at] list.moveon.org>
To: Rafael Leal <interfaz [at] cantv.net>
Sent: Saturday, January 18, 2003 10:51 AM
Subject: U.S. opposition to a war on Iraq


Dear MoveOn supporters worldwide,

Yesterday, we launched a nationwide TV ad campaign in the U.S., which has
received a great deal of national and local media attention. Our key
message is "Let the Inspections Work."

You can see the ad itself on our home page at

http://www.moveon.org

I've also attached some news coverage of the ad below, which describes the
ad in some detail.

This ad is part of our campaign to communicate the depth and breadth of
opposition to an Iraq War, in the U.S. Although the polls show very thin
support for war, until now the media has not widely reported this.

Our biggest surprise is how many members of the media around the world are
interested in this story. Apparently, the
American public is widely seen as moving lock-step behind the most
extremist members of the Bush administration. Journalists around the world
seem surprised by the strength of opposition in the U.S.

Please help us spread the word. If you know any members of the press in
your country who should know about our efforts, please pass this note on to
them.

We've posted our press release regarding the ad, still images, audio, and
video suitable for broadcast in our press room at:

http://www.moveon.org/pressroom.html

As a follow-on, this coming Tuesday, more than 7,000 MoveOn members will be
visiting their senators and members of congress in more than 400 local
offices across the nation, asking them to "Let the Inspections Work."
Opposition to war in Iraq is broad and deep in the U.S. and worldwide.
Let's let everyone know.

Thank you.

Sincerely,

-Wes Boyd
President, MoveOn.org
January 17th, 2002

P.S. I've also attached our recent alert to our U.S. audience with more
details on the campaign below. Our "Let the Inspection Work" petition has
more than 300,000 signatories world-wide. If you'd like to add your name
and comment, go to:

http://www.moveon.org/winwithoutwar

_______________

Dear MoveOn member,

Today's the day. Today we're launching a hard-hitting TV ad across the
nation to underline our key message: "Let the Inspections Work."

In December, we asked members to contribute $27,000 for a print ad in the
New York Times. Within days, we had more than $400,000 committed to our ad
campaign. This allowed us to do several print ads, including an ad in USA
Today. To follow up, we ran a radio ad created by Betsey Binet, one of our
members. But once we saw the avalanche of support, we knew it was time to
go to TV.

Over the holidays, we worked on the spot you'll see today. Our goal is to
underline the risk of war and we've created a piece intended to provoke
discussion and controversy. Without further ado, you can view the ad on
the main page of our website at:

http://www.moveon.org

The ad is airing on TV stations in Washington, DC, Los Angeles, San
Francisco, Philadelphia, Chicago, Dallas, Miami, Boston, Minneapolis,
Phoenix, Cleveland, Portland and Seattle. The ad buy is largely on cable
networks, and will show heavily on public interest shows on channels such
as CNN and MSNBC for the next week. At 10am today in each of these media
markets, MoveOn volunteers will be running press conferences for the local
media.

The press has already shown a great deal of interest in this story. Dan
Rather broke the story last night, and Eli will be
appearing on Good Morning America this morning. I've attached below an
Associated Press story that's just hit the wire.

The big story that's gathering steam is just how mainstream and broad the
opposition to war is, as highlighted today in a Boston Globe article I've
also excerpted below. That's exactly our intent with this ad. And just to
drive the point home, more than 7,000 MoveOn members will be visiting more
than 500 congressional offices across the county next Tuesday.

Please stay tuned. And thanks everyone,

- The MoveOn Team
Carrie, Eli, Joan, Peter, Randall, Wes and Zack
January 16th, 2002

P.S. By the way, for the congressional meetings this coming Tuesday we
asked for your help to get another 30,000 signatures and hit the 200,000
mark. In 24 hours, you've given us three times what we asked for -- we've
gotten another 90,000, putting us well over a quarter-million. You don't
just hit our goals, you shatter them. Thanks.
_______________

Excerpt from AP article

ANTI-WAR GROUP REVIVES "DAISY" AD CAMPAIGN
January 15, 2003

By IAN STEWART
Associated Press Writer

Revisiting one of the most effective television commercials in the annals
of U.S. politics, a grassroots anti-war group has produced a remake of the
"Daisy" ad, warning that a war against Iraq could spark nuclear Armageddon.

The provocative 30-second commercial - released to the media Wednesday and
appearing in 12 major U.S. cities on Thursday at a cost of $400,000, was
prepared with the help of thousands of donations to the Internet-based
group MoveOn.org.

The original Daisy ad aired only once, during the 1964 presidential race.
Produced by the campaign of incumbent
Lyndon B. Johnson, it depicted a 6-year-old girl plucking petals from a
daisy - along with a missile launch countdown and then a nuclear mushroom
cloud. The suggestion was that if elected president, Republican Barry
Goldwater might lead the United States to a nuclear war with the Soviet
Union. Goldwater lost by a wide margin.

The 2003 version follows the same format, with an added montage of scenes
of military escalation: burning oil wells, tanks in the battlefield,
wounded soldiers, chaotic protests in a foreign city and an ambulance
racing through U.S. streets. Then, a similar mushroom cloud, and the screen
goes to black, with a dire warning: "War with Iraq. Maybe it will end
quickly. Maybe not. Maybe it will spread. Maybe extremists will take over
countries with nuclear weapons. Maybe the unthinkable."

Then, another "10... 9... 8...," countdown, and a final message: "Maybe
that's why the overwhelming majority of Americans say to President Bush:
let the inspections work."

MoveOn.org's leaders hope the ad will enliven the debate on the specter of
war - and persuade Americans to oppose a
military solution in Iraq.

"We're playing with matches in a tinderbox," Eli Pariser, MoveOn.org's
international campaign director said. "We wanted to run an ad that would
highlight that very real possibility and help encourage a national
discussion about the consequences of war."
________________

Excerpts from today's Boston Globe

FOES OF A WAR IN IRAQ SPREAD THEIR MESSAGE
January 16, 2003

By Robert Schlesinger, Globe Staff

WASHINGTON - The ad starts with a little girl pulling petals off a daisy
and ends with a mushroom cloud - a startling image underscoring an appeal
for peace. In an updated version of an infamous 1964 political spot,
modern-day activists are trying to urge mainstream Americans to join the
movement against war with Iraq.

The 30-second television spot, which is scheduled to start running today in
13 cities including Boston, is illustrative of a preemptive peace movement
that has been organizing against a war that hasn't started. The movement's
leaders are using 21st-century tactics to spread their message beyond the
traditional ranks of the antiwar movement.

"Our members don't really consider themselves activists," said Eli Pariser,
international campaigns director for MoveOn.org, the group that funded and
produced the ad. "It's the first time they've been involved in political
issues. So getting out in the street for them is a scary thought, but
making contributions and helping pay for an ad is something they're only
too willing to do."

To produce and air the ad, MoveOn.org raised more than $400,000 over the
Internet from more than 14,000 members between Dec. 5 and Dec. 7, according
to the group, which came into existence in 1998 to advocate against
impeaching then-president Bill Clinton. The group raised more than $26,000
from 1,000 donors in Massachusetts.

...

"On Saturday, you will see many, many people in Washington, D.C., and some
of them will be our members,'' said Pariser. ''But what's exciting about
this is we can get people who are housewives in Arkansas or plumbers in
Ohio also involved in the same political push. I don't think it's a change
in tactics necessarily, [so much as] adding new tactics that haven't been
available in the past to reach more mainstream audiences."

The television ad is calculated to get this movement noticed by mainstream
America. Starting with the girl and the daisy, the images shift to what
peace activists say could result from a war in Iraq: burning oil wells,
wounded soldiers, angry crowds.

"War with Iraq. Maybe it will end quickly. Maybe not. Maybe extremists will
take over countries with nuclear weapons," a voice-over says.

The image returns to the little girl before flashing to a nuclear
explosion. The final message in white letters over a black background is:
"Let the inspections work," referring to what the UN weapons inspectors
currently assessing Iraq's efforts to develop weapons of mass destruction.

The ad mirrors the television spot "Daisy," which then-president Lyndon B.
Johnson's campaign ran against Republian challenger Barry Goldwater,
suggesting that Goldwater was too dangerous to have control of the US
nuclear arsenal. That ad ran only once before being pulled, but it has been
rerun countless times as a classic of negative political advertising.

The new ad may mirror the old in more than just its theme: MoveOn.org spent
the relatively small sum of $185,000 on air time, apparently hoping just a
short run would generate media attention.

"The 'Daisy' ad was this ad about the danger that we face as a country and
about the choices we have to make sure the worst doesn't happen," Pariser
said. "We felt like we're in a very similar situation right now. With the
prospect of this war in Iraq, we are playing with matches in a tinderbox."

MoveOn.org is part of the Win Without War coalition, one of several groups
trying to organize a peace movement that
encompasses people who have in the past been slow to join.

David Cortright, the founder and staff coordinator of Win Without War,
recalled that the group's genesis came during the October antiwar protest
in Washington. The rally, said Cortright, "was all over the map politically
and not very appealing to a mainstream perspective." At dinner that night,
he and a few others discussed forming a coalition that would be "more
welcoming to mainstream constituencies."

"We wanted to project a more mainstream, patriotic message. We feel that
the number-one concern about this whole policy is that it's going to harm
our country," Cortright said. "We don't go off and start wars, at least
that's our tradition."

The Win Without War group, announced last month as a group of "patriotic
Americans who share the belief that Saddam Hussein cannot be allowed to
possess weapons of mass destruction" but which also opposes a military
solution, was the result. The coalition includes groups ranging from the
National Organization of Women to the National Council of Churches.

"It's an attempt to recognize that it's not just the liberal left or the
theological left or the political left that is
organizing," said Dr. Bob Edgar, a former House Democrat from Pennsylvania
who is now the general secretary for the National Council on Churches.
"It's just average, ordinary, common people who don't normally get excited
about issues of war and peace, but on this issue they believe that the
administration has not made its case."
________________

This is a message from MoveOn.org. To remove yourself from this list,
please visit our subscription management page at:
http://moveon.org/s?i=979-857936-0tTEoXhswdY5.F0dkwOSqw

LA-IMC is still down. does anybody know what's going on?

I remember I used to depend on LA-IMC more than I do now. and I used to listen to Democracy Now every day. I knew there was no point even checking the newspaper or listening to NPR or talk radio. Dissident movements seem to have grown so much in the last few years but our democratic media networks are not keeping up with the growth. Not at Pacifica, not at Indymedia. San Francisco IMC may be an exception.

Meanwhile, corporate and right wing media venues are rushing to fill the void left by our "dissident media". (here is an example, complete with a box of links to maps of the official "protest route", etc.)

as mentioned above, right wing talk radio has featured hours and hours of discussion of the protests, coporate agriculture vs. organic, etc. etc.

on the one hand I'm glad that issues are being forced into the mainstream. On the other hand, our goal is not to improve corporate media anymore than our goal is to improve coprorate policies. Our goal is to get rid of corporations and their media and their whole top-down, undemocratic way of doing things.

I don't mean to insult our alternative institutions. I just wonder what's going on.

Meanwhile I'm a visitor at SF-IMC from out of town because LA keeps breaking down. Are there any other out of towners with stories about your local dissdent media? does anybody know what's wrong with LA-IMC?

What do we venezuelans need in Venezuela to have an IMC center? This the third time I try to post this, if appears triple postings is not my fault... SF indymedia also suffers connection failures...

some information about how to form an IMC

p.s. la-imc continues to disappear. i'd appreciate any leads....

------------------------------------------------------------------------
anticrisis