Indy Media Watch

Indy Media Watch has closed. Here's why.

Finding examples of rank lunacy, libel, antisemitism, conspiracy theories, support for terrorism, incitement to crime or simple hate speech on various Indymedia sites is not especially challenging.

In general, when in a hurry to post, a quick visit to one of several 'leading' IMC sites will yield such an example usually within thirty seconds.

It's not difficult. However, it's not especially intellectually challenging either nor does it make for diverse reading to blog visitors. Oh look, here's more antisemitism on UK Indymedia. Check this out: More anti-American stupidity. And so on.

When Indymedia started, there were not many avenues for 'citizen journalists'. Today, that is simply no longer the case. Many who supported Indymedia in the beginning have long since moved onto other projects or started their own websites. Are these perfect? Of course not, however focusing on Indymedia distracts from problems elsewhere.

Frankly, we do not believe there are many people today, who take Indymedia seriously. However, here we are, week by week forcing ourselves to wade through the muck, to satisfy our readers. It's exhausting. So, we've decided to call it a day and end the project.

In the two and a half years since Indy Media Watch started, in over 1000 posts, we have repeatedly documented easily verified problems with Indymedia. This has not been acknowledged by many involved with Indymedia as fair criticism but rather completely denied or otherwise ignored.

Our masthead states:

Indymedia was set up to fill a void in the corporate media. An idea I thought long overdue. Unfortunately, as a largely unmoderated, unrestricted medium it was promptly over-run by bigots, trolls and Nazis confusing free-speech with hate-speech. I believe the Indy Media experiment has failed.

Has anything changed? Has there been any improvement? Has there been any responsibility, accountability or quality? No, no, no.

The masthead was written in the first-person as the blog started off with one person but now has a few contributors. I would like to thank them all immensely, from those who composed entries over the years, to those who provided tips and of course other bloggers (and even book authors) who have linked to, or referenced this site.

Long term readers will recall my annual suggestion Indymedia commit seppuku. As Indymedia has not substantially improved, this call remains unchanged.

I think we have made our point.

A well referenced and thoughtful post appears on the Investigative Blog, entitled From Indymedia to Indyjournalism. One point stands out:

Indymedia and Blogger.com

Indymedia’s early role as an open bulletin board filled an important niche. At the time, there were very few news websites that weren’t related to existing newspapers, and the free publishing systems that existed (Geocities, Angelfire) did not lend themselves to regular updates. The Active software created a system where people with only a rudimentary understanding of html could upload their stories, without needing to FTP them to the server, rename files, etc.

The open publishing system worked well, particularly during the events that individual Indymedia sites were often created to cover. It was not long however before it became obvious that this openness was a liability afterward, where Indymedia sites became sites of flamewars, racist commentary, advertising and porn. Regular posters developed the habit of posting articles to the newswires of every available Indymedia – undermining the necessity of having geographical sites in the first place.
...
The space for an unedited, unrestricted, uncensored newswire exists outside of Indymedia – any number of blog sites – blogger/livejournal/xanga/myspace etc all allow for this open publishing format. Therefore, it’s not necessary for Indymedia to continue supporting the publication of garbage in the name of free speech.

So then what’s the point?

An excellent question, and one we are currently asking ourselves, in terms of the future of this blog. It would seem by now, the point has well and truly been made.

A comment on UK Indymedia is a clear incitement to arson.

ARSON AROUND with Auntie A.L.F.
your guide for putting the heat on animal abusers every where

Our contributor has emailed UK Indymedia to draw it to their attention. As yet, it remains visible.

Perhaps it doesn't contravene the multi-dimensional all-purpose polymorphic editorial guidelines?

Budding arsonists can be assured they'll be heroes on Indymedia and regarded as effective activists or, if arrested, "political prisoners", as in the case of Jeff Luers, currently serving 26 years about whom I wrote this.

Bloggers in Iranian prisons are political prisoners. Dissidents in China are political prisoners. Idiots that set fire to things are not political prisoners and calling them as such is an insult to people who genuinely did nothing wrong except think. Sadly, it was the lack of thinking which got him into prison in the first place. Maybe Luers can think about it now (perhaps in the showerblock).

UK Indymedia is carrying, unchallenged (and plagiarised), an Iranian news agency article concerning US munitions, apparently found at the site of terrorist booby traps.

Booby Traps Detonated by US Remote Controls

James Jones | 21.02.2007 15:55

TEHRAN (Fars News Agency)- An informed source said in Tehran on Tuesday that after terrorists' hideout in Iran's southeastern city of Zahedan was conquered, Iranian police discovered several US-made remote controlled detonators there.

The story has remained on their newswire for over 24 hours. Any number of other blogs and news sources, have confirmed the photograph used as 'evidence' is a (badly) Photoshopped and wholly doubtful fraud, no doubt aimed at discrediting the US.

Yet there it is, right there on UK Indymedia, known for supporting terrorists.

What a quality 'news source'. Come on 'Sam Wilson', we're all dying to hear your latest excuse.

Update: Wilson's latest excuse in comments:

I could have sworn you just evidenced your post with little green f***tards and onward christian soldiers.

I could have chosen from hundreds of sites, however felt the sites with the scoop and up to date links, were the most appropriate.

Beyond that, Wilson has no actual argument of course.

Others tried pointing this out earlier on UK Indymedia, with comments on the post such as:

Charles Johnson and others debunked a crude Iranian PhotoShop purporting to show U.S. munitions being used to subvert the government of Iran over the weekend, it didn't keep the ever-gullible Indymedia UK from running the photo.

Bloggers did a good job showing the PhotoShopping faults that Indymedia should have quickly and rather easily caught, but simply doing a Google image search should have quickly proven the rifle ammunition claim questionable.

and

O come on, this picture was proven as a fake by a number of people. It's all over the web, this sort of stuff makes IM look stoopid

Naturally both comments were hidden, with the usual unbelieveable message that:

This posting has been hidden because it breaches the Indymedia UK (IMC UK) Editorial Guidelines..

I'd love to know which "Editorial Guideline" prohibits pointing out that an article is a fraud.

Update: The whole post has been hidden - only after festering on the newswire for at least 48 hours. Such quality...

US Vice-President Dick Cheney is touring Australia.
As might be expected, protesters have planned to 'greet him'.

Since its Seattle inception, Indymedia has always been very good at photos from the 'front-line' of (often violent) protests and a great source for 'action shots'.

Sydney Indymedia however, is down. Melbourne Indymedia will no doubt have photos in the next day or so, once again raising the question of 'local' IMC sites.

In the meanwhile, Melbourne Indymedia has photos of the Killer Clouds of Doom.

Update: Photos of protest activity, and usual accusations of "Police Violence" have appeared.

My god Elliot, I was astounded by the images of extreme police violence in your post. I was particularly alarmed at the image of the violent police standing in a line looking at the backs of the protesters - very violent stuff indeed! Get a life sook........

Elsewhere, this is what passes for intelligent political discourse at Melbourne Indymedia:

Who is gonna take this smug C#$t down?

Real nice...

A hilarious post appears on Melbourne Indymedia where the ever paranoid "Tom" is convinced Sydney Indymedia's downtime may be due to a forthcoming state election.

Quite a 'coincidence.' Get the feeling the activist community are being played by a superior influence? We shouldn't be so proud to think its not happening.

A Sydney Indymedia moderator intervenes:

what can I say.

I'm doing my best, and all tom can do is spread paranoid rumors about me.

And the rumours continue:

What is so difficult about installing a msql, php based INDY package, Cam??

DADA, Oscailt, SF-active to name a few, install in 10 mins resotring backup, another 10 mins, general fucking around lets say 48 hours.

so either hand the site over to someone who is able or fuckin do it wanker ... u can't fool linux hackers

Ppl might begin to think you are working for the man

Personally, I don't think Sydney Indymedia's ever looked better!

We have previously observed that Google discredits itself by regarding Indymedia as a viable source for Google News.

A post on Melbourne Indymedia reports:

I have discovered that in the last week or so MIM has been removed from Google News searches and is now regarded as a “blog”.

Shocker! Now Google News users won't find out such Indymedia scoops as:

BATTLE FOR PATERNITY OF ANNA NICOLE SMITH'S DAUGHTER: THERE IS NO FATHER, SHE IS A CLONE!

by CLONES HAVE RIGHTS, TOO!

Dannielynn, daughter of Anna Nicole Smith, has no father because she is a clone. Anna Nicole Smith secretly visited a cloning clinic!

Dannielynn, daughter of Anna Nicole Smith, has no father because she is a clone of Anna Nicole Smith, conceived in a fertility clinic that specializes in cloning.

But wait, according to a later comment on that post:

Actually, this was voluntary and initiated by the Collective. On behalf of the Melbourne Indymedia Collective I temporarily suspended Google News Indexing on 28 Jan 2007:

"...We would like Google News to temporarily stop automatic indexing from our site as we cannot guarantee sufficient editorial control over articles posted to our local newswire feed...."

What's that? Indymedia editors acknowledging problems and accepting responsibility? Kudos! That's all this site has ever asked.

It would also explain this:

It should be said that VERY FEW Indymedia sites are recognized as worthy of inclusion – there are currently about five sites worldwide that ARE included. Up until last week MIM [Melbourne Indymedia] was one of them.

It's a simple question of quality. Something about which too many of the dozens of IMC sites are in total denial.

What is it, with crazy taxi drivers called Ahmed? A Tennesee Cabbie has run down some passengers:

A local cab driver allegedly tried to run over two customers after a fight over religion became heated.
...
Ahmed has been convicted of misdemeanors including evading arrest in a motor vehicle and driving on a suspended license, said police.

Ahmed was charged with theft because police said the license plate on his cab was listed as stolen. His bond is set at $300,000.

In Sydney, equally deranged (but as yet at-large) taxi driver Faruque Ahmed, clearly frustrated with Sydney Indymedia's recent downtime, has proved he doesn't need Indymedia and started his own blog, the charming "Who Deserve Gas Chamber" (sic).

No links for the stupid, but if you are feeling masochistic, check out http://whodeservegaschamber.blogspot.com

Who deserve straitjacket?

Update: New South Wales Police are appealing for help from the public to locate two taxi drivers following an incident.

Shortly before 3am, a man and woman got out of a taxi on the corner of Parraweena Road and Gwawley Parade. The pair then crossed the road.

At that time a second taxi drove along Parraweena Road and, as it turned into Gwawley Parade, it struck the woman and dragged her approximately 150 metres along the road.

Police have so far been unable to identify the drivers of both vehicles.
...
Investigators are appealing for help to locate the drivers of the two taxis.

The driver of the first vehicle is described as being of white/European appearance. The driver of the second vehicle, which was red and white, is described as being of Indian/Pakistani appearance.

Must be a trend.

A post on UK Indymedia tells a rather disturbing story about some London police further to an Indymedia type taking pictures of security cameras in the area.

I'm walking back across London, from Piccadilly Circus to Waterloo East, taking photos of interesting things. I start to notice how many CCTV cameras I'm on whilst I'm doing this, and take a few shots of the more striking ones, or ones in interesting locations. I'm also taking shots of reflections in the water, buskers and all sorts of random things and people.

Whatever turns you on, I suppose.

Then I spot three police officers confronting a female in the middle of the corridor. There is a security camera sticking out of the wall in the foreground above the level of their heads. I can't resist. I take a photo.

And then the fun begins.

One of them, the shortest, oldest one, is right up close to me. I can tell he is spoiling. I've seen it many times when I was younger at school, I've seen it from drunk 18 year olds when I was a student. I've seen it at kicking out time in town centers. I've never seen it from a sober, middle aged police man before (not so focused, and apparent, like this anyway).

He asks me what I'm taking photos of, I explain what the shot I had just taken was, said I was documenting the privacy implications of security cameras. He said, or more snarled, "Isn't it just common courtesy to ask people before you take photos of them". I guess he meant him. I didn't answer (avoid contradicting people directly, it tends to escalate the situation).

Sigh.

Previous posts to Indymedia regarding the police suggest one should take the report with a very healthy grain of salt. As does this comment which followed it:

While the police behaviour is appalling, as usual

As usual...

Read it all and make up your own mind. What I cannot figure out however, is why this comment was hidden by the UK Indymedia moderators:

A little realism needed

Although it does sound as though one copper was a bit heavy handed it's not really realistic to expect to go around London at the moment taking photos of cameras without attracting the attention of the Police is it ?

Let's not forget these cameras at the stations were the same ones who allowed the police to identify the London bombers and attempted bombers

It's that all-purpose "Editorial Policy" again.

A post on UK Indymedia is advertising a fundraiser for a Palestinian charity.

Event details are followed by this comment:

ignore any zionist comments stating that it's cancelled.

Well done for organising this event. Such postings here invariably attract zionist students who are actually paid by israel to continuously monitor and disrupt sites like this by posting comments stating that such pro Palestine events are cancelled due to "staff shortages" or the like. So if you see any such comments on this or on other activist sites, just ignore them and continue supportting [sic] this cause.

Does Mossad's budget know no bounds?

(Disclaimer: I am a paid Mossad agent, as are my pets and all the readers of this blog)

Needless to say, no such comment about cancellation has appeared on the site, nor is one really likely. However, it would be amusing if the function were actually cancelled, yet everybody turned up anyway, believing the cancellation post to be a deceptive Mossad ploy. Upon arriving at an empty venue, I have no doubt they'd blame the Jews for that as well.

Elsewhere on UK Indymedia, more of the usual antisemitic claptrap one might expect from that site:

it is the FACT [sic] that the representation of zionists within government is way beyond mere numerical relationships
...
it is the FACT [sic] that those that control the systems of money (the privately owned federal reserve) are almost universally jewish and represent the familiar roll call of old european banking houses
...
it is the FACT [sic] that the representation of zionists within government is way beyond mere numerical relationships

it is the FACT [sic] that by dint of dual nationality (one thinks of the present democratic 'money man' and his stint in the idf) these zionists flagrently [sic] breech [sic] the LAW on foreign powers and agents acting within government

it is the FACT [sic] that divergence from the zionist position will get you smeared from coast to coast in print, on tv & radio and from within debating chambers supposedly representing AMERICAN interests

it is the FACT [sic] that those that control the systems of money (the privately owned federal reserve) are almost universally jewish and represent the familiar roll call of old european banking houses

some call it Zionist Occupation Government

you would call it coincidence and unimportent?[sic]

It is the FACT that antisemites can't spell and aren't that bright.

So there you have it. Jews (sorry, sorry, Zionists) control the government, media, and world banks.

"Sam Wilson" should be along any second now to insist that there is no antisemitism on UK Indymedia and it's all in our imagination. While he's at it, he may also care to explain why hiding some articles which are reposts with links to other sites is considered to be within the "editorial guidelines", yet endless posts from "Kurt Nimmo's" blog such as the above, which fit a certain 'agenda', remain on the newswire.

A few weeks back, an armed individual in Santa Cruz ran into a restaurant, and refused to come out. This obviously prompted a police response and standoff. Thankfully for all parties involved, no one was hurt and everyone left the scene alive and well.

But over at Santa Cruz Indymedia, we learn that it was those rotten capitalist police officers who were the real threat! Because, you know, the suspect only had a pair of scissors, and the police have guns! Some individuals within the thread express their “disgust” at the waste of money attributed to this event, and place the blame squarely on the police department.

“What is with that HUGE truck? I live in something smaller than that. Pigs! Give me some taxpayer money!!!

Astounding! Not only is this the police department’s fault, but they should apparently also go into action weaponless and naked!

ACcording to a post on Pittsburgh Indymedia:

SFIMC Officially defrocked from the Collective


It all comes out in the end

the ongoing controversy surrounding the articles from SFIMC
and the continuous spam like posting of one of the editors has finally been brought to a Halt!
the IMC collective has taken action on the issue of inappropriate behavior of editors and staff from the renegade
news group in the west.

SF has been suspended from operation in the IMC collective. their equipment is the property of the collective and in the coming weeks will be redistributed to other Imc's with more worthy goals for social change.
the Leadership of the IMC collective wishes to apologize for the prolonged episodes of childish behavior that was allowed to come out of SF. this type of harassment of other IMC's is inexcusable we sight the poor management of this group for the final decision to close and dismantle the site

As with most 'news' on Indymedia, it's difficult to verify its authenticity, however SF Indymedia has been unreachable for some time.

Assuming it's true, SF Indymedia demonstrated how low, the depths an IMC site must reach before others will say they don't want a piece of it. Wow!

Update: Several comments cast doubt over what's actually happened. One way or the other, the site's still offline.

Arizona Indymedia is currently running a mixture of stories from January 2006 and January 2007 as its newswire; it would appear the software can't determine between 2006 and 2007 stories, as they run in order of day and month only.

If only this was the biggest mistake on their site, and not this, or this.

Three questions:

1) Will this bring back Faruque Ahmed?
2) And will Sydney Indymedia be able to satisfy its readers who are on Melbourne Indymedia complaining about missing posts, bad design, slow loading speeds and two people being an autocratic Indymedia regime?
3) How can two people be an autocracy?

A front-page article on UK Indymedia says:

Get Down to Your Local Indy

Local Indymedia groups (IMCs) exist all over the UK. Some have existed longer than others and some are more active than others, but they all have one thing in common: they need your help.

You know. So they can keep churning out quality independent journalism like this article, which suggests the recent suicide bombing in Eilat was really a Mossad plot. Just like 9/11 of course.

Then there's this one: Paedo-police video every UK child naked.

Get on down!

Update: It seems there are still enough people involved with UK Indymedia to ensure that Holocaust Remembrance Day articles are hidden and any article about Israel which doesn't follow the party line, is also hidden.

Update II: Via comments, UK Indymedia moderator, "Sam Wilson" illustrates (once again) what's so wrong with UK Indymedia.

Longtime readers will be familiar with Australia's Taxi Terrorist, Faruque Ahmed, a man best known for plumbing new depths of stupidity, bigotry, antisemitic terrorist-apologia and conspiracy theories, in bad English, on multiple Indymedia sites, his many own Yahoo Groups and occasional other fora. Repeatedly.

With the closure of Sydney Indymedia, like kicking anthills, Faruque has resurfaced elsewhere. In this case, the "Muslim Village" forums.

Normally, when one is criticized, one might ignore it, or rebuke it.

However, it takes a special kind of moron to link to it, in this case an old thread on Indy Media Watch, with no further comment, as some kind of proof of a grand conspiracy.

Faruque Ahmed is that kind of moron.

It seems he is also quite accomplished at talking to himself.

Tim Blair bitchslaps Portland Indymedia:

Indymedia’s Brent Herbert scores a crushing victory over the MSM, which he claims is frantically removing pro-DDT articles from Google News in the wake of a mighty Herbert takedown:

Now only three remain, only one of which is pro-DDT. So I see that people have been busy pulling those stories, since they obviously were embarrassed by my post on Indymedia. Never let it be said that one person cannot make a difference, or that Indymedia does not matter, since apparently it does.

Speaking of embarrassment, Brent is unaware that Google News removes stories after 30 days.

Google should of course be embarrassed to even consider Indymedia as a news source as it has in the past. Apparently it still does.

Vancouver Indymedia's colorful recent history has included getting sued and moving offshore.

Possibly related, Vancouver Indymedia has now shut down with the message:

Vancouver Indymedia is currently offline while we reorganize in order to operate within our mandate. Hopefully we will be back shortly with a new look, editorial policy and committed collective. Thank you for your patience.

Well good luck with all that...

A post on Melbourne Indymedia asks, Where's Sydney Indymedia?

[Looks under desk]

Comments bemoan the death of Indymedia:

if u follow the IMC network globally, it is obvious it is dying in the arse, especially in the States .. it has been infiltrated and destroyed from within .. can't comment on SIMC, but the Irish are down too. ... not good.

if anything it highlights the weaknesses in collectives, or tiny factions .. killed the Oz labor party and killed IMC ... are ppl round here hard learners or sumthin???

change the paradigm or die .. but be heartened over the fact that independent publishing is exploding in other forms .. text and pic are taking the background to vid

Infiltrated? I doubt it, but everyone loves a good conspiracy right?

Occam's Razor essentially suggests the the simplest solution to a question tends to be the best one.

In this case, the simplest answer is that Indymedia's content is woeful. Massive crossposting of material across local sites, little original content, just reposts from other sites, trolls, libel and this is before we get into the flagrant antisemitism, terrorism and abject stupidity which abounds.

Indy Media Watch sometimes finds out about IMC sites going of air, sometimes weeks or months after it's actually happened. Nobody even notices!

Whilst it's easy to blame The Gubment (just like 9/11) it's really not a conspiracy at all. Put very simply, readers have gone elsewhere. Why would they bother going to Indymedia, except for perhaps the same reason one might stare at a car crash.

The question: Can Indymedia recognize its own role in any of this? Or are they too busy blaming everybody else (including this site) and denying a problem. Judging from recent comments, it's pretty obvious.

This is what happens, when you have an unmoderated, uncontrolled and wide-open website, which attracts a certain kind of person.

(Link contains porn)

For 'some reason', quality news sites don't seem to have this problem. If they did, and couldn't control it, I am confident they'd pull the plug very quickly.

Regular readers will know Indy Media Watch has previously been accused of being on the Mossad payroll, CIA payroll and MI-5 payroll.

Now, via a comment on Melbourne Indymedia, we can reveal another one of our funding sources.

In response to our recent post concerning a blogger under attack, paranoid Australian lawyer and Indymedia type, Tom McLoughlin, who has previously commented on this blog, says:

For those not aware there is this rather nasty attack site for IMC haters:

http://indymediawatch.blogspot.com/

as for this Sunday 14th January 2007 below, but let me say as a preface, as a new blogger and strong supporter of the IMC concept, I think IMC and blogging are quite complimentary. Indeed a collectivist model of organising helps offset limits of the individual, and keep honest the blogger service providers.

With IMC call it teamwork, anarcho syndicalism or whatever, and my blog is really a hybrid anyway with due regard for correct characterisation as non official indy.
Over to the hatemongers at Indymedia Watch, which is so biased as to be living satire, guilty of most of the accusations they level in a highly hypocritical way. But if you care do post a sincere progressive comment. They freak at that as I've found to my lasting mirth (its on the Bob Dylan string).

IMC is big enough to cope with this shallow baiting, and actually can be positively viewed as useful discipline/feedback (with large grains of salt added to sanitise the obviously biased commentary, perhaps paid for by some sad Murdoch hack?):

As a "new blogger", we suggest Tom learn about permanent links, and use them, rather than pointing to the top page of a blog and expecting readers to find it themselves.

The Bob Dylan thread, with Tom's comments can be found here. An earlier example of Tom's bizarre conspiracy theories, wherein he felt porno spam to Sydney Indymedia to be a Government plot, here.

We look forward to adding regular Murdoch income to our other black-bag payment schedules.

Molly's Blog has given Indy Media Watch a write-up and also performed some interesting analysis on the state of the various Indymedias in Canada. He also notes:

Plagued by a chronic lack of volunteers, old feuds and a never ending volume of spam from anti-semites, conspiracy nuts and campaigners for the Canadian military Winnipeg Indymedia has closed its portals for now.

Steve walks warily down the street,
With the brim pulled way down low.....

Although disagreeing with some of what gets said here - and I guess it's mutual, the site's well worth the read, as are several of the links from that site to Indymedia alternatives. Molly also formed an opinion as to what may save Indymedia:

In the discussions on Winnipeg Indymedia shortly before it was shut down Molly put forward the proposition that not just certain opinions like anti-semitism should be banned but that a whole area of discussion,- the Middle East, its religions and any conspiracy theories connected to same- should be declared off limits, at least for a time. Also that priority should be given to local news. Perhaps only local and national news should be allowed.

I have long questioned the point of multiple theoretically local IMC sites, all saying the same things with little to no local content.

The Indymedias in Canada that are most likely to last are basically those who have come closest to such strictures, those who have taken a hard line not just with the nuts but also with well meaning leftists who think they can solve the problems of the other side of the world by taking one or another side. This well meaning cheerleading is precisely the door through which the neo-Nazis enter.

Inevitably at such a suggestion, some will cry "censorship" (or as likely, that it's a giant Jew conspiracy) and demand the right to post whatever they wish.

We've seen precisely where that approach got Indymedia.

Pop Quiz:
A week old post on Arizona Indymedia entitled: Jews of the World is trying to make which of the following points:

a) There are Jews spread all around the world
b) Government leaders sometimes meet with minority groups
c) Government leaders sometimes participate in religious ceremonies or
d) Other.

If you guessed D, you are correct.

For bonus points, work out what the "Other" point they are trying to make might be.

Most of the photos used were cherrypicked from a single website, and it's a shame they didn't include some of the more interesting photos that can also be found there. I can't imagine why that might be.

This post on Blogintegrity tells an amazing story of Disney trying to shut down criticism of the speech of one of their talkback radio hosts. Read it all.

That is the sort of issue, which should be right at home on Indymedia, yet you won't read about it there - in this case, the closest site, Bay Area Indymedia.

No. Indymedia are too busy fighting other battles. You know which ones.

With the growth in the blogsphere, at every political angle, this goes to show how Indymedia has allowed itself to become completely irrelevant.

Despite the blogs, conventional mainstream news services remain relevant as they have the money to spend on reporters, editorial, distribution and content that bloggers do not.

As a 'citizen's alternative media' however, Indymedia just doesn't cut it any more, and they have nobody else to blame. Although they will probably blame the Bush Government. And maybe the Jews.

(Hat-tip: Scott, who doesn't agree with the victim's politics, but supports his rights completely)

Update: Indybay have caught up with a direct cut and paste from another source. I can't say for sure whether that had anything to do with this posting, which obviously got someone's hackles up (see comments). However, it does seem a little convenient that the original blog was dealing with this matter a fortnight ago, and the Indybay post appeared a few hours after this one.

If this is the case however, and Indybay have responded to what's been said here, I am not going to gloat about it. Instead, I will give them full credit for responding to criticism, albeit without adding a lot of original commentary to the discussion. Criticism is something many other Indymedia sites are blind too.

The Indybay post links to a Youtube video of a CBS news report discussing this issue. It's as possible, Indymedia have picked up on the case further to that report, which gives full credit to "the blogsphere" and none to Indymedia.

The substance of my original comments remain the case, though it seems Indybay might be one of the last ones to turn out the light.

In response to a question why a typical anti-Israel post on Thunder Bay IMC was hidden, comes this comment:

The drums of distant wars
by an editor

Thank you for asking why this issue is off bounds and I hope we can continue working together towards weaning it off of this site.

It is clear to anyone who is familiar with the Indymedia network that this site has lost control of spam, pornography, and hate speech. Having been part of this collective for a long time, I'm disappointed by what a once highly reputable site becomes when our editors are too busy.

We simply do not have the horsepower to moderate discussion on the occupied territories. At times, the editorial collective can't even hide the material fast enough, never mind read through it all and balance the fine lines between free speech and hate speech (the latter of which, I would say is the majority).

The simple reason is that this site's design is to discuss issues related to Northwestern Ontario, Canada. There are often reasons to discuss foreign policy within these confines but the Israel Palestine conflict has a plethora of other discussion fora elsewhere.

I would like to continue to urge the curious, the intellectuals, and the bigots to seek out properly moderated and lively discussion on the topic on other sites.

This prompted the following response on San Francisco Indymedia:

On one side are the racist aggressors. On the other side are their indigenous victims. Thunderbay-IMC has chosen to side with the racist aggressors. Like all racists, people like that should be ostracized. They don't belong in Indymedia. They don't belong in the progressive left. They don't belong in human society.

Here are a few examples of Thunderbay-IMC's despicable collaboration with the Zionist war machine. Note what they hide and what they don't hide. It illustrates their position clearly, distinctly, and beyond all doubt. This is not just another case of sloppy, lazy, inconsistent editing. This is racism, plain and simple

This is followed by a bunch of links to hidden articles, which, even if you fully agree with them (and it would be a stretch), are without doubt of no relevance whatsoever to the Thunder Bay area. It is then followed with an incitement to harrassment:

Here is their contact information:

http://thunderbay.indymedia.org/process/contact.php

Like they have nothing better to talk about.

SF Indymedia does not allow comments, so in the interest of fairness, neither does this post.

A post on UK Indymedia regarding the rocket attack on the US Embassy in Greece, has this to say:

The night of 12 january a rocket targeting the US embassy in the center of Athens was fired resulting in some damage on the building and brough a lot of frustration to the local authorities and especially the local minister of public order
...
Personal comment: It's good that at the climate of generalized numbness there are people that show with their actions the disaprovement to what the US GOVERNMENT does to the world.

Kisses to all

So there you have it. Once again, Indymedia explictly condones terrorism.

Subsequent comments to the post include:

lets have more of this please
...
Bollocks to the American embassy!
...
well done to all involved
...
Good shot!
...
liquidate americans wherever you find them
...
too bad all americans arent killed, every one needs to be kiled, Man, Woman, Child- all are equally guilty, rise the proletariat against the ravages of americans there needs to be a final solution to the infestation of north america.
Should bomb the day care centres of the diplomats families

Death to america
Death to all who help america

Followed by the usual conspiracy theories. Interestingly, the Jews haven't been blamed. Yet.

Before any of the usual gang of idiots try the cop-out excuse about Indymedia being an open newswire, it is worth noting that far from being hidden (despite a formal request), the article was actually 'promoted' by one of the UK Inydmedia administrators to their promoted newswire.

Let there be no doubt.

A post on what's left of Vancouver Indymedia states:

Well kidz, Vancouver Indymedia has finally been moved out of the country. Turns out that local ISP Peer1, who had kindly provided us with bandwidth for the past couple of years, finally got fed up with all the cease and desist letters they were receiving and decided to give us the boot.

I can't imagine why.

I guess the fact that we were consuming about $10k in bandwidth a month may have been a factor too.

I doubt it. You would be getting a bill, rather than the boot.

I'll be taking an extended hiatus from Vancouver Indymedia now. If you're looking for me I'll be freegeeking, hanging out with uberbabes or meditating. If you need to contact me because of a system error on this new server (meuse) I'm always reachable at resist.ca.

metta,

agent humble

ps. meuse is running on an encrypted file system so your privacy is better preserved in the case of a raid by the .gov but you're still crazy to leave a trail of inflammatory comments that haven't been delivered through Tor IMHO.

pps. try not to be TOO paranoid...

Okay.

According to a post on Bay Area Indymedia:

The movement to impeach President George W. Bush is kicking into high gear with the beginning of the new Congressional term.

And what better way to call for impeachment, than forming a human impeach sign, on the beach. Cause, you know, "beach" rhymes with "impeach".

I guess they couldn't get "Screech" to commit.



According to the post-event review, it went as planned:

Over 1,000 people converged at San Francisco's Ocean Beach this morning to form a giant human "IMPEACH!" sign.
...
“I think it went really well,” added Newsham after a helicopter had passed over the diverse crowd of Bush-loathers.

According to the article which appears on the front page of Indybay however:

On Saturday, January 6th, over 100 people people gathered to form a human "Impeach" sign in the sand at Ocean Beach.

Way to undermine your own cause guys.

Yes, that is a naked guy in the middle of the protest.

Update: Bay Area local "Zombie" has more photos, including plenty of tinfoil.

I have long given up on Indymedia genuinely taking the mainstream media to task in matters of accuracy or bias as given Indymedia's problems and refusal to treat them, any criticism would be downright hypocritical.

This is a pity.

Instapundit, raises a similar question about the MSM.

Via comments to the previous post comes advice about a post on UK Indymedia, so bad I almost wonder whether it's deliberate satire.

An article has gone up on the UK IMC site as an excellent example of what I was saying in my earlier post today.

A story so full of mistakes, lies and innacuracies as to make it a contender for the Booker prize for fiction and for its "proof", links to such websites as timetowakeup.net which even by the standards of the so called truth movement is way off the screen.

Despite a number of people posting to illustrate the garbage of the post it has been allowed to reamin, later posts have been hidden so we can safely assume it has been read by an Indymedia UK moderator.

Why are they leaving up this obvious rubbish then ? Well perhaps the clue is in a quote a quarter of the way into the diatribe, "Zionist controlled... corporate media which is an un-elected de facto 4th branch of government" Yes that's right it's our old friends the Jews again.

It seems Indymedia UK will allow just about any piece of obvious nonsense to be on the site as long as it includes the obligitory Jew hater comment ! In the meantime two articles written by black activist in Zimbabwe which document the arrest of 16290 mine workers in a continuation of Operation Murambatsvina which has so far displaced 2.4 million people in Zimbabwe have both been hidden. Robert Mugabe of course being one of those political leaders who is above critical comment as far as Indymedia UK is concerned. I wonder if a story about 16290 Palestinians being arrested would have been hidden ? ex IMc'er

Choice quotes from the article:

During our entire lives there hasn't been over 700 to maybe 1500 people killed by genuine terrorism such as a planted bomb at a cafe going off during a lunch hour rush,or a school bus being bombed.

1,126 people have been killed by Palestinian violence and terrorism since September 2000 in Israel alone (source and details)

Cursory Googling lists other sites which put the figures into tens of thousands.

Obviously none of those deaths count. Of course.

A commando raid on a military facility is not!!!!! terrorism .Valley Forge was not terrorism. Fort Sumter was not terrorism. The attack on the USS Cole was not terrorism. True, there have been stagey
blood-and-thunder simulated/synthetic terror incidents such as Oklahoma City: 5-19-95, NY/DC: 9-11-01, Madrid: 3-11-04, London: 7-7-05,and Amman Jordan: 11-9-05 , all pulled off by western intelligence agencies and their tentacles ,and- with the exception of Oklahoma City - blamed on Muslim patsies.

Well yes, there's that.

Obviously 9/11 doesn't count either:

"9--11" was but a phony as a $3.00 bill,on the cheap dramatization.It was micro weaponry entomopter cluster/formations in N.Y.The perps bastardized the WABC feed ,the only feed we saw early on -mind you-using PROMIS progeny software with CGI blue screenuploads of "cartoon" computer generated images of Boeing 767s in NY.It was a cruise missile- or no telling what - in DC.There were no Arabs. Nothing was hijacked,and nobody flew anything into any buildings."9--11" was America's Operation Canned Goods (Hitler)....Goggle that...Soon,everyone will have abandoned the absurd 19 Arab hijacker fable.

Yup. Any day now.

Gosh those Western intelligence agencies have been busy, and they sure are good at keeping some things secret aren't they?

Here's the part that ex-IMCer was talking about:

Bottom line, an individual isn't a terrorist until that individual has committed an act of terrorism."Terror" and "terrorism" are meaningless racist xenophobic ethnocidal buzz words when they flow from the Zionist controlled, corporate controlled media which is an un-elected de facto 4th branch of government here in this country. "Islamo-Fascists","Islamic Fundamentalist"," Radical Islamist" or "Jehadists" have become silly right wing talking point xenophobic/racist code word designations implying non-Caucasian inferiority or even sub-human criminality. Small wonder so many craven sheeple brainwashed lemming-like Americans equate 26.4% of this earth's population with "terrorist".

There's one bit right at the end, which has me guessing:

Abu Musab al Zarqawi is fiction.''Zarqawi'' is a Pentagon psyop code name and nothing more. He never lived. He never died.

The country is governed for the richest, for the corporations, the
bankers, the land speculators, and for the exploiters of labor.

~ Helen Keller, 1911

She couldn't see. She couldn't hear.But she knew what kind of country
she was living in.

Oh, and by the way, Viva Chavez!!

Surely this isn't real. Is it? One reads so much other material on Indymedia precisely like this, it's impossible to tell. Even if it is satire (and I really have my doubts) I have no doubt some readers will take it entirely seriously, as they are precisely who Indymedia has attracted. And why shouldn't they?

Regular readers will know I tend to overlook the 'hidden' articles on Indymedia newswires as a show of good faith to the (few) Indymedia sites who do run a good outfit (obviously you won't find me commenting on them a whole lot). However, having a look at the complete UK Indymedia newswire, listing what's hidden as well as what isn't, is quite an eye-opener.

This one asks

Why is Indymedia so fucking boring?

Why indeed.

The famous editorial policy is here and notes:

Articles and/or comments may be hidden for the following reasons:

* Discrimination : posts using language, imagery, or other forms of communication promoting racism, fascism, xenophobia, sexism, homophobia or any other form of discrimination.

Of course, there's none of that now is there?

Ahem.

I have previously observed that a huge amount of the material on Indymedia is copied and pasted across numerous global IMC sites, drawing into question the point of local sites. Moreover, much of that material was originally procured from other sources outside of Indymedia, therefore raising the question - in terms of original content, what exactly is the point of Indymedia?

An article about The Left and Islam appears on Melbourne Indymedia. A comment to the post asks:

[I] query the authenticity of this article as i cant find it reproduced anywhere apart from indymedia

It appears that even Indymedia supporters don't regard it as a worthwhile primary source. Gee I wonder why?

SF Indymedia is hosting a video of women talking about the "Rainbow Grocery Store's" decision to boycott Israeli goods. They have used the substantial Israeli developed technology in their computers and Youtube's to spread their message.

One customer, a self-described "long-term vegan shopper" raises shocking accusations of "customer censorship" in the store, which seems to have some... Issues.

A staff member (who I hope wears a hairnet when handling food) sums up her position:

"It's very clear to me when I see a picture of a boy throwing a rock at a tank, a state-of-the art tank, who is the rich person and who is the poor person?"

This is presumably the picture she is referring to.


It is one of the longstanding images in the Israeli/Palestinian conflict and has been repeated and emulated on probably thousands of sites and posters (Google Image search).

However, anyone with any military experience can see that the hatches on the tank were unlocked, for the same reason soldiers can be seen lounging around in the background.

The tank was parked.

The photograph, was staged by a photographer, presumably looking to recreate the famous images of a single young boy holding up tanks in Tiannenmen square. Emotive images are prizewinners for press photogaphers, however sometimes what's happening behind the lens is more interesting than what's happening in front of it.



Propaganda's funny that way. The woman in the Rainbow store thinks it's as simple as Palestinians throwing rocks versus Israelis using state of the art weaponry.

I wonder if she'd like to have these rocks thrown at her:

Source: Honest Reporting who have documented dozens of such cases of media misrepresentation.

They charge that the media is often guilty of creating news images, rather than capturing them.


The recent 'fauxtography' scandal involving Reuters reports in Lebanon suggest the problem is enormous. This is something Indymedia, a self-described alternative to the media could challenge. Do you think they will?

Here's some more pictures of Palestinians, err... Throwing rocks.


Here's a young Palestinian who wants to throw rocks when he grows up:


And here's what sometimes happens when they throw those rocks:


It's not really that simple is it? However, the woman in the Rainbow Store is that simple, for she's clearly been swallowing a one-sided, completely biased and evidently factually inaccurate anti-Israel narrative. The very same narrative one might find daily on Indymedia.

Therein lies the problem. The Rainbow staff member continues:

who is the rich person and who is the poor person?

Ask Yasser Arafat's Wife, who will confirm he was worth billions while the average Palestinian earned a few dollars a day, and Arafat blamed Israel for all of it. This is precisely the sort of corruption and inequality that progressive activist movements should oppose, but when it comes to Israel, they specifically choose not to. Ditto strapping bombs to young children.

Thomas Friedman wrote, "Criticizing Israel is not anti-Semitic, and saying so is vile. But singling out Israel for opprobrium and international sanction out of all proportion to any other party in the Middle East is anti-Semitic, and not saying so is dishonest."

Here's the thing: Take the absolute worst things Israel is genuinely accused of. There are dozens of countries that do these things, to a far greater degree, with impunity. However, from China, to Sudan, Saudi Arabia to Syria, Libya to Iran, Zimbabwe to you name it, you seldom, if ever hear about them. In contrast, there is an absolutely constant drumbeat of criticism on Israel, the World's only Jewish state.

Does that excuse some of the things Israel has done? Of course not. However to hold Israel, the World's only Jewish state to a greater level of accountability than any other country can only possibly be described as antisemitic.

I am quite sure many of these critics, such as the owner of the grocery store, would never describe themselves as antisemitic, and would be horrified if others called them antisemitic. The fact is however, they have been romanced by a movement that is antisemitic, and simply haven't noticed.

This is some overdue introspection the Left has failed to do (despite efforts such as the Euston Manifesto) and it is a disgrace. Indymedia, could be a wonderful tool for addressing this imbalance, however instead, not only is it part of the problem, it is spearheading it.

A comment on the Internal UK Indymedia listserver says an article has been hidden:

http://indymediawatch.blogspot.com/ back up and open (358655)- disinfo, disruptive (using FTP's name and email!)

Disinfo? Disruptive? Moi?

All it said was:

Indymedia Watch back up and running.

Are you interested in making Indymedia what it was supposed to be?

Would you like to see a consistent policy in the Hiding and Removal of posts and comments ?

Would you like the Indymedia moderstors to be open in their application of the Editorial Guidelines ?

Indymedia Watch blog is the place for you.

Roy Bard

I can see the disinformation there...

Over at Melbourne Indymedia, you can read a lengthy article by Fred Halliday titled "The Left and Islam". Here's an extract of the article:

The trend is unmistakable. Thus the Venezuelan leader Hugo Chávez flies to Tehran to embrace the Iranian president. London’s mayor Ken Livingstone, and the vocal Respect party member of the British parliament George Galloway, welcome the visit to the city of the Egyptian cleric (and Muslim Brotherhood figurehead) Yusuf al-Qaradawi. Many in the sectarian leftist factions (and beyond) who marched against the impending Iraq war showed no qualms about their alignment with radical Muslim organisations, one that has since spiralled from a tactical cooperation to something far more elaborated. It is fascinating to see in the publications of leftist groups and commentators, for example, how history is being rewritten and the language of political argument adjusted to (as it were) accommodate this new accommodation.

The comments in response aren't as articulate:

WHAT A LOT OF RUBBISH

BUSH! JEW! FUCKOFF!

It's followed by:

The right and christian?

The right and the false flag opps?

What about the religous right and the glutens?

The wrong and the war criminals?

just to name a few!

When the intelligence of Indymedia is questioned, based on those comments, someone springs to the defence of those who ignore the issues entirely, by posting:

I think the two comments show more intelligence than is expressed in the article

But of course they do, in the eyes of Indymedia, where swearing, petty tantrums, antisemitism and denial all arrive in large doses.

*** Scroll for Updates ***

I'll post Indymedia reactions to Saddam Hussein's execution here, as I discover them (tipoffs via email address at top left).

"Latuff", an Iranian Holocaust Denial Cartoon Contest finalist, has spammed his latest drawing all over the IMC network. UK Indymedia has it here wherein he asks:

Now, who will hang Bush for war crimes? Or Blair? What about Olmert?

The excreable Latuff likes to pick the easy targets for his colourful yet monotonous drawings - democracies and their elected leaders.

I can think of certain cartoons he wouldn't have the guts to draw. What a spineless jerk. Previous post on UK Indymedia and Latuff here.

Update: An article on UK Indymedia says Long Live Saddam Hussein and the author writes:

Most people will likely call me a paranoid nut case

No!

A comment on Melbourne Indymedia claims Saddam Hussein isn't dead - they hanged an impostor:

Wonder which Saddam or Shaddam was executed

Meanwhile, this comment, from "Isabelle" appears on this post:

I admire Latuff, and his questions are justified...

I asked the poster:

Why don't you tell us a bit about yourself, where you live, where you grew up, and how you can admire such a person. Perhaps you can also mention some of the other people in this world who you admire.

I eagerly await your response.

Naturally there was no response, so allow me. "Isabelle" was connecting from Amman, Jordan. Jordan is a country that has done precisely zero for the Palestinians since the 1970s, when it shot several thousand of them.

As the Palestinians are "Latuff's" leading cause, I suspect "Isabelle's" support for Latuff has nothing at all to do with the Palestinians, but is simply an endorsement of his rabid anti-Western sentiment, something of which, like poverty and illiteracy, there is no shortage in the Arab world. However, like poverty, illiteracy, sub-standard human-rights, oppression of women and minorities, the problem won't be helped by corrupt leaders and brainwashed stooges blaming The West for everything.

The headline: "BBC aiding & abetting anti-Muslim pogrom in the UK"

Oooh I thought. A juicy media conspiracy! Exposed by the fearless Independent Media.

Whatever.

Expecting a detailed media analysis exposing the complicity of the BBC, disappointment was but a click away:

Set aside for a moment Sir Ian Blair and his daily race-hate lies paid for by London's longsuffering council tax payers. Every time they say 'suicide bomber' on the news my guts go over. Mostly because I know the newsreaders are just trotting out anonymous military sources, but we are SUPPOSED to feel sick. It's part of a psycological operation to get us to hate Muslims in which the highest level BBC editors and managers are complicit.

How is the BBC contributing? It seems, the problem stems from their choice of terminology:

The BBC crossed a lethal professional line when it decided to refer to the four 7/7 suspects as 'suicide bombers'.

They called them "suicide bombers"? How terribly unprofessional! They should have called them Pasteurized Processed Cheese Food Product which is the appropriate term for someone who blows himself up on a bus.

Then comes his rationale:

Ignored is inconvenient evidence including the advance warning to the Israeli embassy and the untidily Photoshopped Luton CCTV image (a railing behind the figure at the back passes in front of his arm).

Don't forget other inconvenient evidence like the Zionist mind-control rays that make all the survivors think they saw a bomber in London and planes in New York! It goes on with all the usual conspiracy dross. Oh, don't forget your inconvenient medication and straitjacket either.

But what about the "pogrom"? A later comment on the post asks a sensible question:

Isn't a pre-requisite for a Pogrom, that the victim group be forced out?

The Muslim population of Britain is growing at a significant rate.

Some "pogrom"... Maybe it's a "genocide". "Ethnic cleansing" perhaps?

This just a bunch of anti-Western hype not borne out by any facts.

Lack of facts? On Indymedia?

I have previously commented on the gratuitous and wholly wrong use of terms like genocide on Indymedia. Add pogrom to the list.

The UK Indymedia post has brought out all the 7/11 crazies (Europe's answer to 9/11 crazies). Predictably, it was The Jews... Aside from the usual "Jews knew about the attack" meme, ine poster has even applied some manner of do-it-yourself Hebrew numerology system to determine Jewish culpability in "ritual sacrifices" in London.

I've done some of my own: 7/11 + The Numerical equivalent of UKIMC = Stupid.

I am advised via email that there have been 'additions' made to this post, which means either the poster is a UK Indymedia admin, or an admin read the original post and promoted the additional comments.

Trying to stem the damage, comes one comment:

This article shouldn't be simply hidden it must be deleted and so must any other post that questions 7/7 if Indymedia is to retain any credibility.

I think we're just a little bit past that.

Bay Area Indymedia (Indybay) reports:

UNLESS INDYBAY RAISES $4000 in 30 days we cannot afford our web hosting and the site will go off the air.

This is serious! We are an all-volunteer collective and our costs are miniscule in comparison with the service that the website provides to the Bay Area, Santa Cruz, and Northern California activist communities.

Here are just a few examples of this fine service.

North Korea has Right to Blow You Away

Bay Area Indymedia Censorship

Flag BBQ and Reich Inflation

Genocide-o-Mania

Courtesy of Indy Media Watch, there's plenty, plenty more.

The plea for help boldly claims:

Indybay Is Grassroots Media at Its Finest

Sure. If you say so. I'm sure the finest grassroots media source will have no trouble making money to cover costs in producing such quality media. Good luck with all that!

A defunct Indymedia site won't be missed, although I will miss some of the weirdo photos .

Update:Santa Cruz Indymedia asks "Have you got Indymedia's back"?

Since the Santa Cruz Independent Media was established in 2001, we have never had any major fundraising drives. However, we have recently lost our free webhosting and need to raise $4,000 (along with Indybay, our partner website) by January 30th or we run the real risk of having to shut down the site.

Please seriously consider making a donation today. You will be hard-pressed to find a more efficient charity to donate to. Nearly 100% of donations go directly toward operating expenses; we won't waste your money on slick brochures or marketing schemes. If your donation is postmarked by December 31st, you can use it as a deduction on this year's taxes.

Indymedia is a tax deduction?

I'm not sure how long it's been down for, but Sydney Indymedia has been offline now for what seems like almost a week. Because there has been nothing new from what must surely be close to the worst of all Indymedia, let us take a trip down memory lane and look at some of the articles that that made it onto their newswire.

Al Qaeda is administrated by the Pakistan secret police & the Pakistan secret police is financed by the CIA basically the american government [sic], the american government is financed & supported & directed by the super rich leaders of the corporations of the world, so the super rich leaders of the world are responsible for killing innocent peoples in order to achieve their political agendas.

As Steve Irwins politics had swung well back toward Labor and , ' Man-of-steel', the dictator John Howard began to see Queensland as his ' Leningrad', so a plot was hatched to murder the popular rival to the savage Tyrant.

an elderly lady was assaulted by an Israeli terrorist right outside the Sydney Town Hall, in front of every one! ... Two days later some one [sic] said to his friend during a meal, "by observing and analysing the attitude and behaviours [sic] of Israelis and their supporters I can conclude the fact that Hitler and his Nazi followers were much more honourable than this lot"!

Sydeney riots mossad opp to help cement howard fascist [sic] regeme [sic] takeover

those disgustig [sic] creatures from mossad are at it again, engineering instability and violace [sic] in australia one of their newist hosts their disgusting thirst for blood has surfaced again and one of there bumbling agents Zev Barkan was lijnked [sic] to a tex [sic] messaging campain [sic] to incight [sic] violance[sic] in a gullable [sic] population

One can only hope that time away from the site will help the moderators clear filth like this off the site for good.

Update: (The Watcher) In the meanwhile, they are asking for donations! Nothing clears off filth better than closing a site. Maybe they can buy Faruque Ahmed a spellchecker? Makes you sic doesn't it?

Melbourne Indymedia was running a piece titled "Takver - his bias and insulting, accusatory lies" - but it was hidden pretty quickly. The piece is inflammatory, and may or may not contain factual inaccuracies, but it certainly isn't quality journalism. Leigh from the House Of Wheels blog points out that Google News - now more than 30 hours after the piece was first hidden - hasn't removed it from the index.

This is not the first time either. You can see just some previous examples of Google News's failings when it comes to Indymedia here, here, here, here, here, and here.

However, Melbourne Indymedia appears to be improving [it could be argued there was a lot more room for change in a positive direction], with stupid articles like "racist white pigs" rightfully being hidden.

A post on Victoria Indymedia advises:

Celebrating the new year and the 13th year of the Zapatista uprising; IMC Victoria is up and running again! That means YOU the radical, the independent, the free thinking have again at your disposal a means to disseminate information and spread your world changing ideas

Call for submissions:

If you know of any radical events taking place in our city or province, or you simply have something interesting and relevant to say, you can publish it here. Just use the Publish your news link on the top right hand column. It [sic] E-Z and F-U-N

Then comes the million dollar question:

So what is IMC and is it relevant?

is it relevant? Millions of bloggers suggest otherwise. Pause to catch your breath.

IMC is a global network of independent journalists and alternative media activists that have no access to the traditional media because our views do not meat [sic] with their editorial bias.

or spelling standards.

The Independent media center was started during the 1999 battle of Seattle. Its focus was to give the public access to evidence of police brutality, that CNN and other major news wires were denying was happening. As soon as footage went on line of police attacking non-violent protesters, the major broadcasters had to change their line. The project was so successful that 167 IMC collectives exist now around the world.

So, seven years later, how's it all going? No really!

Want to know what’s happening in Chiapas right now? goto the Chiapas IMC you’ll get up to the minuet [sic] news from the streets from any where in the world. That’s access to information you simply can’t get anywhere else.

Or spelling! Of course, when visiting Chiapas IMC for the latest, it will help if you speak Spanish. Although there are the occasional English gems, such as "Death to George W. Bush".

Remember the last time you tried to approach the conventional news in all their corporate sponsored, military supportin’, new world agenda promotin squareness. We are the alternative, we are your alternative.

Peace, Love and Free Speech

IMC Staff

Oh good grief.

Too bad the author's English was too weak to realize what they meant to say, was that Victoria Indymedia is re-forming, not reforming.

Thus far, there's no content however a note (undated) at the top of the page says:

Victoria IMC is currently under attack by a holocaust-denial spammer. These posts are deleted as soon as they are spotted by Victoria Indymedia volunteers.

Maybe they are reforming after all? It does beg the question why Indymedia attracts this type of person in the first place.

Something for the F-U-N new Victoria guyz and galz to ponder very seriously...

Via Melbourne Indymedia, advice for the new year to give Indymedia readers the edge they need.

A post on UK Indymedia declares 2007 should be cancelled.

Leading green economists have agreed there is only one way we can save the planet. The entire year of 2007 needs to be cancelled! Percival LaCosh, a leading economist from Oxford University said, "If you really want to save the planet then you should retire from almost all economic activity!"
This sounds ridiculous and extreme, but we live in an extreme situation. Don't wait for someone else to act first. Don't turn up for work. Don't drive your care. Don't even sign on.
Switch off all your lights now. Power down and look for food.
No cars.
Nowt.
Try for one week......it will make a difference.

Googling or searching Oxford University for Percival LaCosh yields nothing.

Will the article be cancelled?
Will UK Indymedia be cancelled instead?

An article on Melbourne Indymedia further explores the article suggesting the Australian Government and CIA were behind the Bali terrorist attacks (previously reported here).

The headline: "Troll trys [sic] to destroy MIM credibility".

The comments then descend into bizarre antisemitic conspiracy theories, namecalling, large cut and paste diatribes and generally incomprehensible blabber.

If Indymedia has no credibility, it is because of "the troll" right?
Just like antisemitism on Indymedia is the fault of Jews and anti-Government libel is the work of secret agents. It's always someone else's fault.

What a wonderful example of accepting responsibility for incompetence.

I have no doubt Indymedia would be far more credible, if it had no authors and no readers. In other words, no content. As it stands, as a wide-open unmoderated cesspit, the site has zero credibility and can't blame anybody else.

If you leave a loaded gun on the front porch don't be surprised if someone gets hurt.

I have previously expressed my disappointment that Google regards Indymedia as a sufficiently worthwhile source for Google news.

Searching Google News for "Indymedia" yielded the following headlines:

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Can you say spam?

Pay attention Google: What you see above, is not news, but the result of an open, largely uncontrolled cesspit pretending to be a 'newswire'. You will not see such spam at any quality news resource.

Amusingly, at the top of the Google news page, is an option to "sort by relevance". Surely selecting this option should make the links to Indymedia disappear...

In other Google News News, one of the many articles indexed and listed by Google News, is: Trashing Christmas which asks:

Why Do the Jews Hate Christmas?

For many Jews, their grudge against Christmas begins in September, or thereabout, when their employers do not allow them Yom Kippur as a holiday from work, even though it is the most important holy day of the Jewish calendar. These Jews must take a vacation day for their observances.
...
How the Jews Trash Christmas

In addition to the doleful seasonal chorus of Jews whining about how they are being victimized by Christian holiday cheer, there are other purposeful techniques used to trash Christmas. Here are several of them.

It then goes onto link to a dubious site, also referred to by the neo-Nazi Vanguard News Network, claiming Jews were trying to ban Christmas.

Rank antisemitism is of course nothing new for Indymedia, but it's a crying shame that it's Good Enough for Google. I've said it before: Google discredits itself.

A comment appeared on the previous post, Australia's Conspiracy Nuts pointing to another article on Melbourne Indymedia and claiming that the article, which blamed the Australian government for a terrorist attack in Indonesia (that killed Australians) was in fact "parody". It claims:

Deliberate lies by some Indymedia contributors are wrecking the site by destroying its credibility.

Got that? The reason Indymedia has no credibility, is because of "deliberate lies". It goes on:

If articles like this are left on the newswire, Indymedia will come to be regarded be regarded as a kook site.

No!

One of the Melbourne Indymedia moderators, when confronted with claims it was parody, remarked:

For parody or satire, it should become obvious by the time you finish reading the piece exactly what piece of writing you were sending up. You could at least attach the URL of what you parodied at the end. I'm sorry, the parody in this article wasn't particularly effective for me, and I read alot of corporate and indy media.

Quite. I originally came across the article via UK Indymedia, where it would also be taken completely at face value - additionally raising the question of the article's local relevance to the UK site, an issue I frequently raise, which is as yet unanswered.

The Melbourne post is followed up with other comments "proving" the bombing was in fact a government plot, and there is no possibility these follow up comments are also obscure attempts at parody. These people do believe it, just as they believe the World Trade Centre was attacked by people on George W. Bush's payroll.

Why is it however, that whenever articles appear on Indymedia that shatter whatever little credibility it had to begin with, its defenders insist the articles were actually placed there as part of a deliberate effort to discredit Indymedia?

For example: Odious antisemitism on the newswire? Could only possibly be the work of Jews. Anti-Government lies? Clearly the work of government agents.

Is it at all possible, for the heads of Indymedia, to consider, just for a second, that allowing morons unrestricted access to a publishing media, means morons will contribute moronic material? Do they not appreciate, that one cannot possibly be taken seriously as a media outlet, if one exercises no control, fact-checking, editorial or other responsibility over their content?

A comment on the UK Indymedia piece asks:

Im just wondering if anyone on this site has ever actually believed that any act of terror wasn't a conspiracy with either jews, the US, or any other western nation behind it?

eventually, you'll have to face reality. Christ, they have people on tape taking credit for terrorist attacks and you still try to turn it into a conspiracy. Is it just fun for you, or do you actually believe the crap that flies onto this site?

Why yes. That's why the article in question remains on the UK Indymedia site.

On October 12, 2002, a bomb in Bali's Sari Nightclub and Paddy's Bar was the deadliest act of terrorism in the history of Indonesia. It killed 202 people, 164 of whom were foreign nationals (including 88 Australians), and 38 Indonesian citizens. A further 209 people were seriously injured.

Jemaah Islamiyah, an Islamist terror group was found responsible and various members of the group convicted, including three men who were sentenced to death.

Or at least that's what you'd believe if you relied upon the Mainstream Media.

UK Indymedia however has the real story:

[There is] no doubt whatsoever of the CIA's involvement and the complicity of the Australian goverment and that view is shared by us and by our counterparts in Indonesia.

Australian Federal Police (AFP) Commissioner Mick Keelty says he is still convinced Muslim cleric Abu Bakar Bashir is the mastermind behind the Bali bombings, despite his convictions being quashed.

However, many in the Australian and Indonesian Community blame the CIA, and the War Criminal John Howard the coward in their complicity in the horrific bombings of the Sari Club and Paddy's Bar in Bali, on October 12, 2002

Who?

Is there actually any single act of Islamist terror that fools on Indymedia won't try and pin on Western Governments?

No doubt Mossad is relieved they aren't also being blamed for this by the same fools who believe George W. Bush personally ordered the attack on the World Trade Centre, as the article continues:

So you have to have a story behind it to make up for the distance between false flag opps in Indonesia all the way across to Iraq and Afghanistan that's a huge leap to cover without a terror tale to hook into? What about the Icon of the Terror movement G W Bush? At least we know he's guilty! Osama bin Laden hasn't been found guilty of anything, yo!]

You are an idiot yo! How much of an idiot?

Every family member of a 'victim' must feel this way. So when you think of the innocent victims in Bali then also think of the innocent victims in Iraq and Afghanistan the very reason for Bali.

The attack in Bali, like the attack on the World Trade Centre, took place before the invasion of Iraq in 2003. Damn those psychic terror groups and their pre-emptive revenge!

Morons...

Update: Speaking of which, Sam Wilson points out in comments that UK Indymedia didn't have the scoop, as the article was a copy of one which appeared on Melbourne Indymedia previously.

I have frequently argued that much of Indymedia's content is simply cut and paste. Usually from other sources but frequently from one IMC site to an other. See Seagull Spammers. Considering that an article from Melbourne Indymedia, of relevance to a terrorist attack in Indonesia, appears on UK Indymedia, can anybody remind me the point of so-called "local" Indymedia sites?

Via Portland Indymedia:

On Saturday, December 16, 2006, on a bitter cold day in San Francisco's Fisherman's Wharf district, about forty hardy patriots came out with the intent to expose the lies and omissions of the 9/11 Commission Report by passing out information to tourists and locals, by reciting most of the omissions and deceptions in the official document, and then dumping the offensive whitewash in the San Francisco B [sic]

Their costumes were nice.

Marking the 223 anniversary of the Boston Tea Party where 18th century colonists decided to reject onerous and unjust taxation by dumping tea in the Boston harbor, these modern day patriots, some with fifes and drums, marched from Pier 39 past curious, and some stunned, onlookers to the end of the Municipal Pier at Aquatic Park. They then proceeded to dump the 9/11 Commission Report to its watery grave to boisterous "hoorays" from the crowd gathered.

I wonder if the curious/stunned crowd knew what was being tossed? I was also going to make a clever comment about the environmental effects of throwing stuff into the bay, however someone beat me to it:

I loved your action of live street theater and educating others up to the point of dumping it into the San Francisco Bay. Back in colonial days, tea was not grown with pesticides, etc and was an organic action in a sense. The dumping into the bay, no matter how well intended, is an insult to the life of the waters. I hope you do this action again, but this time recycle the prop for more actions or to install as a "sculpture" on someone's private property in view of all passerbys.

Remain calm! Comes the response:

As you can see- we through [sic] the small replica into the Bay- to make a statement- it didn't sink and was actually, for the most part- disposed of in the garbage. The image was saved, washed, is drying and will be reused as a prop. The large replica we have also saved and will improve for use at future rallies. We also had the action filmed by the local television station who basically finished the piece by saying how enviornmentally [sic] responsible we were to toss in the more easily retrievable replica.

Environmentally responsible, perhaps. Sane?

Indy Media Watch has reached 1000 posts.

Actually, that happened 3 posts ago but we didn't notice.

To celebrate, we are re-opening comments. They are now 'moderated' site-wide. That is, they need to be manually approved before appearing on the site, so we do not get spammed again.

Do note, this may result in a delay before your comment appears. We do have lives outside this blog. Yes, really, and no, we don't like this any more than you do.

What's our comments policy? Simple: Commonsense. If yours meets that criteria, it's in. If it doesn't, I hope your fingers didn't get sore typing it. Criticism and dissent is fine, abject stupidity is not.

This subtle difference is of course lost on our newest friend from UK Indymedia, so perhaps he can have someone else explain it.

Apologies for the site's brief downtime. It looks like everything's back in action.

Further to the previous post - When Idiots Attack comes more of the same via the corresponding thread on UK Indymedia.

In my post, I noted that the author of the scurrilous piece wrote:

The comment which obviously struck to close to home can be found in google cache

and responded:

No, it can't be found in any Google Cache at the time of posting, and the author of the UK Indymedia piece is a liar and obviously the spammer, with access to a local copy that was used in the attack.

In maximum smug mode, the following now appears on UK Indymedia:

Over on Indy Media Botch, the Wotcha has done some brilliant detective work.

In his "When Idiots attack" masterpiece he notes:

"No, it can't be found in any Google Cache at the time of posting, and the author of the UK Indymedia piece is a liar and obviously the spammer, with access to a local copy that was used in the attack."

http://masl.to/?S5F02186E

That link is however not to a Google Cache at all, which as I noted, did not exist, but to Altavista.

A general principle when one is in a hole, is to stop digging. Instead, our friend here is currently taking donations of shovels.

Speaking of which, I was trying to recall the comedic genius who first came up with "Indy Media Botch" and found what I was looking for on this old thread, where a supporter of the vile International Solidarity Movement humiliated himself over a semantic issue and smugly wrote:

it seems that "Indy Media Botch" is none too rigorous in his sleuthing work.

You don't need to be a "brilliant detective" or a sleuth to see a pattern between these comments. What an idiot.

Ironically, that earlier provided a great example of my attitudes towards deleting stupid and dishonest comments I happen to disagree with.

It is becoming increasingly clear who's responsible for both rampant stupidity on UK Indymedia and, if that wasn't enough, here as well, during the week.

Another comment appears on UK Indymedia:

It would appear to be fair comment to compare the behavior of the Indymedia Watch owner to that of Indymedia collectives rather than other private bloggers and call him hypocritical since the stated purpose of the blog is to hold to account Indymedia for either hiding things or not hiding things.

It is? I had no idea. Let me check the statement at the top of the page... Perhaps he is getting this site confused with "Indymedia Hides Things or Doesn't Hide Things - The Blog".

Finally, there are a number of other comments on the UK Indymedia post in support of this site (thank you by the way) which have been hidden. When asked why, this response was added:

All hidden comments on this thread to date are the work of one poster - now he wants to know why they're hidden.

I would like to know how the Indymedia moderator knows this? Perhaps he is convinced there couldn't possibly me more than one person who reads this site. Maybe UK Indymedia is tracking IP addresses? (Dum dum daaaaaaaaaaa.....) He goes on:

Tis a pity that Indy Media Botch is down - cos this discussion really should be taken there, especially as most of the comments are from its own right wing commenteers.

Well it's back up now and you will be held to account.

The Wotcha will leave all comments up - unless he doesn't like them.

A total lie and he knows it. I could count on one hand the number of comments I have deleted, even though many (particularly of late) were senseless drivel. However, I have certainly deleted comments where they were pasted verbatim dozens of times. Our loyal moron resents this, however, it is not unreasonable. Unless you are an idiot, who I suspect is also one of the leaders of UK Indymedia.

In separate threads, others on UK Indymedia are also starting to ask the hard questions:

Indymedia is far from dead but it does need to change. We have all seen the damage done to the UK site this year from the concentration of Editorial control being held in the hands of a small elite.

Unless Indymedia wants to continue to hemorage readers contributors and funding it needs to return to its first principles and provide a media outlet for those who are disenfranchised by the mainstream corporate media.

IM reader and contributor

And just as one might expect, that comment was hidden. Pathetic.

It's amazing what doesn't get hidden on UK Indymedia, versus what does.

Further to the previous spam attack on this site, which resulted in the current suspension of comments, comes this piece on UK Indymedia - Indymedia Watch Censors Comments.

The self proclaimed watchdog of indymedia sites has disabled comment [sic] on his blog in response to comments criticising his hypocritical campaign against the indymedia - criticism which he described as a 'spam attack'.

I'm not sure how else to describe the same comment, posted over a dozen times to various pages on the site.The fool continues:

The comment which obviously struck to close to home can be found in google cache and reads;

No, it can't be found in any Google Cache at the time of posting, and the author of the UK Indymedia piece is a liar and obviously the spammer, with access to a local copy that was used in the attack. However, for the record, here is the comment:

"Indy Media Watch is run by a unaccountable elite of one who allows complete lies and fabrication to be posted on the blog or deletes posts without adequate explanation. There seem to be no clear rules and they are applied inconsitantly.[sic] People are regularly allowed to post comments while pretending to be many different people yet the owner of the site makes no effort to expose the such dishonesty even though it is within their [sic] capabilities. However, the owner is quite happy to trawl through logs to expose the IP address of posters who point this out.

Your point? Attack each other in comments all you want, I really couldn't care less. Attack this blog with spam however and we have a problem.

The Indy Media Watch blog is a travesty of inconsistancy [sic] and hypocracy [sic]

At least it's not a travesty of English.

a den of misfits banned from indymedia sites around the world and huddling together like a little self help group for the terminally stupid.

Again and again the blog cherry picks something from the hundreds of posts to indymedia open newsires around the world and tries make [sic] them representative of the collectives who admin the sites. The double standards expressed by The Watcher and the rest of the deluded fools posting on this blog as if they are exposing some great travesty, is something to behold.

Yes, welcome to Indy Watch [sic] Blog - where disruptive trolls banned from Indymedia come to play."

As if to prove the point, the owner of the Indymedia Watch blog acted out the very act of censorship that he and his cohorts regularly accuse indymedia sites of. The irony is too much to bare [sic] and has obviously not been missed by at least one comedian who set up the Indymedia Watch Watch blog - apparently a spoof of the watcher.

While there is no doubt much that could be improved within indymedia, it is farcical that this 'watcher' likes to pretend to be beyond the contradictions inherent in open publishing, only to end up censoring his own site at the first hint of criticism.

What an ass.

As I said before disabling comments, I have no problem with criticism (although it would appear that someone on UK Indymedia does).

I hav no problem with criticism, however posting the same comment dozens of times, is (as the English might say) taking the piss. Going too far. Unacceptable. Spam.

Had he posted it once it would have stayed. But that wasn't good enough. Of course now that I have reprinted it in full, is our loyal moron going to continue to believe I am somehow terrified of his comment and trying to censor him?

Hardly. I simply have no time for complete acts of stupidity, of which his was a gem of an example. Sadly, in the UK Indymedia post, our 'friend' didn't even have the common courtesy to link to this site.

I don't need to respond to why the rest of his comment is wrong, as someone on UK Indymedia has done it for me (highlighting my own):

Thanks for the publicity

Thank you to this contributor for the publicity about the Indymedia Watch website.

Indymedia Watch was created because the author was concerned that the original concept of Indymedia had been hijacked by individuals who were pushing an agenda of their own which was at odds with the original wish to see non journalists empowered with the ability to publish news. Indymedia Watch is part of the tradition of progressive journalism in that it allows individuals with alternative viewpoints to voice those opinions in a way that is free of the control of groups like those currently controlling various Indymedia sites.

Indymedia Watch has already been succesful in bringing to wider notice concerns shared by many about the direction Indymedia has taken and its increasing isolation from the broader activist and progressive community. Those of us who have worked hard to try and return Indymedia to its roots and save it from the desires of a few to be their own mouthpiece are already seeing the results of that activity with the incredible amount of support Indymedia Watch has received from individuals who share that wish.

Indymedia UK is an excellent example of this problem which is probably why certain persons associated with the UK Indymedia operation have worked so hard to try and close the Indymedia Watch site with a campaign of Trolling and Spamming. Perhaps we shouldn't be surprised as the number one reason for no longer contributing to Indymedia UK is the censorship policy and the heavy handed way it is enforced, an attempt to shut down a site that illustrates clearly the various failings of Indymedia UK is a logical next step for those who fear debate.

The controller of the site has indeed temporarily stopped comments on the site as a result of this spam attack but I understand will be reactivating comments in the near future.

Those persons who share the concerns of us may wish to take the time to read the archives of the site, it contains excellent writing on issues of interest to anyone who cares about Indymedia and its future.

That entire post has been hidden by UK Indymedia.

Can you guess why? The subsequent comment might give some idea:

THIS POST AND ALL THE COMMENTS SHOULD BE REMOVED. THE LAST THING WE NEED IS ANY MORE PEOPLE READING THE INDYMEDIA WATCH SITE

IMC REGULAR

As for this "Indymedia Watch Watch" blog - Until now, I've never heard of it. Nor has it sent a single hit here, according to the referrer logs. Must be awfully popular...

Finally, I could predict a hundred miles away, that responding to the spam attack by turning off comments would result in claims I had 'fallen for' the 'clever trap' set for me, I was a hypocrite. etc. etc.

To claim there are double-standards, or that:

As if to prove the point, the owner of the Indymedia Watch blog acted out the very act of censorship that he and his cohorts regularly accuse indymedia sites of.

is rubbish.

Here's the thing: I am not "censoring comments" at all as I am under no obligation to provide space for you to leave them. This is a blog. It is not an "independent news source". It is not an experiment in "open publishing" (although Blogger may be). It is not a "discussion forum". It is not a "bulletin board". If you want to respond, go and start your own blog (hey, good luck with getting people to read it) and I won't stop you.

Indeed, I am setting an example for Indymedia. As soon as I saw things here were out of control, I stepped in, and as much as it upset me, did the responsible thing to stop the problem.

The. Responsible. Thing.

Much of Indymedia on the other hand, refuses to even consider that there is a problem, much less do anything about it.

Way to prove a point. Fool. How sad that that energy couldn't be channelled toward fixing Indymedia. After all, as you said:

there is no doubt much that could be improved within indymedia

The same derogatory comment was posted dozens of times across multiple posts on this site.

I have now removed them.

All of them. I would have not deleted it if one copy had appeared, as I have no trouble with fair criticism (even though most of it was an outright lie). Thanks to the spamming effort however, they are all gone now. To the spammer who spent all the time initially typing it: Ever heard the expression 'your own worst enemy'?

I have also deleted a comment posted under my handle, using the 'other' feature and have no time for such weak attempts at fraud. Note for future reference: I can spell.

I will not allow this site to become a total cesspit. Comments are disabled right now while I consider options. Perhaps the perpetrator will lose interest and go play in traffic instead.

To the genuine posters, I apologize.

Update: Via email:

I am sorry to see that you have turned off comments, it was probably for the best as you were getting swamped with trolls. Of course, they will now claim victory and final proof of your fascism.

Probably.

I have previously reported that on many Indymedia sites, the only material of any quality whatsoever, has simply been copied (usually with no permisssion) from other news sites. In many cases it is of no local significance either, so the Global Indymedia Network effectively becomes a giant echo chamber.

In other words - Indymedia adds no significant value.

It gets worse however, when an article is copied but subtle alterations are introduced to support the reposter's political views. Sometimes, it's just too easy to spot.

One such example currently sits on NYC Indymedia.

The NYPD shot and killed a young man a couple of days ago. Someone at IMC changed a few words from the NYT article and posted a distorted version on the site. One of the key paragraphs are as follows:

From the original Times story:

"Mr. Person was with three friends Wednesday night when the group caught the attention of four uniformed police officers, who were in a marked car and on the lookout for graffiti vandals, Mr. Kelly said. When the officers approached, the men scattered, running, and the officers followed Mr. Person into the building’s vestibule, where the skirmish then broke out, Mr. Kelly said. "

From the IMC post:

"Mr. Person was with three friends Wednesday night when the group caught the attention of four uniformed police officers, who were in a marked car roving around unsupervised, Mr. Kelly said. When the officers approached, the men left the scene out of concern for their safety, running, and the officers chased Mr. Person into the building’s vestibule."

Making up quotes, inventing facts and plagiarising sources. Nice, but you're busted.

Thanks to L for the heads-up.

Via comments on this earlier post:

UK is inconsistent in its hiding policy and there is an excellent example on the site right now.

http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2006/12/358319.html?c=all [ I have appended the ?c=all suffix so you can see any comments which are ultimately hidden (but not those that have been deleted) -ed ]

This post concerns a protest about some Cuban intelligence officers who were arrested in the US for spying. The report is full of innacuracies and anti American bias but that doesn't stop it being left on the site. Compare this with the posts that featured reports and photos about protests AGAINST the Cuban government, these were all quickly removed or hidden. A detailed report earlier this year concerning political prisoners in Cuba (held for nothing more than seeking democracy in their own country) was removed on the three occasions it was posted.

I think we can take it as read that the majority of Indymedia moderators hold a view that is Left of centre (I certainly do) but to show this level of support for a regime that has denied democratic elections to its people for over 50 years and has imprisioned people for no more than their views and calls for reform is a disgrace.
These are the people Indymedia should be supporting and reporting on.

ex IMC'er

UK Indymedia a disgrace? No!

Over at UK Indymedia, there was a pointless, vindictive and stupid argument brewing in the comments section of the post "All men are responsible for stopping male violence against women". Scroll down to the hidden comments, and just follow those. Here's a quick taste of what you can expect to soil your eyes:

I know a man who posts here regularly under a variety of aliases and shares your family history, attitudes and writing style. He violently attacked a teenage girl less than half his age and size recently, a complete stranger, simply because she was teasing him. He couldn't control his temper as most macho obsessive sexually hung-up drunks can't. And then he tried to justify that as acceptable behaviour due to his childhood. "I'm a victim" seems to be the rallying cry of bullies. So I'm sorry your dad was a bastard but that doesn't excuse you becoming just like him.

Of course, when nasty personal debates drag the comments off-topic, you expect them to be hidden, especially when the moderators of Indymedia in the UK are so trigger-happy in this regard. But one shouldn't expect them to hide comments like:

There are many lies presented in the original article.

Myself and others have attempted to deal with this deceit and have been ignored while you quite happily publish what is clearly a dispute between two individual contributors which has nothing to do with the issues at hand.

Very disppointing. Very disrespectful. Very dishonest.

...and:

Thank goodness gwallan had the patience to deal with the stupidity of some of these comments. I certainly didn't. Hopefully someone will learn something. Most likely you will all just whine about how you're right, though.

And I agree about shame on the moderators, but I am hoping you're just very busy at the moment. But if you're going to post things like this Utopia Bold article would you please slap a big 'opinion only' warning on it because it has very little basis in fact.

It would appear that asking the moderators to stop a two-day long slanging match of abuse, while pointing out that the comments against the original post have formed a far more convincing argument than that original post, is enough to get your comment hidden. Agreeing with a comment like that also appears to go over the Indymedia UK editorial guidelines. Although, somewhat strangely, the last two quoted comments are not repeated, they're on topic, they don't discriminate, they're accurate, they don't advertise, they're attempting to stop disruption, and they're not reposts. So it's hard to see where the comments in question have crossed the line.

Previous applications of the guidelines by UK Indymedia often range from questionable to being blatantly biased. The Indy Media Watcher (one person, with no Zionist funding either) in this calendar year alone found examples of that here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here. Indymedia UK is a laughing stock, and virtually the polar opposite of free speech.

A Melbourne Indymedia poster advocates violence over democracy in the comments of one of the many pro-David Hicks threads, "Thousands rally for David Hicks":

shoot the cunt (and his front bench) instead, its cleaner and far more effective than Rudd as PM .. just another puppet singing a familliar tune (with slightly different lyrics)

Of course, the same writer would be thoroughly outraged by suggestions that left-wing politicians should be shot, and would say that this would be anti-democratic. We should be thankful nobody has vocally agreed with the above comment yet, although in true style nobody on Indymedia will come out and denounce it.

But never let it be said that they don't support democracy and human rights.

Further to an earlier post, a Tribute to Progressives comes a real tribute to progressives, in the form of the person who goes by the name 'Sam Wilson'.

Regular readers will be familiar with his comments, which whilst irrational, confused and frequently deluded, were generally civil.

Until now. This person has evidently decided he couldn't make his point rationally (an acute observation) and has decided instead to wallpaper this site with offensive comments.

Logs are a bitch however, and 82-40-78-20.cable.ubr10.uddi.blueyonder.co.uk (82.40.78.20) has exposed Sam Wilson as the spammer. A formal complaint has been registered with his ISP.

The bulk of the comments are along the lines of "come on, ban me".

Now, I am smarter than Sam Wilson (not a mean feat by any means) and get the impression whether by covering this site in crap or being banned, he is actually trying to prove a point.

Unfortunately, he has already proved one quite nicely. Yes, "Sam", you are pathetic. We get it.

If this persists, I will have to take the responsible step of closing comments. This is of course unfair on the intelligent among us, however I will have no choice but to act responsibly. There's a point to be made there as well, Sam. See if you can work out what it is.

Pathetic.

The Canadian Human Rights Commission has initiated proceedings against Vancouver Indymedia.






Vancouver Indymedia, largely interchangeable with BC Indymedia, has, on and off been one of the worst IMC sites of them all for a very long time. It would seem they are finally being taken to task on the matter.

So, will Indymedia's supporters lend their support to the fight for anti-discrimination and human rights - the charge of the Commission? Or will they complain about censorship and insist Indymedia is fine and this is part of some grand conspiracy to silence them.

One word: Accountability.

The much hated 'Mainstream Media' has it. The MSM are obliged to check facts, because upon failing to do so, they are held accountable for their errors. Despite claiming superiority, by remaining wide open and out of control Indymedia has failed to check facts or meet minimum standards of decency. Its supporters and organizers invariably deny accountability saying "we can't be held responsible". Well sorry, as I have always said, Indymedia either wishes to be a credible news organization or it doesn't. Right now... It isn't.

This case should prove very interesting.

Update: OHMS asks in comments, the source of these documents. They were sent to me by the complainant, who adds:

I append for the purpose of eventual removal one of the excerpts that formed the corpus of my complaint. The premise of this complaint is a contention that both individually and collectively, editors, management and regular participants of the internet publication and bulletin boards known as Indymedia, promote hatred affecting persons identifiable as Jews and/or as citizens of Israel.

e.g. From: http://bc.indymedia.org/newswire/display_any/17140

The zionists, it seems, are infatuated with blood. Tainted blood, that is, which they make to spread among large groups of the population of the world. These children are just the latest victims to be discovered, they are the recipients of this latest poisoned gift of the zionists…

Collectively, I feel that the postings were intended to disarm any who might post opposing substantiation or views; implying most explicitly that persons identifiable as Jews or Israelis are to be regarded with extreme dislike, suspicion and contempt and deserve no right of rebuttal.

Odd that all the talk about community rights and “public safety” seem to fall by the wayside at Indymedia when it is the police and local authorities that fancy instituting such policies.

“Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design

This is one of the many classes that bothered me to the core. The more I look the worse it is.
Here is part of the course flier and some links about CPTED.

Peoples Park and how CPTED is altering it. "According to Nov. 13 Advisory Committee minutes, the concept, introduced by Berkeley Police Chief Doug Hambleton, is called Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design, CPTED. The goal is to remove obstructions so that police can see what’s going on in the park from their patrol cars."

Wow, what a terrible concept: police actually being able to see rapists and vandals before they take action! What a reactionary lot those local authorities are! I guess public safety takes a back seat to ideological purity.

Via the Songun Blog, a thank you to all comradely progressive brothers and sisters.

Further to my previous post on UK Indymedia comes a new development.

In my post, I referred to a comment on a UK Indymedia post, concerning the monitoring of UK Indymedia. I observed that the comment on UK Indymedia had (unsurprisingly) been hidden.

A few minutes ago, this (poorly written) comment appeared on the post:

Why does this blog post made up stories? I followed the link and there is no such comment hidden or otherwise. Also, many of this blogs other critisisms about the content of posts on indy sites refer to posts which imc collecitives obviously don't aprove of either as they have been hidden. Looks like somebody should be watching the watcher to keep him honest.

Sure enough, the comment on UK Indymedia has been deleted.

Not hidden, deleted.

I don't know if the timing (or the spelling) of the latest comment on IMW is related, however something really stinks. Any ideas?

Charlottesville Indymedia is gone and its URL is now pointing to gay porn.

You've been warned.

http://cvilleindymedia.org/

UK Indymedia is discussing the closure of Italy Indymedia as previously reported on this site. A comment appeared on the post, reprinted here in full.

Work for word, the italian statement on indymedia italy could be applied in the UK. Is it time to shut down and relaunch IMC UK?

Not a day goes by without serious complaints about the behviour of the elite core of admin password holders, complaints of censorship and sabotage. It's clear that there are elements within the elite core of indymedia that are abusing their power and totally beyond control. It's getting beyond a joke and we agree with previous posters (all hidden) that it's time to rethink indymedia put a stop to the abuse. However, people within indymedia uk have tried before and failed. There is a nobel history of brave individuals trying to stand up to and expose the infiltrators at the core of indymedia only to find themselves the victims of lies, slander and sabotage before being hounded out of their collectives.

I spoke to several people within imc uk regional collectives at the recent network meeting in london about these issues and we connected up after in the pub to hatch a plan for a coup to reclaim indymedia. The timing could not be better - infact it could be make or break time for indymedia. You probably won't have heard about the crisis over the server money that somebody sat on two years. We are not talking a small amount either but over five grand donated for new servers but ending up almost vanishing were it not for one angry contributor asking difficult questions. Another indymedia supporter has jumped ship, also pissed off with the state of democracy within the core collective. That ex-supporter is taking offline about 70% of indymedias global server capacity!

So now new servers must be bought and this opens new opportunities to wrestle back control from the rouge elements. However, it's going to be difficult. We aim to put together a dosier of evidence to prove beyond doubt just who the inflitrators are who are hell bent on discrediting indymedia through their heavy handed abuse of moderation, hidding, loosing, deleting and even editing posts. We will then present this evidence to not only the wider imc uk collectives but more importantly to the global indymedia DNS and new indymedia working groups who have the power to hand back the indymedia.org.uk domain name to a newly formed collective.

To do this we need your help. Due to indymedia's policy of not keeping logs, it is very difficult to establish which admin person is comminting the offences. We need you to report abuse in as much detail as possible so that we can cross reference against the times each admin account was logged on. Please fill in our incident reports with the article or comment number, time of publish, time of moderation if know, the uneditted full text of the post in question and any further details about the offence.

GO HERE TO FILE YOUR REPORTS

Obviously this post will soon be hidden as it abuses posting guidelines but it can not be deleted or edited without exposing the person responsible.

re think imc uk
mail e-mail: rethinkimcuk@gmail.com
home Homepage: http://publishing4.ne1.net

As predicted, the comment was hidden.

Update: More than hidden, the comment has now been deleted without a trace.

Anyone who has read "Sam Wilson's" comments in previous posts here, will appreciate the depth of denial (and possible fume inhalation) at UK Indymedia. I have no idea who's responsible for the above, however it certainly is past time to rethink the IMC.

While thinking about it, try shoplifting!

Via Scotland Indymedia, comes notice that November 25th is Buy Nothing Day. The official Buy Nothing Day website is here. I wonder if they'll be buying web hosting that day?

Indymedia reports:

World Buy Nothing Day is on saturday the 25th of November, we will be celebrating it on the east end of Princes street in Edinburgh.
To challenge the rampant consumerism that overshadows the festive season we will be celebrating WORLD BUY NOTHING DAY in Edinburgh. On saturday the 25th of November at the east end of Prince's street we will be having a FOOD NOT BOMBS stall, along with festive musicians, and carnival. We will also have a Green Santa's grotto with face painting and a space for kids to make their own presents and cristmas [sic] cards.

This event hopes to promote a reduction in the amount of things we buy and more ethical consideration about the impacts upon our planet and its people of our consumption.

They're consuming people! They're consuming peeeeeooooopplle!!!

So, what will you be buying that day?

Update: Via Comments:

Hmm. I'll think about that after I finish my time machine, considering Buy Nothing Day was 5 days ago.

Must buy a calendar.

Via a link from Melbourne Indymedia comes word that Italy Indymedia has closed.

Italy Indymedia, one of the largest and most active Indymedia centres in the world has closed.

This follows a protracted discussion of financial, resource and policy problems, particularly the difficulty of managing the newswire. The open publishing newswire was repeatedly subject to attacks from fascists, inquiry from police and State forces as well as controversy in the mainstream media.

Italy Indymedia activists are discussing possible ideas to redevelop the project within a discussion of movement media.

I haven't got much to say about Italy Indymedia as I've generally avoided non-English IMC sites. Italian speakers can also advise whether my (Google translated) heading to this post is even close.

However, as always, I am not gloating and simply commend anyone who was responsible enough to concede a problem and resign with honour and dignity. In other words, Seppuku.

NYC Indymedia is reporting on a police shooting. This comment appears below:

Payback will come to thee, this is why karma hit at 911 killing some of them. It is unfortunate that fire fighters had to die. However when you do wrong wrong will most certainly come back. And I don't want to hear anyone else utter the fact that it is not racial because there were black cops involved. Wasn't it blacks in Africa who sold their own brothers and sisters to the white slave masters. So would you call that not racist..chicken shit black cops who try to fit in to those coward white cops world make it even more racial. Every church and all businesses in the black community need to go back to the days of Malcolm X and rise up and shoot down every young white boy for every black young promising black kid that they shoot down. this would get the politicians attention I bet. I believe that there is a movement up and coming so sit back and wait and see. And it won't be Al sharpton or Jessie running it.. This will stop..No one is afraid of those cowardly bastards..

Will..

NYC Indymedia is one of the better Indymedia sites.

Next time you plan to play a Bob Dylan tune at a local protest or farmers market, you had best think twice. The Indymedia vanguard professes him to be no more than an enemy of the people. Via Indymedia San Diego:

“Amid the old timey folk music sung by the musicians at the peace supper was ironically, “The Times They Are a Changing.” Is there an unstated recognition of similarity with Bob Dylan; his cult of personality, looking out for number one, his material wealth - now a part of the problem?”

On an earlier post about the G20 Protest Violence, someone left this comment:

It's kind of funny. For all your intimidating "I'm watching you indymedia" talk, and sprawling 5000-word essays, life is pretty much going on the same way it was before you started your blog. Your time would be better spent with another three units at the community college.

Going to all the trouble of writing that strikes me as similar to queuing up for three hours to get into a nightclub and once finally inside, telling, people it sucks.

Whatever man, whatever. A subsequent response to this comment however, was flattering:

I can't comment on other Indymedia sites because I don't read them but I can talk about the difference this blog has made to the UK site. I say this blog because it has been mentioned in posts, comments and moderator emails in direct relation to the following subjects

i) Concern raised about the number of anti Semitic posts and comments on the site.

ii) The decision by a number of those who used to be involved in the running of the site to leave and begin the process of setting up a new Indymedia site for Britain

iii) An increase in the support for those campaigning for Cuban political prisoners DIRECTLY because Indymedia UK worked so hard to hide all reports about the protests outside the London Cuban embassy.

iv) The removal of password access to a number of people who used to do work on the site and the tightening of control by the small clique who follow a Stalinist agenda of total control (I will admit this is far from a good thing but it was because of this blog)

v) Finally and perhaps not totaly down to this blog but it was certainly a contributing factor. The massive reduction in the number of hits the UK site now gets together with a enormous reduction in the number of real posts because people who are interested in the real issues do not want to wade through the lies, half truths and obviously manufactured nonsense that makes up much of the UK site.

Best wishes
Alan

It's nice to think one has made a difference. However, the ultimate responsibility lies with Indymedia's advocates, and (with particular reference to UK Indymedia) they have been grossly negligent in this regard. Amateurishness is one thing. Hopelessness is another.

This comment appeared on UK Indymedia subsequent to (another) post about Israel.

Rethink needed

O come on Indymedia moderators how much more of the Israeli crap like this do we have to put up with. Even a short check via a search engine shows the many glarring mistakes (lies ?) in the above post but it is allowed to stay here as little more than one more attack on Israel (Jews ?) article.

If the UK site is to be taken seriously again as a media outlet for those within the UK activist community it needs to have a very, very serious look at the editorial decisions it is making and the way it is being manipulated by those with an anti Jewish agenda.

Peace
steve

It was hidden.

On the other hand, Iranian Holocaust cartoon competition winner 'Latuff' has published some more blood-libel cartoons of Jews swimming in blood on UK Indymedia. Numerous comments there were hidden as well. Naturally for UK Indymedia, the artwork itself remains, despite looking like a submission to Die Stürmer (see here for comparison) or the worst of the Arab media.

UK Indymedia continues to impress and amaze.

Related Indy Media Watch Post here.

A contributor to UK Indymedia has started a petition.

Hi, Tony Blair recently installed an e-petition facility on his official website. I started one calling for his support for an international independent investigation into 9/11.

Only UK residents or citizens can sign. It would be great to get a few hundred signatures and put it firmly on the top of the list.

http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/9-11-Truth/

Why the British Government would be interested in investigating the terrorist attacks of 9/11 in New York is beyond me, but the logic of 9/11 "truth seekers" is as well. I would have thought London had its own terrorist attacks to worry about (or blame on Mossad, if you were a moron).

So I thought I'd pop over to the petition site and see how popular it has been to date.

The deadline was a few days ago, and the total number of signatures:

29.

This included a couple with foreign sounding names:

paranoid nutjob
Total Loon

As an exercise in participatory democracy however, the site (or at least the underlying idea) is excellent.

A note appears on the front page:

A particular issue we are considering is what to do about petitions which are identical or very similar to petitions already on the site. So far we have not rejected most very similar petitions, in order to allow users to express their views in their own words. However, the increasing number of petitions which are very similar congests the site and proably dilutes the voice of some petitioners.

Searching through them, there are a few obvious examples of multiple redundant petitions, all signed by the same people. I suspect some of them may have read UK Indymedia for inspiration.

**Scroll for updates**

Mere hours ago I was commenting how impressed I was at the maturity and sensibility of protesters at the Melbourne G20 meeting.

Anyway...

Like clockwork, it turned ugly. As always, for all its flaws, Indymedia is great for action photos of protest activities. It started off nice. Then a Police truck's windows spontaneously shattered in a mysterious fashion... The headline describes it as "Police Truck Deconstruction".

And then it was on.

Via email:

The contingent in white jumpsuits and covered faces (photos 3 and 4 in the link above) were very aggressive and I saw them steal a camera from a press photographer. He took after them, but I’m not sure if he recovered it or not. On the ABC tonight, the Government described them as probably being from Europe and having flown out just to provoke trouble.

I wonder if they support open media? Speaking of which,

A television journalist was reportedly set upon by 20 people and kicked and punched.

Err... Don't hate the media, be the media! Then get belted.

The Australian Broadcasting Corporation reports:

A protest against the G20 Summit in Melbourne has turned violent with some members of the crowd kicking police horses and throwing eggs at officers.

About 2,000 chanting protesters have marched through Melbourne towards the venue of the G20.

A police van has been destroyed and barricade lines broken as the protest turns ugly.

Protesters have thrown glass bottles, flares and steel rods at police, and upturned barricades were also hurled at police in riot gear.

Police officers on horses were forced to move away from protesters after some kicked the legs of the animals.

That will be the animal rights activists...

The Australian mainstream media seem to have most of the news, I assume reports will trickle through to Melbourne Indymedia over the next few days when the pepper-spray stops stinging. As always, we will be able to hear exactly how the police started it...

Update: It was the cops all along!

I saw Police State agent provocateurs dressed as activists and smashing the van and starting all sorts of trouble but everyone including the media and even some protestors bought it.

Who are these people? Cops or shadowy far right elements?

Idiot.

A comment on this post asks:

No reports of peacful protests though. What happend to all those promises???

. A subsequent comment is posted twice:

By that rationale, anyone not deemed 'violent' would be welcomed with open arms in to the conference. I didn't see too many church groups, civil society groups, peak bodies or Non-governmental international aid agencies being invited in for a cup of tea and a chat.

Someone responds:

Anybody realise that the last two posts were identical but from different authors

Stay tuned for more...

Update: Youtube Video of the Police truck here. Notice how the truck 'deconstructed itself'. What a clever truck. According to the comments on Youtube:

Before I switched on the video, they were smashing the windows using dismantled street signs.

. Street Signs are fascist manifestations of authoritarian fascist fascism... Could Youtube replace Indymedia? Numerous comments to Indymedia and this blog claim (with no evidence whatsoever) that Google has bought Indymedia. Google owns Youtube. Dum Dum Daaaaaaaaaaaa...........

There is also an extensive photo-essay of the protest here.

Via Melbourne Indymedia comes reports that Police attacked a "Festive Gathering". Check the article and feel the festivity.

A further post on Melbourne Indymedia is rather damning of the whole scene.

The protests yesterday revealed the impotence of Melbourne's organised activist scene in the face of the visit by some of the leading neo-liberal criminals on the planet. The contrast with S11 could not have been more stark. One the one hand we had yet another march (yo hum) and the other a group of testerone wankers indulging in "fight the power" fantasies - neither of which disrupted the running of summitt.

The Herald Sun reports:

A police spokeswoman later said a number of police officers were bitten during the incident and had to be taken to hospital for a check-up.

Can we call them animals yet?

Update: Amazing video of above incidents.

Update: Perhaps less amazing, this footage of police playing cricket before the protest starts.



The actual caption given to it by the Indymedia photographer:

3:00 PM 18TH NOVEMBER 2006 Police were out at the Treasury Building today practicing their baton technique ahead of further expected confrontations at the G20 Summit, Melbourne.

I think they were serious.

Update: The Front Page of Melbourne Indymedia carries this article which makes the usual claim that Police beat innocent, defenceless protesters.

Sunday afternoon a group of 50 demonstrators were beaten and trampled by police during a peaceful anti-G20 protest inside the foyer of the Melbourne museum.

Hang on, read that again: Inside the Melbourne Museum -where Indybay reports some protesters heard of a G20 dinner. Do you get the feeling we aren't being told the whole story? One very brief shot in the video gives us some insight into the 'other side' of the story, though predictably not enough. Fear the ominous voiceover. Can someone put it on Youtube for easier download?

One commenter is unimpressed:

Listen, you pitiful little pussycats. If you attack police, don't expect the rest of us to get upset if they hit you back.
I despair at the level of victimhood you 2006-style radicals display. Back in the 60s and 70s, we gave no quarter and expected none. We certainly didn't bleat and moan when the cops did what they're paid to do.
And learn to spell, for Christ's sake. Most of you appear to be semiliterate, at best.

Another article on Melbourne Indymedia also addresses a lack of balance

It's telling that in all of the reports from the G20 meeting posted here at MIM, not one piece actually focusses on what was discussed inside the G20 meeting. It's all about the protests in the streets.

The protests were ostensibly undertaken because of the perceived inability/preparedness of the G20 participants to achieve anything meaningful in terms of providing economic justice. Yet did any contributor bother to support this claim by reporting on what was said inside the meeting? Was there any evidence provided to support the contention that the meeting failed to achieve anything?

No. It was all focussed on the street battles with the cops. Vehicles being damaged. Walls being defaced. People being spat at.

How typical of the 'it's all about me' mentality which permeates collectives of imbeciles like this one.

You lot aren't really interested in the big issues surrounding world poverty. You just want to fight the police and have your picture taken damaging SOMEONE ELSE'S property (never your own), throwing things at other people and generally acting like the moronic tools which you are.

What a bunch of vacuous wankers.

Speaking of which, another article on Melbourne Indymedia claims protesters were set up!

All cars and items were taken out of the exclusion zone the night before the G20 started. One thing however remained mysteriously placed in a convenient place approximately 50 metres from the police front line. How this dumpster appeared in this place was at first questionable. Why you may ask was a dumpster full of iron bars, wooden pallets and broken bricks left in such close proximity to the front line?
The simple answer was explained to me by a certain official media representative who will remain nameless.
This was bait. Bait to provide ammunition for protesters to possibly use against police, and hence in the short-term making all protesters at the summit seem like wild renegades.

It's clear! The violence would never had happened had the Police not left weapons casually lying around right? Those protesters must feel soooooo stupid for falling for such an obvious prank. They never would have smashed up that police truck and assaulted police if they'd known who really wanted them to... Right.

Comments on that post then turn to Israel - Now there's a surprise - and (get this) Indymedia's "Pro-Israel bias". Good grief.

According to reports on Melbourne Indymedia, the protests in Melbourne, Australia at the G20 meeting are so far going very nicely if this article is a guide. It seems this is as bad as it gets and most of it is good humoured if a little disturbing.

This article in Melbourne's Daily Newspaper has more:

In a more light-hearted protest, 10 self-described radical cheerleaders wearing pink tights and miniskirts danced their way up Collins Street, where they formed a human pyramid.

The troupe of eight women and two men - whose chest hair protruded above their pink singlets - shouted chants including: "We don't believe in corporate sh-t, we'll make our stand and this is it."

"Pom poms, not bomb bombs," the sang. "We're sexy, we're cute, we're radical to boot" and "We cheer, we lead, we don't like corporate greed."

Members of the group declined to be interviewed, saying: "All we have is our chants."

"One two three four, get your booty off the floor, five six seven eight, c'mon kids lets smash the state."

Tough guys in tutus...

I am impressed.

Update: I am now unimpressed.

The forthcoming WTO meeting in Melbourne, Australia will likely result in messy demonstrations. Although the meeting has not yet convened, early protest activity has commenced. I'm actually impressed by this stunt:

On Tuesday 12th November a punnet of fresh gardeners from Melbourne and interstate created a new vegetable garden in the Floral Clock opposite the National Gallery of Victoria. The new community garden space has been planted with beans, tomatoes, lettuce, sun flowers and a variety of different herbs for community consumption, as well as a large floral display saying "STOP G20".

Let's hope the next few days show examples such as this, of creative and non-violent protest.

Advice on the Stop G20 website suggests otherwise.

Violence at actions almost always occurs because of the choices of the police
...
If you are carrying illegal drugs or anything that the cops might see as a weapon, get rid of it now! Carrying these can put you and people around you at greater risk of state violence

And most importantly:

Protect human rights!

Human rights observers will be on site to ensure and enhance the civil, political and human rights of community members at the protests by monitoring, recording and reporting on any abuses of these rights. Their role is to reinforce the range of domestic and international legal, ethical and political constraints on police behaviour that already exist.

Oh grow up.

We have received an email from Tony Allen who writes:

Glad to see your site. One of your "fans" hipped me to it after I posted on my blog about being "hidden" (read "censored") for posting information critical of Pam Africa, Mumia, and MOVE.

Fair enough if someone disagreed with me. Let them comment. But I was banned and my IP has also been banned. I tried some other IMC sites and found the same situation. Interestingly enough, the Philly IMC has been steadfast in allowing me to post. I think this says something considering they are closest in proximity to the whole Mumia/MOVE thing.

Anyways here is what I wrote about the matter on my blog. I will post again and will direct people to your site as I think you are doing a great service to those who value true Independant thought and media that sustains it.

Please feel free to post this on your site if you deem it appropriate.

We do. In particular:

Recently, I posted the article I wrote concerning Pam Africa’s birthday party that is to be held in New York on November 18th. I checked back and I noticed the piece was gone from the site. I called someone at the NY IMC who said that he would look into the matter. Today I received the following email from a staffer at the NYC IMC

Mr Allen,

This is a piece written by a right wing troll -- you.

It will continue to be hidden as long as you continue to post it.

Chris Anderson
chanders_imc@yahoo.com

Longtime readers will know I do appreciate the distinction between editorial 'moderation' versus censorship. I am not, nor have I been, an advocate of a free-for-all Indymedia, which we have seen will invariably become a cesspool in little time.

However, this is not the case here. To their credit, NYC Indymedia have been one of the 'better ones' for some time. On this occasion though it does look as though something has gone awry.

Reading through pages and pages of Israel related stories at a number of Indymedia sites can get tedious, and I am often thrilled to find a noteworthy story that does not relate to the Middle East. Thankfully, I found one this evening asking the 49ers to leave San Francisco for a slew of reasons, but mostly because they suck (sorry 49er fans!).

“Mayor Gavin Newsom wants to sue the 49ers and side kick Bevan Dufty wants dialog

Jerry Rice, Joe Montana, Dwight Clark, and a host of other good 49ers all gave us their best. I was lucky to see them in my life them and enjoy some Super Class Games. In recent months the 49ers are pathetic.

Let us not hold on to a team that is simply not recovering.”

Fair enough. I was almost certain that Israel would somehow be blamed for this!

Bay Area Indymedia follows up the election:

The Democractic Party has taken control of the House of Representatives and Nancy Pelosi is set to become the Speaker of The House. Control of the Senate is not yet known. Democracts control at least 47 seats, with Republicans controlling 49, and 1 seat going to Socialist Bernie Sanders and one to Joe Lieberman (who lost the Democratic Primary to antiwar candidate Ned Lamont). Two additional Senate seats are still up in the air but appear to be leaning toward wins by the Democrats. Among well known Republicans who lost their seats Tuesday were the notorious anti-gay politician Rick Santorum, and the notorious anti-environment politician Richard Pombo.

Being notorious is clearly a winning strategy.

Meanwhile, on DC Indymedia, from before the election comes this suggestion

CNN’s Internet reporters Jacki Schechner and Abbi Tatton will host the first “CNN E-lection Nite Blog Party” at Tryst, a Washington, D.C. hotspot for young politicos. The party will gather many of the top political bloggers from across the country to blog together...Might be time to crash this little corporate media yuppie e-fest with your favorite props and raise a few timely issues - say Iraq, Palestine, Oaxaca, DC statehood, global warming, health care, union busting, — you know, stuff you won't read about on Daily Kos.

Just a thought. Something to break up the tedium of another sham election night.

Subseqeuent comments:

Screw the District Building. Try a disruption at Tryst — not just a goddamn' sit-in, but a real shit-kicking disruption… something so raucous and crazy that CNN is unable to telecast.

Don't just sit in, don't just be "civilly" disobedient — but really bust up the scene.

That is, bust up CNN's scene, not Tryst. I kinda like the place, myself.

Later, the pro-marijuana and the anti-military activists get in a fight:

Why not do something useful rather than hitting the bong hit the recruiting station with a brick

It's unclear if anything happened, but I can just imagine Indymedia people storming a blogfest and quickly realizing just how relevant they are.

As for the "sham election", there were plenty such arguments in the last few days. I have a sneaking feeling we won't be hearing much more about that... Just a feeling.

Nat emails:

Well Nov 7th is almost upon us and that means that there will be plenty of stories in the Bay Area Indy Media circle talking about voter fraud and Republican possessed Diebold machines speaking in tongues. Karl Rove will be hiding under every wanna-be anarchist's bed and the word "fascist" will be flung around with wild abandon.

Tomorrow I will be keeping a close eye on Indy Media's Santa Cruz, San Francisco (A dead husk) and San Francisco Bay Area sites to see what they will produce.

I wait with baited breath. ;)

http://indybay.org/newsitems/2006/11/05/18326662.php http://sf.indymedia.org/news/2006/11/1732954.php
http://www.indybay.org/santacruz/

*** This post will be updated ***

Saddam Hussein has been sentenced to death by hanging.

UK Indymedia reaction here:

Who was US President when Hussein was helped to power by USA?

And who armed him for the war with Iran? Why are those people not also on trial?

Is it because there is a Quisling Government appointed as the result of crooked election run on the US model imposed by the Gauleiters from the invading force?

Sydney Indymedia here:

Hanging Saddam for 148 victims? George Bush as Texas governor was named 'Texecutionor' as the biggest Serial Killer with 155 victims.

Update: A new post on UK Indymedia claims it's not even Saddam Hussein, but an impostor!

This list will certainly grow. Add your links in comments.

Meanwhile, on Seattle Indymedia:

I hate Joos cause I have such a small penis

*** Scroll for Updates ***

Yet another antisemitic article with fabricated news (read: Lies) has appeared on UK Indymedia, been hidden and then unhidden by UK Indymedia moderators.

One can usually be suspicious of any article drawing comparison between Jews and Nazis. As such, the headline of the UK piece - Blitzkreig in Gaza stood out. A close examination revealed the suspicion to be correct. The poster has inserted fabricated text into a news report sourced from elsewhere. In a widely syndicated piece, one example appearing here were news reports of Israeli Defence Force activities around the Bet Hanoun Mosque.

Let's compare them.

The Indymedia article:

An Israeli army spokeswoman said that dozens of civilians had barricaded themselves in the mosque Thursday night to avoid being shot by Israeli forces who have been killing in the town since early Wednesday.

The original article:

Some 50 armed militants barricaded themselves in the Beit Hanoun mosque Thursday night to avoid arrest by Israeli forces who have been operating in the town since early Wednesday.

Armed militants become terrified civilians. Subtle isn't it?

The Indymedia article:

She said Israeli troops encircled the mosque and called for ‘hours and hours’ on the civilians to show themselves, threw smoke bombs inside and fired tear gas to pressure them to come out.

The troops also responded with ‘exact fire’ at other civilians who were going home,she said.

The original article:

Israeli troops encircled the mosque, called for 'hours and hours' on the militants to hand themselves over, threw smoke bombs inside and fired tear gas to pressure them to surrender, a military spokeswoman said.

The troops also responded with 'exact fire' at gunmen who shot at them from within the mosque, she told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa. Witnesses said an army bulldozers tore down one of the mosque's walls, causing part of the ceiling to collapse.

A report of Israel firing at active gunmen, trying specifically not to hit civilians ('exact fire') is distorted by Indymedia to suggest Israel was specifically trying to hit civilians.

Needless to say, this bit was left right out of the Indymedia piece:

The Israeli military said Beit Hanoun's most senior militants were among those who took refuge in the mosque, some of whom were involved in rocket fire against Israel from the area.

'The very heart of why we are in Beit Hanoun is in that mosque,' the spokeswoman told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa, charging the militant leaders had deliberately chosen a holy site to be immune from Israeli arrest.

'We are making every effort not to harm the mosque itself. However the object of the entire mission is to get the terrorists who are inside, to arrest them,' she said.

The military also accused Hamas of using women as 'human shields' by calling on them to take to the streets and help free the trapped gunmen, knowing Israeli troops would be reluctant to shoot at the escaping militants amid the crowd.

Cowards. It goes without saying that subsequent comments to the Indymedia post, indicating it is an antisemitic forgery were hidden.

So does UK Indymedia have a problem yet?

In the past, I have not posted comments on Indymedia referencing this site or promoted it on Indymedia in any way at all. Since this blog's inception, I have adopted a completely hands-off approach, waiting, perhaps naively for Indymedia to do some soul-searching, realize it has a problem and attempt to fix it. However, enough is enough and we are now way past that.

As this article, originally aimed at Jews, argues: Weakness fosters antisemitism. (Hat tip: GSF)

It is our understanding from comments in the previous post, that much of the discussion of antisemitism on Indymedia and on the admin mailing-list is censored or ignored, it's time to turn up the heat. The weakness must stop.

I suggest people append the following text as a signature to their comments and posts on UK Indymedia.

"Antisemitism is disgusting and totally unacceptable. As a Progressive Activist site, UK Indymedia must act responsibly. See: http://indymediawatch.blogspot.com/2006/11/more-antisemitism-on-uk-indymedia.html"

Keep comments civil and give moderators no genuine reason to hide them. If they subseqeuently do, hold them to account. A discussion of the problem of antisemitism can commence here, where it won't be censored by those directly guilty of it:

Let's be very clear about this:

Antisemitism is disgusting and totally unacceptable.

Update: The post has been hidden as has a copy which demonstrated the lies and contained excerpts of this post. Those comments were specifically hidden and not readily displayed to anyone trawling the Hidden Newswire.

So, they're hidden. For now... As a comment on this post notes:

Because of the publicity over the many anti Semitic popsts on Indymedia's UK site they have had to hide some of them but it is clever how the hide them, unhide them and hide them again. In addition they take a very long time to hide many offensive post of this kind but when posts on other subject as put up which don't follow the offical line these are hidden almost straight away.
I think what we are seeing is a policy shift, they know they can no longer get away with leaving up the anti Jewish stuff but they can leave it there for a while to allow it to be seen while hiding it after (on average 24 hours) so they can claim they are sticking to their own guidelines. Of course most posts are read in the first 24 hours so they still achieve their intent of allowing people to see them.
Clever, cruel but clever.

It is also instructive to note that comments on the Indymedia post were hidden almost immediately, so it is not the case that moderators were 'overworked' or hadn't 'gotten around to it' yet. Not hiding it thus far was a conscious decision. The problem continues.

A comment on a hidden post about Cuban political prisoners also makes an interesting point:

Would you hide this post if these people were in Israeli jails ?

So-called "progressive activists" picking their causes is not a new phenomena.

A thoughtful article by Dave Gehrig on Urbana-Champaign Indymedia in response to the ongoing disgraceful behaviour of UK Indymedia. It is good reading for anybody who considers themself an activist and includes this preface:

Now, I should start by saying, if you're the sort of person who automatically presumes that the only possible reason that anyone ever brings up antisemitism on the left is as a cynical gambit to deflect criticism of Israel, that the left is magically clean and pure as snow and has absolutely nothing to worry about, and that I must be a Mossad agent to even suggest otherwise, well, you might as well stop reading now, because you're part of the problem. Your knee has already jerked.

On the other hand, UC-IMC is also advertising this function, with the suspicious sounding headline: "The Truth About Israel" and a subsequent sub-title: "The Truth about Zionism" The presenter?

Sherry Wolf is on the editorial board of the International Socialist Review and is the author of many articles and pamphlets including: "Spies, Lies and War: Lesson from COINTELPRO".

Sigh...

Speaking of which, some on UK Indymedia, as predictably as sunrise, are now suggesting this site's criticism is part of some COINTELPRO trolling. They really don't get it do they?

Further to our recent report on UK Indymedia's disgraceful behaviour, comes this comment on the post:

Well my friend you have caused a right old storm at Indymedia UK. Your story and the comments to it caused a number of regular contributors to do some research on the hiding pages and to question who was really running the site. Those who do some occasional work for the newswire have realised how they have been compromised by the small group who have been trying to gain full control. Last night (UK time) a number of people had their passwords removed and this morning the reporting e-mail List was suspended with a number of emails removed from the public area so the extent of the outcry could not be seen.

The line seems to be to try and ignore the protests in the hope it will go away and there has been lots of reports (some simply copies of other reports) about a minor event at the London Mexican embassy to try and divert attention. The hidden pages have been cleansed as of this morning with perhaps 30 posts being removed altogether to prevent viewing. All posts are now being reviewed for content before coming up on the newswire and many are not being allowed.
Of course those who are objecting are being labled Trolls, Zionists and Neocons in the usual manner.

Keep it up Indymedia Blogspot, we are winning.


ex IMC er

As always, anybody who objects to disgusting antisemitism on Indymedia can only possibly be a Zionist Troll, Mossad spy, paid COINTELPRO agent etc. I've certainly been called all of the above. Nowhere in these sick people's minds, has the thought occurred some people actually disagree with them and have morally decent values.

UK Indymedia appears to be undergoing the start of a revolution. I don't dare take credit for it, but I say it's long overdue. Roll on reform.

Via Bay Area Indymedia comes reports and photos from the ANSWER March and Rally on October 28.


These people are sick.


Is this guy actually Jewish? Or did he pick up that poorly fitting yarmulke from his boss's son's Bar-Mitzvah.

What the hell is wrong with these people?

***Scroll for updates***

UK Indymedia carries the astonishing news, that

THE JEWISH LOBBY DOMINATES US FOREIGN POLICY

In capital letters no less!

The Christian lobby, Environmental lobby, Womens lobby, Black lobby, Muslim Lobby, Chinese Lobby and Gay lobby are of course furious they aren't getting the attention they deserve.

Via comments on another post:

this load of anti semitic filth was at first hidden (and rightly so) but one of the Indymedia UK editorial board thought it quite acceptable and un-hid it. The claim that Jews are dictating US foriegn policy of course being all the rage now on IM

It has been "all the rage" for quite some time. As a later comment on the UK Indymedia page notes:

Oh, those pesky, pesky Jews, running the world with their International Jewish Conspiracy again. When will they ever learn?

Good thing that we've got UK Indymedia to alert the world to the ever-growing Jew threat to civilization. Otherwise, people would be forced to turn to neo-Nazi sites and David Irving to get this kind of information.

Indeed. Nazi groups are also furious they aren't getting the attention the deserve. How could they possibly compete with Indymedia?

Update: While the above article remains visible on the newswire, this comment has been hidden:

Enough now please.

Most of us that look at the newswire are used to having to plough through the anti-semitism that is dressed up as a concern for the Palestinians but this load of crap really takes the biscuit. Why hasn't it been sent to the Hidden file where it belongs.

The newswire is losing both contributors and readers because of the non stop emphasis on Jews and Israel and this will not help. Let's get back to talking about issues relating to UK activism and remember that racism when it is directed against Jews can not be excused by calling them Zionists.

Rick in London

Good one UK Indymedia...

Update: A comment to this post:

Fame at last for the Indymedia Watch site !!!
This series of comments to the original post has been quoted in a number of round robin emails flying between the select central group of admins on the Indymedia UK site.

ex-IMC er

Fame at last! Gosh and it's only been two and a half years. Perhaps my new found readers at UK Indymedia will pay heed to what I've been saying all along... Then again, there's always The Jews.

There appears to be a decent discussion going on at Santa Cruz Indymedia (part of the Indybay network) concerning what content is allowed to be posted at their affiliate. Both Indymedia Watch and my personal blog are referenced in the discussion. In fact, the piece and the comments that precede it clearly sum up the ethical problems most Indymedia websites face.

Within the thread, there is some wonderful evidence showing Indybay’s systematic censorship of all ideas that fall outside of the accepted party line.

“There is a difference between moderation and censorship. Moderation means banning things like spam, physical threats (an illegal form of speech), and gutter language, especially gutter language directed at people because of their race, religion, or ethnicity.

Saying that the Palestinian government oppresses gay people and mistreats women is not hate speech or uncivil, and the moderators' decision to remove such postings is proof that Indybay was lying about its "progressive" stand on these issues. You are either for women's and gay rights (rights = the basic right to not be killed or brutalized for being who you are) or you are not, and that team of Indybay moderators showed where they stood. This was of course very damaging to Indybay's credibility.” - Bill Levinson

Well said. Levinson goes on to confront yet another hot button topic so often spread amoungst Indymedia affiliates.

“"Would you be offended by a posting sayings " Olmert says, 'Kill a Palestinian for Moses.'?"

If Olmert actually said something like that, I would repudiate him as a dictator every bit as bad as Ahmadinejad (or Hitler) but neither he nor any other responsible Israeli leader has said anything like it. There are some ultra-right-wing Israelis who believe this sort of garbage and I consider them every bit as reprehensible as Islamofascists, but they are a tiny minority and Israeli law does not condone their position. In contrast, Israeli law would punish them for killing innocent Palestinians.

The Palestinian Authority's laws sanction and condone the brutalization and murder of gay people, and often look the other way when a woman is killed by her family for "dishonoring" herself

through sexual intercourse, which included being raped.”

The entire thread is worth checking out.

A typical anti-Israel article on UK Indymedia claims the UK Press is ignoring Israel's use of cluster bombs in the recent war with Hezbollah. A subsequent comment:

Human Rights Watch reported that Hezbollah also fired Cluster munitions at Israeli civilian areas.

http://www.hrw.org/english/docs/2006/10/18/lebano14412.htm

Whilst accusing the UK Press of ignoring what Israel did - even though phosphorus bombs are not illegal - it's quite telling that you completely ignore the behaviour of Hezbollah terrorists

Hardly surprising, but then comes this comment:

Um, if you read the report carefully, you'll note that HRW's only source for that particular allegation is Israel. Not exactly credible.

Although this claim is demolished by a later comment, I'm sure Human Rights Watch must love the respect they get from fellow 'activists' on UK Indymedia.

Up the road on Ireland Indymedia, in a separate report:

On Monday RTE made a major news report about what it claimed was the presence of Islamic cells linked to Al-Qaeda in Ireland. The source of the report was the US Government.

The US Government is hardly a reliable source considering they have been shown to be liars time and time again in relation to reports made linking Iraq to weapons of mass destruction, Al Qaeda and the attacks on Pentagon World Trade centre. (sic)

Definition of Chutzpah: Indymedia dismissing the credibility of others.

The headline screams "REAL Inconvenient Truth", but this article on Arizona Indymedia contains barely any truth at all. To quote the whole thing would be appropriate on one-level, but due to the lack of paragraphs and sentence structure, only the highlights have been reproduced.

bush is a foolish twitchimp. ... At the end of ww2 the nazi scientists were split between russia and america, so that the cold war could ensue at the peoples expense, fanning the fires of fear both here and in the soviet union...naziism is catholicism btw...then, after russia WON the cold war by successfuly using telsa tech to dehydrate our country since the 60s (evidence blatant), the mental conditioning here had proceeded via religion and TV to get Americas minds away from learning and into, well, into garbage. The bush family, who financed hitler also btw, said now the time is ripe because we have used our half of the nazi scientists (Disguised as rocket scientists -- a joke because rockets have been passe since hitler!) who are really MK specialists to spread their intellectual disease and self fulfilling prophecy and just plain ignorance, via redstone arsenal HSV, to the entire bible belt through people/moles like robertson and falwell and the queens knight billy f graham, and all those other idjits who have one hand out and one leg up...NOW we will deploy this ice cap melting ENMOD plan of hitlers (ARKTOS) and call it Gods work, and just mentally bomb any and all who squawk. LINES IN THE SKY ARE TO KILL YOU!!! The NWO is the 4th reich is the reuniting of the nazi team which here has become the CIA. Catholix in Action.

A pause to allow the readers to catch their breath. Later on, a caption for an image reads

ABOVE--A RUIN ON THE MOON THAT WAS ONCE A DOMED CITY AND IS AS BIG AS LOS ANGELES. THE CAVE INS IN LINES ARE UNDERGROUND ROADWAY. ONE OF THE MAIN REASONS KENNEDY WAS KILLED WAS BECAUSE HE TRIED TO MAKE THE MACHINATIONS OF ENGLAND AND THE BUSH FAMILY (ENGLANDS AGENTS) PUBLIC.

No further comment really is necessary.

Via Technology Evangelist comes news that Markos Moulitsas at Daily Kos has asked to be removed from Google News. He was quoted as saying:

"A "news" operation needs to present news, and credible news at that. That means get rid of the blogs (mostly opinion), get rid of the no-name sites, the conspiracy sites, and the rest of that crap.

Would that include Indymedia?

John Aravosis from AmericaBlog asks:

Is it just me, or has Google News become useless? Their definition of "news sites" seems to include an ever increasing number of simply bizarre Web sites that aren't even the top in their category of site. Meaning, they've tried to include blogs, but only some blogs, and many of the ones they have you'll never have heard of, and many of the ones you have heard of are just plain bad. When I'm doing a news search, I want news site - not blogs, not left-wing conspiracy sites, or right-wing religious nutjobs. News

No, it isn't just you.

UK Indymedia carries the alarming headline: Israel to bomb Europeans and reports:

Israel claims it will carry on breaking international law and humiliating Lebanon by infringing its airspace.

Amir Peretz, the defence minister, was said to have told the weekly cabinet meeting: "The Lebanese government is weak so we can do what we like and if the European troops try to stop us we will slaughter them also."

Uh huh. Sure he did.

Comments on the article say more about the article. It's continuing presence on the newswire speaks volumes of UK Indymedia.

A Brazilian Cartoonist known as "Latuff" is a frequent and regular contributor to Indymedia.

His latest, disgraceful work - The White House (with a giant swastika protruding) continues a simplistic theme.

Little wonder the appalling Iranian Holocaust cartoon contest adored him. Just like Indymedia.

A message on Sydney Indymedia concerning the closure of a related activist website's hosting includes this comment, apparently by one of the Sydney admins:

Sydney Indymedia will be moving to axxs.org for hosting.

The reason c@t is no longer doing hosting is because there are not enough volunteers left to keep everything going. Simple.

HOWEVER.

The Sydney IMC collective has whithered away over the last few years. There is only a few of us left doing a large amount of work. If there is not a significant influx of volunteers to the collective in the next few months, we all may see the end of Sydney Indy.

I should note, for the record, that Sydney Indymedia appears to have been dramatically cleaned up since the last time I had a good look at it. It would seem consigning Faruque Ahmed permanently to the trash is a large part of this. So, credit where credit is due.

However, there is no shame and much honour in deciding to close something down rather than let it fester. This is not failure. I have previously called for Indymedia seppuku and as I said at the time:

I am not looking to offend anyone with this. I am not trying to censor anyone, nor am I interested in gloating after Indymedia's demise should this take place.

It's a difficult decision to make, but a responsible one is needed. Other IMC's have demonstrated such responsibility whereas some remain in utter denial.

Melbourne Indymedia shows once again why an open source media isn't always the most reliable place to get your news in an article titled "' John Howard is an arsehole'". It starts with:

Dr David Suzuki, the famous scientist, writer and activist spoke today at the National Press club. He called that little shit John Howard what he so obviously is...an arsehole.

Only, he didn't. Comments reveal what Suzuki actually said, which was:

He said if he abused the Prime Minister he would get better coverage.

"If I were to say -- I'm not saying this, but if I were to say -- 'John Howard is an a---hole', I might even get a 10-inch column (in a newspaper)."

Which is much more than just ironic, since Indymedia has an article with that exact same headline running right now. What Suzuki attacks the media over is what the MainStreamMedia hating Indymedia is doing.

An article on LA Indymedia asks Why the Left is Silent About 911 Truth and conspiracy theories.

They are?

The article then goes on to blame........Wait for it......Have you guessed yet.....Jews for controlling the Left-Wing

The fact is that the left-wing/liberals are dominated by Jewish activists who, let's face it are pro-Israel as a Jewish state and therefore they are Zionists. To be pro-Israel as a Jewish state is akin to being pro-apartheid in South Africa and actually it's worse than that because what's been happening to the Palestinians since 1948 (and now the Lebanese) is obviously FAR WORSE than what happened to blacks during apartheid South Africa.

If Israel is responsible for worse apartheid than South Africa, how is it so, that a Palestinian man or woman can walk onto the same bus as Israelis, or into the same restaurant as Israelis, or into the same nightclub as Israelis and blow himself up killing all of them?

Of course it gets better:

The Zionist/Jewish dominated media has trained the American public so well, of all creeds, to look at Israel as the poor little victim in the Middle East and at all Jews as the most victimized ethno-religious group in the world and in the universe throughout history for all time--- BUT the fact is the Jewish activists played a leading role in the bloody and brutal Bolshevik Revolution and the Communist movement --- this is one reason Jewish people were not especially popular leading up to the WWII. Of course many innocent Jewish people were killed during WWII but obviously many innocent people get killed during any war, yet Americans (and the world) are constantly only reminded of Jewish deaths during WWII.

So there you have it. Jewish media control, revision of history and justification for the Holocaust. I haven't even printed the remaining errors of fact in the piece.

But don't worry about the author. He goes on to explain why he's not an antisemite. No really.

Thus far, there is only one comment so here's a question for Indymedia: Why is the Left silent about antisemitism?

On some level, credit must be given to Tom Heneghan, the author of a piece called "THE BUSH-CLINTON CRIME SYNDICATE AT IT AGAIN" which attempts to spit on the reputation of virtually everyone imaginable.

Karl Rove has pulled his October surprise. Rove has got extortion-friendly Hillary (Gay-in-the-closet) Rodenhurst-Clinton , business partner of the Bush Crime family to file her exploratory Presidential papers as of today. This will lead, of course, to Hillary being the media face of the Democratic Party and the immediate collapse of the Democratic Poll Numbers in the South and the Midwest. Yes, the Bush family plays the Clinton card.

Labelling every second person mentioned in the article as gay, gay-in-the-closet or something similar appears to be the only way Heneghan can describe anyone. At least it beats the treatment dished out to the former head of Disney.

STAY TUNED NEW SCANDAL DEVELOPING LINKING DISNEYLAND & MICHAEL EISNER TO A PEDOPHILE PIMP OPERATION. CHILDREN ARE PHOTOGRAPHED ON "ITS A SMALL WORLD" RIDE BY PIMPS LINKED TO THIS PEDOPHILE RING.

Naturally, no evidence is provided, and likewise for the claims made against a Republican congress member:

P.S.- Kurt Weldon has now been fingered as a KGB operative per a U.S.-French Interpol investigation Story developing stay tuned to more later today.

It's actually spelt Curt, not Kurt, but when facts become irrelevant it appears spelling can be similarly dismissed. A summary search of the author's website reveals that the outlandish claims do not end there; here's his poll question.

Do You Believe Daddy Bush Can Continue To Bully America Into A State of Fear using Cloakwork Orange mind controlled programmed children-assassins like Bush Did To The Amish In Pennsylvnia?

The man is clearly not entirely with it, which would explain why his articles are being reprinted on Indymedia. However, it doesn't justify the attack of countless public figures with lies. Indymedia administrators should hide all these articles to show that they believe an open source media should be used for news and opinion, not slander and libel.

Update: Sydney Indymedia does remove articles for legal reasons. If the lawyers representing Weldon, Eisner, any Clinton or Bush actually cared about Indymedia - or if any serious person actually believed what they read there - this would surely fall under this category.

LA Indymedia reports Help Needed to release Bil'in photographer

Your help is needed to help release Emad Mohammad Bornat of the village of Bil'in, video photographer for Reuters and documentary film maker, who was arrested on Friday October 6th,2006 by a Israeli Border Police unit that entered the village, firing rubber bullets and sound grenades

After the whole piece, a subsequent comment refers to another (non-Indymedia or ISM) news report and points out a problem:

ISM WRITES: "He is a man of peace and a dedicated and responsible video-photo-journalist. "
NISSAN RATZLAV WRITES: "A videotape that the prosecution presented to the judge shows Boghnat encouraging and directing rioters in Bil'in to throw large chunks of rock at Israeli vehicles in such a way as to cause maximum damage. The accused is heard shouting, "Throw, throw!" and later, "Throw towards the little window!"

BECKY: Here the ISM is presenting this as a crackdown on freedom of speech and freedom of the press, implying that he was arrested for video-taping. But even with the videotape presented in court, we STILL can't get a straight story out of the ISM They claim they are "strictly non-violent."

Then why do they sport rifles?

An excellent question. Indymedia's attitudes towards Israel are well recorded, as are my thoughts on the lies and fraud of the International Solidarity Movement. However, right here, is what appears to be a classic example of media manipulation, bias and fake journalism. Despite regarding itself as the antidote to media bias, Indymedia instead appears to be a huge part of the problem.

What a disgrace.

Bay Area Indymedia is carrying more details of protest activity after Lynne Stewart's conviction.

Victory, victory is our cry! The class struggle is the reason why! Lynne Stewart, the civil rights lawyer framed on false terrorism charges, is free on bail pending appeal, and if, and only if, the appeal fails, she may serve 28 months in prison instead of 30 years. Her interpreter was sentenced to 1 year in prison and her paralegal, who has served 4 years and was faced with life in prison, was sentenced to 24 years. ALL ARE NOT GUILTY and their cases on appeal. The Lynne Stewart case is a benchmark of all of our struggles today: We must be "in their face" and point the finger at the Bush Administration as it is Bush & Co. who are the world's terrorists.

The depth of Bush Terror knows no bounds:

And, as everyone who has been active in all of the peace and social justice movements knows, the US government is always lying until proven otherwise. We also know that the US military and the CIA, both agents of US capitalism, with its primary goal of maximization of profits, have been perpetrating the same heinous crimes all around the world since 1945, being the political heirs of that previous anti-communist, blood for oil warmongering government, Nazi Germany, and the US government has perpetrated heinous crimes against the workingclass of the US since its inception with the genocide of Native Americans, enslavement of Africans and vicious exploitation of the labor of the the entire workingclass. All of the bombings, such as occurred recently in London and Madrid, are, and should always be assumed to be, agent provocateur actions of the US government as that is who has the motive, means and opportunity.

Idiots.

Some Indymedia contributors are now openly supporting those who shoot-up schools.

“Who is Eric? A human being. A fifteen-year old freshman at Weston High School in Cazenovia, Wisconsin. On September 29, 2006, he shot and killed school principal John Klang. He has been charged as an adult with first-degree murder and faces life in prison.

Why should we support him? Because in his own way, Eric had the courage to fight back against a school system that psychologically molests us every day, deprives us of autonomy and freedom, runs our spirits through a conveyor belt of discipline and coercion to spit out obedient workers and slaves. Eric followed his heart’s fiery anger and struck back with the desperation of caged animal, against the system that confined him and dominated his life.”

Disgusting. Do these folks hate us so much that they now feel the need to support crazed individuals who kill innocent school officials?

(This is a cross post from But I am a Liberal)

Bay Area Indymedia reports calls for a NATIONAL DAY OF OUTRAGE IN RESPONSE TO LYNNE STEWART VERDICT.

Lynne Stewart was convicted on conspiracy charges of aiding and abetting terrorism, of defrauding the U.S. government and of violating a government Bureau of Prisons Special Administrative Order (SAM) when she released a press statement from her 1995 client, the Egyptian cleric Omar Abdel Rachman. As a comment notes:

Stewart was the attorney for Egyptian Muslim Nazi Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman, who is serving a federal prison term of life without parole for being the leader of the Al Qaeda gang who assassinated Rabbi Meir Kahane in 1990 and who bombed the World Trade Center for the first time in 1993.

While visiting her client Rahman in a cozy prison hospital in Rochester, Minnesota, Stewart agreed to transmit Rahman's murderous instructions to his fellow Islamic terrorists in Egypt. And indeed as soon as she left the federal prison hospital, Stewart called a Reuters reporter in Egypt to tell him to report on his news wire that Rahman was urging his followers to resume their terrorist attacks against non-Muslim "infidels."

The jury in the Stewart case heard tapes and saw video of Stewart receiving her terrorist instructions from Rahman in the prison hospital visiting room.

Indybay has more.

The one bit they don't have however, is the actual sentence she received. 28 Months. Plenty of other blogs are already discussing this however for one which is so involved in the matter, Indymedia is yet to be updated. Once again, Indymedia establishes itself as quality 'media'.

Will the "Day of Outrage" take place? Will the outrage include arson and beheadings? Stay tuned...

Indymedia routinely tells me that nuclear weapons are bad. That is, unless they are controlled by a rogue regime that habitually oppresses its people, treats its own citizens as subhuman creatures, and threatens its neighbors. Then it’s just peachy!

“North Korea Has The Right To Self Defense!” by Steven Argue
Socialists defend and support the right of North Korea to possess nuclear weapons for their own defense against the arrogant militarism of U.S. imperialism…… Another war on the Korean Peninsula would be a disaster for the people of Korea and the people of the entire region.

Isn’t that an argument against NK having an atomic weapon? Ah yes, I forgot the very important equation most Indymedia articles must be processed through.

United States = Evil
Communist Countries = Awesome

How silly of me to forget.

Oddly enough, most of the article asks North Korea to move away from market reforms.

“In the face of the current economic crisis the North Korean leadership has, however, made important mistakes by introducing market reforms that have negated some of the advantages of the socialist economy.”

You know, those reforms that have made China the functioning nation they are today. North Korea’s socialist policy works so well, they only have to deal with semi-regular starvation! Who would want to backtrack on that kind of progress?

“It says much about the superiority of the socialist economic model that the poor and isolated Soviet Union was able to build up a strong economy that met the people’s needs.”

Hahaha……I am sorry. Do I really have to respond to that one?

Melbourne Indymedia features a post that claims that "Indy is dying".

Two obvious reasons are heavy handed censorship without a clear, easily locatable hidden dir where people are able to see clearly the infiltrators and other fascists destroying Indy AND of course troll and planned flood attacks from lobbies such as the Israel lobby and other groups who flood threads in order to kill activity and debate.

It would appear that those who actually care about Indymedia blame two problems for their woeful use of an open source media: censoring out articles that are offensive or there to flood the network, and people who make flood/troll attacks. In context, the argument is self-defeating. The comments, however, are quite enlightening:

Doesn't matter tho', reality is about to wield a big fucking stick to sort it all out. Only those in touch with their animal roots will survive. All the high brow, cerebral types will curl up and die. They haven't got the mongrel. Blessed be the right wing survivalists and left wing gutter crawlers for they shall inherit the earth. And between those two groups the individualism of the survivalists will succumb to the power of the collectivist tribes. Maybe there'll even be a critical mass for the human race to start civilisation again. Then again, maybe not.

One or two generations, three at the most.
...
So just continue in your non-existence you fucked up piece of NOTHING.
...
Pull your fingers out and get on with it before Big Brother like in China decides the time to comment and question the Authority of say Phil Ruddock is over.

By the way the 1984 updated play version on currently in melbourne is excellent look at the media, hate campaigns, fear industry, spins etc.

If you say so.

Seattle Indymedia on North Korea:

North Korea has the right to test and possess nuclear weapons
...
The anti-war movement must direct all of its energy and demands against the aggressors—particularly, U.S. imperialism, the most dangerous and dominant power in the world today. All attempts to place demands on countries and people targeted by the White House and the Pentagon should be resisted.

Sigh...

You'd think there were other issues in North Korea that might warrant the attention of some movements. However - just like Saddam Hussein's treatment of Iraqis -, they just don't. Until the US gets involved. The Left needs to have a good think about that.

Other pro-democracy thoughts currently on Seattle Indymedia:

democracy- bullshit since day 1.

As opposed, to say, Indymedia?

Jeremy Sears, previously reported here has, according to Chicago Indymedia in the case regarding the ProtestWarrior website break-in.

Far from closing ranks as is common after protest arrests, it would appear that Hammond has been ostracised by other activists:

Jeremy hammond has turned in evidence that has incriminated other activists and anarchists and has been removed for the community. He should not be worked with and should be regarded as a snitch. Indymedia should remove this posting.

Censorship! This issue may explain why FreeJeremy.com really, really doesn't look like the activist site it did previously. Get your Free Jeremy!