Indy Media Watch

A post on BC Indymedia warns:

Having monitored this bulletin board for some time, I have noted and been pretty offended by excessive and gratuitous antisemitism that is not just posted here, but, more critically, is allowed to remain "standing," along with lots of openly hateful antisemitic commentary, that is also apparently tolerated by the management and allowed to remain "standing."

This is Canada. We have laws here against that kind of garbage.
I am Jewish, have a background in both publishing and Canadian Human Rights Law as applied to media, and sick and tired of the legally actionable bilge that you so-called "progressives" tolerate here.

Therefore, this is my notice to you,that I have commenced researching and cataloguing materials towards a legal action affecting BC Indymedia, its editors, and organizing "collective."

This is not the first time threats of legal action have been made towards Indymedia and it will be interesting to see how this fans out and if it will have its day in court. It's tricky, as IMCs tend to be barely constituted as any form of legal entity and would certainly not have many assets for any civil lawsuit.

The response however, both from apparent Indymedia moderators as well as those for whom "troll" is an understatement, is astonishing.

First, defiance:

If you're going to be taken seriously you will have to supply your name and contact information.

You should also know that we've received numerous 'cease & desist', 'remove this article', etc. letters from various law firms over the years - all of which we've simply crumpled up and tossed into the recycling (and look, we're still running!).

Nyah nyah! Such respect for legal process. Then, denial:

Perhaps some examples of these "antisemitic" postings would help. Provided, of course, that they weren't posted anonymously, by the same Spam Lobby that's desperate to discredit the work that goes on here ...

Oh please. BC Indymedia, and previously Vancouver, has historically been one of the worst sites for antisemitism. Can't find any? Search this site. This is followed by a textbook antisemitic remark:

More zio-nazi threats against free speech. When will they ever learn that they cannot control the world.

Still have any questions? "Gehrig", who pulled me into line over something unrelated last week tries to play peacemaker:

Whether or not postings like that put BC Indymedia behind the eight ball legally, they certainly don't work any wonders for BC Indymedia's reputation for anti-racism.

Too right. An Indymedia moderator invokes the "Standard Indymedia Defence" as for previous legal threats:

we agree!!! lets stop the hate. we detest hateful spam postings as much as you do!!!

we are very short "staffed" here, and don't see people, such as yourself, offering to put in the time and work it takes to edit this site accordingly.

open publishing. and i personally don't have the time, energy or desire to read every article on this newswire. i catch some and remove them. if you knew what we removed and edited, maybe you would see that we are trying.

please feel free to make an article in which you post links to the materials you are referring to, and we will do our best to ensure that articles that are hate filled or innacurate will be dealt with accordingly.

Then, he joins the rank of conspiracy theorists:

there is also the possibility of trolling and evidence that there is a poster who posts these articles himself to create the effect of this site being a hate filled and anti-semetic (sic) site.

Whilst he hasn't explicitly claimed this 'provocateur' is Jewish, the implication is obvious and others have made that explicit claim. As many have responded previously to this bizarre claim, Indymedia doesn't need the help of 'covert agents' to make it look bad, it is quite capable of doing this itself.

Of course why would external entities need to blacken Indymedia, when its own moderators do this?

we have also removed an editor who used words like Zion-anything.... after it was discovered that he himself was responsible for posting questionable material on the site.there are people bent on destroying alternative media.

Come on. Indymedia is not the victim here. It is the facilitator of the most appalling racism, antisemitism and libel. But let the denial continue...

the purpose of this site is for local, non-corporate, alternative news and views. that is the purpose.

we aim for truth. respect. diversity.

Sure you do. I once aimed to be an astronaut and have a three-way with Angelina Jolie and Christina Aguilera. Then I faced reality.

Others point this out:

BC Indymedia, and Indymedia in general, doesn't HAVE a reputation for anti-racism. Quite the opposite.

Why do you think they're popularly referred to as "Nazimedia" everywhere else? They are widely regarded as a laughingstock filled with kooks, moonbats, cranks, and fringe lunatics.

The only reason any normal people ever look at sites like this is for the freakshow amusement value. It's pretty unlikely anyone takes this site seriously, except for the delusional loons themselves, obviuosly.

I don't entirely agree with this dismissal of Indymedia. If you were in a foreign country and bought the first newspaper you saw (especially if it were free), you wouldn't necessarily know you had just picked up the worst excuse for a 'newspaper' in town would you?

So too, there are some people who might in good faith take Indymedia at face value at first, and believe some of what they read. Certainly its clear those inside Indymedia are in denial and maintain they are about "news" and "truth" notwithstanding so much of their content represents neither. More moderator denial follows:

the only reason we are labelled that is because trolls like you call us that

You are "that" whether anyone calls you on it or not.

after you yourself fill the newswire with anti-semitic material and then cry "hate, hate, hate!"

i edit on this site... i am not racist... or a fucking moonbat, or whatever bullshit you spew out of your extreme rightwing mouth. leave the site if you don't like it. we stay out of mainstream... you stay out of here.

that is what i think.

Don't ask what I think, you probably don't want to know.

Gehrig calls him on it:

That's a pretty strong claim. Do you have any evidence for this claim -- that BC Indymedia has been hit with fake hate material posted by Jews? If so, please present it.

Needless to say, such proof isn't forthcoming, and why would it be? Surely Jews doing this is as undeniable as Jews being behind 9/11, the assassination of JFK and tooth decay. Other comments on the page insist Jews control all of Canada's media as well as Indymedia.

Indymedia is then called on its advocacy of terror groups:

This board is also apparently sympathetic to pro-terror lunatic types and serves terrorist-sourced propaganda up on a daily basis.

Their response to this charge:

we are not sympathetic to pro-terror. If we were, we would be supporting the Bush regime. It is the mainstream that supports that propaganda on a daily basis.

Good grief...