Wednesday, October 25, 2006

 

Repeating the Question

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.

Comments:
Sanchez visit 2004

Carlos Sanchez, the male representative of the International Lesbian and Gay Association for the Latin America and Carribean Region, visited Cuba in 2004 to participate in the Third Hemispheric Meeting Against the FTAA (Free Trade Area of the Americas).
While there, he also made some enquiries into the status of lesbians and gays in the country. In particular, he asked the Cuban government why they had abstained from the vote on the "Brazilian resolution", a 2003 proposal to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights which would symbolically recognise the "occurrence of violations of human rights in the world against persons on the grounds of their sexual orientation."

Sanchez also wanted to ascertain the possibility of creating a lesbian and gay organization in Cuba. They responded that the formation of an LGBT association would "distract attention" from national security.

This information was posted on a number of Indymedia sites - it was removed or hidden on them all
 
Where Indymedia differs from the general left wing press is that most leftist papers are prepared to discuss the problems and contradictions of politics, including acknowledging the misogyny and homophobia of some "liberation" movements. However, on UK Indymedia, the moment any gay activist group even mentions clerical oppression, they are leapt upon - not in a political debate, but with the most vile, vicious, spiteful gay-bashing language you could imagine - putting even the right wing web of Stormfront or God Hates Fags to shame.

Indymedia's anti-semitism is perhaps even more vitriolic. However, I am pleased to note that some left publications in the United Kingdom are beginning to debate left anti-semitism. Montly activist magazine Red Pepper and the respected Marxist daily Morning Star have both run articles condemning the anti-Jewish or anti-feminist rants of some in the "progressive" community.
 
The Jew hating on the UK Indymedia site is a reflection of the views of those who run the site, not those who contribute to it. Many of the people who now deal with the admin have links to Palestinian groups such as the infamous ISM.
I was once an enthusiastic supporter and worker but now have nothing to do with them because of this policy and bias.

The UK site is one of those with a reasonable level of support but is losing contributors all the time in part because of the Jewish issue and the daily obsession with all things Israeli.
 
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