Indy Media Watch

No, Indymediwatch isn't returning. There's no point.

However we've just learned that Faruque Ahmed, is dead. His obituary at that link makes only passing reference to his bigotry:

Apart from his taxi driver activism Faruque Ahmed was known throughout Sydney for his provocative stands on Middle East politics (Iraq War and Palestine) and the media coverage of Muslim and Arabic affairs.

"Provocative stands" would have to rank as one of the greatest bits of whitewash ever seen. Any reader of this site would know he was a massive Jew hater, a stalker and a liar.

Another eulogy notes:

Faruque Ahmed had no time during the last twenty seven years to get married, settle down and have a family.
As another obituary said "a selfless person, he died poor"

Pass the bucket. What actually happened, was he was an awful person, who, as a barely literate Jew-hating timewaster, would have struggled to get a job and keep it for more than a day or so. I bet the girls were just lineing up...

Major newspaper the Sydney Morning Herald even had an obituary which would make you think he was simply a hardworking cabbie. He was hard working alright: Against Jews and democracy.

Faruque is probably in Hell right now, swapping notes with other Jew-haters on how it's all the Jews' fault he ended up there.

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.

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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?