Hard to believe that with everything going on at the moment this is the most newsworthy story on Indymedia. Some of hand-wringing and rooring over the past week reminds me of the Diana hysteria. How much time had any of you got for Saint Mozaz a month ago? My guess is that most of you would have run a mile to avoid the daft sod. Hypocrites!

I can only speak for myself but Mozaz was one of my closest friends for about 7 years and lived with me for a while. I saw him regularly and was one of a group of friends who was with him 24/7 during his final days.

Mozaz contributed regularly to this site as shown in the post above and many of his friends are regular readers / contributors. If you did not know or like him then that is fine but please respect those who are still mourning the very recent loss of a friend.

There is a disgraceful letter in tonight's Sheffield Star. It says

What a load of tripe was the article on Mark Mozaz Wallis.. He was the most vile
person you could meet.Don't tell me not to speak ill of the dead because its the
truth.All this about being a passionate protester is also tripe. He was for
himself and no one else. He was foul mouthed, not grown up, a yob.So lets put
the record straight.The Green Party should look at who they take on demos.
Name and address supplied.

I can only echo what Heather has said. Mozaz was a close friend of mine for over 20 years. He was a frequent guest at our home and was a good and loyal friend. OK he wasn't everyone's cup of tea but to us he was a good friend and someone we will miss greatly. Please keep your disrespectful comments to yourself.

If you don't want people to express their opinions about Mozaz why promote his demise as a national news item and turn it into such a public affair? I'd known Mozaz Mozart Zmithe since 1985 and I think it's a fair point that he seems to have more friends now than he ever had when he was alive. There's something very mawkish about the public outpourings. I would have thought it more respectful and dignified to make your grief and Mozaz's death a little less public, particularly bearing in mind that he was certainly not loved by everyone.

Mozaz was one of several Sheffield people who supported the families and survivors struggle for Justice.

For that I salute him.

The poor bloke is dead now - so maybe if you got nothing nice to say its a time for not saying anything.

R.I.P.

Arguing with St. Peter himself no doubt.

One of SEVERAL people?! You cheeky bastard. LOADS of Sheffield people supported the Hilsborough victims and families and the justice campaign. Why don't you sad sacks ask around why Mozaz got banned from the Tingle Tangle centre?

Whatever people's ideas about this bloke, what on earth is this doing up as the main feature. For most of the people its a lengthy post about a relatively obscure and clearly controversial character whose gone the way we all do. Are we all going to get this coverage, of course not? And don't tell me he was one of anarchism's great writers and thinkers cos I've read some of his posts. Sorry for your loss, but please get some sense of perspective. Set up a memorial site by all means, but why monopolise Indymedia in this way.

Actually, lots of well known people have had articles put up about their death / illness on indymedia in the past - OK, so many people may not think that it's newsworthy, but people who were less regularly in contact with those who have died may find out about it through here.

The great thing about indymedia is that there's a list on the homepage of stories and they all have titles that you can click on to read a fuller story. It's not like you're getting every story emailed to you in full and they're filling up your inbox. So if you don't want to read something, DON'T CLICK ON IT. It's pretty simple.

Stop wasting your time commenting about someone you don't want to waste your time on and go do / read something else.

I think most self-respecting newspapers and publications would dedicate a front page piece for the death of a contributor.... so it's the thing to do in my opinion.

And anyway, the headlines of Indymedia are always a million miles from events on the street that most people hear about....so what's new about this particular post?

To those moaning that this shouldn't be "the main feature": if you've got a better idea for a feature - GO AHEAD - WRITE IT AND PROPOSE IT!

imc-uk-features at lists.indymedia.org

Indymedia is a DIY project! Stop expecting other people to do things for you.

Presumably someone wrote a story that was bumped off the IM front page by the promotion of this non-news. For most anarchists in Sheffield Mozaz was an embarrassment at best. The fascists must be pissing themselves at your lionizing of the annoying oaf. If he did have any long-term friends then they should be regarded as suspect too.

Mozaz was at best an example of everything that was wrong with radical politics. He was disruptive to his 'comrades', dishonest, a liar, and at worse much more more...

Indymedia is now such a joke, and having his death as a feature piece is just one example of why; when we have riots and insurrection across North Africa, massive cuts pending here in the UK, and numerous other struggles, the death of a mentally ill, disruptive person who claimed to be an anarchist or not dependant on his mental state and what was fashionable should not be given such prominence, if any.

You have hit the nail on the head HG. This feature makes us all look stupid. Mozaz would be rubbing his hands with glee. Take it down for fucks sake.

HG, Joe Black and Cabbage: when have you contributed a feature article or any content to the site? As has been said this is *DIY* media, it would be great if you could propose a feature article on the uprising in Egypt or whatever you think is missing...

Of course there is a load of negative things that can be said about Mozaz, of course he was impossible to work with in any campaign, but he is now dead and he did contribute to this site and nobody on the Sheffield or UK wide email list has raised any concerns about this feature article...

One ground, in the editorial policy, for hiding content on this site is "# Comments on editorial policy : Users can appeal for or against deletions by contacting the IMC Sheffield list."  http://sheffield.indymedia.org.uk/static/editorial.html

Over a number of years I have actually contributed well over a hundred features to Indymedia. Not being a self-obsessed idiot however I do not feel the need to use MY WRITING to promote MYSELF. While it may be legitimate for this item to be on the Sheffield newswire promoting it as the lead article on UK Indymedia is not only ridiculous, quite frankly it is an abuse.

"Why don't you sad sacks ask around why Mozaz got banned from the Tingle Tangle centre?"

He got banned from virtually everywhere he hung out, squat cafes, working men's clubs, pubs.
Probably the world record holder for being banned, from the fluffiest to the spikiest outfits, from the revolutionary to the most liberal. That just proved we were all class traitors, of course.

"Presumably someone wrote a story that was bumped off the IM front page by the promotion of this non-news.

No story was 'bumped off the page' - had you taken a few moments to look at the IMC UK Editorial Guidelines ( https://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/static/editorial.html) you would know the following:

"Features: The features on the middle column of the IMC UK website reflect postings to the newswire. Features are highlighting specific issues to make them more accessible. They are put together by volunteers communicating on the imc-uk-features list.
Any individual can join the features list and propose a new feature for the middle column. A proposal can take the form of an idea or a completed feature. Completed features are usually between 50 and 80 words and include at least one link to the newswire, preferably also links to background information. If no one objects to the feature proposal within 24-hours, and if it is completed, it will be uploaded to the middle column. The 24-hour rule ensures that everybody can contribute to the middle column and allows time for collaborative improvements and considerations."

"Over a number of years I have actually contributed well over a hundred features to Indymedia."

Apparently not. You may well have published over a hundred articles on the open newswire though.

"While it may be legitimate for this item to be on the Sheffield newswire promoting it as the lead article on UK Indymedia is not only ridiculous, quite frankly it is an abuse."

It was proposed in the correct way, and as there were no objections, it was published. Feel free to join the list, and to propose features.

"Why don't you sad sacks ask around why Mozaz got banned from the Tingle Tangle centre?"

I really hate people who do this. Why don't you just say why?!
* Surely that is a lot easier
* You will mean your "point" (whatever it is) across, at the moment it is not communicated effectively.
* People who live in London and below, or in Scotland don't really have a) the time; b) the money; c) the inclination to travel all the way to Sheffield to "ask around".

If you just say why he was banned then you might be able to get your point across and it would be a lot easier. Otherwise its just awkward and most people can't really be that bothered to work out what you are trying to communicate.

I agree with this "I can only echo what Heather has said. Mozaz was a close friend of mine for over 20 years. He was a frequent guest at our home and was a good and loyal friend. OK he wasn't everyone's cup of tea but to us he was a good friend and someone we will miss greatly. Please keep your disrespectful comments to yourself.
Sam"

We all know there are those negative folk out there. But its totally out of order to do what amounts to public gloating about the dead man.

Whatever you thought about him, let those who have feelings mourn the passing of the man. Its not as if you critics were quiet when he was alive, take 5 mins/weeks off now he is dead FFS.

Do something useful with the time instead, like spreading the struggle.

Indy should take the critics comments off and let him be dignified in death.

But I read a lot of his posts. It's very possible we argues now and again. Living your life struggling against the state is fucking unrewarding most of the time. I have read many obituarys on IMC in my time, and I think its a really touching way of remembering someone and what they contributed to the movement. I'm glad that people who only knew him from his online presence can come here and pay respect.

Almost every feature on IMC UK gets people commenting about how there is some other thing that is more important to be reported (obviously, for someone else who isn't them to do the reporting). This time round it just seems pretty sick.

Just found a write up of the funeral by John who blogs at  http://lowcarbonlifestyle.blogspot.com/ an extract from his post follows:

I got to the Crematorium at 11.15, and fortunately there was a cafe there where I could have a coffee and visit the loo, and cool off. There were a rag-tag bunch of people starting to gather, I could tell that these were people who knew Mozaz. I locked my bike and joined them. There were a few Sheffield Greens that I recognised, and other friendly but subdued people. More and more people arrived, a very diverse bunch. Then the hearse arrived, with a nice wickerwork coffin, and an A4 paper in the window saying 'UnderclassRising On Tour', and another in the other window with some other words connected to his life, such as '0742' (one of his 'names') and 'The Subterranean Tourist Board', and 'Bucolic'.

We filed into the room after the casket; there were so many people that there weren't enough chairs and people had to stand at the back. He would, I think, have found it difficult to believe that so many people cared about him.

The service was facilitated by Deacon Dave Havard, someone who's known Mozaz for more than 20 years. He welcomed us and offered a brief overview about his memories of Mozaz, and then introduced Sam Walker, who's been the main organiser of the funeral. Sam told us how she became aware of Mozaz when he started following her around, many years ago, and their lives had run in parallel for a while before crossing and getting much closer. At one stage, when Mozaz was homeless, he even lived with her, but reminded her that he was celibate so 'don't get any ideas' or words to that effect. Their relationship was more similar to brother/sister than anything else, and Sam especially enjoyed it when he took her 'urban exploring' into empty factories.

After Sam there were recollections from Heather, Emily, Dan, Pete and Rachel, and a very interesting story from Green Councillor Jillian Creasy, who said that the best thing about him was that he constantly challenged her, and others. With her GP hat on, she explained about why he didn't get a flu jab, because he didn't have a regular GP and had such problems with authority figures that he'd been labelled a 'violent patient' so he couldn't just go to a GP when he needed, he had to book to go and see one and then he could only go if they got security guards in. So, no flu jab, he got pneumonia in December and then in January, H1N1 Swine Flu, which was too much for his rather battered body to cope with.

Then there was a time for reflection, with a series of photographs of him, and Carole King's 'You've got a friend'. For me, my tears were interspersed with laughter at some of the images. He was quite a clown, as well as an anarchist, provocateur, irritant, demonstrator, angry ranter and kind-hearted idealist.

After this, various people got up to add their thoughts... Smiley Steve Marshall, Anthony Goddard, Rob, and an interesting character going by the name of Tyran Oh Sore Arse, who when not in drag, is a chap called Stan, I think. Deacon Dave then closed the ceremony... but Sam and Emily stepped up and said they had to do something before Mozaz went. They explained that on occasion he had joked that they weren't 'real women' and they should prove to him that they were. Then whilst he was in intensive care, they'd said to him that when he was better and out of hospital that they would prove it... but this was not to be. So, they said, better late than never, turned their backs on the attendees, faced Mozaz in his coffin, undid their blouses and 'flashed' as they coyly put it. Not something one would expect at a normal funeral!

And nor was the leaving music, Anarchy in the UK by the Sex Pistols. A classic.

I cycled away, enjoying the steep and long hills down back into the city, and within about 15 minutes was at the Philadelphian Working Mens Club. Sam and friends had laid on a good buffet, and I chatted with a very sad Andy, who is someone else who'd known him since he was young.

There were more announcements, anecdotes and stories from the stage, and I read out something which Ali had asked me to write in a condolences book (but there wasn't one) so I got up on stage to read out:
'Mozaz died too soon, leaving a world worse for his loss but the better for him living here at all. Thank you Mozaz, true beauty will never be forgotten. Love Ali'. Sam and one of her friends read out a solicitor's letter describing an incident where Mozaz had randomly sent out a fantasy 'Tweet' about having two AK47s and enough bullets to get all of you c**ts, meaning the police. A couple of days later, he was arrested in Sheffield City Centre under the terrorism act. The house search revealed no guns, and eventually he was let go. The solicitor's letter contained some of the dialogue about the incident, written in dialect, it seemed, and Mozaz's humour had been very present, and the letter was hilarious. Another story was when he's taken part in the anti poll tax protests, and wound up in court. Most protesters had asked for a McKenzie Friend to help them in Court; Mozaz took a Sooty hand puppet and used that as his McKenzie Friend. Just brilliant!

There is a set of photos from the funeral and wake here:

 http://www.urbexforums.co.uk/showthread.php/11419-Mark-quot-Mozaz-quot-Wallis-A-Celebration-Of-his-life.

I think the key point is that indymedia should not celebrate the life of someone that repeatedly used violence and the threat of violence to coerce innocent civillians/young people/women. He may have been a friend to some but he also tried to throw someone else out of a multi-storey building and threatened to burn down someone elses house. In the mainstream media there is always a tendency to sanitise someone's life the moment they are dead one would hope that indymedia allows for a more honest evaluation of someones life.