Last saturday, after months of organising, a huge event called Reclaim The Future took place in a squatted building on Holloway road. The event itself kicked off at 1pm and throughout the afternoon there were workshops and discussion on a wide variety of issues and campaigns. The events during the day are just part of the story. The previous days had seen large numbers of people self organising the space in order to be ready for the day - a real example of doing it for ourselves.
You'd have thought that the logistics of putting on an event like this - providing cheap food laid on for everyone - running a ten hour cinema - the specifics of a particular workshop etc. would have inspired somebody enough to write a report or upload some audio, perhaps recordings of the bands that played, photos of people fixing bikes, a report about how much money was raised or what campaigns would be getting it or whatever. But no.
Almost without exception, the only coverage on indymedia was of the disruption to the event by the police. In fact, even before the police began to prevent people from entering the party, the coverage on indymedia was about the fact that there were a few cops outside during the afternoon with CCTV camera vans. The only exceptions to this pitiful reporting was a post by the Space Hijackers documenting their workshop, yet there were dozens more workshops and many campaigns represented as info stalls. (
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2007/04/366791.html)
If you were to be looking on corporate owned user content sites like youtube a flikr then you'd find a nice set of photos taken at the RTF during the day ( http://www.flickr.com/photos/plasmatika/sets/72157600038736595/), but nothing but pictures of cops on indymedia. Is that all we are interested in? Is that what indymedia reporting is about? Does it really need specialist 'indymedia journalists' to parachute in to these events as a result of a phone call in order to get something resembling coverage?
Do the people who did all the work of organising the program of workshops and the lineup of bands etc. really want the event to be remembered only for the actions of the cops? Do the people who took the time to facilitate or take part in one of the many workshops feel that what they were doing was not equally or more significant than the presence of the police?
If we want to reclaim the future we know that it will require that we reclaim the media and frankly we don't seem to be doing much of a job of it right now. Indymedia is about all of us reporting the news as it relates to us, not simply allowing a few 'alternative journalists' to mediate the experiences for us. Indymedia is more than just a place to complain about the predictable behavior of cops and conflict but also a place to document and celebrate or daily practical resistance in all it's forms.
Where is our news?
Almost without exception, the only coverage on indymedia was of the disruption to the event by the police. In fact, even before the police began to prevent people from entering the party, the coverage on indymedia was about the fact that there were a few cops outside during the afternoon with CCTV camera vans. The only exceptions to this pitiful reporting was a post by the Space Hijackers documenting their workshop, yet there were dozens more workshops and many campaigns represented as info stalls. (
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2007/04/366791.html) If you were to be looking on corporate owned user content sites like youtube a flikr then you'd find a nice set of photos taken at the RTF during the day (
http://www.flickr.com/photos/plasmatika/sets/72157600038736595/), but nothing but pictures of cops on indymedia. Is that all we are interested in? Is that what indymedia reporting is about? Does it really need specialist 'indymedia journalists' to parachute in to these events as a result of a phone call in order to get something resembling coverage? Do the people who did all the work of organising the program of workshops and the lineup of bands etc. really want the event to be remembered only for the actions of the cops? Do the people who took the time to facilitate or take part in one of the many workshops feel that what they were doing was not equally or more significant than the presence of the police?
If we want to reclaim the future we know that it will require that we reclaim the media and frankly we don't seem to be doing much of a job of it right now. Indymedia is about all of us reporting the news as it relates to us, not simply allowing a few 'alternative journalists' to mediate the experiences for us. Indymedia is more than just a place to complain about the predictable behavior of cops and conflict but also a place to document and celebrate or daily practical resistance in all it's forms.
Where is our news?
Comments
Display the following 15 comments