Ulla’s Amazing Wee Blog

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Rabble has got a blog, too. And he even links to mine! Isn’t that nice. I would really like to rss feed, because he does really cool articles, especially about latin america, but unfortunately I haven’t figured out how to rss- feed headlines of news only. As soon as I find out I will try to rss-feed imcuk audio and imc uk middle column and lots of imc bloggers rss-feed.
And I am very happy that Lord Rich, the author of the famous spoof BBC i-can’t website, is commenting here, too.
Cheers!

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On Monday me and my friend actually installed Mambo, an open source cms.
Initially, the solution was intented to be used for the Peace and Justice Centre in Edinburgh and temporarily hosted under Moving Pages, but now the whole project seems to collapse, from my point of view.
The Peace and Justice Centre mainly consists of elderly volunteers, not very tech

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On Sunday, there were Linux install days, organised by the Edinburgh Linux User Group, called edlug. To give some sort of statement, I have been reading their email list in the archive, but unfortunately they are quite tech and geek based. There is hardly any political or philosophical discussion, and most of the edlug members seem to want to stay away from activists as far as they can without leaving their computer.
At first I just went because of my friend, but once I got there it was actually quite nice. After drinking lots of tea, I found some places on the computer and just tried out different Linux systems. One I haven’t seen yet was fedora, another one Xandros.
Look at Distrowatch to find out more about the various systems.
Another amazing thing was: I actually was of good use! Totally unexpectedly , i could actually help people and talk them a bit thourgh the various Linux systems.
The most amazing experience for the edlug members was probably Elisabeth, the Peace and Justice Centre volunteer, who is at least about 60, if not older, with white hair and some walking aid, coming to the edlug install days to find out more about Linux.

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On Saturday I went to the Community Media Association, see AGM. I blacked my way in as I said I would be from Indymedia. So there were all the professional community media makers trying to make decisions, and most of them had only one aim: give more money and give a frequency. Both main objectives seem to feed primarily into one: Secure my job! Sadly enough, actually rarely anybody seemed to be concerned with Community Media as a tool for change, as a tool for empowerment. There was hardly no practical approach, and so much infighting over power which doesn’t even exist yet.
As well as the CMA seems to be a rather dull lobbyist club. They honestly believed that it would be their 20 years of lobbying which brought the change to community media, and NOT the internet.
Believe me or not, but in my opinion, if the internet wouldn’t have come along there would still be only commercial media and mainstream media which would try to secure and controll the media output and the release of news.

I left a pile of counterinfo and it was nice seeing somebody from Variant.
Less nice was the speaker of OFCOM, the licensing authority for frequencies for community radio. He sees one of the major criterias as being “excellence” and “quality”.
More revealing were the questions at the end when well-suited business men were mobbying and lobbying for “their” project, kind of “we have done so fantastic things, give me a frequency, give me some money”.
The other revealing statement certainly came from a London radio for the blind. “What are you doing against the pirates”.
And that was the secret main aim of the day. Selfishness.
Other underlying messages:
- Give me an archive, but I won’t share my content.
- I won’t help or cooperate with you. I want a frequency only for myself and you are a competitor.
- Lobbying is the most important issue at the CMA; we don’t probide any other service, but uselessly slime around politicians.

Actually I was quite dissapointed of the AGM. I hoped to find more lefty political people there as in Germany, who are cooperating with each other to make the best of programmes, the best of funding, the best of their resources.
I hoped people come together to change cuircumstances together for the better.
Instead there was so much competition. The scottish media workshop was a waste, even more. Everybody seems only want to gather more power.
Actually it is really rather sad. Maybe it is just evil capitalism which always and everywhere destroys our lives, our relationships.
We all want to have nice work and community media seems the best work ever to be in. But there are so many competitors as in every job which is fun, and exactly this takes so much fun out of the job, because then starts the infighting, then starts the emotional blackmailing and the secret backstabbing.
It was a very formal meeting, hardly any practicalities.
At the end of the day I felt like going back to Germany and taking up veterinary medicine again.
Not because of the joy of it, but at least the AGMs were nicer.

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The last days were rather uneventfull, if it would not have been for Edinburghs Peace and Justice Centre. A couple of older quakers run this resource situated in the lower part of St.Johns church in Edinburgh. Committed to non-violence, their mission is to change the world. Their favourite groups are Scottish CND and Trident Ploughshares, as far as i know.
Anyway, as I am on the computer course our final project is to build a website for a client. As i did not want to be too embarrased, choosing something political but non-controversial, the Peace and Justice Centre asked me if i could do so when I tried booking the room for indymedia.
First, I expected to battle alone through this project, but amazingly many people showed intrest and now we work with quite a big team, and totally to all expectations it goes quite well.
Only I am the total chaos-head, but the rest of the team is great.
Hilary is the perfect project manager. She has a lot to do to keep me on track. No wonder she gets big rings under her eyes, she is really working hard. Anne is already weeks before the schedule, managing 2 projects the same time. Quiet and reliable and hard working, never ever saying anything bad. Steven as usual is brilliantly working away. Given the same tasks he actually produces results whilst I am still evaluating what to do next, coming up with ideas Hilary has already distributed some days ago. He is great and chirpy and always in a good mood.
Will add more links about the experience with Peace and Justice later, it is getting quite late now.

Before I forget just wanting to drop a link here to Gwens Blog. Gwen is the girlfriend of Alastair, who happened to have a big fall-out with me on the question of “women-only-groups”. It totally split the anarcho scene here in Scotland, but I think although it might seem as it hindered the widespread unified distribution of the anarchist ideology in Scotland, the community could not have grown in a healthy and tolerant and empowering or encouraging way as in the state it was then.
HOPEFULLY THIS IS NOW A WARNING EXPERIENCE TO EVERYBODY: THAT THE MAIN PRINCIPLE IS TO TRY TO BE TOLERANT TOWARDS EACH OTHER;

Sometimes it is really really hard to know when to be tolerant, when to try to change or influence a decision and when it does not matter.
I find it really really hard, particular with indymedia, as my heart and lots of time and work lies into this project.

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On Friday we finally had the Lost Film Festival here in Edinburgh.
It was great, absolut fantastic! We didn’t get to see the promised “riot porn” though, but we got to see other fantastic funny short clips.
One of the most amazing films was a small documentary about the Yes Men, who maintain the spoof website gatt.org. There are actually intellectuals falling for this website, inviting expert speakers to their conferences and getting the most amazing spoof speeches out of the assumedly WTO representatives.
Also to see was the “Jerry Springer Show” spoof and the “Ring of Free trade”, which was fantastic!! What was also great was George Bush war speech in alphabetical order. There is a whole film about this, which was on at the Sheffield International Film Festival, but we only saw the clip “Terror, Iraq, Weapons”.It is said that the whole film would have been made by a German Girl, but I don’t think so- more likely she saw the political clip and did her own full version.

Anyway, there were around a hundred people coming to the film festival, which was organised at short notice, and took place in the Forest Cafe.The volunteers at the bar were really great and tried to be as quiet as possible.
Noise is always a bit of a problem in the Forest.

On Saturday the screening of “Old enough to know better” by “Pilton Video” made together with “Edinburgh Youth against the War” was also a fantastic success. Over 300 people came to see the film, it was a total sell-out in the Edinburgh Filmhouse biggest cinema. Hoperfully they will now consider screening more political and community films, imho they are a bit elitist and too absorbed in themselves sometimes to get in touch with the real world.

Another usefull link here to the Surveillance Camera Players.

So what is on tonight?

AK press will hold and organise a quiz night for an ace benefit and social night.
Also there might be a webradio launch of Indymedia Scotland re-broadcasting from the FTAA in Miami, which is a forthcoming event in about a week and a halfs time.

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Today was a day of receycling- both content wise for Indymedia Scotland, various email lists, and practically.
Mike stormed our flat this morning announcing he witnessed an office clearance and would like to fetch a computer table; however, it wasn’t just ONE computer table in the end, but two computer tables, 4 chairs, one wooden little flowerpot-presenter and 2 long-awaited computer chairs, and one electric heating.

Magnificient!

Everything else was crushed to pieces by the workers, and there was still really nice and usefull furniture and office desks landing under the axe of capitalism.
Furthermore, Mike gave me a present of a “Chiapas Zapatista Calendar” for next year, to say “Thank you” for immediatedly fetching the computer desk and in exchange. I feel happy like it is Christmas!

I feel even more happy, cause Nine was able to make flyers and posters for the “Lost Film Festival” on Friday, and also because I just read an article on Wired about BBC’s new interactive cititzens website i-can.
There is already a spoof website called “I can’t” and I think it is great, because it really sharply expresses all the critisism about the project.
Furthermore I found an excellent Blog from Louise Ferguson.

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So, yesterday was finally the day when the 5 judges selected 3 ideas out of 15 (1 person already resigned), for funding a documentary short film.
Due to being scared as a frightened bunny, I left my preperations to last minute 11 pm Friday night.
In the end it didn’t matter: the BBC Gail Fraser, Mark Cousin, the Edinburgh College of Art representative = Bridging the GAP rep, the Maverick TV production company rep, the Channel4 rep, selected the 3 lamest ideas you could think of: technology/implants; icecream, and headscarves.


I was pretty sure that they would select one idea of every one of the categories. They never spoke of categories, but in the end there were icecream, chips, chicken and egg, and table manners, which all seem to relate to food,
there was football1, football2, speed dating, reggage and dub,
I guess technology was pretty much a category on its own, and then there was loosely the political and social doc proposals, in which mine, the anti-war, the parliament, the old peoples home, and maybe the hygiene ones cornrows (slightly social-personal-political), the headscarves (slightly social-political-personal) and the flossing (personal).

So in the end, my competiton was probably limited to the social and political themes, but in any way, I guess they picked the lamest and most harmless one.
In the end it is mainstream media and what else would you expect?

Mainstream Media is not a charity, they don’t want to change society, they don’t want to empower people and surely enough they don’t want to even critisise society.
They don’t want to broadcast anything controversial, so they just stuck to the most harmless idea, which is the personal view of the headscarf wearer, I wonder why they didn’t pick neurotic mornings, but I think it might be, because it sounded too boring.

Anyway I went in front of the judges and ranted along and I think i did a good job, because I got everything on one DinA4 sheet and also I answered exactly all the points and criteria they had, and it was an easy film to make, so I wonder why they don’t want to make it?

Personally I can only think of one thing which has stopped them selecting my film: my strong anarchist believes.
I am sure in the end, they did not want to dare any indymedia style film, they did not want to have any political statements made, and I and the film were deemed too unpredictable for them.
The other main thing is, I guess they already had decided beforehand, which films they wanted to make.
They didn’t ask me vital questions, like: how would i make the transition from colour to black and white, how would I have planned to use the budget.

I was already astonished, that they put so much praise on the technology idea when it was pitched in the arts college at Mark Cousins documentary workshop.
And they didn’t ask me any questions at the pitch.
Also, Aveline’s ice-cream pitch was very good, the first time when she read out the poem.
Maybe my giggling throughout the pitch didn’t help.

Anyway, in some way it was a big disappointment, because how can I make my short films, if I don’t have any funding, and any support?
But, in the end, I was totally torn if I wanted to have any of the support they had on offer at all? Because in the end it is mainstream media, and I clearly kind of stated, that I wanted to have authenticy and I guess that is a total foreign word for them. They probably didn’t even know authenticy exists. They probably also wanted to have uncomplicated people to work with, on which they canimpose their idea, I guess they realised, that it wouldn’t be possible with me.
I hope I get a more detailled feedback, but in any case, I think I learned a lot. I will try to ask the local community TV project, Pilton Video to help me out and support me by borrowing out the camcorder, and one of the film students of Napier said, she would help me to realise my films, too.

Anyway, after the pitch I got slightly drunk, with the other 7 finalists who were there. I haven’t got drunk for a long time and actually it was a waste of money, especially as I had a meeting afterwards, but it helped me to calm down and to get excited the same time, and maybe I made some good connections with socialising in the pub.

Gladly enough, I got something else to think about:
The Lost Film Fest is coming to Edinburgh! Next Friday! In the Forest Cafe!
And, happily enough, I guess if I wouldn’t have put so much effort and intrest and enthusiam in it, it might not have happened.
I love to think I make a difference, a difference in the world, and in being here in Edinburgh and by being in Scotland, and that it is worth the time, the loss of money and success, that the way of life i walk is meaningfull and the effort relevant.
I love to think that Indymedia makes a difference, Indymedia Uk and Indymedia Scotland. Hopefully it does.