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INDYMEDIA CENSORSHIP

iwca | 27.04.2004 16:22 | Oxford

Censorship on Indymedia

Why does Indymedia insist on removing all news items concerning the Independent Working Class Association (IWCA)? It is a rank-and-file, grassroots organisation firmly rooted in local communities, campaigning tirelessly on working-class issues. Compare this to the middle-class Respect coalition, or SWP-dominated Stop the War coalition, who are frequently permitted to post their items. Perhaps there is a conflict of interests on the part of those who moderate this supposedly 'independent' news service? There are countless articles on Palestine and Iraq, but next to none on issues that directly affect working-class people in Oxford. We are trying to redress that balance.

Blackbird Leys IWCA:

http://www.bliwca.fsnet.co.uk/

National IWCA site:

http://www.iwca.info/

iwca

Comments

Hide the following 4 comments

RESPECT stuff is being hidden

27.04.2004 16:42

I hid a RESPECT press release today:

http://lists.indymedia.org/pipermail/imc-uk-features/2004-April/005512.html

What you said; "the middle-class Respect coalition... are frequently permitted to post their items", is simply not true.

Also the place to take up this issue is on the imc-uk-features list, not here:

http://lists.indymedia.org/mailman/listinfo/imc-uk-features

In fact this post should probably hidden...

Chris

censorship

27.04.2004 16:53

Perhaps you could explain why IWCA articles are being deleted. It is well-known that the orthodox Left is opposed to us because they view our door-to-door work on estates as beneath them, and hate the fact we reject the need for central committees and endless paper-selling. However Indymedia should support one of the few independent, grassroots, community organisations, that is rank-and-file led.

iwca

Hey IWCA

27.04.2004 17:25

Listen,

1)loads of blatant adverts for the IWCA's mayoral election have been posted here and not removed.

2)If you want more posts about issues affecting working class people in Britain then write them! Workers are on strike! Communities are defending their right to council housing! People in Basildon are campaigning against heavy handed policing on the estates! Yeah, loads going on. Why not post about these, rather than your wanky election campaigns?

3) And you rekon the IWCA are so cool. But they are not. They mainly campaign to evict 'anti-social' tennants from housing estates. (On my council esate,here, now, my neigbours piss me off, coz their kids are loud, I cant even write this without shutting the window! But I don't want them evicted! they are ok really!)

The IWCA go on about these things to avoid talking about the global political issues to working class people, coz they think were too thick to understatnd or be bothered. Yet wearing your 'red action' hats, you rant on about supporting the IRA...one thing to your middle class audience, another for us workers. Hypocrits!
The IWCA campaigns are often indistinguisghable from the right wing, or the Lib dems, etc!

4) You slag off every one elses activity, and demand they stop and just give money to your election fund. (see the IWCA posts on Indy UK)

5)You call eveyone who disagrees with you 'middle class tossers', which makes you sound like yor a bunch of self rightous dicks. But being working class is not difficult or rare! You are not the only ones! There are many others (like the vast majority of us humans)

6) Yes Respecrt is Wank! But you just call them 'middle class'. Well then I must know plenty of 'middle class' railworkers, lorry drivers, council tennants, single parents who are in it! (Yes, I wish they would do somthing better...but I don't think IWCA is it!)

7) Sorry to slag you off. Actually, I'm shure you do some good. I hope you suceed in helping to create independant working class politics and consciousness. But you get up my nose when you slag off everyone elses ideas in your boring, up your own ass, patronising sort of way. So i'm gonna diss you from now on! Haha!

Barry Kade

Link to hidden article

27.04.2004 19:37

The article that was hidden is this one:

http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2004/04/290007.html

Which is a direct repost from the IWCA web site:

http://www.bliwca.fsnet.co.uk/workmustcontinue.htm

The email explaining the hiding it is here:

http://lists.indymedia.org/pipermail/imc-uk-features/2004-April/005514.html

This is something for the imc-uk-features list and ultitmately the Oxford Indymedia Collective to sort out...

If the IWCA people were writing reports for Indymedia, rather than just doing cut and paste jobs off their web site then there wouldn't be a problem, please at least try to write something original even if it's just some blurb about some stuff that is hosted elsewhere...