Project news - Part 4 of Essays and Beltway IMC

I have been working on an outline for what will appear in Part 4 of my essay series: John Locke, Yellowstone, and the Dogma of the Right to Private Property (start at Part 1). The essay has been held back by an inordinately hard schedule at my daytime job and a lot of other things going on in my personal life (mostly wonderful). However, the essay is in the works.

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Beltway Area Indymedia

Secondly, I've become part of a new Independent Media collective in the District of Columbia called the Beltway Area Independent Media Collective http://www.beltwayimc.org/. As you can see, it's virtually empty, but you can start posting news there (though it's a bit buggy and under construction). There already is an Independent Media Collective in DC, and there's no reason that people shouldn't continue to use or stay involved with them. However, some of us believed that the geographical scope of that indymedia was too narrow and sometimes exclusive to people inside the city. For instance, in gentrified DC, many people are being pushed outside the city limits and outside the Beltway. The vast majority of immigrants coming into the area are moving into the suburban outlying areas. What happens in each area is interrelated, and it's ironic that the traffic corridor around DC, the Beltway, which is synonymous with insider politics and dirty air caused by automobiles, can serve to remind us that those of us who are residents inside the city often are quite provincial and blind to the realities and struggles of the region both inside and outside.

We also formed the collective so that there was a more open, transparent indymedia collective for all people in this area inside and outside the city. Membership and meetings are open to all, even those not a member of the collective.

You may start publishing news now. I don't think the editorial policy is up, yet, but if you have any questions, you may contact me or other members of the collective. You may join the IMC list by sending a blank email to the link and then following the instructions in subsequent emails. Please be patient; right now we have a technology working group of one person. If you'd like to help, posting interest to the list would be a great first start. We also have formed an editorial working group, and there's been interest expressed in a public access tv working group and a radio working group. Again, posting interest to that list would be the way to start. The next collective meeting date is at the end of March. I'll post more details as they are ready.