Indymedia - Governance
Introduction: Indymedia's radical democratic governance
Victor Pickard:
"Even casual observers will note that Indymedia puts forth a radical vision for media democracy. Indymedia’s celebrated slogan, ‘‘be the media,’’ suggests that media production and telling of stories is something to which all people should have access.
However, Indymedia’s radical democratic practice extends beyond website content and mission statements to encompass institutional practices, use of internet technology, and global network operations. To be more specific, Indymedia’s radical democratic practice entails an active renegotiation of all power relationships by democratizing the media (exemplified by an interactive web-based interface), leveling power hierarchies (exemplified by consensus-based decision-making), and countering proprietary logic (exemplified by open-source software). Inherent in these practices are significant strengths, weaknesses, and recurrent tensions, which I trace in the following case study of the Seattle Independent Media Center. I focus on how Indymedia activists, through institutional practices and the amplifying effects of internet technology, are actualizing radical democratic principles.
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Aiming to empower marginalized voices, Indymedia goes beyond advocating greater voice in policymaking or a seat at the table. It seeks active re-appropriation and redistribution of space, technology, and other resources to democratize society and thus would level all hierarchies. Thus, much of the structure defining Indymedia as an institution can be described as anarchic (Epstein, 2001) or as ‘‘radical participatory democracy’’ (Polletta, 2002). My use of ‘‘radical democracy’’ indicates an expansive version of participatory democracy that seeks to equalize power hierarchies, correct structural inequities in all institutions, and counter proprietary logic. Such radical democratic practices as Indymedia’s consensus decision-making and open internet technology are invested with values of inclusiveness, diversity, openness, co-operation, transparency, and collective decisionmaking.
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Recurring themes of radical participatory democracy, democratizing the media, and countering corporate power emerge from Indymedia documents linked to all IMC websites. Themes of media democracy and anti-corporate power are invoked in the mission statement on the main page: ‘‘Indymedia is a collective of independent media institutions and hundreds of journalists offering grassroots, non-corporate, non-commercial coverage of important social and political issues in Seattle and worldwide.’’ Indymedia’s anti-corporate stance is evidenced by a rare content restriction (one of several editorial controls discussed below) that under no circumstances may any advertisements or corporate promotions be posted. Community empowerment through media production is also a strong theme. For example, the FAQ page states that Indymedia is ‘‘committed to using media production and distribution as a tool for promoting social and economic justice.’’ Elsewhere on the FAQ page, IMC activists claim that Indymedia ‘‘encourages people to become the media by posting their own articles, analysis and information to the site.’’ Under ‘‘What is Indymedia’’ the IMC is defined as ‘‘a democratic media outlet for the creation of radical, accurate, and passionate tellings of truth.’’" (http://www.victorpickard.com/upload/rcsm157052.pdf)
The Principles of Unity
Victor Pickard:
"The ‘‘principles of unity’’ document is the clearest articulation of network-wide goals, ideals, and policies. It continues to be controversial, however, because some individual IMCs tend to resist central authority imposed upon them by the larger network. Initially drawn up during the second year of Indymedia’s existence by a small, dedicated core of Indymedia activists, the principles of unity codify the radical democratic mission of Indymedia, acting as a kind of unofficial constitution. The network as a whole has yet to ratify formally the ten principles of unity as a binding document. Nevertheless, to be accepted into the network, all new IMCs must demonstrate adherence to these principles; the induction process is initiated by filling out a form and submitting it to the New IMC email list for global network consensus.
The first principle establishes that all IMCs are ‘‘based upon principles of equality, decentralization and local autonomy.’’
The second principle emphasizes openness:
- ‘‘All IMCs consider open exchange of and open access to information a prerequisite to the building of a more free and just society.’’
The fourth principle says that all IMCs must allow individuals, groups, and institutions to express their views via open publishing on IMC websites. Principle five declares that all IMCs must remain not-for-profit, thus barring any commercial enterprises from using the newswire.
Perhaps the most defining principle is number six, which mandates consensus-based decision-making, Indymedia’s signature institutional practice:
- All IMCs recognize the importance of process to social change and are committed to the development of non-hierarchical and anti-authoritarian relationships, from interpersonal relationships to group dynamics. Therefore, [all IMCs] shall organize themselves collectively and be committed to the principle of consensus decisionmaking and the development of a direct, participatory democratic process that is transparent to its membership. (http://docs.indymedia.org/view/Global/Principles OfUnity)
Although many members consider these principles central to Indymedia identity, how they are interpreted and implemented remains a contentious topic at meetings and on various local and global email lists. Different renderings of consensus decision-making (defined in the sixth principle) have led to competing visions of Indymedia process. For example, some IMC activists have advocated for ‘‘consensus minus one,’’ to avoid letting individuals derail the process. Even a form of majoritarian voting has been seriously discussed in some cases. These variations are increasing, given the growing number of newly admitted IMCs from a multitude of specific socio-political contexts." (http://www.victorpickard.com/upload/rcsm157052.pdf)
Open Source and Open Publishing
Victor Pickard:
"With its user-driven news production, collective editing, and open source practices, Indymedia has been in the vanguard of implementing technical strategies that engender and amplify democratic processes. As an innovative web-based communications model, Indymedia utilizes a special type of ‘‘open-publishing’’ software allowing anyone with internet access to ‘‘be the media’’ by posting their own news stories for immediate upload onto the website as part of the newswire. Combining such democratic rhetoric with straightforward instructions for the IMC newswire facilitates public participation and decentralized news production.
Open Source
The ninth principle of unity states, ‘‘All IMCs shall be committed to the use of free source code, whenever possible, in order to develop the digital infrastructure, and to increase the independence of the network by not relying on proprietary software.’’ The Seattle IMC accordingly relies on open source software for many of its functions. Open source software is typically protected under ‘‘copyleft’’ restrictions, which reverses copyright law by granting permission to run, modify, and distribute the program as long as no new restrictions are added. This provides a general public license to users of software; protected under copyleft, software remains free and deprivatized (Stallman, 1999). In addition, open source has a strategic dimension: When multiple programmers contribute, software can be written more quickly, efficiently, and creatively. To encourage these democratic, non-proprietary practices, IMC software must remain widely accessible and have limited restrictions on user innovations. These technological attributes have benefited Indymedia: Individual IMCs develop and adopt new generations of the original IMC code, such as when Seattle upgraded from Active to Mir. These improved models make it easier to replicate, update, and modify the IMC website; they usually run on the open source Linux, allowing activists to distribute information easily through shared calendars, group listings, and multimedia news discussions.
Open source and open publishing are similar technological applications implemented by Indymedia to promote radical democratic values such as de-privatizing technology, increasing and decentralizing participation in news production, and leveling bureaucratic hierarchies. Open publishing guidelines allow users to contribute original content or to comment on other postings.
Arnison (2001) defines open publishing as a process of creating news that is transparent to readers:
- They can contribute a story and see it instantly appear in the pool of stories publicly available. . . . They can see how to get involved and help make editorial decisions. If they can think of a better way for the software to help shape editorial decisions, they can copy the software because it is free and change it and start their own site. If they want to redistribute the news, they can, preferably on an open publishing site. (’ 26)
Open publishing allows information to be corrected and supplemented faster and more efficiently. As described on a web page linked to the IMC site, open publishing is ‘‘an essential element of the Indymedia project that allows independent journalists and publications to publish the news they gather instantaneously on a globally accessible web site.’’ (http://docs.indymedia.org/view/Global/FrequentlyAskedQues tionEn#newswire)
Lawson and Gleason suggest:
The content produced by open publishing makes browsing indymedia sites a mixed bag of thoughtful analyses, activist dispatches, on-the-street news items, rants, and reprinted media from unknown publications or institutions. Without a central editorial authority dispatching reports (or fact checking stories), readers are obliged to think critically as they are reading*/to allow a story to provoke further research, further reading, and*/perhaps*/further writing. (2002, p. 12)" (http://www.victorpickard.com/upload/rcsm157052.pdf)
Network-Wide Decision-Making
Victor Pickard:
"For any institution, decision-making is one of the most central and fragile processes*/not least because it entails negotiating power. Many IMCs face a low-level, but constant, tension between the global network and the local or regional IMC.
Based on the anarchic, radically democratic ethic guiding Indymedia, each IMC is an autonomous node within the network, united only by a uniform design, hyperlink connections, and a shared commitment to the principles of unity. For the few decisions being made that affect the entire network, such as the handling of large sums of money, the large distributed network of autonomous collectives must somehow come to consensus despite cultural and international differences." (http://www.victorpickard.com/upload/rcsm157052.pdf)
Spokes Council Model
Victor Pickard:
"The Seattle IMC follows a spokes council model that was first perfected during the 1999 WTO protests by the Direct Action Network (DAN), a loose coalition of hundreds of activist groups. The spokes council model has its roots in the anarchic affinity model, an institutional structure initiated by anarcho-syndicalists during the Spanish Civil War, and is characterized by small groups loosely coordinated via temporary representatives chosen by group consensus. The spokes council model allows for mediation between autonomous working/affinity groups, or nodes within the network, and the larger institutional body. This model is seen at work both at the local IMC collective and the global network*/the latter based on the notion that sustainability for large networks like Indymedia depends on this less bureaucratic and more collectivist system. Accordingly, Seattle’s IMC institutional structure is based on a non-hierarchical collective comprising nearly a dozen smaller volunteer collectives, or working groups, including editorial, finance, liaison, spokes council, media, space, and tech. These collectives meet separately with varying degrees of regularity. Some groups are relatively inactive while new ad hoc groups may spring up spontaneously to face a particular challenge. Several groups maintain their own listservs and wiki pages.
In theory, representatives from each working group are empowered by the general Seattle IMC collective to become ‘‘spokes’’ within the ‘‘spokes council,’’ which acts as an organizing and coordinating body authorized to take action when decisions need to be made more rapidly. The Seattle IMC collective as a whole may also delegate additional projects or responsibilities to the spokes council. A core group is appointed by the general collective to serve limited terms. This raises potential problems with hierarchy formation, so there is a frequent turnover of positions. Although consensus for spokes nominations is usually a smooth process, Polletta (2002) identifies the potential challenge for a token leadership position as a common pressure point where the consensus process may falter, especially since often no default voting procedure is in place." (http://www.victorpickard.com/upload/rcsm157052.pdf)
Open Meetings
Victor Pickard:
"The Seattle IMC is one of the privileged IMCs that maintains a physical site where members meet on a regular basis. In addition to the working group meetings, bimonthly general meetings are held to decide policy. In Seattle, these meetings are open to anyone. They are usually long and sometimes contentious. Meeting topics range from the philosophical, such as the meaning of the ‘‘principles of unity,’’ to the banal, such as toilet-cleaning duty. As with most IMC communications, many issues discussed during general meetings are negotiated as much*/if not more*/online, though face-to-face meetings are considered vital, especially for airing out tensions that may build up during computer-mediated communications. Online discussions take place at the local level on any number of working group or general membership listservs. Several listservs are dedicated to global-level discussions, such as ‘‘Process,’’ ‘‘Communications,’’ ‘‘Finance,’’ and ‘‘New IMC.’’ These network-wide discussions also sometimes occur during real-time online chats via a program called Internet Relay Chat (IRC). The IRC serves as a kind of meeting place for representatives from far-flung IMCs to gather at designated times. However, the utility of IRC for making global network-wide decisions has been limited thus far." (http://www.victorpickard.com/upload/rcsm157052.pdf)
Consensus-Based Decision-Making
Victor Pickard:
"The most exemplary of Indymedia’s radical democratic institutional codes is an adherence to a consensus-based decision-making model. All IMCs utilize some form of consensus decision-making, which is codified in IMC documents. The success of consensus decision-making is based on institutional memory, constant reflexivity concerning process, and strong interpersonal relationships founded on trust. The Seattle IMC describes its consensus process in a website-linked document titled ‘‘Detailed Description of Consensus Decision Making,’’ which is part of an online publication, On Conflict and Consensus, published by members of the Consensus Network (Butler & Rothstein, 1987; see http://www.consensus.net). This online resource occasionally is referred to on the general listserv and during meetings. It addresses efficiency, leadership, discussion, and equality; it suggests that proposals be considered and, if necessary, reworked by the group to reach the best decision for the community as a whole.
For activist groups like Indymedia, consensus is understood to mean that everyone feels that his or her input was considered in the decision-making process (Polletta, 2002). The Seattle IMC’s meetings allow for several levels of consensus and ways to register dissent without derailing the process, including ‘‘reservations’’ (have concerns), ‘‘non-support’’ or a state of ‘‘non-disagreement’’ (the person sees no need for the decision), or ‘‘stand aside’’ (it may be a mistake but a person can live with it). Making a ‘‘block’’ indicates that the person feels the decision goes against fundamental IMC principles. This stops any affirmative decision." (http://www.victorpickard.com/upload/rcsm157052.pdf)