jim submits: (From our Turkish comrades)

Autonomedia (Otonomedya)

www.otonomedya.org

Autonomedia is a news and communication network based on voluntary working
and organisation. Its purpose is to make people know the events that system's
media censors because of ideological reasons and to provide a basis for
the voices that are depressed.

Autonomedia, as it can be understood from the emphasis on "autonom", is
self-regulative, non-hierarchical, anti-authoritarian, and accepts horizontical
and voluntary organisation as a way of working. It is the site of anarchists
and will give priority to the news and announcements of anarchists, and
anarchism.The events and the movements in Turkey constitute our framework. We will
pay attention to prevent the manipulation and the disinformation of the
monopolistic-bourgeois media, and moreover to announce the events that are
consciously censored. We will put forth an effort for the truth that is
not found "valuable enough" to take place in the media that the system uses
to fool people and fill their heads with garbage in the name of "news".
For the truths occuring in the screams of the ones oppressed, silenced,
and condemned to poverty, not for the lies of the palaces, parliaments,
"clubs" and state. And even more, for the truths that echoes in the steps
of the ones that revolt and struggle for taking their own lives in hand.
Especially the pressure and the authoritarian interferences of the state,
the ruses of the capitalists, the human and nature destruction these two
causes in cooperation in Turkey and the actions and writings of the anti-capitalists
and revolutinaries are going to take place at our pages. The expriences
of the ones, who struggle for creating the roots of a new and free life
against the alienation and slavery of capitalism, is an important news source
for us. We will try to be the voice of the ones who revolt against the hierarchical,
authoritarian, and possesive decadence, and decide to take their own lives
in hand.

The news, articles etc. from all around the world are the real source of
the existence of Autonomedia. The site that will always be updated with
these news and announcements will both keep people informed and will facilitate
and speed up the communication between people (but we must express our worry
about using the net for communication: We don't view the net as the main
way for communication. If we want to get rid of the alienation attacks of
capitalism, the main thing we must do is to improve the face-to-face communication.
So we don't want our site and generally the net to be the "only communication
tool". This is just the beginning. The local organisations and struggles
are the main basis to change this centralist system. Autonomedia is not
a basis like this, it is only a tool used for information). If you post
us or publish the events that you see, you join and that are important for
you, they will be published. That means that we will make Autonomedia a
news and communication network all together. Besides this, as it can be
understood from above, Autonomedia is not a "liberal" site. We don't have
an intention to be the spokesmen of the state and capitalism in the name
of being multi-colored. So we don't want such laudotory or promotional texts
and articles to be posted or published. We will exhibit the ones who insist
on this. Needless to say, the articles including swearing, pornography and/or
fascist propaganda will be "filtered" by us.

Autonomedia will pay 'special attention' to the current 'special problems'
-- especially if these news are censored by the system's media. We think this
is a necessity under the conditions of Turkey.

We will work for providing information about the events abroad. Our translation
group will work for this subject. So if you send us an article in a foreigner
language (=not Turkish), it will be published and will also be translated
into Turkish.

The middle column at Otonomedya.org is prepared by the "information gatherers"
and the workers of the Autonomedia. We make decisions about the subjects
that will take place at the middle column in our forums in which the direct
democracy is the main principal. The differentiations such as gatherer,
worker, translator, technician are not important in these forums. We decide
all together and act according to these decisions. Briefly, we pay special
attention to our principals such as "non-hierarchism", and "anti-authoritarianism"
to be valid at all steps of our deciding and working processes, and we try
to make it real not only on internet, but face to face. The gatherer, technician
etc. "positions" are short-termed and dependent on rotation because we know
that division of labor and becoming a specialist serve capitalism. Autonomedia
works via amateur spirit; the last thing we want is to educate a specialist,
journalist or a web site designer. We try to create everything together,
teaching each other and with the same enthusiasm. We don't want to serve
capitalism, but encourage the revolutionary movement.

The right column is always updated via the news and articles. This is the
news source of the middle column. So it is clear that the middle column
will be formed according to the news and articles at the right column.

We guess these sentences are enough to express our purposes in Autonomedia.
There is no need to write "an introduction to the critics of the media"
article. Improvements will occur in our perspectives with the emerging problems
and new states. Questions and proposals will make us add new sentences to
this article. Maybe then, the organisation called "we" become a widely-organised
and a fast-working community.

And maybe then, with our amateur spirit and enthusiasm, against the masters
holding the knowledge-power in their hands, we will have surrounded the
ones who classify and exploit our lives with a big web...

Otonomedya

www.otonomedya.org