[ssf] Sheffield Radical Newsletter fingy

[Dan]

Allo!

At the SSF meeting on the 17th, I hope to make a start on this radical 
newsletter thingy.  Just get something started.

Target date for first edition: either end of March or just after the 
lantern festival so's we can have a story and piccie of that on the 
front to begin with.  (Maybe end of March, with piccies from previous 
lantern carnival, promoting the next...)

But a little bit of planning is needed!  After having looked at some 
other ones around the globe (IMC ones mainly...), here's some thoughts.  
Anyone wanting to get the ball rolling, please come to the meeting on 
the 17th Feb.  (I intend to run hardcopy / writing etc workshops on the 
2nd and 4th Thursdays of the month.  As Oscar Wilde said, the trouble 
with socialism is, it takes too many evenings...)

1. Ideally I'd personally like this to be a joint IMC / SSF project.  
Why? To tie in a political and cultural events listing, writing, 
teach-ins and locally led research etc into one hardcopy a month.  Also 
because, collectively and co-operatively, maybe we'll get some dosh 
coming in to both through this project. There's probably some problems 
with this - what are they?

2. All labour voluntary?  All funds raised cover printing costs etc. 
only?  I don't think this is a hard and fast rule - my personal aim is 
to get something of Sandman size once a month, and voluntary work may 
not achieve this.  This is where we need to work out whether it could be 
a separate entity, not-for-profit, which put it's surplus as per No.3 
below - but let's wait and see how things go.  (E.g. it may just be 
another one of my hare-brained e-mail rants that never comes to anything!)

3. Any money above and beyond costs covered goes to Sheffield IMC and 
SSF on a 50/50 basis.  (You never know, there might be some profit!)

4. We can get not only ad revenue (which will / can be hard work - will 
have to think about this!) but should look into other kinds of funding -
e.g. affiliation.  In the Leicester SF model, means simply giving money 
- there's no power involved.  There's a problem if someone wants to 
donate £10,000 - affiliation should ideally be many small amounts, not a 
few large amounts.  This means no harm done if a few don't like what is 
written and pull out!  (Same as with eco-systems - diversity equals 
strength / monoculture equals weakness.)  Note: I'm also gettin' me 
sticky fingers in wit' WEA, and they may well fund some of this. 

5. It adheres to the recently amended IMC guidelines  (see below) with 
some added about the functioning of the print collective - e.g. hardcopy 
workshops are open to all, and work on a 'teach what you know, learn 
what you don't' basis.  (Which I nicked from Lowtech's James!)

6. Ties in to the online version of IMC Sheffield - e.g. 'go to the 
online story to add comments.  Next month we'll digest the best...'.

7. It's not boring, staid and ra all the time, and has a diversity of 
content.

Some IMC aims, which apply equally to a hardcopy:

*To provide an alternative to the national and local corporate media.
*To support people striving for social change in our communities by 
providing information and coverage that illuminates rather than 
diminishes the actions taken by people in local communities.
*To support the wider global anti-capitalist movement.
*To provide a means through which links can be made from local to 
national and global issues; and for global issues to be distilled into 
local perspectives.  (Yes! Yes!  There's someone who's already produced 
some writing on why Gordon Brown's apparent care for the world's poor is 
absolute pants..)
*To bring a DIY perspective to the communicating of news and stories in 
our communities and enable this communication to be, as far as possible, 
unmediated - speaking for ourselves to each other.
*To maintain the radical history of Sheffield and enhance the radical 
future.
*To be a resource that facilitates communication between local groups, 
and a means through which groups with common goals can make links.

It should contain:

-Original reporting.
-News not covered elsewhere.
-Text, photos and artwork [I changed that a bit!  Was audio, photos, 
text] by people on issues that affect their lives.
-Ideas/views that can't be heard elsewhere due to the limitations of the 
corporate media.
-Items that promote DIY alternatives to global capitalism, including 
practical aspects and problem solving.
-Encourage posts to be written in a way that is open and accessible to a 
wide range of people, for example, avoiding jargon, technical and 
specialist vocabulary.

Previously, I think I'd be for changing 'anti-capitalist' to social 
justice, just for the purposes of the hard copy, and only because of 
common misconceptions.  But perhaps the alternative to this is to start 
the first one with some points of view on what anti-capitalist means - 
e.g. 'well, we make a profit, but it goes into the community!  And then 
there are others who say we should trash the money system 
altogether...'  This could involve allowing someone from the Chamber of 
Commerce to defend themselves against, say, someone from the SWP.  That 
could be quite comic!  And note how it could also be an open meeting - 
hence why it ties in to events and the SSF.  Ha ha!  It's all part of my 
secret plan to take over the worldINTERNALDIALOGUE!BEQUIET!*slap!*slap!*

Anyways, nuff for now...

peace
Dan