Reading the comments posted by Han on the article ‘Blackshirts, reds and others’, which pointed me towards the previous debates on mainstream media searching for violence, I felt that it was necessary to try to untie the Gordian knot (for anybody not familiar with this tale – to untie an impossible knot, hack through it…). I hope for mass replies on this article, and for people taking the answers into their hearts and into their actions.


A reflection on the roots of the movement, spanning our entire history, is necessary. As Jan Dumolyn stated correctly in the article mentioned above: Marx wanted the abolishment of the state. But few have read Marx, Lenin, Trotsky, Rosa Luxemburg and others, as few anarchists have read Bakunin or know all of Chomsky’s visions. Since time is not always available, most of us un-familiars will never be able to read all these necessary must-reads. I can add a few must-reads myself (I quoted from ‘On Liberty’ of John Stuart Mill myself – a bible on its own, which is forgotten by almost everybody!), but why add to the information overload. But at the same moment, the protest and manifestations go on, with members of the same movement spitting and yelling at each others, youngsters wearing T-shirts of Ché Guevara without having a clue about who he is and what he did, many marxists asking for things Marx himself never asked for, anarchists calling each other names (effectively labelling each other, even while this is not what they intended). At the edges of the movement, there are also some nationalist movements, whether they be left or right, whose actions are stated as being ‘fascist’ before they are even allowed to open their mouth. ‘Non-violence’, but not against the allies…


<i>Do we want to continue seeing this disparity between our words and our actions? Do we want to continue labelling each other? Haven’t we got a more important struggle going on? Who are the heroes we follow, why, and do we know what they said? Do we know why we are spitting on the heroes of the others? How do we unite? How do we combine our ideas towards a greater good?</i>


At the same time, their is also an ‘outside world’. The fourth group of potential allies I talked about in the article ‘Blackshirts, reds and others’. People who are not into politics. We all know how they live – all of us have got friends who just want to lead their lives as they see it, not to be concerned too much about the world. Most of them are disillusioned however in politics. The collapse of the political world (I believe it is right to see it this way) we see today, cleary shows that something is changing in this front too. The rise of extreme-right shows that political lies are too much for many. Protest votes are recuperated by those parties, votes which can be put to the good of us all. The fourth group of people is not happy with the way things are going.


<i>Why do so many see the ‘ordinary man’ as stupid? Are they? Do they not have their own ideas on how the world should work? Own dreams? Are they ‘fascist’ when they vote on extreme-right parties, or is there something else wrong? How much of this is our own responsability? How are we seen in their eyes? Something to be learned from that?</i>


At the same time, we see that many so-called mainstream media channels are looking for populistic easy-selling topics. A good vision on this is written in the ‘Black Block’ discussion on this site. However, I refuse to believe that all is bad in the media. Even while media channels do not always take up their responsability to show the truth, I do not think that this is all because of evil intentions. I believe that journalists have their own opinions, just as we do. I am playing the devil’s advocate by claiming that Trends-journalists criticising the Tobintax for example may just as well believe that the tax is impossible.
Many journalists indeed do not think in the long term, instead bringing infotainment to ‘the masses’. Many visions of ordinary people are spun out of their context because of this practice. Violence sells better than critical articles…
But with the media groups becoming more and more market-minded, there must be many journalists who do not like this practice at all. But is is more difficult than ever to fight it: there is less time to investigate (admit it: democratic globalisation is a difficult topic) large stories, there isn’t always enough space… It must be hard.  


<i>Do journalists willingly turn a blind eye on their responsabilities? Do they have a positive or a negative effect on our movement? Why? What is their task?
Are journalists not also members of the afore-mentioned fourth category of ordinary people? Do they actively bring one-sided stories? Because they want to lie, or because they just don’t always know the context? Why is that? Where is our responsability in this? Do we give them a united picture? Are we always non-violent or realistic?
And what about Indymedia? Are we prepared to be independent all the time? And if we aren’t, what is the effect on the movement and on the ideas of the participants? How does an outsider look at what we are doing? How can we bring the things that must be brought? How do we actively participate to answer all of the questions mentioned above? How do we, as Indymedia, reach out to all the people who DON’T read the articles on this site???</i>


These are some of the questions that occupy me lately. It schocked me to realize that the comments on ‘Blackshirts, Reds and others’ said that the above-mentioned questions were as old as ‘left’ itself. It is time to look modestly into ourselves and answer the most important question of all:


<i>Why has there seldom been a union between the people who want to create a better world? Why do the destructors of the world have it so easy, when history proves that there has always been resistance? How do we unite? How do we win without pressing our opinion on the people who think differently? What unified message do we have towards the world?</i>


The debate is open. Please, think of this seriously, and see it as a challenge not to curse and swear, and spit on the people who fight for the same things you do. To unite is only possible when you are prepared to unite – to see this movement as more than just your struggle. It is the struggle of the world. Do not take this personal. Do not make this personal. See it as a challenge  not to be afraid to learn. No one knows all there is to know.


Maarten Van Hove, Indymedia Belgium

<i>PS: Naar de reacties die binnenkomen, wil ik gerust:

1) De tekst vertalen naar het Nederlands
2) Met de conclusies een opiniestuk (helpen) schrijven waarmee we bijvoorbeeld naar De Morgen kunnen stappen (?)</i>