Fourth Week (Nov. 29):
The
piece "Beyond Authenticity, Aesthetic Strategies and Anarchist Media,"
by Kyle Harris, takes a critical view of the tendency in some Anarchist
media (including Indymedia) in which traditional narrative and technical
quality take a back seat to hastily edited pieces that favor a grainy
low quality aesthetic. The essay argues that with no extra expense, but
more attention to what needed to tell an important story, Anarchist
media makers could have a much wider audience.
November 29th, 7-9PM
Flying Squirrel Community Space
285 Clarissa St.
Rochester, NY
"We
can have a cynical attitude in the face of the media to say nothing can
be done about the dollar power that creates itself in images, words,
digital communication, and computer systems that invades not just with
an invasion of power, but with a way of seeing that world, of how they
think the world should look. We could say, well, 'that's the way it is'
and do nothing. Or we can simply assume incredulity: we can say that any
communication by the media monopolies is a total lie. We can ignore it
and go about our lives. But there is a third option that is neither
conformity, nor skepticism, nor distrust: that is to construct a
different way—to show the world what is really happening—to have a
critical world view and to become interested in the truth if what
happens to people who inhabit every corner of this world."
The
above words were read aloud in a statement by Subcomandante Marcos of
the Zapatistas in Chiapas, Mexico. And it is with those words that the
independent media center movement began to germinate, eventually
springing from the ground in Seattle of 1999 during the World Trade
Organization summit. The Rochester Indymedia collective, just past our
10th year of operation, felt inspired to critically reflect on what
we've produced, how we've produced it, and what we hope the next 10
years will bring. With that spirit of critical engagement, we invite
you, our communities, our readership, and the public, to join us for
Building Our Media: a critical discussion series on independent media.