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Towards the launch of the ILMN
Source Steve Zeltzer
Date 07/08/24/18:09

Towards the launch of the International Labour Media Network (ILMN)

A programme of Action

1 August 2007 ­ 30 October 2008


"Labour Media Producers of the World Unite!"

Contents

A. Executive summary 1

B Background 2

C Progress report 6

D ILMN Organisational Guidelines draft 2 9

E Content possibilities for ILMN website & areas
of work
12

F Activity possibilities for ILMN 14

G Technical feasibility analysis on ILMN and
Project requirements 14

H Points for discussion for further development 17

I Way forward: Towards the launch of the ILMN 18

J Programme of action & time-line 19



















A. Executive Summary

This project is based on the acknowledgement that the labour movement and
allied working class formations have been setback politically and
ideologically over the past few decades. On the other-hand, monopoly-capital
with their supportive governments have strongly contributed to the
relatively weak state of the labour movement and progressive left-wing
forces in society through their direct attacks on the working class in
several socio-economic respects. A very important corollary to weakening the
defence of working class people all over the world has been the insidious
ideological influences of working class life in the form of the mainstream
media.

The development and formation of the International Labour Media Network
(ILMN) is an attempt to contribute to creating an alternative independent
media space globally for working class organisations and labour media
producers to exchange their productions and maximise their use and
consumption all over the world, guided by international solidarity and
support for working class causes. In this way, advances made in one part of
the world with labour media to promote labour¹s cause could be shared to the
benefit of other groups elsewhere. So for example, the use of labour radio
in the USA and South Africa and video by SEWA in India and the Labour News
Production in Korea, could readily be shared with other groups in other
countries.

Similarly, educational materials, pictures, videos, radio programmes could
be utilised elsewhere outside its origin. In this way, through media,
workers all over the world can access and share each others¹ experiences,
learn from them and develop a sense of international labour solidarity. This
possibility has been boosted by advances in information and communication
technologies (ICTs). Radio production and broadcasts, the most accessible
and popular medium, has been made even more accessible with greater capacity
for collaboration around productions due to the Internet, lower costs of new
technology and wider broadcast reach through satellite. For marginalised
communities and sections of workers, this increases their access to
information and self-empowerment at local, national and global levels.

The project will therefore attempt to overcome the lack of co-operation
between producers of workers' media, and explore the potential for
international common work between relevant organisations and groups to
promote an understanding of capitalist globalisation, and encourage
international working class and trade union solidarity - through radio,
film, print, and new digital technologies.

It will utilise modern information technology and specifically the Internet
to be the vehicle for such an exchange. Its full success will ensure
exceptional and new advances in labour and progressive media for the
movement as a whole. However, it will require the fullest possible
commitment by all who join in the collective and democratic processes of its
development and formation. It can either result in a major success or a
major failure, discouraging others from attempting it in future.

The need for the ILMN is obvious and is not based on an arduous formal
global needs analysis. However, much will need to be done to encourage
existing organisations who have participated thus far and many new ones, to
consistently produce and exchange materials and constantly push for "out of
the box" approaches. This will mean that we regularly review our
conventional practices and work in order to break from those that hold us
back and maintain us in our safe havens of routine and bureaucratic
practices in media production and dissemination.

It is this bureaucratic routinism that prevents us from reaching out
meaningfully to each other in solidarity, that includes our rank and file
members where our media productions are most needed for conscientising and
maximum collective action ­ the essence of popular education.

At the same time we as labour media producers have to compete for the
attention or audiences with the established capitalist media. This poses
challenges to our media content and forms around which a global exchange via
the ILMN could systematically be addressed.

This document is intended to facilitate important democratic discussions in
all interested and participating organisations on a local, country, regional
(continental) and global basis. It raises several possibilities and
questions that need to be addressed towards the formation of the ILMN. The
first important phase is for us to come together on a common political and
organisational basis for the ILMN. Simultaneously, we aim to set up the ILMN
website to demonstrate in practice what the possibilities are. These
possibilities are huge and range from a simple exchange of articles,
newsletters to the setting up a global 24-hour labour TV channel that can
challenge the mighty CNN and BBC.

Much will depend on you and your organisations¹ commitment and active taking
forward of the realisation of all the possibilities.

We call on all to organise by starting with studying and discussing the
document at all levels and submit comments and voluntary active support to
the various aspects of the project in preparation for the formal launch of
the ILMN ­ scheduled for October 2008, in London.




















B. Background

For more than a decade, labour and other social activists, progressive NGOs
and academics have written and published, run workshops and campaigned
against the ravages of neo-liberal capitalist globalisation. Despite the
campaigning and teachings about the negative aspects of globalisation by
progressive people all around the world, we have not turned the tide and
created a situation more favourable to working class people. Despite all our
efforts, we have not managed to create the necessary class-conscious
activity that decisively shifts the balance of social forces more favourably
towards working class people. More positively, developments in Latin America
are pointing towards a leftward shift and re-awakening of working class
political activity as a direct consequence to the effects of neo-liberalism.
Yet these developments are barely mentioned in the mainstream media.
Similarly, developments in the Middle-East are predominantly presented as a
contest between the civilising forces of the West up against oriental
barbarism or as failed foreign policy on the part of Bush and Blair.

We have not met the challenges imposed by globalisation that would enable us
to respond adequately. Despite numerous educational interventions all over
the world, we have not seen a mass qualitative shift in consciousness and
action at rank and file level. There are various reasons for our weakness in
responding to capital¹s barbaric and relentless pursuit of profit. One area
of weakness that stands out, is our failure to mount a serious challenge on
the ideological dominance of capital. We have promoted alternatives to
neo-liberal globalisation in all its facets, but have failed to connect
these with the people who are most affected and essential to leading the
challenge. The progressive values and principles that labour and socialist
movements have embodied for liberating human beings of all forms of
oppression and exploitation have been setback by various historical and
political factors over the last few decades.

Monopoly-capital, despite their already historic political and ideological
dominance, has for both economic and political reasons expanded and
concentrated their stranglehold over the mass media. With the help of modern
electronic media, they have become the foremost innovators in exporting and
entrenching capitalist ideas and cultural values. The shifting of popular
opinions of people, especially in the developed northern countries around
the invasion and subsequent colonisation of Iraq by the US and UK
governments, is illustrative of the power of the capitalist media. Even
clearer, is the example of the Venezuelan experience and the role of
commercial television channels and newspapers in a failed political coup
attempt at ousting the government of populist left-wing President, Hugo
Chavez.

At the level of resources, we would never be able to challenge this
significantly. But if, together with our traditional strengths of mass
organising, mobilising around issues that affect working class people, our
own alternative mass media in various forms can strike a lethal blow to this
ideological hegemony over the majority of the world¹s people. We need to
explore the possibilities that the advances in modern technology offer for
creating our alternative popular media at an international level. We need to
explore the latest offerings of technology to take further and expand our
efforts to areas such as radio, audio, art, film and television. All of
these media forms we are now able to readily exchange across borders through
an electronic convergence via the Internet and broadband.

The latest technology, combined with our demands and struggle for access to
public media, such as state owned (and even privately owned) television and
radio, will enable us to reach out directly to the millions whose interests
we claim to represent. It will allow us to directly access and engage with
millions of people most affected by neo-liberal globalisation and promote
alternatives.

The possibilities of alternative popular collective media that promote our
progressive values of labour solidarity, social and economic equality and
democratic practice is now a much greater possible reality than ever before.
Labour media initiatives in local radio, television and print that were
often confined to national boundaries can be centralised and exchanged more
readily at an international level.

The IFWEA Resolution

Guided by this view and approach, Workers¹ World Media Productions (South
Africa) sponsored the following resolution to the International Federation
of Workers¹ Education Associations (IFWEA) International Conference held in
Portugal during October 2003, and it was unanimously adopted.

Noting:

1. The ownership and control of the mainstream and popular media have become
monopolised by a few media conglomerates.
2. Predominance of views and perspectives on issues that affect working
class people¹s lives are alien and often hostile to their interests.
3. The degeneration of cultural activities and entertainment by debasing
human existence in the form of violence, the abusive and sexist portrayal of
women and the expanding scope of sports, American music and film and TV
entertainment in the media, in the interest of profit and preserving the
status-quo.
4. The weakening of alternative labour and working class biased media and
cultural activities in the context of neo-liberal capitalist globalisation
and the aggressive interventionist quasi-colonial US imperialism.
5. That modern technology, particularly computers and information technology
provides us with new possibilities for developing education and media in the
interests of the labour movement and working class people.

Believing:

1. That the majority of working class people in the world are denied access
to information relevant for advancing their interests either due to
manifestations of poverty (illiteracy, affordability) or the domination of
popular media by capital and conversely the weakness of working class
formations/
organisations.
2. That media and cultural activities that are radical in form and content,
are an important means of defending and advancing the interests of labour
and working class people.
3. That labour education and media are complementary in their aims of
empowering working class people through active democratic involvement,
accessing information, analysis, building organisation and collective
action.
4. That we could utilise the technology amongst IFWEA members, its allies
and organisations that share its objectives in the sphere of workers
education, to dramatically advance workers education, access to and sharing
of information and building international solidarity at an international
level.
We therefore resolve:

1. To further explore the possibilities of information technology for
advancing IFWEA¹s aims and objectives by the integrated use of audio-visual
and text forms of communication via the Internet.
2. To organise interested IFWEA affiliates, interested stakeholders and
allied organisations to utilise such possibilities to advance our cause
through democratic involvement and exchanges of information and perspectives
on a mass-basis by accessing popular forms of media, namely, radio,
television, publications and the Internet.
3. To convene an international labour media conference within three years to
discuss and advance the above.

The International Workshop ­ Cape Town, April 2006

A full report of this workshop can be accessed through:
http://ifweaworkshopreport.blogspot.com

The workshop concluded with the election of a preparatory committee
consisting of representatives from every region and the adoption of a
memorandum of understanding that committed participating organisations and
delegates to taking the project forward.

Workers¹ Education & Workers¹ Media in a Global Economy
International Workshop, Cape Town, 4-7 April 2006

Memorandum of Understanding

We the participants in the IFWEA International Workshop on Workers¹
Education & Workers¹ Media in a Global Economy, held in Cape Town 4-7 April
2006, agree the following principles and common objectives for the future
development of international co-operation in workers¹ media and workers¹
education:

1. We, as part of the international labour movement, have a responsibility
to support effective international labour solidarity and trade union
organisation in the context of corporate globalisation, and to exploit new
opportunities in the development of workers¹ media in support of that
struggle.

2. Access to inclusive and participatory media is a right for workers, and
we have a duty to struggle for press freedom, against censorship of workers
and their representative organisations, and to defend public service media.
In the context of new media, we need to assert new rights of freedom of
expression and media access, including ­ where necessary ­ the formulation
of new law in defence of those freedoms.

3. The workshop has demonstrated that there is an enormous wealth of
knowledge and experience within the membership of the IFWEA and elsewhere in
the international labour movement in the exploitation of video, audio, print
and information and communication technologies.

4. Until now, the diffusion and awareness of this knowledge and experience
has been largely limited to the national or regional arena. This workshop
has enabled us to share our experiences from country to country and region
to region.

5. As the result of our discussions, we recognise that we have a major
opportunity to establish an international network and co-operative between
workers¹ media and education organisations, capable of:

… Effective international distribution of workers¹ media, enabling access to
video, audio, print and new media products for the workers¹ education
movement and the broader labour movement in general;

… Co-operative production of new media products, enabling the development of
richer and more diverse cultural and educational tools, reflecting workers¹
experiences and struggles worldwide;

… Development of new and innovative cultural forms and tools in the new
media, enabling international co-operation and experimentation with forms of
cultural expression that reflect the values and principles of the world¹s
democratic labour movement.

… Encouraging and providing training opportunities for IFWEA members and
labour media organisations in the development of skills and confidence in
the exploitation of media for workers¹ education.

We agree to establish a small inter-regional committee of IFWEA member and
partner organisations to consult closely with the workshop participants to:

1. Take immediate and practical steps to establish a platform for the
exchange and dissemination of workers¹ media and educational resources;

2. Undertake a detailed feasibility study for the initiative, focusing on
organisational arrangements, sustainability and resource mobilisation,
affiliation guidelines etc.

3. Prepare a detailed report and plan of activity, and;

4. Convene an international labour media conference within two years to
formally launch the initiative.

The committee will meet within six months of this workshop.

Furthermore, we agree to report-back and organise similar workshops and
discussions locally and regionally to promote the growth and development of
the initiative.

Ends.

This Memorandum of Understanding, having been discussed through small groups
and subsequent plenary meeting of the workshop participants, was agreed on
Friday 7 April 2006.

The following workshop delegates were elected to serve on the ILMN
Preparatory Committee:

ß Namrata Bali (SEWA ­ India)
ß Dan Gallin (IFWEA)
ß Eric Lee (Labourstart)
ß Martin Jansen (WWMP ­ South Africa)
ß Myoung Jung Kim (Korea)
ß Margaret Mundago (Tanzanian Congress of Trade Unions)
ß Dave Spooner (IFWEA)
ß Juan-Carlos Vargas (Plades ­ Peru)
ß Steve Zeltzer (UPPNET - USA)

C. Progress Report on ILMN development since April 2006

With the help of Eric Lee, the ILMN website was set-up to enable and
facilitate discussion amongst Preparatory Committee members. The website was
set-up in a manner that only allowed PC members full access enabling them to
post and edit documents and directly contribute to discussions. However this
facility was not utilised by the PC, a reflection of a general lack of
interest and participation by the PC members since the workshop.

Of the eight PC members, Dan Gallin and Myoung Jung Kim have withdrawn,
Margaret Mundago from Tanzania has abstained and Dave Spooner (IFWEA) has
been replaced by Crystal Dicks. Eric Lee no longer participates as a
consequence of a political fall-out regarding his support for Israel¹s
invasion of Lebanon last year. Juan-Carlos Vargas has not participated at
all.

Due to the failure of the preparatory committee to communicate during the
intervening months we have not been able to democratically develop clear
policies. Despite this we have drafted a constitution and policies for the
project (see section D). However, the few active members of the PC have
managed to take the project forward and through organisational activities
for the ILMN have co-opted strategic individuals onto the PC

The PC now consists of:

ß Namrata Bali (SEWA ­ India)
ß Crystal Dicks (IFWEA)
ß Martin Fishgold (Labour Voices ­ USA)
ß Martin Jansen (WWMP ­ South Africa)
ß Jiah Kim (USA)
ß Jiyoung Kim (Korea)
ß Dave Spooner
ß Juan-Carlos Vargas (Plades ­ Peru)
ß Steve Zeltzer (UPPNET - USA)
ß Mag Wompel (LabourNet ­ Germany)
ß Jean Wolff (CLC and CALM - Canada)



The active members of the Preparatory Committee have engaged in the
following activities to promote the ILMN:

1. Development of discussion documents:

These discussion documents are intended to take the development of the ILMN
forward towards its formal launch (set for October 2008) with the fullest
democratic participation of relevant organisations. Primarily there are two
areas, namely the political and organisational basis for the ILMN in the
form of a draft constitution, answering the "why and how" organisational
questions. The second part of the document focuses on the scope and
possibilities of the ILMN as well as related technical feasibility and
requirements of the ILMN.

These are now contained in this consolidated document (Sections E - G) As
these are draft documents, by implication they are not considered to be
perfect and the idea is that interested organisations at local, national and
regional level have organised discussions around them and make contributions
and suggestions for improvement and changes as soon as possible. Time-frames
for this are outlined in the programme of action (page 25)

2. Organising and mobilising support for the ILMN

2.1. North America
New York - A number of PC members attended the Labour Voices Conference in
New York during late April 2007. Presentations were done on the ILMN in both
special panel and the plenary discussions. The proposal for the ILMN was
very well received and supported in the conference resolution. The PC also
met to plan the way forward and nominated two people to be co-opted onto the
PC. They are Marty Fishgold who was the key organizer and chairperson of the
conference and Jiah Kim, a Korean living in the USA and working for a
national US TV channel, Free Speech TV. Jiah is a website/Internet expert
and worked with Steve Zeltzer on the technical part of the discussion
document. It was also proposed Mag Wompel from Labournet (Germany) be
co-opted onto the PC. The ILMN PC meeting discussed and prepared for the
following:
ß The Labour Voices Conference resolution
ß Discussion documents
ß Organising/mobilizing for the ILMN
ß Re-organising the ILMN website
ß A draft Programme of Action towards the ILMN launch in 2008

In Canada Martin met with representatives from the following organisations
to promote the ILMN, recruit them to the emerging network and secure their
active participation as soon as possible;

Canadian Labour Congress (International desk) ­ Stephen Benedict and Jean
Wolff. Jean is also the Treasurer of the Canadian Association of Labour
Media (CALM) and volunteered to assist in organising Canadian labour media
producers for the ILMN.

Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) ­ Louise Le Clair. CUPE does
web-casting of their and others¹ videos in addition to publications,
posters, artwork etc.
Canadian Autoworkers Union (CAW) Jim Pare, Annie La Bage, Herman Rosenberg
and others.

Steelworkers Union ­ Doug Olthuis

All of the above representatives expressed a keen interest in the ILMN and
volunteered to assist in promoting it in Canada and elsewhere. They also
passed on valuable contacts of labour media producers who could contribute
to the ILMN and some of its prospective sub-projects. These include; Marie
Hielene Bonin (now working for Alternatives), Naomi Klein (No Logo.com),
Julius Fischer (workingtv@telus.net), Pat Daley (CUPE Head of
Communications), Paul Jay and Howard Dean (Independent World TV), Guy
Bisette (IDRC Communications person ­ specialises in utilising radio for
development in rural areas), Pat van Horn (Steelworkers Media Officer).

2.2. Europe

Two meetings with strategic organisations for the ILMN were piggy-backed
onto a trip Martin and his colleague from WWMP. They met with the IFJ and
the ITUC.

International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) - Brussels, Belgium
Unfortunately Aidan White the General Secretary of the IFJ could not make
the meeting due to a family issue that he had to attend to. Instead a
meeting was held with Oliver Money- Kerde (Projects Manager), and Rachel
Cohen (Communications Officer) and they were briefed about the ILMN and the
importance of the IUJ¹s involvement, especially in assisting in organising
the European region of the ILMN. Since the IFJ has access to so many
different journalists, they would also be able to source and recommend
committed members to the ILMN.
Oliver and Rachel explained how the IFJ works organisationally and expressed
that they are happy to promote the ILMN as much as possible in their current
work with journalists all over the world. However, they were cautious to
give more commitment than that, due to capacity concerns.

Oliver also indicated that they would definitely try and source contacts for
the ILMN Preparatory Committee (PC) for the European region. They also
suggested that the ILMN investigate contacts through the European Trade
Union Confederation (ETUC).

MJ reported on the launching conference of the ILMN planned October 2008 in
London, and the preparatory work that is in process until then.
IFJ reported that they have regional subcommittees and that ILMN connects
with the communication officers of these particular trade unions for more
co-operation.
It was discussed that co-operation between IFJ and IFWEA could help greatly
to organise European chapter of ILMN. Oliver and Sarah undertook to report
on the meeting to Aidan White.

International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) - Brussels, Belgium
A meeting was held with Tim Noonan, head of the Campaigns and Communications
at ITUC, their press Officer, Mathieu Debroux and Kristin Blom, their
International Campaigns Officer.

MJ briefed the meeting about the ILMN in detail.

Tim gave input on the ITUC media work and informed us that they spent
between 15 000 ­ 20 000 Euros on labour media by
1. Broadcasting quality video material, by working with local independent
producers in different countries,
2. The material is copied onto DVD (about 1000 distributed and used and
streamed on their website
3. International Transport workers Federation (ITF) is working on a low
quality video on Guatemala. They broadcast 10-15 videos produced a month,
investigating using YouTube.

Tim raised several valuable and pertinent points regarding the ILMN for
consideration. These are captured and incorporated under the section headed
"discussion questions/issues"

ITUC is committed to talk to the ETUC regarding accessing their database and
discussion document regarding media.
ITUC also suggested WWMP get connected Union Network International.
ITUC committed themselves to getting a general mandate for co-operation
during their general council meeting in June. That is to get trade union
members to connect with the ILMN. They reiterated that the ILMN PC deal with
1. technical feasibility, 2. geographical linguistic and cultural issues, 3.
financial and sustainability of the website and network, 4. editorial and
copyright issues.

A short discussion also ensued on ITUC and ILMN commitment to supporting
non-propaganda and independent journalism.

ITUC suggested to WWMP that we explore funding for through DFID, LOTCO,
British TUC. Also suggested that MJ send funding proposal by end July 2007,
that funding might be secured through cultural funding.


















D. ILMN Organisational Guidelines/Constitution (Draft 2.)

1. Name

The name of the association shall be the International Labour Media Network
(ILMN)

2. Aims of the ILMN

To establish an influential and thriving multi-media web-based labour media
network that will be a platform for developing the social and political
standing of labour and the broader working class in society and the media by
international practical cooperation in order to;

… Ensure significant growth in independent and alternative labour media
(audio-visual and print) and the coverage of labour issues in the
established mainstream media globally.

… Support the growth of independent labour media space within the mainstream
public and private media.

… Contribute towards a social, political and economic climate that is
supportive of working class and labour interests, especially those of female
and marginalised workers globally.

3. Objectives

3.1. To support effective international labour/working class solidarity
and organisation in the context of corporate globalisation, and to exploit
new opportunities in the development of workers¹ media in support of that
struggle.

3.2. To ensure access to inclusive and participatory media as a right for
workers within the mainstream commercial and public media and within working
class
organizations such as trade unions. To this end we will engage and campaign
against the mainstream media and campaign for wider access and in support of
the interests of working class people.

3.3. To struggle, promote and campaign for press freedom, against
censorship of
workers and their representative organisations and to defend public service
media.

3.4. In the context of new media, we assert new rights of freedom of
expression and media access, including ­ where necessary ­ the formulation
of new laws in defence of those freedoms. In support of this objective we
will, if necessary,
initiate, support and participate in campaigns on national, regional
and nternational levels.

3.5. To explore the possibilities of developing common labour media work
through the use of Information Technology through the web-based network for:

… Effective international distribution of workers¹ media, enabling global
exchanges and access to video, audio, print and new media products for the
workers¹ education movement and the broader labour movement in general;

… Co-operative production of new media products, enabling the development of
richer and more diverse cultural and educational tools, reflecting workers¹
experiences and struggles worldwide;

… Development of new and innovative cultural forms and tools in the new
media, enabling international co-operation and experimentation with forms of
cultural expression that reflect the values and principles of the world¹s
democratic labour movement.

… Encouraging and ensuring capacity-building where needed most by providing
training opportunities and support for labour and working class media
organisations in the development of skills and confidence in the
exploitation of media for workers¹ education.

… To explore the use of media to make education and educational materials
more accessible on a mass scale

… To support and organize local and international labour media conferences
as frequently as possible.

… To promote the use of film as and important educational medium and
specifically support Labour Film Festivals in this regard.

3.6. We shall strive and mutually support each other for attaining the
highest quality of content and form that reflects best practice in media use
be it related to productions, access, distribution, empowerment or
participation.

3.7. To ensure that the ILMN secures adequate financial and other resources
for
promoting and sustaining its aims and objectives. We also undertake to
mutually support each other.

3.8. To co-operate and collaborate with organizations which share our aims
and
objectives.

4. Political and Organisational Principles

Members and participants in the ILMN commit themselves to respect, adhere
and promote the universal principles and values of the labour and working
class movements namely;

… Unity of workers and working class people
… Independence ­ including organisational and political independence
… Democracy ­ both in promoting the fullest democratic participation in all
aspects of socio-economic and political activity in society, media
production as well as in its own internal running and operations.

In line with the above principles the ILMN commits itself in its work to
combat all forms of discrimination and prejudice that disadvantages people
on the basis of their gender, social status, race, religion, disability,
ethnic, cultural and/or sexual orientation etc.

5. Membership

Membership of the ILMN shall be open to any organization or individual that
subscribes and adheres to the content of this constitution and pays their
annual subscriptions. Individuals who are members will have observer status
at all structures/forums of the ILMN. This means that they can participate
fully in all activities and programmes of the ILMN where appropriate but
will not be entitled to vote on decisions or resolutions.

Rights of Members

5.1. To participate in all programmes, activities and projects of the ILMN
where
organisationaly, practically and financially feasible.

5.2. To attend all its member meetings and participate fully, including but
not limited to, voting on decisions and resolutions and the election of
leadership at all levels of the organisation.

5.3. To have access to the ILMN website and freely access and download the
resources of the ILMN for non-profit use and in line with this constitution.

6. Organisational Structures

6.1. ILMN International Conference
6.2. International Committee (IC)
6.3. Regional Forums
6.4. National Forums


6.1. ILMN International Conference

Shall meet every 3 (three) years or whenever deemed appropriate and will
consist of up to two representatives of each member organization and shall:

ß Review its resolutions, programmes and plans adopted previously.
ß Showcase the work of members
ß Be a platform for engagement around key developments in media, labour and
working class struggles.
ß Elect members of the IC

6.2. International Committee (IC)

6.2.1. Is elected by the ILMN International Conference on the basis of two
representatives per geographic region:

ß North America
ß South America
ß Africa
ß Europe
ß Australasia
6.2.2. They shall from amongst them elect a President, vice-President,
treasurer and
secretary. The regions from which the individuals filling these
positions are
thereafter entitled to elect and nominate additional representatives
to the IC.

6.2.3. The IC shall meet twice per annum.

6.2.4. The IC is mandated to guide, make decisions and take action for the
implementation of resolutions and programmes adopted by the international
conference and to ensure its success.

6.3. Regional Forums

6.3.1. Shall be formed by affiliates in a particular region and each
affiliated organization is entitled to be represented by two people in such
forums.
6.3.2. These forums shall foster the ILMN at a regional level and function
mutatis mutandis as the ILMN does internationally.

6.4. National Forums

6.4.1. Shall be formed by affiliates in a particular country and each
affiliated organization is entitled to be represented by two people in such
forums.
6.4.2. These forums shall foster the ILMN at a national level and function
mutatis mutandis as the ILMN does internationally.

7. Membership Fees

Each member organisation is required to contribute an annual subscription
fee of Euro 200 to the ILMN or any amount as agreed by the ILMN Conference
from time to time.









E. Content possibilities for ILMN Website and areas of work for the ILMN

The aim is for us to set up a web-site and it will include videos, photos,
stories, music and other material now and building it up. We have to look at
the ILMN as a platform that we are developing and not as a completed project
or something that will be launched all at once. CNN started with very little
and built itself up. The same will take place with an international labour
media channel but the fact that it is there will encourage people
internationally to contribute to it.

Further in its development and with the development of broadband technology,
the website could be the vehicle through which video material is transmitted
from all over the world for broadcast via a CNN type channel. In the
meanwhile the web-site should have labour video programmes as soon as
possible, possibly through YouTube connections.

At a later point we need to discuss the conception of the Labour TV channel
that is accessible all over the world on public broadcasters in each
country. This could be the equivalent of a CNN that loops programming every
4hours daily and broadcast all over the world on various TV link-ups that
the ILMN will fight for and promote in different countries and regions. This
is a huge undertaking and the work and preparation required can and must not
be underestimated if it is to be truly global in content and access.

The whole process of getting video and even audio from countries that do not
have a good or reliable communication infrastructure (this includes most of
Africa) should be one of the areas of development of this network.

The expansion of public broadband with labour-community control should be
part of our developmental agenda. This means education and training on how
to set these can be set up as well campaigning for improved public policy in
various countries.

More on the Labour TV Channel and other possibilities
The establishment of a 24 hour labour television channel that programs
regular labour programming from around the world would be an important
resource for the world labour movement. In the past, this would have
required large amounts of capital and a large staff but with the development
of the internet, www.youtube , www.google
and other web based portals the feasibility of an
international labour video channel is at hand. Also the development of
community public controlled broadband opens up the ability to break the
digital divide and allow poor and low income workers to have use of this
communication technology.
Technical Requirements:
Such an internet channel which could be downloaded in high quality video
format would require a server for live streaming and for downloads for this
channel and enough space for an initial number of 500 users worldwide. This
could also be boosted by having mirror sites throughout the world.



Downloading of Programming:
In order to bring network programming together, programmers throughout the
world would upload their digital content initially through no-cost
commercial platforms and hosts. This news and information would be
downloaded to the Channel Control Platform where it would have narration and
captions put on and it would be scheduled for broadcast on the channel.

Live Programming:
Along with the pre-recorded programming, this channel would integrate Skype
video conferencing service and other services to have regular live news and
discussion throughout the world on topics.

This video conferencing is available and could be integrated into the
pre-recorded programming on the channel.

Interactive:
Alongside this channel could be blogs and discussion sites on the
programming topics organized by industry and/or issues on the program grid.
Industries could be transportation, Food, Auto, Mining, Healthcare, Media,
Construction, Education and topics such as organizing, trade, labour rights,
labour media, racism and history.

Labour News and Alerts:
The channel would also serve as a 24 hour news feed for updated issues and
struggles throughout the world by industry, region and union. This news and
information feed would be available from the regular programming or it could
be deleted by subscribers. This news feed would also be in initially in
English and would expand to Spanish, French, Turkish, Portuguese, Swahili,
Hindi, Korean, Mandarin and Japanese.

Labour Culture and Arts Page and Links to Labour Artists:
Included in the Labour Media Network would be regular programming on labour
posters, labour writers, labour theatre and labour music. This international
cultural component would program this work on the channel and the web site
as well as interviews with the producers of this work. This labour cultural
programming would also include programs on labour history on regions and
countries around the world and would partner with labour education
institutions and schools for this programming.

Labour's Issues Programming:
Regular programs would be developed including issues around outsourcing,
privatization, global economy, migrant labour, racism, healthcare, housing,
media and the affect of war on working people.
This programming would also be connected to various campaigns by labour
organizations around the world to concretize the issues as well as provide
an overview of the issues.

Distribution:
This channel would seek to be broadcast by satellite in the US such as the
Dish or other satellite channels in the US and internationally.

We would also seek to have other countries download the programming for
broadcast on their channels or parts of their channels, including community
TV.
This network will support an education program for the expansion of
municipally owned broadband, built and maintained by union labour into all
communities around the world and for the training of workers and trade
unionists to use broadband to produce programming both video and audio that
is available for their community and the international labour video channel.

There could be 5 mirror sites around the world that could include locations
in Turkey, South Korea, South Africa and Argentina as well as the United
States. These sites would also seek to develop labour media centres for the
training of workers and for pre-production of labour video and audio
material as a content resource for this international channel.

Estimated Costs of Production For one year¹s operation

Costs of paying for labour documentaries, programming & bandwidth
$50,000

Cost of offices/rental space $50,000

Cost of servers, cameras, , computers and software
$75,000

Cost of Staff for one year
$150,000

Cost of Publicity, travel, training
$50,000

Total
$375,000


F. Activity possibilities for ILMN

ß Research and campaigning around public media access and the position of
labour programming and coverage
ß Promoting and networking labour film festivals for every country, city and
town in the world.
ß International labour media conferences and festivals
ß Training and education courses at local and international level to promote
labour media production and distribution as widely as possible.
ß Country exchanges of expertise ­ short and long-term solidarity placements
ß Online campaigning and support

G. Technical Feasibility Analysis on International Labour
Media Network and Project Requirements

Technical Considerations 1. - Jiah Kim - USA

The Goal of ILMN

Establish an online portal to support the world labour movement and its
allies by providing interactive online tools that facilitates dynamic
communication among labour activists and union workers all over the world. A
portal would contain multi-media news contents and feature stories uploaded
from around the world and would be initially mirrored in multiple languages,
such as Spanish, English, Korean, Japanese and Turkish.

Define the steps of the project

There will be two main steps to accomplish the goals of this project.

1. Build the online network that allows labour activists to upload and share
their multi-media content via dynamic content manager.
2. Build the 24-7 Internet Labour TV channel that broadcasts labour related
programming from around the world.

First of all, in order to obtain the support for the second part of the
project from members, successful delivery of an effective portal described
above is a must. Implement a user-friendly and fully functional portal is
the key. The success of this project heavily relies on how usable,
functional, and effective this site can be to labour activists and workers
around world and win direct support from them.

Secondly, the project should be mainly developed using open source software
and the existing free online tools and technology as much as it could so
that the long-term maintenance cost can be minimal. Utilizing bit-torrent
technology and Broadcasting Machine, the Internet TV channel can be created
with minimum cost.

I. Project Requirements for Step 1:

1. Hardware requirements- A Hosting service includes the server space and
bandwidth: This could be temporary solution until the project obtains enough
monetary support to host its own servers and maintain the necessary
bandwidth. Cari.net provides its hosting service within the reasonable price
range.
2. Software requirements- Drupal, an open source content manager, could
fulfill the initial needs of the project without too much customization.
Other open source resources such as, MySql/Apache /PHP along with the
content manager will be required.
3. User Needs/Task Analysis -required at the beginning of project to
identify the goals and needs of the members/users of the project.
4. Interface design and functionality development- would require one or two
drupal-based developer/designers to customize the user-interface and
functionalities based on user needs/task analysis and functionality
requirements, using the drupal content manager.
5. Testing Period- Usability tests with 8-10 potential users to detect the
critical problems of the site in order to increase usability and remove any
potential problems using the site. Final product will be released once the
detected problems get removed and/or fixed.
6. Launch/Promotion/Campaign- utilize progressive partners and online
network, invite workers to the site.

II. Project Requirements for Step 2

Depends on the resources that the project team could secure at the
development stage of #2, it could still go along with the hosting services
or start its own production environment. However, if there is no sufficient
fund/resources to develop the second stage of the project, it could keep
using the professional hosting service that provides web server
space/bandwidth with reasonable amount of monthly cost.

Note: Reliable Servers are available via Penguin Computers with reasonable
price (3-5k per each machine) the bandwidth- 2 T1 lines combined can cost
less than 1k/month. In terms of media server and streaming services, there
are free media hosting sites, such as Archive.org and Our Media. Posting the
videos using the free hosting sites, we can create a 24-7 Internet
Television with no additional cost and users could watch the channel using
the channel via a Democracy Player. These tools and technology is available
thanks to the project of participatory culture foundation. For more
information, http://www.getdemocracy.com/broadcast/
No bandwidth/Media hosting/streaming service will be required if we utilize
this great resources.

In addition to this, I would strongly recommend to search reliable and
politically progressive web developers who could dedicate their time and
talent with minimum cost for the labour movement. Jinbonet, a progressive
network portal in Korea would be a good place to consult this project with.
I don¹t think that it is mandatory to secure a single physical location to
develop and maintain the project successfully.

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