'Solidarity with Indymedia' petition!

south west | miscellaneous | news report Sunday November 04, 2007 19:03 by Bristle mag bristlemag at yahoo dot co dot uk

The recent attacks on the international Indymedia movement by the FBI, in cahoots with other national police & secret service agencies, has been well documented on this newswire (see front page dated 10/10/04), and the UK Indymedia site.

However, an international petition in solidarity with Indymedia has not yet been posted on the Bristol site. We received info about it from the London based Legal Defence & Moniotring group (LDMG) a few days ago, and are now placing the appeal on this site.

We would urge all users of the site to support the petition, as we have done both collectively & individually. We accept that petitions alone may appear to have little effect (ie anti-war petitions!), but it takes but a minute of your time with no comeback! Please ensure you verify your signature as this legitimises the petition. In addition we would urge all supporters of Indymedia to increase their participation in the Indymedia project, both to counteract the corporate media, and to promote the concept of free, independent news - you make it, you write it! Cheers, and here's the info:

Indymedia Web Servers siezed - please sign the petition
Indymedia is a global media network that provides open space to publish challenging, independent reporting, with emphasis on political and social justice issues. The Indymedia network is based upon principled mutual aid and voluntary participation, maintaining openly accessible newswires with the capacity for anyone to publish texts, images, audio, and video.
On 7 October, 2004, hard drives from two Indymedia servers were seized from the London office of a US-owned web hosting company, Rackspace, at the request of the US Justice Department, apparently in collaboration with Italian and Swiss authorities.
The seizure of the hard drives in London shut down an Indymedia radio station and around 20 different Indymedia websites including those serving Ambazonia, Uruguay, Andorra, Poland, Western Massachusetts, Nice, Nantes, Lilles, Marseille, Euskal Herria (Basque Country), Liege, East and West Vlaanderen, Antwerpen, Belgrade, Portugal, Prague, Galiza, Italy, Brazil, UK, and parts of Germany Indymedia.
Although the hard drives were returned on October 13, the particular legal framework under which the seizures took place is unknown. One week after the seizures there is still an almost total information blackout from the authorities in the UK, US, Switzerland and Italy. Indymedia still has no confirmation of who ordered the seizures, who took the hard drives, why the seizures took place, or whether it will happen again.
Indymedia are therefore asking people to sign a declaration in support. Please add your name. To do so click on the link below:
http://solidarity.indymedia.org.uk/

Thanks
LDMG
www.ldmg.org.uk
Postal address: LDMG, C/o BM Haven, London WC1N 3XX