Pro-Israeli censorship on this site?

by pat c Tue Apr 01, 2003 19:22

I really dont think there is pro Israeli censorship here. I'm sure theres some reasonable explanation.

I did allege there was pro-zionist censorship here about a year ago but I was wrong.

See, even I can make mistakes. ;)

by the watchman Tue Apr 01, 2003 19:28

I remember seeing the posting but it isn't to be found under
http://topica.com/lists/imc-ireland-hidden/read

which is where the deleted stuff goes .....

Mysterious ....

But in general I do not agree that there is an official policy of pro-Israeli censorship here ... or if there is it is not very rigorously enforced :-)

Might have been some maverick editor or a Mossad hacker ..... (Avi where are you ?)

by the watchman Tue Apr 01, 2003 19:30

In the deleted stuff I only found this

http://topica.com/lists/imc-ireland-hidden/read/message.html?mid=806005707&sort=d&start=1003

But I don't think that that was the article about the bulldozers you are referring to ? Or was it ?

by the watchman Tue Apr 01, 2003 19:36

If it was a deletion, then it doesn't appear to have been logged ... so perhaps it wasn't officially done ...
Anyway I don't think that we should be too quick to dump on the Indymedia guys, they get a lot of unnecessary flak IMHO .....

by go to hell Tue Apr 01, 2003 19:42

does anyone seriously think this is a 'pro-israeli site'? c'mon!

your anti-semitic rantings are not welcome here

by Daithi Tue Apr 01, 2003 19:42

That's funny, only 24 hours ago we were being accused of imposing anti-Islamic censorship on the site.

You know, we have mailing lists, we have a full archive of any article deleted, and we have editorial policies and procedures. I am absolutely, utterly, and completely fed up of the Glass is Half Full Party jumping to the conclusion that (fill in your point of view) is being suppressed. Personally I can't keep track of who I'm biased against from one day to the other. Save your paranoia for the real people who are out to get you. Use the contact form on the site or send a message to the editorial mailing lists. That's what someone who was genuinely wondering where an article has gone would do. The barrage of posts-about-posts is just grandstanding and attention-seeking.

Koko, I'm not having a go at you, and I know you've been contributing great material to the site for a long time - but please don't automatically think the worst (At least you didn't call us fascists). We are in the habit of giving explainations in the archive of posts where time permits, or where it's not obvious (i.e. if someone posts the same line 500 times or accidentally submits a blank post), so the idea that there is no accountability is not entirely true - yeah, we could be doing it better (and the updated site code, which is fantastic, will make that much easier).

The most important point that I want to emphasise to all users is to make use of the mailing list or contact form for this sort of allegation. You're guaranteed to get an 'official' response of some sort, and you don't knock an original story off the newswire, and you don't come across as paranoid and single-minded when, as in virtually all cases, the hiding was valid and entirely justified. Someday, just someday, I would love to see an allegation of censorship by someone who DIDN'T agree with the article that was brutally and disguistingly deleted by the Zionist-anti-Semitic-Leninist-Reformist-Anarachist-pro-American-anti-American cabal.

by Daithi Tue Apr 01, 2003 19:45

Oh, and we can't delete without it being logged. The code automatically mails the article to the archive. This is an improvement put in by the author of the code, and took care of what was, quite frankly, a problem (articles deleted without anyone knowing they were there). Of course because the transmission is by email there can be delayed delivery, but it's not as if I can log in and delete an article, then prevent it from being sent to the archive. Just not possible.

by the imposter Tue Apr 01, 2003 19:50

I'm a rabid Zionist reactionary who makes Avi H. look like Israel Shamir ... I just wanted to complain about the deletion of some viciously anti-Israeli articles from your newswire ... I think that this stuff should remain up there to show the world how sick those guys are ... after all what was it Rosa Luxemburg said about freedom being the freedom to hold divergent opinions ... or something like that ......

by Aidan Tue Apr 01, 2003 20:37

What specfic articles where they?

by Des Tue Apr 01, 2003 23:21

Given the fact that Aidan is a Mossad agent, Daithi is a member of the Labour Party and Ray was a member of the WSM.

by bassman Wed Apr 02, 2003 07:23

There is a definite anti Jewish bias to this site. Jew hating Nazism is alive and well on Indymedia.

by kokomero Wed Apr 02, 2003 10:52

My mistake, the Bulldozer article can still be found at:

http://www.indymedia.ie/cgi-bin/newswire.cgi?id=39311&start=70

However the other article asking for signatures to a petition against US military aid to Israel was indeed deleted

http://topica.com/lists/imc-ireland-hidden/read/message.html?mid=806005707&sort=d&start=1003

Whereas nobody wants to see racist abuse on this or any other site it seems rather strange that this should be deleted outright without any comment being stored in the archive.

Surely the first step should be to remove any abusive material and leave the discussion thread intact?

by Aidan Wed Apr 02, 2003 13:06

Standard practice we are now removing all petitions from the newswire.

Petitions are not news by any stretch of the imagination, and e-mail petitions are a totally ineffective tool to effect change, therefore as standard all petitions are now removed, be they requests for the pope to become a human shield, or e-mail the UN to stop the war or whatever.