New Newsgroup Proposal ====================== NAME: misc.peace STATUS: Moderated MODERATORS: Rich Winkel, Harel Barzilai, [[other ACTIV-Lers interested in moderating a TOPIC]] P u r p o s e : =============== Misc.peace would provide news, information, and resources of interest to activists and anyone interested in promoting peace; economic, legal, and social justice and equality; a clean environment and safe workplace; democratic control over domestic and foreign policy, and other issues of concern to the progressive community. This group would be an outgrowth of the Activists Mailing List (AML), [Now the ACTIV-L list, served by LISTSERV@UMCVMB]. ACTIV-L has established a working relationship with PeaceNet, an electronic network linking hundreds of peace groups around the world, as well as individually with such groups and with organizations like the Latin America Data Base (Latin American Institute, New Mex.) ACTIV-L now reaches many hundreds of readers, regularly forwards to the UseNet, and its volume now averages over 20 posts/mailing per day, beyond what can comfortably be handled and read in people's email boxes. In what ways would misc.peace be different from alt.activism? ============================================================= --> First, it would not be an "alt" group, and hence enjoy wider distribution; --> Second, it would be moderated, and thus avoid the high noise/information ratio often found in alt.activism, while leaving that group available for discussion; --> Thirdly and crucially, misc.peace will make use of ACTIV-L's contacts, and will serve as a bridge between the UseNet on the one hand, and PeaceNet and other networks and mailing lists (e.g. NativeNet), and various national and grass-roots progressive organizations and peace groups. Misc.peace will serve as a source of news, information, and resources for activists and concerned citizens. --> We also plan on making contacts with alternative publications such as the Nation, FAIR's EXTRA!, In These Times, etc, to regularly forward information from these sources; and we have already begun making contact with the Network of the Alternative Student Press (NASP) and New Liberation News Service (NLNS) with whom we hope to work to make information and resources available to tens of thousands of student activists across the country, and to facilitate communication and cooperation between them. --> In conjunction with misc.peace, the ACTIV-L archiver would allow any reader to send the appropriate command in order to receive by mail many of the articles and resource-files posted to misc.peace, and to receive indices of what's available. What would be posted to misc.peace? =================================== Many ACTIV-L bulletins have already been forwarded to alt.activism; usually these come from PeaceNet-based groups, and from AML resource files. Examples of both are listed below, with information on how to receive samples from the archiver. Other types of posts will include regular Calendars of events, talks, marches, etc, from listings in the alternative press and from misc.peace readers, about their local organizing efforts. Some examples of regular misc.peace posts from different organizations: --> Greenpeace action/alerts and environmental news updates. --> SANE/Freeze legislative updates and newsletters --> Regular issues of _Central America Update_ (From the Latin America Data Base, Latin American Institute, University of New Mexico), to which ACTIV-L has an institutional subscription. --> Witness For Peace, Amnesty International, and other human rights groups' reports and alerts. --> Reports from media watchdog groups such as Fairness and Accuracy In Reporting (FAIR) --> Legislative alerts and updates on topics such as covert actions and other areas of governmental secrecy or abuse from the Christic Institute. ------------------------------------------------------------------ [[I would like to put here precise instruction on how to receive from the ACTIV-L archiver a sample copy of some/all of these by mail. Similarly for some of the resource files mentioned below.]] Examples of periodically posted resource files are given below; these are regularly updated (with help from readers) and will be available any time from the archiver: --> "groups" Lists names, addresses, telephone numbers, often brief description, and sometimes extensive excerpts from various peace groups. Categories include: Data-bases; Electronic; Media; Human-Rights; Middle East; Environmental; Economic Justice & Economic Democracy; Civil Rights & Public Advocacy; Political; Women's & Reproductive Rights; Central America; Misc. --> "videos" Lists videos about Iran-Contra; Panama Invasion; United Farmworker's grape boycott and dangers of pesticides; History of the CIA; etc --> "publications" Lists progressive/peace/socialist/human-rights/radical publications. Includes the categories: META PUBLICATIONS (directories of); CENTRAL AMERICA; CIA, COVERT OPERATIONS, ETC; MEDIA CRITICISM; GENERAL [Also discusses South End Press and Oxfam publications.] --> "social.invest" "Is your money being invested in companies building nuclear weapons, or in corporations destroying the environment, or which practice discrimination or ``union-busting''? Money put in your "regular bank" is probably invested in assets promoting such anti-social activities. Below are several places to put your money which *won't* let your money work against your values, where you can ``earn interest on your principles'' in the words of Working Assets. Also described are some ways you can actually financially support the causes you believe in without spending a cent." [Working Assets Money Funds, Working Assets Long Distance, etc; Parnassus Fund; Pax World Fund, etc.] --> "AI.videos" Contains ordering information for Amnesty International's _The Human Rights Library_, 1990 catalog, free, containing over 100 country reports. Six of the 12 videos listed are described. Entire Amnesty catalog to be put on-line eventually, including descriptions of the country reports. --> "south.end.press" Ordering information and descriptions of a handful of new book releases from South End Press. More from the SEP catalog to be added. --> "AFSCcatalog' Selected descriptions of books, videos, maps, etc. from the American Friends Service Committee Peace Education Resource Catalog 1990-1991 --> "quotes" For progressive newspaper headers, for articles, and for inspiration. --> tel/ Government, media tels, addresses; label-ready Congressional adrs.) ------------------------------------------------------------------