UK indymedia mission statement

The Indymedia UK website provides an interactive platform for reports from the struggles for a world based on freedom, cooperation, justice and solidarity, and against environmental degradation, neoliberal exploitation, racism and patriarchy. The reports cover a wide range of issues and social movements - from neighbourhood campaigns to grassroots mobilisations, from critical analysis to direct action.

The content of the Indymedia UK website is created through a system of open publishing: anyone can upload a written, audio and video report or a picture directly to the site through an openly accessible web interface. Through this system of 'Direct Media', Indymedia erodes the dividing line between reporters and reported, between active producers and passive audience: people are enabled to speak for themselves. At bigger actions, Indymedia UK volunteers extend this participatory model by establishing 'Public Access Terminals' on the streets, and facilitating direct access to the technical equipment that enables participants to upload to the website.

Indymedia UK stands for Indymedia United Kollektives. An increasing number of imc collectives in the UK have their own pages on the IMC UK website or elsewhere. IMC UK is part of the worldwide network of Independent Media Centres (IMCs), focuses on the UK, and is also an intermediary for information from other parts of the world. Imc groups in the UK collaborate on sharing contents and resources amongst themselves and with the global IMC network. The main element of Indymedia UK is the website; this platform generates a variety of other activities including video-production, film-screenings, printed materials and public interventions.

The DIY media workers of the Indymedia United Kollektives operate within a network of radical UK media groups, individual contributors and IMC supporters. Volunteers of Indymedia United Kollektives act as moderators on the IMC UK website. We aim to live up to the following principles:

• Indymedia United Kollektives works on a non-hierarchical basis
• we reject all systems of domination and discrimination
• we acknowledge that the struggle for a better world takes many forms. The focus of the Indymedia UK collective is on grassroots politics, actions and campaigns
• Indymedia United Kollektives does not have any ties with political parties or larger NGO's
• we understand that by lobbying there will be no radical change. As a collective our attitude is assertive, and where necessary confrontational

Inherent in the mainstream corporate media is a strong bias towards Capitalism's power structures, and it is an important tool in propagating these structures around the globe. While the mainstream media conceal their manifold biases and alignments, we clearly state our position. Indymedia UK does not attempt to take an objective and impartial standpoint: Indymedia UK clearly states its subjectivity.

United Kollektives, 10/06/2003