One commenter here mentioned that his comment at Indymedia was deleted, so I checked out what else was going on at that page.
Indymedia has a published policy of what sort of articles and comments it deletes (or "hides.") The policy is:
SF Bay Area IMC is founded on the principle of open publishing. Reality dictates that the editorial collective will at times decide to hide posts and comments. This is not a decision that is taken lightly, however, and the editorial collective does its best refrain from hiding. Our vision for the function of the newswire, and the general framework in which all decisions to hide will be made, are as follows:Here are two comments that were made that Indymedia, that bastion of free speech, felt went over the line:Members of the Editorial Collective are permitted to hide posts or comments as long as that person's decision is based on at least one of the following three points:
- The newswire is intended to be a community media resource, a space free from spam and abuse in general; and
- That space will not contribute to the oppression of traditionally oppressed and marginalized groups.
The editorial collective may remove copyrighted material on request of the copyright owner. At any time another Editorial Collective member may dispute the hiding of a post or comment, based on our Principles of Unity or this policy.
- The post or comment constitutes abuse of the newswire (see note below);
- The post or comment undermines the Principles of Unity of the SF Bay Area IMC; e.g., right-wing propaganda or hate speech; or
- The post or comment constitutes a spam attack (see below) on the newswire.
Comments, questions, and feedback regarding this policy are highly encouraged. Please write us at sfbay-web@lists.indymedia.org.
Both these comments were silently deleted.Why I am posting a commentThursday Oct 16th, 2008 11:10 AMI discovered your site when I visited Elderofziyon, where it was pointed out that whoever is putting these stickers on products is breaking Federal Law. I wanted to see for myself the kind of people who flout the laws of the country they live in and feel morally, ethically obliged to improve the behavior of people in other countries.
I discover that the people who call for support a boycott of hummus lack the integrity to boycott Israeli products like cell phone and computer technology or pharmaceuticals - presumably because it would inconvenience them.
And, when I returned to this site, I discovered that comments offering opposing opinions are soon deleted.
So I am writing to suggest you are a bunch of criminal hypocrites who cannot tolerate criticism, naively hoping that I will touch your conscience and you will let this comment stand.Boycott the racist, apartheid states of the Arab world!Thursday Oct 16th, 2008 11:11 AMFor the mother of all racism, xenophobia, sexism, and homophobia in the Middle East look at the "Arab" states many of which have large non-Arab minorities suffering under systematic discrimination and racist policies that keep them suppresed, such as the Kurds in Syria and Iraq, the Berbers in Morocco (where they actually outnumber Arabs) and Algeria, or the Assyrians in Iraq, or the black African and Christian southern Sudanese who suffered genocide at he hands of the the Arab Musims of northern Sudan over a horrific 20 year war that killed 2 million people. And where is indybay' conern about the genocide of non-arabs in Darfur? Oh, I forgot, taking the side of Arab nationalists in that one, too. And indybay's concern for the plight of LGBT in Arab and Muslim lands? Non-existent. Indybay's concern for gender equality, freedom of choice for women in the Arab and Muslim worlds? once again, non-existent.
You are all a bunch of moral hypocrites, obsessed about Israel, & willfully blind to the horrendous human rights disasters in the Arab and Muslim worlds, and as such your silence aids and abets the oppressors of the Middle East's non-Arab and non-Muslim minorities, women and LGBT.
BTW, you don't have to worry about the Jewish minorities in the Arab world: the Arab already ethnically cleansed 99% of the "their Jews" since 1948. Any concern by indybayers for this massive human rights crime? Likely not.
So, which Indymedia rule did they break?
Does mentioning Arab bigotry against their minorities contribute to the oppression of a billion Arabs, whom Indymedia apparently feels is a "traditionally oppressed or marginalized group?"
Or is mentioning that gays are oppressed in Arab countries considered "right wing propaganda" or "hate speech"?
Meanwhile, other articles at that site darkly hint at a conspiracy of a small number of manipulative evil Jews controlling America. But that's fine, because Indymedia doesn't consider the Jewish 0.2% of the world's population to be an oppressed minority - obviously Jews can walk freely in most places in the world without a problem, while a billion Muslims are huddled in fear, relying on their communist heroes to make the world a safer place for them.
As usual, those who scream the loudest about free speech are the ones who are in the forefront of quashing it.
UPDATE: One more comment posted and gone:
Putting your own labels on commercial packaged food is a crime...Thursday Oct 16th, 2008 12:07 PMPunishable by up to 3 yrs in prison. Enjoy!
But seriously, you bring up the 'don't let the evil Zionists distract you with their talk of other problems in the world!', but the truth is, the international 'left' is sick with a virus that has Jew-hatred at its core. Your obsessive focus on perceived injustice in Israel does definitely come at the expense of all the people who are suffering in other conflicts around the world. And on top of that, your understanding of the history of the conflict in the Middle East is hopelessly ignorant and filled with the evil lies that have been propagated by others before you.
But that's just my opinion, so carry on.