• Summary
  Project to ship a container of 230 refurbished computers to Ecuador to extend the technical capacity of civil society and the anti-globalization movement leading up to the anti-FTAA protests in early November. If successful this will be the first stage in an ongoing project to send large numbers of computers to social movements in the global south through indymedia.

• Updates
  We have finished fixing the boxes and they are now waiting to be loaded to the container for shipping on the 27th ariving in Ecuador on the 12th. They were fixed up at ACCRC in Oakland and Free Geek up in portland.
  
  The ~80 computers from Seattle were transported to portland to be prepared for the next international shipment.

• Donate
  Please donate some money to help us cover shipping costs via pay pal.. We're also planning on getting together future shipments to Argentina, Brasil, Colombia, and Nigeria. If you're in the Bay Area or Portland then we could definately use help.

• Media/Press
  Dan from the SF imc came over and did a nice little interview which you can watch with real video. There was a little piece posted over at kuro5hin about the project. There is a two page story at salon.com. Looks like they're be something up at oneworld on monday.

• Proposal
  The single most consistent request from indymedia activists in the global south is for computers and media making equipment. Even though the internet and computers are reshaping the world they are only doing it for those who have access to the equipment. For the past two and a half years indymedia has prided itself as a network which takes the tools of media and communications and puts them in the hands of people working for social change. For this mission to become a reality we need equipment. Computers play a central role in all media making and communication today. At the same time thousands good working computers are thrown out because they are a year or two out of date. This project thinks big and is attempting to not only solve the needs of a single organization but to build capacity across the breadth of the movement for a just society.

By working with the Alameda County Computer Recycling Center (accrc.org) we have found a free source of recycled computers. ACCRC takes used computers from silicon valley and refurbishes them for non-profits, the poor, and educational institutions around the world. We are organizing our own labor to test the incoming boxes and put together the parts into useable systems with a Spanish language version of Linux installed. From there the ACCRC will load them up on to pallets and in to the container for shipping. Once the container arrives our Ecuadorian partner organizations will work with a customs import agent to get the boxes through customs and hauled up to Quito. In Quito we will be able to supply computers to all the groups coming in to town for the convergence against the FTAA at the beginning of November. To avoid the mistakes of past projects shipping computers we are working on putting together short workshops introducing the people and organizations receiving computers on basic use.

We currently are doing outreach to groups in Ecuador and arranging logistics. At the moment we working with Indymedia Ecuador, CONFEUNASSC (The National Ecuadorian Campesino Organization), and Action Ecologica. These and other groups have been involved in coordinating the Ecuadorian Social Forum and have been central in the struggle to save the rainforest, against dolarization, and recently the privatization of electricity. While most groups in Ecuador have a couple computers there is a compelling need for more.

Timeline: We will be working with ACCRC to get the computers ready in early September. It takes between 14 and 20 days to the boat to get to ecuador and ships leave every week. We'll be pushing it to get through customs in under a month in time for the FTAA summit (Oct 31 - Nov 3). Even if we fail to get the computers in time for the summit we'll be able to get them out to a huge number of groups after the convergence.

Provisional Budget:  
Computers, monitors, printers, etc...  $0 (paper value $100,000) 
Shipping Container from Oakland to Guayaquil  $2500 for 20 foot container 
 $3200 for 40 foot container 
Shipping in Ecuador and Customs  $2000 (guess) 
Trainings and training material  $500 
Total cost:  $5000 to $5700 

For more information and to talk to us about this project please email evan@indymediaSTOPSPAM.org or call 707-822-1860. We are looking for people to help build out the boxes in Oakland and donate money to fund the project.

SendingBoxesDonationLetter

-- RabbleRouser - 15 Mar 2003
to top