Contents

• 0. Status of the document
• 1. Mission statement: essence, objectives, and principles of Indymedia Belarus
• 2. Content publishing
• 3. Mission and functions of the Indymedia Belarus Collective
• 4. Rights of a Collective member
• 5. Duties of a Collective member
• 6. Additional rights of a Closed Group member
• 7. Additional duties of a Closed Group member
• 8. Technical resources of Indymedia Belarus
• 9. Content moderation rules
  • 9.1. Kinds of moderation used by Indymedia Belarus
  • 9.2. Kinds of content that should be moderated
• 10. Decision making procedure
• 11. Public meetings and contacts
• 12. Social interaction
• 13. Content usage terms

0. Status of the document

This document is an informal social agreement between Indymedia Belarus Collective and users of the resource. This document is not of a legal character.

The document describes principles of work of the Indymedia Belarus resource and social obligations voluntarily undertaken by the members of Indymedia Belarus Collective within the limits of work on the project.

The document is approved, revised and supplemented by consensus of the members of Indymedia Belarus Collective. The current policy version 1.2 (revision 2006-03-10) is based on version 1.0 (revision 2005-05-10).

This is English translation of the original version in Russian language.

1. Mission statement: essence, objectives, and principles of Indymedia Belarus

Indymedia is a collective of independent activists offering grassroots, non-corporate coverage and up-to-time information channel that is open for collaboration with all users. Indymedia Belarus is one of more than a hundred Independent Media Centers functioning all over the world and united into the international initiative of Indymedia.

Objectives of Indymedia Belarus:

• 1.1. To create information space for support of Belarusian libertarian activists and open interaction between them.
• 1.2. To supply society with free and up-to-time information that is not distorted by state, commercial or political censorship.
• 1.3. To provide possibility for everyone to take part in spreading news and analytic information as well as for its open discussion.

Principles of Indymedia Belarus:

• 1.4. Our main principles are openness and non-discrimination. We believe that open and unrestricted access to information is a necessary condition for a free and just society. We invite everyone who is ready to follow these principles to participate in the project.
• 1.5. Indymedia Belarus cannot be a body of any political party.

2. Content publishing

Indymedia Belarus accumulates content that is provided by both members of the Indymedia Belarus Collective and any user of the resource. For these needs Indymedia Belarus provides an open publishing engine with possibility of posting comments.

Note:

Indymedia Belarus Collective aims at the most complete verification of posted news. At the same time our principle position is as follows: the main criterion of reliability of any information is its open discussion. The value of any information depends most of all on its critical comprehension and results of its public discussion.

For navigation convenience pieces of content that are close in their subject matter can be connected with each other, thus being grouped by topics (“focuses”). In addition to a general newswire, sorted out in the chronological order, the website allows to view the latest updates in such focuses.

Front page of the site includes a feed of feature articles, ordered chronologically by the time when the articles were related to relevant focuses. Presence of any message in the feature feed is determined only by the coefficient of its connection to any focus and cannot be perceived as conferment of a higher “absolute rate” to it.

Indymedia Belarus strongly and in any form objects to political or other ideological censorship.

However, Indymedia Belarus Collective has to delete or hide from general newswire certain kinds of messages to provide efficient resistance to pressure of state bodies and other authoritarian institutions. The list of such cases is strictly determined and is supplied in chapter 9.

3. Mission and functions of the Indymedia Belarus Collective

Definition: Anyone who publishes articles on Indymedia Belarus or participates in technical support of the media center, can claim to be a member of the Indymedia Belarus Collective, if they follow the principles declared in chapter 1.

Indymedia Belarus uses the following principles of work:

• 3.1. Joining and leaving the collective is free and voluntary.
• 3.2. Discussion of any issues related to documents, public statements, tactics and strategy of development of Indymedia Belarus is free and open, and is performed in appropriate unrestricted parts of the website and on publicly announced collective meetings. Temporary limitations to this are listed in section 3.4.
• 3.3. Technical support of the website and direct moderation of messages is done by members of the closed group. Mission and functions of the closed croup are limited to technical support of the media-center and security measures that are explicitly defined in this document. Under no circumstance mandate of the closed group shall be extended beyond the limits defined in this social contract. The term “closed group” is not final, and in future versions of the social contract it can be replaced, without a change to its meaning and definition. Any member of the collective can offer himself as a candidate to join the closed group, discussion and decision will be made in public by acting members of the group.
• 3.4. In order to protect the media center and members of the collective from pressure by state bodies and pro-govermental authoritarian groups, Indymedia Belarus has to put in place following security-related restrictions.
  • 3.4.1. Regular meetings can be cancelled or announced on non-public communication channels, if there is are well-founded fears of attack on a meeting, arrest, beating, or organized surveillance of meeting participants.
  • 3.4.2. Issues related to location and functioning of media center’s servers, as well as issues related to disclosure of identity of collective members or criminal persecution of collective members, are discussed within the closed group.
  • 3.4.3. Limitations listed in section 3.4 are temporary and will be removed as soon as activities of independent media-activists cease to by systematically persecuted in Republic of Belarus.
• 3.5. Any member of the collective can make public statements as a member of the Indymedia Belarus Collective on any matter, as long as principles stated in chapter 1 are followed. Public statements on behalf of Indymedia Belarus as a whole can be published only after a public discussion and consensus by all members of the collective.
• 3.6. Traceless content moderation is forbidden, except for cases falling under section 3.4.

4. Rights of a Collective member

Members of the collective have rights:

• 4.1. To have open access to discussion of all decisions of the Indymedia Belarus Collective, and a voice in all these discussions (except for issues listed in section 3.4).
• 4.2. To offer themselves as candidates to become members of the closed group, and to have the discussion and decision on themselves be done by members of the closed group in public.
• 4.3. To publish any proposals for discussion and enactment by the Indymedia Belarus Collective, including proposals for cancellation or correction of previous decisions made by the collective.
• 4.4. To leave the collective and then re-join it on the same grounds as anyone else.
• 4.5. To refuse to participate in implementation of the decisions that they disagree with.
• 4.6. To make public statements as a member of the Indymedia Belarus Collective that are in line with principles stated in chapter 1, if such statements include a disclaimer that the member is not speaking for the whole collective.
• 4.7. To participate in setting “relation ratings” linking content to relevant focuses, as implemented by the Samizdat technology (see chapter 2, chapter 8).

5. Duties of a Collective member

• 5.1. Not to hinder implementation of decisions made by public consensus of the collective.

6. Additional rights of a Closed Group member

• 6.1. To participate in resolution of issues listed in section 3.4, as well as in defining the people responsible for technical support of the media center.
• 6.2. To access closed group’s communication channels (mailing list etc.).
• 6.3. To access website’s content moderation facilities.
• 6.4. To refuse to participate in implementation of closed groups’s decisions that they disagree with.
• 6.5. To veto decisions of the collective and the closed group.

7. Additional duties of a Closed Group member

• 7.1. To open up any information that is not falling under section 3.4 and that was discussed in closed mode.
• 7.2. Publicly record all cases of content moderation, and explain reasons for each case.
• 7.3. Not to hinder implementation of decisions made by public consensus of the collective or the closed group.

8. Technical resources of Indymedia Belarus

Currently, the Indymedia Belarus website uses the Samizdat technology. Any modification or switch of the technology should continue to satisfy following requirements:

• 8.1. Free software.
• 8.2. Open publishing wire on the front page.
• 8.3. Facility to add comments to messages.
• 8.4. Protection of nicknames via publicly available registration system.
• 8.5. Relation of content to focuses (topics) based on open voting by users.
• 8.6. Facility make messages editable by other users.
• 8.7. Facility to select user interface language, and to publish article translations.

As an alternative communication channel, #belarus IRC channel on the irc.indymedia.org network can be used.

9. Content moderation rules

Content moderation on Indymedia Belarus is an exceptional situation and can only be done in accordance with criteria defined in this chapter. Technical facility for moderation is only provided to members of the closed group.

Traceless moderation is forbidden. Every case of moderation (except duplicate removal and security-related issues) should be publicly documented by the moderator, whenever possible, justification should be provided.

Public discussion of moderatorial actions is encouraged.

9.1. Kinds of moderation used by Indymedia Belarus

9.1.1. Exclusion from open publishing wire

Content that was excluded (hidden) from the open wire is still publicly available, but it isn’t displayed on the front page. Such hidden messages can be viewed either via direct links, or by setting the option “Show hidden messages” on the Samizdat Settings page.

9.1.2. Editing by moderator

Text of a message is changed by moderator. Moderator must leave a note in the body of the message including moderator’s login name, description of changes, and reasons for moderation.

9.1.3. Forcing message to become editable by all users

Message that was originally published with closed editing (editing only available for the original author) can be changed to be “open for all”, with editing available for all users.

9.1.4. Full deletion from the database

Message is completely and irreversibly deleted from database.

9.2. Kinds of content that should be moderated

In all cases moderator should be applying common sense and the principle of minimal intervention. The following sections define the most harsh measures that can be applied to different kinds of materials that violate the Indymedia principles listed in the chapter 1.

9.2.1. Exclusion from open publishing wire

• Commercial advertisement
• Party and pre-election advertisement
• Propaganda of hate, racial, national, or sexual intolerance.
• Duplicates of messages
• Flood (senseless or unreadable messages)

9.2.2. Editing by moderator

• Information about upcoming events that is proved incorrect

9.2.3. Forcing message to become editable by all users

• Content that is offensive to any of the users of the resource

9.2.4. Full deletion from the database

• Unsanctioned opening of identity and personal data
• Content that poses a direct threat to the existence of the media center, allowing for
  • (a) criminal persecution of collective members
  • (b) confiscation of the technical resources of Indymedia Belarus, or termination of it by the court order

10. Decision making procedure

Discussion and approval of any decisions that affect Indymedia Belarus as a whole is made in public (except issues listed in section 3.4). Proposals for discussion can be brought up by any Indymedia participant. Public discussions are held either on the website (in the Indymedia Belarus focus), or on the publicly announced open meetings of the collective.

In its decisions, Indymedia Belarus values input of every participant. In order to avoid dictatorship of minority, as well as dictatorship of majority, all decisions are made using the method of formal consensus. Following procedure for discussion and decision making is recommended:

• 1) Each participant is allowed to offer their position on the discussed matter. At this stage, the focus is on the solution as a whole, potential problems may be mentioned, but discussion of solutions is postponed.

• 2) All possible problems of the proposed solution are identified. At this stage, it is most important to create a full picture of all problems and interrelations between them, so it’s recommended not to distract the discussion with solutions.

• 3) Each of the identified problems together with all possible solutions is discussed.

For each of the above stages, sufficient and previously agreed upon time should be left for thinking over; it is recommended to provide at least a week when discussing online and at least 20 minutes during face-to-face meeting. When decision doesn’t have to be made urgently, it is recommended to move the second, and whenever necessary, third stage of the decision making to a separate meeting.

If any problems remain unresolved after all three stages, two outcomes are possible:

• a) All participants agree to approve the decision with unresolved problems. In this case, all unresolved problems are included into the text of the proposal and become part of the decision.

• b) The remaining problems are essential (see chapter 1) and do not allow for consensus. In this case, the decision is blocked.

Every discussion should be coordinated and protocolled by a facilitator. Facilitators should be rotated from one discussion to another in a manner that would make every member of the collective play this role regularly. Before each stage of the decision making process, the proposal under discussion and a short summary of previous stages should be published or presented. Decision that was made by consensus can only be changed by another consensus.

11. Public meetings and contacts

Public meetings are set up by a decision of the collective or the closed group. Public meetings are always announced on Indymedia website. Decisions made on public meetings are approved and enacted according to the chapter 10.

The closed group can cancel a public meeting due to security considerations (see section 3.4), in this case it should announce that immediately on the website and through private communication channels. Closed group can also hold a closed meeting, announcing it over secure channels. Decisions made on closed meeting can only be approved and enacted when they fall under section 3.4, other decisions must be approved through public decision making procedure.

12. Social interaction

Indymedia Belarus will never and under no circumstance provide or accept help from following kinds of organizations:

• governmental bodies of all countries;
• political parties of all countries and all alignments;
• non-governmental organizations and charity foundations whose principles do not meet the principles declared in chapter 1, or dependent on the above kinds of organizations.

13. Content usage terms

Indymedia Belarus encourages free reprinting, citing and other ways of distributing its content. Content can be re-distributed according to GNU General Public License, GNU Free Documentation License, or Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike, at your choice. Publishing content on the Indymedia Belarus website requires that the message author accepts these terms.