Indymedia UK celebrates 5th birthday
Indymedia UK was founded on May 1 2000 and was born out of the anti-globalisation and anti-capitalist movement. The original Indymedia site was founded by activists in the US city of Seattle to record the events of the so-called 'Battle of Seattle' in 1999 which saw the city placed in a state of civil emergency. Activists had gathered to protest against the World Trade Organisation (WTO), which was meeting in the city to discuss trade liberalisation. Violence broke out over heavy handed policing of protests and the city was soon confronted with a full blown riot.
Similar events were to transpire in May 2000 when anarchists, socialists and anti-globalisation activists marched in London. May Day is traditionally marked by trade unionists and left wingers as a day of international celebration for the working class, but from 1999 onwards a new breed of anti-globalisation activists began to stage their own events, often ending in confrontations with the police and the destruction of corporate property.
Indymedia UK, like other Indymedia sites across the world was organised by a small collective of individuals who maintain the site. Anyone is free to post news on the site and editorial policy is generally relaxed, with the aim of breaking down the distinction between news producers and consumers. Indymedia UK is complemented by local Indymedia websites operated from over thirteen locations in the UK, including Oxford, Birmingham and London.
Following the events of September 11 2001 many activists involved in the anti-globalisation movement began to focus on the subsequent wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Indymedia's content reflected this change of direction with reports from anti-war demonstrations and from the new European Social Forum, annual events which attract hundreds of thousands of activists from across Europe.
Last year the Indymedia UK servers were seized by police agents claiming to be working on behalf of the US government. Indymedia UK was shut down for several days and the servers have yet to be returned. The US government claimed that it seized the servers as part of an investigation into terrorist activities. Recently Indymedia Italia has faced the threat of prosecution from Italian authorities for publishing photographs of the current pope in a Nazi uniform.
Indymedia UK will be holding events up and down the country during May to celebrate its birthday. It seems likely that the website will go from strength to strength, tweaking the noses of those in power and providing a voice for alternative politics on the web.
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