WINNIPEG (Dec 6, 2013) – IC Magazine kicked off a new fundraising campaign this week, an effort that, if successful, would bring the volunteer-run publication one step closer to becoming the world’s leading Indigenous rights journal.
IC’s Editor and Publisher, John Ahniwanika Schertow, is trying to raise $5000 by January 3rd in order to register IC as a non-profit publication in Canada. Once that happens, IC can focus on expanding, cultivating and expanding their work.
“It’s a very exciting time for us at IC. For many months now we’ve been planning out a strategy to take our work to the next level. Now, with the help of our readers and allies around the world, we’re going to make it happen,” comments Schertow.
At the center of IC’s ambitious plan is a new investigations program. “The idea here is to start providing in-depth coverage of situations that are suffering from a media blackout, like the 30-year-old uranium mining waste disaster in Jadugoda, India, and China’s ongoing effort to forcibly settle 1.5 million nomads in Tibet, Uyghur and Inner Mongolia. We’re going to tell the stories that the affected people need the world to hear.”
“On another hand, we’re going to bring our premier annual magazine, People Land Truth, to universities and bookstores across North America,” adds Schertow. “More importantly, though, we’re going to increase the amount of news coverage that we provide.”
Over the years, IC has published close to 3000 articles detailing the struggles of more than 500 Indigenous Nations around the world.
“Unfortunately, the world’s media only covers a tiny fraction of these struggles. There are hundreds of situations that urgently need attention. Villages are being bombed, leaders are being murdered in their beds, entire territories are being submerged… and the media can’t even be bothered to send out a retweet!”
“At IC, our mandate has always been to pick up where the rest of the media disappears. I think we’ve done a good job of that with very limited resources. But things are different now. Over the past ten years, the Indigenous Peoples movement has grown exponentially. We just can’t keep up with everything anymore. It’s time for that to change.”
Once the fundraising goal is reached, IC will be in a position to submit an application for non-profit status in Canada.
“That in turn will allow us to start approaching foundations and build some much-needed capacity. This really isn’t about us, though. It’s about informing, educating, inspiring, even challenging the international community and making sure there’s at least one source of independent news that covers the struggles, needs, rights, opinions and perspectives of all the world’s bedrock nations.”
You can learn more or donate to the new fundraiser here: http://igg.me/at/icmagazine/
Contact: John Ahni Schertow, Editor and Publisher, IC Magazine
Email: intercontinentalcry@gmail.com
Indigenous Peoples are putting their bodies on the line and it's our responsibility to make sure you know why. That takes time, expertise and resources - and we're up against a constant tide of misinformation and distorted coverage. By supporting IC you're empowering the kind of journalism we need, at the moment we need it most.
