[KS] Re: Friends Network!

[Charles Rd K Armstrong]

I believe the "friends network" in question is not the AFSC listserve but 
a Korean and Korean-American issues-oriented listserve that was started at
the University of Chicago a number of years ago. I also suspect that the
reference to Cumings-bashing excerpted earlier did not have the support of
friends as a whole, which tends to take a rather critical view of US
policy toward Korea, but I haven't seen the piece myself. Maybe someone
out there is a member of friends network and can clear this up. 

							Charles

 On Fri, 15 Oct 1999, Michael Goodwin wrote:

> Dear Mr. McCann et al:
> 
> Here's a crack at answering your question! (Perhaps Mr. Benuska can correct
> me if I'm wrong?)
> 
> The Friends Network is a "by invitation only" listserv associated with the
> American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) (http://www.afsc.org/).  According
> to their web site, the AFSC is, "a Quaker organization that includes people
> of various faiths who are committed to social justice, peace, and
> humanitarian service." (see web site)
> 
> I personally have never had any dealings with AFSC!
> 
> However, when I first began researching my book last year, I did discover
> the following article: Suh Hyuk-Kyo, "Korea related Information, Resources,
> and Activism in Cyberspace" (Bulletin of Concerned Asian Scholars [28:3-4]).
> 
> In this article, Suh (former publisher of "The Korea Report") recommends the
> "Friends Network" to anyone interested in accessing cyber resources on
> Korea.  Suh then states that the Friends listserv is open to new subscribers
> "by invitation only", but then immediately offers "to serve as a sponsor for
> anyone interested in joining the list."
> 
> Not knowing anything about the list (other than the fact that it's tied to
> the AFSC which has a long history of social/religious development oriented
> work in Korea --extending back to the 1920's I think) I contacted Suh and
> indicated that I would appreciate if he/she (sorry! ugh!) acted as a sponsor
> for me.
> 
> Suh agreed! Suh agreed to forwarded my request to the list's managers and
> did this several times. But I never heard from the list managers. And my
> name was never added to the listserv.
> 
> Frankly, I was left wondering why Suh would have extended a general
> invitation in his article to act as a sponsor for anyone interested in
> joining the Friends Network listeserv if he didn't have the capacity to make
> this happen!
> 
> So, if anyone out there has any further info on the "Friends Network
> listerv" (which I believe is actually called, Friendslist) I would
> appreciate hearing from you.  It's my understanding that you need a sponsor
> to join the list. With that in mind, if anyone out there would be so kind as
> to "sponsor" my subscription, I would be grateful.
> 
> Clearly the remarks that were made on The Friends Network about Mr.Cumings's
> Nation article (and were brought to our attention by Mr.Benuska) are nothing
> new: Mr.Cumings suggested to me recently that he is well used to being
> "politically and ideologically savaged."
> 
> But I'm inclined to remain interested in the Friends Network listserv ("one
> bad apple doesn't necessarily  spoil the whole bunch" etc.), so if anyone
> out there can assist ne in getting hooked up with it, I'd like to hear from
> you.
> 
> Thanks
> 
> Mike Goodwin
> (Greenville, NC )
> 
> 



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