[KS] Friends Network!

Michael Goodwin mgoodwin at greenvillenc.com
Fri Oct 15 12:53:40 EDT 1999


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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