Andean Meeting of Radio Communicators

AMARC10 Conference Sets High Objectives for Community Radio Movement

13 November 2010, La Plata, Argentina. The tenth Global Conference of Community Radio broadcasters, AMARC10, hosted by AMARC Argentina, gathered together more than 500 community radio broadcasters and stakeholders from 87 countries in la Plata, Argentina, in what was the first global conference to be held in South America. Speaking in the closing ceremony of AMARC 10, María Pía Matta, the new president of AMARC, called for increased solidarity for persecuted community radio broadcasters and deepening the social impact of community radio to face the challenges of humanity in the 21st Century.

The weeklong conference participated by grassroots broadcasters and activists and well-known freedom of expression advocates and communicators; adopted the la Plata declaration, elected the members of the international Board of Directors of AMARC global network; gave, in its sixth edition, the solidarity prize to the Haitian community radios for their role in supporting the population after the February 2010 earthquake. AMARC 10 also adopted the strategic lines of action for 2011-2014 assembling in part the rich content exchanges and recommendations from plenary, seminars and workshops on reinforcing the social impact of community radio in development, democratization and recognition of diversity of societies; on creating enabling environments for community radio development and; on ensuring social, economic and political sustainability of the sector at local, regional and international levels.
The new board of directors of AMARC following AMARC 10 is composed by:

                  Maria Pia Matta, President, Chile.
Emmanuel Boutterin, Deputy President, France.
Franklin Huizies, Treasurer, South Africa.
Marcelo Solervicens, Secretary General.
Maria Eugenia Chávez, Vicepresident for the Women International Network, Mexico.
Ashish Sen, Vicepresident for Asia-Pacific Region, India.
Oumar Seck Ndiaye, Vicepresident for Africa, Senegal.
Carlos Aparicio, Vicepresident for Latin America & Caribbean, Mexico.
Sony Esteus, Vicepresident, Haiti.
Silvia Richardson, Vicepresident, Canada.
Wilna Quarmine, Vice president, Ghana.
Sawsan Zaida, Vicepresident, Jordan.

The AMARC 10 Conference ended in the locality of Moron in symbolic homage to the memory of Argentina's disappeared during the latest military dictatorship in Argentina and recalling the importance of communication rights in building democratic societies. For further information, please visit http://amarc10.amarc.org
About AMARC:
AMARC is an international non-governmental organization serving the community radio movement in over 110 countries, and advocating for the right to communicate at the international, national, local and neighbourhood levels. AMARC has an International Secretariat in Montreal. It has regional sections in Africa, Latin America and Asia Pacific and offices in Johannesburg, Buenos Aires, Brussels, and Kathmandu. For more information, please contact us atsuman_basnet@asiapacific.amarc.org

Hofstra Communication Students Visit Democracy Now! Studio

Amy Goodman with journalism students from Mario Murillo's Hofstra class during a visit to the studio of the daily news program, Democracy Now!  

An educational component has been added to this important news program: journalism and communication students can visit the studio and watch the preparation of the morning news program, and speak with the producers and technicians.  This is not the mindless circus that the NBC Today Show holds at Rockefeller Center each morning, but an opportunity for an in-depth look at the research, preparation, graphic design and guest interviews  of one of the most respected news organizations in the world.  In addition of meeting the dedicated staff of Democracy Now!, the students often meet the world leaders who are interviewed live on the program.  Interested teachers and international visitors should contact Democracy Now! for information.  http://www.democracynow.org/get_involved/education

Journalists Held After Covering Safa Village Arson

Hebron – PNN - Israeli forces held a group of journalists who tried to cover Wednesday’s settler assaults in the village of Safa, near Hebron.

Archive

Muhammad Ayad Awad, media spokesman for the Palestine Solidarity Project, said that troops detained a Palestine Television crew including Fada Nasir and Mahmoud Khilaf, as well as a group of solidarity activists. They were forbidden from taking pictures of the fire started in Safa by Israeli settlers from nearby Bat Ayin. The fire reportedly destroyed more than ten acres of olive and almond trees.

According to Awad, the military’s explanation was that the burning acreage was a “closed military zone.”

Source: Wafa (Palestine News & Information Agency)

From http://english.pnn.ps/

http://english.pnn.ps/

Last night settlers from the Bat Ayn settlement set fire to 70 olive trees in the Saffa region of Beit Ommar. The trees belonged to the Thalji Aady family, who have been subject to frequent settler violence and military harassment. The fire was lit around 9:30 pm, and burned for 3 hours before fire trucks from the village were able to extinguish the flames. At 11:00 pm 3 military jeeps arrived and attempted to prevent villagers from extinguishing the fire, arresting 3 Palestinian youth in the process.

Settlers from the Bat Ayn settlement frequently destroy trees belonging to Palestinian farmers in Saffa, and several farmers have been violently attack. A series of settler attacks in 2009 left several farmers wounded and hundreds of trees destroyed. The Israeli army regularly denies the farmers access to their land, which they claim is Israeli state land despite the fact that all of the farmers have ownership documents.

For the past two weeks solidarity activists have been arrested accompanying farmers to their land in Saffa, and tear gas was shot at a larger group of supporters that joined the farmers last Saturday. Farmers who went to their land in Saffa without international accompaniment on Tuesday were detained in their land for five hours and threatened with arrest if they returned.

KOAST RADIO SET TO MAKE WAVES IN NORTHUMBERLAND, UK

People in Northumberland’s most heavily populated area will soon be able to listen to a new community radio station which eventually plans to broadcast to 140,000 homes.  The fledgling Koast Radio station aims to offer a lively mix of music and talk, and help bridge the gap between public authorities and deprived communities in Blyth, Ashington, Cramlington and Morpeth.

It has just secured a £10,000 grant the National Lottery, Awards for All to help pay studio and equipment costs, and expects to receive a further £20,000 to £25,000 in the next couple of months.

The Koast Radio board has identified its own studio premises in Bedlington, and in about 5 weeks’ time people should be able to listen to its first output online, via its website.  The station hopes to run two or three trial radio broadcasts early next year, before applying for a full-time FM licence from Ofcom later in 2011.

The Koast Radio website is currently being set up in readiness to stream content by the end of November or early December, but the long-term aim is to take to the airwaves with a mixture of 70% music and 30% talk.

Station manager Vicky Oakley, 38, who lives in Bedlington, gave up her job as an auditor with the county council in July to spearhead the project.

Radio bosses say the station aims to ‘make a difference’ to South East Northumberland and provide volunteering opportunities for disadvantaged teenagers and unemployed adults and are forging links with local councils and other statutory bodies.  Yesterday Vicky said:

“I believe there is definitely a real need for a community radio station in this area.  We want to bring communities together and feel this fits in well with David Cameron’s idea of a Big Society. We aim to bridge the gap between the authorities and local people by having debates and phone-ins about the issues, and make things more accessible in south east Northumberland.  The area seems to have gone backwards, there is less hope around and we want to try to make things better.”

Koast Radio will look to work with local people, who will be given the chance to volunteer for roles both on and off-air. It is targeting 14 to 19-year-olds, from disadvantaged backgrounds, to help unleash their creative potential.

The station will also look to help adults who are unemployed, have not had a proper chance in life or who simply want a change of direction.

Vicky said:

“The online streaming will be our initial lifeline until we obtain a full FM licence. I gave up my job at the county council because I didn’t think I was making a difference any more. I believe this radio station can make a massive difference.”

From Journal Live:

PEOPLE in Northumberland’s most heavily populated area will soon be able to listen to a new community radio station which eventually plans to broadcast to 140,000 homes.

The fledgling Koast FM station aims to offer a lively mix of music and talk, and help bridge the gap between public authorities and deprived communities in Blyth, Ashington, Cramlington and Morpeth.

It has just secured a £10,000 grant from a national funding body to help pay studio and equipment costs, and expects to receive a further £20,000 to £25,000 in the next couple of months.

The Koast FM board has identified its own studio premises in Bedlington, and in about 10 weeks’ time people should be able to listen to its first output online, via a website.

The station hopes to run two or three trial radio broadcasts early next year, before applying for a full-time FM licence from Ofcom later in 2011.

The Koast FM website is currently being set up in readiness to stream content by the end of November or early December, but the long-term aim is to take to the airwaves with a mixture of 70% music and 30% talk.

Station manager Vicky Oakley, 38, who lives in Bedlington, gave up her job as an auditor with the county council in July to spearhead the project.

Radio bosses say the station aims to ‘make a difference’ to South East Northumberland and provide volunteering opportunities for disadvantaged teenagers and unemployed adults.

Read More http://www.journallive.co.uk/north-east-news/todays-news/2010/09/14/new-radio-station-set-to-make-waves-in-northumberland-61634-27261355/#ixzz15kXP2UQ1

Yesterday Vicky said: “I believe there is definitely a real need for a community radio station in this area.

“We want to bring communities together and feel this fits in well with David Cameron’s idea of a Big Society. We aim to bridge the gap between the authorities and local people by having debates and phone-ins about the issues, and make things more accessible in south east Northumberland.

“The area seems to have gone backwards, there is less hope around and we want to try to make things better.”

Koast FM will look to work with local people, who will be given the chance to volunteer for roles both on and off-air. It is targeting 14 to 19-year-olds, from disadvantaged backgrounds, to help unleash their creative potential.

Read More http://www.journallive.co.uk/north-east-news/todays-news/2010/09/14/new-radio-station-set-to-make-waves-in-northumberland-61634-27261355/2/#ixzz15kWtcqR1

The station will also look to help adults who are unemployed, have not had a proper chance in life or who simply want a change of direction.

Vicky said: “The online streaming will be our initial lifeline until we obtain a full FM licence. I gave up my job at the county council because I didn’t think I was making a difference any more. I believe this radio station can make a massive difference.

“We will work with community groups, the police, local authorities, health service and other voluntary organisations who can use the station as a platform to communicate messages to the whole area.”

West Bedlington Town Council has donated £500 towards the website and funding bids have been made to other local town and parish councils.

Read More http://www.journallive.co.uk/north-east-news/todays-news/2010/09/14/new-radio-station-set-to-make-waves-in-northumberland-61634-27261355/2/#ixzz15kVhu1QF

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East Timor Radio Journalist at AMARC Meeting

AMY GOODMAN: Democracy Now! is here in Argentina for the tenth World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters conference, an annual meeting of hundreds of community radio stations from around the world. It’s taking place this year just outside Buenos Aires in a city called La Plata. Among the broadcasters in attendance is Prezado Ximenes from Radio Lorico in East Timor. Nineteen years ago today, in the Timorese capital of Dili, he survived the Santa Cruz massacre, in which Indonesian soldiers gunned down more than 270 Timorese at a cemetery called teh Santa Cruz Cemetery.

PREZADO XIMENES: My name is Prezado Ximenes. When the massacre at Santa Cruz happened, I was 15 years old. So, at the moment, I also participated in the demonstration at the Santa Cruz place. When the Indonesian military tried to shoot the demonstrators, I got out from the Santa Cruz one minute before the shooting. So I survived, because I am—maybe this is my lucky.

AMY GOODMAN: Did you know people who were killed?

PREZADO XIMENES: Yeah, I know some of my friends.

AMY GOODMAN: It’s now 19 years later, and you’re back in East Timor. You live in Los Palos, and you run a radio station.

PREZADO XIMENES: Yeah.

AMY GOODMAN: Why is radio important to you?

PREZADO XIMENES: I think because through radio, I can express out what people think, what people feel.

AMY GOODMAN: Did you ever think East Timor would be free when you were on the road near the Santa Cruz cemetery on November 12, 1991, just before the Indonesian military opened fire?

PREZADO XIMENES: At the moment, I feel empty. I just feel afraid. But I have a big, big dream that we will get independence.

AMY GOODMAN: Timorese radio broadcaster Prezado Ximenes, speaking about the Santa Cruz massacre in East Timor that took place on November 12th, 1991. He is a survivor and now here in Argentina for the meeting of AMARC, hundreds of community radio broadcasters from around the world who have gathered to talk about the future of community media.

Communication Rights and Human Rights

Ashish Sen at the 2010 AMARC Conference in Argentina:

Challenges for community radio in the 21st century: 40 principles for Plurality and Diversity

In several parts of the world Community Radio is at the crossroads. Even as communication rights are ever increasingly articulated as pillars of human development, the implications of the 40 principles for Plurality and Diversity remind us that community media/radio has a long way to traverse and has substantial challenges to address in the near future. If the Plurality and Diversity principles hold forth challenges to the current global media scape– they have particular relevance for community radio. Underlying these principles is their resonance with the fundamental importance of communication –whether perceived from the Right to Communicate and/or Communication Rights perspective.

At the base of these principles lie three cross-cutting factors: access, which provides the crux of the challenges that confront community radio today: access, inclusiveness or inclusion and equity. How can we address these?

The good news is that community radio is increasingly being perceived - irrespective of ideological contrasts - as an important player in development. This is borne out by changing legislation recognizing community radio as a part of the media landscape in more and more countries. The flip side is that the details of the legislation often indicate restrictions that also at variance with international norms and standards like the above-mentioned principles and prevent community radio from living up to their potential.

In South Asia, community radio is a recent player, but it has already begun to demonstrate the promise of social transformation. Countries like India have put a three tier media/radio structure – public, private and community in place, but have imposed a ban on news broadcasting. The Bangladesh policy is similar. Nepal has a much older and vibrant community radio tradition, but the policy does not distinguish between local and community radio blurring a distinction that compromises the potential of purpose and performance. In parts of South Asia, there is a mushroomingof hundreds of “legal” community radio stations as in countries like Indonesia, but in the absence of clear cut regulation mechanism they remain unlicensed.

There are larger and related implications. How equitable is the sharing of the spectrum – of the air waves? Airwaves have been increasingly upheld as “public property”, but the spectrum ratio is often skewed against community broadcasting in terms of cost, allocation, and access. True, there are examples to contrary especially in South America. But these are the exceptions. How can we reverse this especially in a climate of increasing media corporatisation? In many parts of the world community radio has been articulated as being a voice of the voiceless. But articulation needs to be appropriately “actioned” through enabling policies.

In several countries in Asia, there are moves to put a Broadcast Act in place. There are concerns voiced about cross media ownership. However when push comes to shove, we find that community spaces are increasingly put on the back burner. In my country the Broadcast Bill has been debated several times since the mid 1990s. It has yet to be ratified. Further, in its latest avatar, community radio is not even mentioned.

There are other challenges that need to be addressed. Attacks on Community Media/Radio journalists have also increased across the region. There are also challenges within the sector related to infrastructure, community involvement, content development and regulatory framework. Increasingly, community radio stations find themselves vulnerable to the criticism of „ngoisation.‟ On the other side of the coin, the sector to face the challenge of digitalization. The promise of digitalization is manifold. However this should not be reduced to a debate of digital versus analog, but worked through a framework and a prism of access, inclusiveness and equity.

These are complex issues which need resolution. How do we tackle the m strengthen on air diversity and pluralism?

Nearly 300 community radio practitioners, advocates and production groups who participated at the Bangalore AMARC Asia Pacific Regional Consultations in February

2010 recommended a 10 point agenda for the development of community radio in the region which are summarized below:

1. To have a distinct and clear definition of community radio;

2. To recognize community radio as a distinct sector and acknowledge its contributions to societies and communities;

3. To legitimize Community Radio/ or give it legal status;

4. To open up of the airwaves/frequencies to Community Radios, on an equitable basis: from 20 to 30 percent of frequencies;

5. To urge governments to provide financial and technical support to Community Radios ;

6. To support sustainability of Community Radios through initiatives like a community radio fund;

7. To remove unreasonable restrictions in terms of technical (power) and editorial policies such as the ban on news ;

8. To simplify licensing procedures,

9. To provide guidelines, mechanisms and funding for development, reform, research and development, and capacity building; and

10. To ensure protection of community radio journalists. These recommendations have relevance for other regions as well.

AMARC provides a unique space to amply these concerns and strengthen the voices from the margins. At AMARC 10 we need to see how we can put steps in place to ensure the journey from the precepts of the Plurality and Diversity principles to their practice

Ashish Sen, India

Nigeria to Implement Community Radio

 Photo Above: Pacesetter FM 103.5 building. *Pacesetter FM is a commercial station which is located in Amakama, Umuahia, Abia State.

AMARC welcomes community radio breakthrough in Nigeria.

Montreal, October 19th, 2010. The World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters (AMARC) today welcomed the decision of the Federal Government of Nigeria to give the go-ahead for community radio in Nigeria.

In a speech at the opening of the Africast 2010 conference in Abuja, President Goodluck Jonathan announced that the Federal Executive Council had approved guidelines proposed for community radio licensing by the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC), the Nigerian broadcasting regulator.

The President stated further that government had devolved to NBC, the power to consider and issue the licenses without recourse to the presidency, once the applicant meets the legal conditions.

The move is a crucial breakthrough for Nigeria’s Community Radio Coalition, which has been campaigning for such a move for several years since Nigeria returned to multi-party democracy.

Steve Buckley, AMARC International President said:

"We greatly welcome the announcement by President Goodluck Jonathan confirming approval of proposals from the National Broadcasting Commission to proceed with community radio licensing in Nigeria. We especially applaud the delegation of licence assessment and decision making to the regulatory body as another important step in democratising Nigerian media law and regulation."
Oumar Seck Ndiaye, AMARC Africa President, added:

“We congratulate the President and the Government of Nigeria for taking this bold step towards the development of community broadcasting, along side private and state broadcasting, to ensure the access of all people of Nigeria to information and communication, consistent with recommendations of the African Charter on Broadcasting which has been endorsed by African governments.”
For more information:

World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters
705, rue Bourget, bureau 100

Montreal, Quebec H4C 2M6 Canada
secgen (@) si.amarc.org

Phone: +1 514 982 0351
Fax: +1 514 849 7129

http://www.amarc.org

Games of Surveillance

From the World Education Forum meeting in Palestine, October, 2010



Discussion of the World Education Forum.

I am a Defender of the Rainforest

This is the first portion to the documentary film "I am a Defender of the Rainforest" (Soy Defensor de la Selva). The film focuses in on the struggle and of the Kichwa people of Sarayaku in southern Ecuador. In 2002 the Argentinian oil company CGC invaded the Kichwa's Autonomous territory. The Kichwa responded by organizing themselves and pushing the company out. To learn more about the Sarayaku visit www.sarayaku.com

--Valliente2007


AsociacionASPA | December 18, 2009
Esta documental se acerca a la realidad cultural y social del pueblo kichwa de Sarayaku.

Este pueblo ancestral de la amazonia ecuatoriana, cuenta en primera persona las motivaciones sociales, ecológicas y culturales que le han llevado a ser uno de los pocos pueblos amazónicos que se han liberado del yugo de la explotación petrolera en su territorios.

Nos muestra, además la cruda realidad a la que se enfrentan cada día indígenas y campesinos del noreste del país, donde la explotación petrolera es nsinónimo de pobreza, enfermedad y contaminación

Children's Food Security Network

The Radio Tisdas Sessions: Tuareg Music and Language

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
Article 1, Universal Declaration of Human Rights


a great group of musicians from Mali and their language. music from The Radio Tisdas Sessions ... hopefully more folks will come to know them (and perhaps the language Tifinagh in a deeper sense)
from John Douglas



Tuareg People in Niger in an Al Jazeera Report by May Ying Welsh

Projection Protests Repression of Peace Activists

Cine Institute's Video about a 10 Year Old Medical Assistant

Ciné Institute provides Haitian youth with education, training and employment opportunities in film. The Institute's programs include:

• Ciné Lekol - Haiti's only film school offering training in fiction, documentary and television advertising.
• Ciné Services - an income generating production center for film school students and graduates.
• Ciné Klas - daily educational film screenings in partnership with local high schools
• Ciné Klub - weekly public screening series promoting film literacy.

According to one of the teachers recently back from Haiti, the institute has received funding from several Hollywood philanthropists including Coppola and Haggis.  The web site is: www.cineinstitute.com

Loni Ding Celebration at UC Berkeley

On September 26, 2010, a celebration of the life and work of Loni Ding was organized by the Ethnic Studies Department and Asian American Studies Program at UC Berkeley, with the participation of the Center for Asian American Media.Memories of Loni and Open Studio by Daniel Del Solar
April 9, 2010
Loni Ding was part of the Open Studio production team at KQED-TV in 1974 when I applied to be the outreach and fund-raising person at Open Studio. The principal idea of Open Studio was right on the original Public Broadcasting mission, of giving voices and faces of the not-represented on TV people, cultures, arts, and issues. Open Studio staff, originally gathered together and trained to operate an entire TV station (Channel 32, a frequency given to KQED, Inc., license holder of Channel 9 and FM 88.5 in San Francisco), had been denied the promised KQED support to operate the station. Open Studio, a weekday program, was given instead, with minimal financial support.
KQED, Inc., later lost the license for lying to the FCC regarding the reason for not actually using the frequency.
I gradually became part of the production team at Open Studio, producing several shows on Community Murals, Quilapayun, and others, in addition to my outreach and fundraising work. I was the host of a program produced and directed by Loni with Stephen Dimitroff and Lucienne Bloch titled “Fresco Murals” and in my role learned the intricacies of production pre-planning necessary due to our extremely limited “camera time.” Production slot for a complicated, multi-set production was 90 minutes, start to finish. This allowed for one or two “tape stops” of the big, unwieldy 2″ videotape machines. It took several minutes to restart after a tape stop.
And amidst the high-pressure schedule, each of the three Open Studio producers, Loni Ding, Irene del Rosario Buck, and Valentine Herz, had to shoot two half-hour programs each week, be in preparation with two programs in the coming week, and in early pre-production for two more programs two weeks further in the future. Always it was working with individuals and groups that had only a minimal understanding of the elements of a 30 minute TV program so considerable “ground work” was necessary for each production. Whatever the limitations, financial and technical, Open Studio programs won local Emmy awards and it was a well-regarded program offering of KQED-TV.
Into this high-pressure production group, Loni began to do work required to produce a TV program on the Chinese Archeological Exhibition, an early attempt by China to become less isolated from the world. The exhibition had taken place in Paris and in Washington, D.C., and through the efforts of many had finally been scheduled to be at the de Young Museum. Loni worked at top speed, without any money, without any grants, and finally, through her relentless and effective outreach, had a production crew ready to go to the exhibit overnight, starting at 10 pm and going till 7 am, for four nights to do the principal photography of the exhibition that became part of the 90 minute PBS special titled, “600 Millennia: China’s History Unearthed.”
After the last night of shooting, Loni needed a lift back to her home near Chinatown and I gave her a ride. On the way home Loni suggested that we go get some dim sum, at the time, a food unknown to me. At the small restaurant in Chinatown, Loni suggested that I might like to try chicken feet. I agreed, and a plate of chicken feet, well-cooked and delicious, arrived at our table and I ate them with great pleasure. Then Loni suggested that I try duck feet, which were also quite good, but not as good as the chicken feet, in my opinion. I was hooked.
I always seek out chicken feet when I get to a new Chinese restaurant. It is an addiction which I greatfully attribute to my on-going collegial friendship I’ve had with Loni. She leaves a great legacy in terms of the many that she has trained, taught, and worked with.
Loni Ding, PRESENTE!