Radio Voices Without Frontiers Global Antidiscrimination Broadcast

CHAPTERCHAPTER 4 30 Radio Voices Without Frontiers Global Antidiscrimination Broadcast Elvira Truglia Figure 30.1 RVSF (Radio Voix Sans Frontières) Logo 358 Chapter 30 Radio Voices Without Frontiers Global Antidiscrimination Broadcast—— 359 o One Is Illegal!1 This is a manifesto and local realities often have global catalysts and an example of an expanding community- global resonance. Migration is one of these areas Nbased migrant rights movement that has of global concern. Imagine, not just one program taken off in Canada, especially in the aftermath about migrant rights or discrimination issues but of 9/11. Increasing border controls between dozens of programs on a similar theme being Canada and the United States to keep goods broadcast on the same day, not by circumstance flowing but people contained have been creating but by direct action, a concerted effort by broad- what some call the new “Fortress North casters around the world. That is Radio Voices America.”2 It is a familiar refrain, as the term Without Frontiers. Fortress Europe has been used to describe the Every March 21, through the use of traditional increasingly restrictive immigration policies and new communications technologies, journal- (e.g., the Schengen Agreement)3 designed to keep ists from every corner of the globe advocate people of European countries moving freely against racial discrimination during a (typically) within their borders but to keep out non- 24-hour broadcast. Running for more than a Europeans. Meanwhile, the reasons why people decade, Radio Voices Without Frontiers, also from Asia, Africa, and Latin America keep known by its French acronym RVSF—Radio Voix migrating remain compelling—armed violence, Sans Frontières—has become the flagship project ethnic and racial conflict, economic globaliza- of the World Association of Community Radio tion, and environmental degradation are just a Broadcasters (AMARC).4 Relying on an expand- few (Taran, 2000, “Causes of Migration,” ¶ 5). ing international network of community radio Migration-receiving countries now commonly practitioners, RVSF is one of the first community characterize undocumented workers as “illegal media production and distribution projects to be migrants,” rendering them outside the law, with organized on a global scale. no legal status, no legal identity, and no existence, The project is a testament to the socially and effectively denying them any human rights inclusive ethos of community radio and to how (Taran, 2000, “Ten General Trends,” ¶ 7). the local is traced through the global and back One of the spaces where all migrants do have again. Although the Voices Without Frontiers a voice and a status is on community radio. Network was started in Europe in 1996, the first Check your local listings, and chances are that broadcast took place in 1997 to commemorate you’ll find a broadcast and/or podcast produced the European Year Against Racism. It remained a by and about migrant communities—refugees, regional event until 2000, when North American temporary workers, migrants with no legal sta- broadcasters joined the campaign. By 2001, it tus, new and established immigrants, and so on. had become a global broadcast with the partici- In Canada, chances are you’ll find all of the pation of broadcasters from all continents. above, including programming by members of By 2004, programming in nine languages was the No One is Illegal migrant rights movement broadcast on some 200 community radio sta- mentioned earlier. The beauty of community tions worldwide. Focusing largely on the 2004 radio is that it breaks down the traditional divide campaign, this chapter will demonstrate how between broadcaster and listener. With commu- RVSF attempts to develop its potential in using nity radio, the listener can become the broad- ICTs (information and communication tech- caster and get engaged in the production of nologies) for development and building interna- media and in the process of communication. tional solidarity. It will also share the lessons Linked to movements for social change, the learned to date and observations about the strength of community radio is its ability to process of international network building. The reflect the concerns of local communities. Yet, lessons and reflections below are drawn from my 360—— PART VII I LOCAL MEDIA, GLOBAL STRUGGLES experience as the coordinator of the RVSF their participation, not only in the radio but in broadcast from 2000 to 2004 (in 2000 as the the social, cultural and political processes that North American broadcast coordinator; from affect the community,” states Girard (p. 3). 2001–2004 as the international broadcast coor- Almost 20 years later, this observation still holds dinator). This chapter does not dwell on theory true. Broadcasters are highly motivated when but, in many ways, reflects my experience as a they advocate for and are part of a social change practitioner and advocate of media for commu- process. Through its content and structure, the nity development since the early 1990s. RVSF 2004 RVSF broadcast is a testament to the passion has been an opportunity to test and put into and transformational struggle of community practice the ideals of community radio on a radio broadcasters (Figure 30.2). global scale. Programming on March 21, 2004 began with the first-ever broadcast from Asia: The marathon kicks off in Kathmandu, Nepal. Suman of An Inspiring Experiment AMARC–Asia Pacific has spent the past 24 hours in Community Media trying to upload audio to the RVSF server. Finally, at 3:00 A.M. GMT (Greenwich Mean Community media researcher and advocate, Time), all is ready to go, and he adjusts his audio Bruce Girard (1992) says that when community player to the 3-hour Internet broadcast in Nepali radio broadcasts succeed they are marked with and Arabic. This is the first major contribution to passion rarely seen in commercial or large-scale the global broadcast from the Asia-Pacific region, State media.“This passion arises out of a desire to produced in partnership with Radio Sagarmatha, empower listeners by encouraging and enabling Nepal’s first community radio station. Latin March 21, 2004 America 24:00 21:00 3:00 North America Asia 18:00 6:00 Africa 15:00 9:00 Europe 12:00 Greenwich Mean Time Figure 30.2 The 2004 RVSF Broadcast Time Clock Chapter 30 Radio Voices Without Frontiers Global Antidiscrimination Broadcast—— 361 In the meantime, at close to 6:00 A.M. GMT, occupation of Iraq and the closing music fades Gilles Eric of the Simbani news agency is gearing into Latin beats. up for a live broadcast from Johannesburg, South The final 3 hours of the marathon have now Africa. Journalists from throughout Africa have begun. This time the baton is in Latin America. been assembled in the newly created studios and Uruguay’s Internet radio station, Radio Mundo are about to go on the air, one language team at a Real, has spent the past few days putting together time. While a phone call confirms all is going well the 3-hour feed of programs collected by Chile’s in the local studios, the constant buffering of the Radio Tierra in Santiago. Contributions come Web stream creates an inaudible Web cast for the from Uruguay, Chile, Argentina, Ecuador, Peru, first time in the 4-year collaboration with RVSF. and Mexico. Luckily, the French, Portuguese and English pro- With programming in nine languages, the grams go off without a hitch on the satellite 21-hour broadcast is realized with some 70 com- broadcaster, Channel Africa. munity radio stations or production groups and Four hours later, the European team is 90 contributors and team members from 29 dif- ready to take the baton. Francesco of AMISnet ferent countries (Table 30.1). These are the (Agenzia Multimediale d’Informazione Sociale) people of Radio Voices Without Frontiers. in Rome sends a staccato e-mail message—only 10 minutes before going on air. Following tradi- tion, the social information agency has gathered Producing and Distributing a multicultural crew in the studio. Hosts will take Through a Global Network turns announcing in Italian, French, Spanish, and English. Last-minute news that some pro- Coordinating the RVSF broadcast from 2000 to gramming from Africa has fallen through creates 2004 gave me the opportunity to witness the a hurried shuffle and gives Europe an extra hour potential created by ICTs as tools for develop- in the global broadcast schedule. The 1-hour ment and network building. It was a time when Lusophone feed from Radio Universidade Marao the potential for building international solidar- in Portugal is matched by a 1-hour feed from ity through Internet networking was growing 15 community-access stations in the United momentum. In 1994, the Zapatista Revolution, Kingdom and a contribution from the Palestine facilitated by Internet communication, was seen News Network. In total, Europe broadcasts glob- as a turning point in global mobilization. And ally for 6 hours. then, in 1999, the civil society protests in Seattle In a home office, the international coordina- against the World Trade Organization (also tor is zigzagging time zones to communicate coordinated greatly through the Internet) between continents and across hemispheres. inspired even more energy and excitement. Next, the baton is in North American hands. This Today, with the so-called personal media revo- year, three different broadcast hubs participate. lution putting a blog, podcast, and vodcast There is French programming from the Reseau within reach of almost anyone with an Internet Francophone des Amériques in Ottawa. Spanish connection, the potential of Internet network- programming is broadcast live from Radio ing as a great democratic force is expanding Centre-Ville in Montreal. And a blend of English more boundaries. RVSF was and still is an programs from community radio stations in experiment in testing this potential.

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