[ecrea] AMARC link, Volume 12, Number 1, January 2008

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>To see the AMARC Link go to: 
><http://www.amarc.org/index.php?p=AMARCLink_Vol_12_No_1-en>http://www.amarc.org/index.php?p=AMARCLink_Vol_12_No_1-en
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>AMARC link, Volume 12, Number 1, January 2008
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>AMARC turns 25: 2008 is the Year of Community Radio
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>Montreal, 31 December 2008. The World 
>Association of Community Radio Broadcasters 
>activities in 2008 will be marked by the 
>celebration of the 25th Anniversary of AMARC. It 
>was in August 1983 that a group of community 
>radio fans met spontaneously in Montreal for the 
>first World Conference of community radio 
>broadcasters, only to realise at the meeting 
>that there was already an embryonic world 
>movement which brought them together. At the 
>1986 2nd World Assembly which took place in 
>Vancouver, in the west coast of Canada, what was 
>initially a spontaneous movement officially 
>became a non-governmental organisation. In 1988, 
>at the 3rd World Assembly in Managua, the 
>Association acquired the status of 
>Non-Governmental Organization. In Dublin, in 
>1990, the debates taking place at the 4th AMARC 
>World Conference focused on the confirmation of 
>the right to communicate. It was also in Dublin 
>that a group of women proposed the creation of 
>an international network of women working in the 
>field of community radio. But it was only at the 
>Oaxtepec Conference, held in Mexico in 1992, 
>that the International Women's Network was 
>launched, together with AMARC's International 
>Solidarity Network. In Dakar, the 6th AMARC 
>World Conference confirmed the existence of a 
>locally rooted movement, with strong and 
>independent regional offices evolving 
>effectively in a context of world globalisation. 
>AMARC's 7th Conference, which took place in 
>Milan during the summer of 1998, followed the 
>lines laid down at the Dakar Conference, 
>allowing the organisation to cross three new 
>frontiers: the legal frontier, by discussing new 
>international law's recognition of community 
>media; the technical frontier, by helping 
>members to meet technological challenges and by 
>enabling community radio collaboration with 
>other media with a similar vocation; and, the 
>geographical frontier, by making a breakthrough 
>into Asia and the Arab countries. The Katmandu's 
>8th Conference of AMARC was the largest 
>gathering of community broadcasters to take 
>place in the region, becoming a cornerstone for 
>the development of the community radio movement 
>in Asia-Pacific. As well, participants in the 
>event endorsed the organisation's Strategic Plan 
>of Action for the period 2003-2006. The 
>Kathmandu Declaration was the final document 
>ensuing from the discussions and adopted by the 
>General Assembly. AMARC 9 World Conference was 
>held November 2006 in Amman, Jordan. The 
>Conference supported the development of 
>Community Radio in the MENA region being 
>followed by the AMARC Africa MENA Conference in 
>Rabat Morocco in November 2007. The conference 
>studied a global evaluation of Community radios 
>social impact and defined the strategic plan of 
>action for 2007-2010 for what has become 
>recognized as a global sector of communications. 
>In 2008, after 9 world conferences, the 
>community radio movement has effectively become 
>a recognized global sector of communication that 
>has an effective social impact in making the 
>world a better place. Community Radio activities 
>in 2008 will be under the sign of the 25th 
>Anniversary of AMARC. We call upon AMARC members 
>and Community Radio Stakeholders to organize 
>activities to celebrate, reflect on lessons 
>learned and on how to strengthen the social 
>impact of Community radio to combat poverty, 
>exclusion and voicelessness and to promote 
>social justice and sustainable, democratic and 
>participatory human development. Please send 
>your reflections on the 25th anniversary of 
>AMARC and communicate your initiatives to 
><mailto:(secretariat /at/ si.amarc.org)>(secretariat /at/ si.amarc.org) 
>. Marcelo Solervicens Secretary General AMARC
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>AMARC Women International Network Perspectives
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>AMARC 16 Days Campaign against Gender Violence 
>The AMARC WIN16 days campaign against gender 
>violence was active from November 25th to 
>December 10th inclusively. In this second year 
>global campaign edition, the theme was: 
>Demanding Implementation, Challenging 
>Obstacles: End Violence against Women. This 
>multilingual broadcasting mobilizes community 
>radios on a theme of global importance promoting 
>the use of new communication technologies such 
>as Internet to make women voices heard. 
>Throughout this campaign many thematic days were 
>highlighted: November 25th : International Day 
>for the Elimination of Violence Against Women; 
>November 29th : International Womens Human 
>Rights Defenders Day; December 1: World AIDS 
>Day; December 6: Commemoration day of the 
>Montreal Massacre; December 10th : International 
>Human rights Days. Community radios from all 
>over the world participated I the world 
>campaign. To download the audio files from 
>AMARC-WIN website for the 16 days campaign and 
>broadcast them in your communities visit: 
><http://www.amarc.org/16days>http://www.amarc.org/16days
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>Call to participate in March 8 International 
>Womens Day Broadcast World Campaign This year, 
>March 8, the International Womens Day world 
>broadcast an initiative of the Women 
>International network and coordinated by the 
>International Secretariat will focus in 
>financing for Gender Equality. Among other 
>themes treated there will be the macroeconomic 
>policies and their impact on women, the public 
>finances and gender responsive budgeting, the 
>funding for womens and social movements. To 
>participate please send your audio programmes 
>and news to 
><mailto:(secretariat /at/ si.amarc.org)>(secretariat /at/ si.amarc.org) 
>Please visit 
><http://march8.amarc.org/index.php?l=EN>http://march8.amarc.org/index.php?l=EN
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>News from the World Social Forum
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>On the 9th World Conference of Community Radio 
>Broadcasters, in Amman, Jordan, in November 
>2006, the members of AMARC defined as a priority 
>the World Social forum and the social movements 
>activities in terms of building alliances and on 
>developing the Civil Society Agenda for a better world.
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>AMARC at the Day of Mobilization and Action of the WSF - January 26th 2008
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>The World Association of Community Radio 
>Broadcasters, AMARC network worldwide actively 
>participated in the Global day of Action to 
>promote communications rights as a fundamental 
>human right. The AMARC network of community 
>radios in more than 110 countries covered the 
>decentralized mobilizations and actions of 
>organizations and social movements of Civil 
>Society for the Global day of Action on January 
>26, 2008. To read the news and listen and 
>download audio documents, visit the AMARC 
>webpage for the Global Day of Action at 
><http://www.amarc.org/index.php?p=World_Social_Forum_2008&l=EN&nosafe=1>http://www.amarc.org/index.php?p=World_Social_Forum_2008&l=EN&nosafe=1 
>This is the Call of thousands of organisations 
>supporting the Global Day of Action  January 
>26, 2008 We are millions of women and men, 
>organisations, networks, movements, trade unions 
>from all parts of the world, we come from 
>villages, regions, rural zones, urban centres, 
>we are of all ages, peoples, cultures, beliefs, 
>but we are united by the strong conviction that 
>ANOTHER WORLD IS POSSIBLE With all the richness 
>of our plurality and diversity and our 
>alternatives and proposals, we struggle against 
>neo-liberalism, war, colonialism, racism and 
>patriarchy which produce violence, exploitation, 
>exclusion, poverty, hunger and ecological 
>disaster and deprive people of human rights. For 
>many years we have been resisting and 
>constructing innovative processes, new cultures 
>of organization and action from the local to the 
>global, in particular within the processes and 
>Charter of Principle of the World Social Forum 
>from which this call emerges. Aware of the need 
>to set our own agenda and to increase the impact 
>of these thousands of expressions and 
>manifestations, we are committed to 
>strengthening the solidarity and convergence 
>amongst our struggles, campaigns, and 
>constructions of alternatives and alliances. We 
>commit ourselves to a week of action which will 
>culminate in a Global Day of Mobilization and 
>Action on January 26. With our diversity which 
>is our strength, we invite all men and women to 
>undertake throughout this week creative actions, 
>activities, events and convergences focusing on 
>the issues and expressed in the ways they 
>choose. ACT TOGETHER FOR ANOTHER WORLD! Please 
>visit the official WSF 2008 Website at 
><http://www.wsf2008.net/>http://www.wsf2008.net/
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>The 2009 WSF will be held in Belem, in Brazil
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>The 2009 World Social Forum, is due to take 
>place in Belem, the capital of Para in Brazil. 
>The city was chosen to host the 2009 edition of 
>the global forum in order to highlight the 
>importance of the Amazon region for the entire 
>world, and because its local cultural, political 
>and economic reality is strongly linked to many 
>WSF issues, such as bio-diversity, climate 
>change, ethnic and cultural diversity, 
>colonialism, militarism and the various 
>connections between labor and production (from 
>subsistence mineral extraction to hi-tech 
>industry). <http://www.forumsocialmundial.org.br>www.forumsocialmundial.org.br
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>The Struggle for the Recognition of Community Radio
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>In the AMARC 9 World Conference, lack of legal 
>recognition for Community Radio was considered 
>the single most important barrier to the 
>development of Community Radio as the third Tier of Communication.
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>AMARC Salutes the Joint Declaration on Diversity in Broadcasting
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>The World Association of Community Radio 
>Broadcasters AMARC saluted today as an important 
>specific contribution to the recognition of 
>community media the Joint Declaration on 
>Diversity of Broadcasting signed by the four 
>special mandates on freedom of expression  the 
>UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Opinion and 
>Expression, Ambeyi Ligabo; Miklos Haraszti, the 
>Representative on Freedom of the Media of the 
>Organisation for Security and Cooperation in 
>Europe OSCE, Miklos Haraszti; Ignacio Alvarez, 
>The OAS Special Rapporteur on Freedom of 
>Expression and Faith Pansy Tlakula, the Special 
>Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression African 
>Commission for Human and Peoples Rights, ACHPR. 
>Read the Declaration at: 
><http://www.article19.org/pdfs/publications/mandates-broadcasting.pdf>http://www.article19.org/pdfs/publications/mandates-broadcasting.pdf 
>The Joint Declaration stresses the fundamental 
>importance of diversity in the media to the free 
>flow of information and ideas in society, in 
>terms of both giving voice to and satisfying the 
>information needs and other interests of all, as 
>protected by international guarantees of the 
>right to freedom of expression. The Declaration 
>recognises the varied contributions that 
>different types of broadcasters  commercial, 
>public service and community  as well as 
>broadcasters of different reach  local, 
>national, regional and international - make to 
>diversity. This last annual meeting of the 
>special mandates on freedom of expression with 
>NGOs, academics and other experts was held in 
>Amsterdam on 7-8 December under the auspices of 
>ARTICLE 19, Global Campaign for Free Expression, 
>assisted by the Institute for Information Law, 
>University of Amsterdam. AMARC shares the 
>concern of the Joint Declaration on Diversity of 
>Broadcasting on the failure of many countries to 
>recognise community broadcasting as a distinct 
>type of broadcasting and salutes its call 
>promoting that Community broadcasting should be 
>explicitly recognised in law as a distinct form 
>of broadcasting, should benefit from fair and 
>simple licensing procedures, should not meet 
>stringent technological or other licensing 
>criteria, should benefit from concessionary 
>licence fees and should have access to 
>advertising. The World Association of Community 
>Radio Broadcasters is an international 
>non-governmental organisation serving the 
>community radio movement. AMARC links in a 
>worldwide network more than 3000 community 
>radios in over 110 countries through direct 
>membership and national federations. As a 
>network for exchange and solidarity, AMARC 
>advocates, defends and promotes the recognition 
>of the community radio sector worldwide. For 
>further information on AMARC visit: <http://amarc.org>http://amarc.org
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>New legislation for Community radios in Uruguay
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>On December 12, 2007, the Uruguayan deputies 
>approved finally the new legislation for 
>community media and approved by the senate on 
>November 14. The legislation reserves a third of 
>available frequencies to community radios. 
>Community radios will have sixty days from 
>December 20 to register in Unión Reguladora de 
>Servicios Comunitarios (Ursec), and thus be able 
>to present their candidacy to obtain a legal 
>licence. The registration is voluntary and is 
>valid only for media that have been broadcasting 
>for more than a year. Drafted initially by 
>AMARC, the Asociación de la Prensa Uruguaya 
>(APU) y la Central de Trabajadores (PIT-CNT), 
>the new legislation defines community radios and 
>tv as citizens public interest services 
>independent from the State, provided by civil 
>not for profit, not for political or religious 
>proselytism associations. The main novelty of 
>the legislation is that the frequency allocation 
>will be the result of open, public and 
>transparent processes and will not depend, as before, from State criteria.
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>Bangladesh Government set to Authorize Community Radios
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>AMARC members in Bangladesh say the Government 
>will soon authorize community radios in that 
>country. In 23 July 2007 The Ministry of 
>Information formed a committee to develop 
>licensing policy, concept note and application 
>form for piloting community radio in Bangladesh. 
>The Executive Director of Mass- line Media 
>Center and the Executive Director of Bangladesh 
>NGOs Network for Radio and Communication were 
>among the committee members that prepared the 
>said documents by consulting the policy paper of 
>licensing process of other neighboring 
>countries. The Caretaker Government has received 
>requests from the civil society to introduce 
>community radio for disseminating community 
>friendly weather signal in local language after 
>the devastating cyclone that took thousand 
>lives, property and recourses. It is to be 
>mentioned here that the dream for establishing 
>community radio in Bangladesh took an embryonic 
>shape about 12 years ago. Several civil society 
>organizations like BNNRC and MMC conducted 
>various types of strategic campaign being 
>inspired by the experiences of AMARC member countries.
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>Social Campaigns and Network Development of Community Radios
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>AMARC GK3 Activities and Workshop on Women and Governance /
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>The 3rd Global Knowledge Conference (GK3)  was 
>one of the most important knowledge sharing and 
>creative development conferences in the world  
>It was held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, from 11 
>-13 December 2007. Themed "Emerging People, 
>Emerging Markets, Emerging Technologies," GK3 
>was a dynamic event focused on the future. The 
>GK3 Conference explored concrete solutions and 
>possibilities within the inter-play, interface 
>and interweaving of issues related to the 
>Knowledge for Development (K4D) and Information 
>and Communication Technologies for Development 
>(ICT4D) in the context of our globally evolving 
>societies, economies and technologies worldwide. 
>The multi-stake holder Conference gathered more 
>than 1500 participants from all over the world 
>to reflect on ICT4D and on knowledge and 
>information sharing as the way of the future for 
>a truly democratic and inclusive information 
>society. The AMARC delegation of 45 community 
>radio journalists and representatives 
>participated in the coverage of the event and 
>held several seminars. Of particular importance 
>was the seminar on Women empowerment and Good 
>Governance through Community Radio. For 
>information on AMARC Activities at the GK3 
>Conference visit: 
><http://www.amarc.org/index.php?p=Global_Knowledge_Conference_GK3&l=EN>http://www.amarc.org/index.php?p=Global_Knowledge_Conference_GK3&l=EN 
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>First Free Radio In Tunis
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>The first free radio in Tunisia started on 
>December 10, 2007 with six persons of the Free 
>Tunisian Radio Syndicate. You can heard it on: 
><http://www.radio6tunis.net>www.radio6tunis.net Good listening.
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>Participate on March 21 Voices Without Frontiers, Edition 2008
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>On March 21, UN International Day for the 
>Elimination of Racial Discrimination, community 
>radio stations across North America, Europe, 
>Africa, Latin America, Asia Pacific and the MENA 
>region, will devote a day of broadcast focusing 
>on issues concerning racism, such as 
>discrimination against women, children, 
>refugees, and the disabled. Multilingual 
>programming for this day will be transmitted all 
>around the world using AMARC RVSF Website. The 
>2008 edition of the March 21 Voices without 
>Frontiers will strengthen the network of 
>exchanges between community radios around the 
>world. Working with close cooperation with AMARC 
>affiliate networks around the globe, as well as 
>dozens of local stations, AMARC International 
>Secretariat will coordinate this initiative of 
>radio broadcasting in French, English, Spanish 
>and many other languages, including Arabic, 
>Nepali, and Portuguese among others. This 
>project is the only one of its kind in the 
>world, reaching into low income and poverty 
>stricken communities in many parts of Latin 
>America, Africa, and the Asia Pacific region. To 
>participate this year send your news and audio 
>programs to 
><mailto:(secretariat /at/ si.amarc.org)>(secretariat /at/ si.amarc.org) 
>For further information visit AMARC RVSF on the 
>web at <http://www.rvsf.amarc.org>http://www.rvsf.amarc.org
>
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>The Second Harmonization Meeting of AMARC Structures
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>On October 26, 2007, in Rabat Morocco AMARC held 
>its seconf Joint Coordinating Meeting (JCM) that 
>brought together the regional presidents and 
>coordinators from Latin America & Caribbean, 
>Africa, the Asia-Pacifc région and Europe as 
>well as the executive and the AMARC 
>International Secretariat staff. This is part of 
>the harmonization process resolution of AMARC 9 
>World Conference to respond to the need for a 
>more integrated approach by amarc structures in 
>order to increase the social impact of AMARC 
>interventions leading to achieve the 2007-2010 strategic plan.
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>News from the International Board of Directors of AMARC.
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>The International Board of Directors of AMARC 
>met the 27-28 October in Rabat, Morocco. The 
>IBOD analyzed the situation and challenges of 
>the community radio movement worldwide; it 
>evaluated the performance of the international 
>and regional structures in regards to the 
>harmonization process and the strategic plan of 
>AMARC. Among the main resolutions, it was the 
>decision to activate the committees of the IBOD 
>for policy definitions, for governance, capacity 
>building and content exchange in order to 
>confront from a strategic perspective the 
>challenges to worldwide network of community 
>radios. The Policy committee will be meeting in Bogotá, Colombia March 1st.
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>New Publication Section in AMARC Website.
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>Please visit the new section on Publications on 
>the AMARC Website 
><http://amarc.org>http://amarc.org . Using the 
>wiki platform you can also add new documents or 
>send the to the International secretariat at 
><mailto:(secretariat /at/ si.amarc.org)>(secretariat /at/ si.amarc.org)
>
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>Subscribe to Receive News in Spanish from Pulsar News Agency
>
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>Pulsar, the AMARC ALC news agency, continues to 
>work for the democratization of communications 
>facilitating direct contact between journalists 
>and civil society sources of information, 
>without interference from big corporations or 
>international news agencies from the North. 
>Pulsar also covers through special programs, 
>activities, forums and events taking place in 
>Latin America and the Caribbean. It also carries 
>photographs, audio files and up to date 
>information in Spanish and Portuguese. Register 
>yourself in the Email list to receive daily 
>reports, by visiting their Web site 
><http://www.pulsar.amarc.org.>http://www.pulsar.amarc.org.
>
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>The International Secretariat
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>Gabriela mayorquin, Project consultant Ricardo 
>Costa, project Consultant Nick Fillmore, Project 
>development Consultant Jean Philippe Theberge, 
>ICT Consultant Dominique Legendre, Accountant 
>and financial assistant to projects Marcelo Solervicens, Secretary General
>
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>Dear Member, renew your Membership
>
>
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>For more information on how to proceed, please 
>contact your regional office or at the 
>international secretariat, 
><mailto:(secretariat /at/ si.amarc.org)>(secretariat /at/ si.amarc.org)
>
>The World Association of Community Radio 
>Broadcasters is an international 
>non-governmental organisation serving the 
>community radio movement. AMARC links in a 
>worldwide network more than 3000 community 
>radios in over 110 countries through direct 
>membership and national federations. As a 
>network for exchange and solidarity, AMARC 
>advocates, defends and promotes the recognition 
>of the community radio sector worldwide. For 
>further information on AMARC visit: <http://amarc.org>http://amarc.org
>© 2007 <http://www.amarc.org>AMARC
>

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Nico Carpentier (Phd)
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Vrije Universiteit Brussel - Free University of Brussels
Centre for Studies on Media and Culture (CeMeSO)
Pleinlaan 2 - B-1050 Brussels - Belgium
T: ++ 32 (0)2-629.18.56
F: ++ 32 (0)2-629.36.84
Office: 5B.401a
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Katholieke Universiteit Brussel - Catholic University of Brussels
Vrijheidslaan 17 - B-1081 Brussel - Belgium
&
Facultés Universitaires Saint-Louis
Boulevard du Jardin Botanique 43  - B-1000 Brussel - Belgium
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Sponsored links ;)
----------------------------
NEW BOOKS OUT
Understanding Alternative Media
by Olga Bailey, Bart Cammaerts, Nico Carpentier
(December 2007)
http://mcgraw-hill.co.uk/html/0335222102.html
----------------------------
Participation and Media Production. Critical Reflections on Content Creation.
Edited by Nico Carpentier and Benjamin De Cleen
(January 2008)
<http://www.c-s-p.org/Flyers/Participation-and-Media-Production--Critical-Reflections-on-Content-Creation1-84718-453-7.htm>http://www.c-s-p.org/Flyers/Participation-and-Media-Production--Critical-Reflections-on-Content-Creation1-84718-453-7.htm 

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European Communication Research and Education Association
Web: http://www.ecrea.eu
----------------------------
ECREA's Second European Communication Conference
Barcelona, 25-28 November 2008
http://www.ecrea2008barcelona.org/
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E-mail: (Nico.Carpentier /at/ vub.ac.be)
Web: http://homepages.vub.ac.be/~ncarpent/
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