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LAWS ON RADIO BROADCASTING: FOR THE POWERFUL OR FOR COMMUNITIES?

By Luis Gallegos*

To speak of legislation for community radio invariably means
speaking about the ongoing democratization process, be it in Latin
America, Africa, Asia or Europe.  The gains achieved - whether
major, as in Colombia, or limited, as in Chile, show that the
communications monopolies are not all-powerful.

The determination to democratize States and societies, which is
tangible everywhere on the planet, leads one to believe that other
gains are possible and that the monopolistic globalization of
communications can be opposed by democratic globalization.  The
possibility that community radio may operate within a legal
framework is important because it permits the legitimization of the
right to free expression and supports attempts to gain a democratic
space.  Efforts to make this a reality must be constant.  It is
important to point out, though, that even if modern legislation is
promulgated and enacted, it does not ensure that community radio
will be invulnerable.  Such legislation is not necessarily the
ultimate goal of efforts to democratize radio broadcasting, since
the latter would require governments of a different kind.  These
are in fact liberal or neoliberal laws.  Even so, they can be
useful.  Obtaining democratizing legislation regarding radio
broadcasting is important, but it is not all that counts.  Let us
have no illusions about legality.  As community radio broadcasters,
our goal is not to sink into marginalisation, but neither is it to
become legalistic.  What is really important is to help our peoples
to express themselves, to get organized and to be the main actors
in their own history.

It is only when the socio-political context in Latin America and
elsewhere becomes more democratic that we can imagine the enactment
of truly democratic laws on radio broadcasting.  In other words,
our community radio stations will have all their freedoms when they
are able to function in fully democratic regimes.  Present-day
community radio, in turn, can and should act as an effective means
to hasten this process.

In the final analysis, the raison d'etre of any community radio
station is to be an integral part of a people's hopes to change
everything, not just laws.  People's hope to change their living
conditions, to become masters of their own destiny, to make their
dreams come true, to love in freedom.

It is important to strengthen the legal victories achieved in
different parts of the continent and the rest of the world, to
learn from successes as from mistakes, and to share experiences and
ideas at different forums.  The successes met with at the UNESCO
seminar in Chile should become, in the long term, an equal number
of inter-institutional and governmental proposals.  AMARC 6, for
example, could be an appropriate place to set up a technical
commission to study, share and organize national, regional and
inter-regional proposals regarding legislation.  We must come up
with new means while defending radio broadcasters subjected to
censorship by the powerful.  In this sense, the role of bodies such
as AMARC's Solidarity Network and the IFEX clearing house continues
to be indispensable.


*  Coordinator of the Sonoradio production group and executive
committee member of the Asociacion Nacional de Radios Populares
(ANARAP) in Chile.  Luis Gallegos has played an active role in
Chilean community radio stations' recent attempts to obtain
broadcasting licences.

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   This article is from InteRadio, Vol. 6, No.3., the newsletter
  of AMARC, the World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters.
      InteRadio is published in English, French and Spanish.

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