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The following article is from the upcoming issue of Videazimut's
newsletter Clips.  The upcoming issue will be available in
separate English, French and Spanish editions at the end of
September.  Clips is published three times a year.

Subscriptions are $10 US per year in countries of the North and $%
US per year in countries of the south.  For a sample copy, please
contact:

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TELEVISION IN THE STREETS

The Brazilian Popular Video Association participates actively in
the movement for the democratizaton of the communication media in
Brazil which among other things is fighting for a Law of
Democratic Information.  But the ABVP has heard the call of
Elizabeth Pires that "It is not nearly enough to demand more
democratic and pluralistic legislation regarding communication;
it is necessary to demonstrate, to act and to move forward on this
right."  The ABVP replies with the boldness and creativity of
taking television to the streets.

The "ABVP Goes to the Streets" project  will establish a National
Network of Street Television by installing 22 television screen
exhibition poles in open spaces in cities which already have ABVP
Video Libraries.  By linking the decentralized distribution work
of the Video Libraries and the street screenings with continuous
new production, the project will set up a street TV in every state
of the country, thus creating a national network formed by five
regional networks and giving new life to videos produced by social
movements through broadcasting them in direct interaction with a
greater number of viewers.

The street TV screens will create an immediate and permanent
mechanism for finding resources based on local exhibition markets.
This will contribute to the self-financing of the network in
addition to strengthening state and regional collectives;
broadening and professionalizing training, information,
distribution and support to production; and reinforcing relations
with universities, schools, NGOs and social movements.

The importance of the project is the creation of a national
network of popular TV based on the very process of the
democratization of the communication media.  "AVBP Goes to the
Streets" incorporates two aspects of this process. First, it is
urgent to increase awareness in civil society about the importance
of the democratization of the communication media for the advance
of democracy in our country.  It is essential to promote direct
and practical actions capable of mobilizing and enabling the
public to participate effectively in formulating proposals.
Second, it is urgent that we advance this right to democratic
communication by beginning to experiment or "make alternative
media" in search of "our own understanding of the mass
communication media" very different from the logic used by the
private monopolies.

The project  will be an experimental laboratory for the testing of
our own concept of a future popular TV network, even before we
gain access to satellite broadcasting, through the exchange of
equipment, training, the structuring of a programming and language
format, diversification of themes and types of programming.  It's
the first step in the immense challenge of finding a model of
democratic TV built on ethical/political principles and values
allowing diversity based on free access for independent producers,
NGOs and social movements, combined with direct  and indirect
popular participation, at the same time in which it competes for
an audience and provides a way for self-financing.  The road is
long, but  I think we have already found the beginning.

>From TV screens to the satellite:  this is the biggest challenge!

(Taken from an article written by Caetano Scannavino Filho,
General Coordinator of the ABVP, in a recent issue of the ABVP
newsletter.)

ABVP
Rua Treze de Maio, 489 CEP 01327-000 Sao Paulo SP Brazil