🚀 go-pugleaf

/* Written 10:56 pm  May 18, 1994 by resystom in web:amarc.radio */
/* ---------- "HAITI: Clandestine Radios" ---------- */
Clandestine Radios in Haiti:  A LITTLE VOICE THAT SAYS NO

The lambi (a gathering call usually made with the aid of a sea
shall) rings out.  "Asosye li jou!"  (Friend, the day has begun!)
"Leve kanpe!"  (Time to rise!)  "Soley la leve!"  (The sun's up!)
It is 6 a.m., and the clandestine radio "Soley Leve" has started
its broadcast on 94.9 MHz FM.  It will continue until 8 a.m. and
come back on the air at 8 p.m.

Created in 1993, this station has made a name for itself in Port-
au-Prince.  The residents of the shanty towns surrounding the
capital enthusiastically welcomed the renewal of its programming
at the end of 1993, following an interruption for unspecified
reasons in October of the same year.

The low-power station is a daily headache for the military.
According to a reliable source, the men under Michel Francois (the
current police chief) are actively searching for its broadcasting
headquarters.  Serge Beaulieu, a fervent supporter of the military
and the owner of Radio Liberte, which is just next to Soley Leve
on the dial, complains of problems that the "pirate station"
causes for his own programs.  At the time of the signing of the
Governors Island Agreement and the New York Pact,ppealed to
grass-roots sectors to continue their resistance, even now, 29
months after the coup.

"Komite rezistans pou jodi" (resistance committee today) and
"komite rezistans pou demem" (resistance committee tomorrow) are
continual announcements on Radio Pep Ayisyen (People of Haiti),
Soley Leve's sister station, which broadcast its first program in
April 1992.  After silencing its transmitters for more than six
months, Radio Pep Ayisyen renewed its regular programming in
February 1994.

A drumbeat announces that this station, usually called "Radio pep
la," (radio of the people) is about to come on the air.  In Port-
au-Prince, the country's capital, people tune in at 1600 kHz AM.
Its antennas are turned on about six times each day, with
different schedules for each region of the country.  This seems to
be intended to overcome the problem of low transmission power.

Radio Pep Asyen provides time for international news, in addition
to its editorials and national news bulletins.  "The suffering,
struggles and victories of one people are the business of all
peoples," the radio explains in an ad.  In the time slot entitled
"kozman pep la" (chatting with the people) the residents of poor
neighborhoods and rural areas voice their demands and speak their
minds regarding the country's problems.

The same formula was used by Radio Lave Je (literally: washing
living under cover in Port-au-Prince.  However, they are
determined to resume Radio Lave Je's programming.

Since President Jean-Bertrand Aristide was overthrown on September
30, 1991, several clandestine radios have come into being in
Haiti.  Radio Resistance Lavalas made its first broadcast
immediately after the coup.  It represented a breath of fresh air
for the people of Port-au-Prince throughout the dark days of late
1991.  During that same period Radio 29 Novembre became well
known.  These initiatives did not last very long, but they did
make it possible to speak out despite a prohibition enforced at
gunpoint.  They represented a turning point that will leave a
permanent mark on the evolution of radio in Haiti.

Gotson Pierre CRAD Information Service

		   ..........................
 This article is from InteRadio, Vol. 6, No.1., the newsletter of
AMARC, the World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters.
     InteRadio is published in English, French and Spanish.  To
suscribe or for information about joining AMARC contact us at:

   3575 St-Laurent, # 704 - Montreal, Quebec - H2X 2T7  Canada
	 Fax: +(514) 849-7129 - Tel: +(514) 982-0351
		   Email: amarc@web.apc.org
		       ...................