🚀 go-pugleaf

AMARC has received a message from Free Radio Berkeley, an unlicenced
radio station in California. FRB is organising a demonstration at the
Salvadoran consulate in San Francisco in support of the ten radio
stations closed by the Salvadorean government.

If you haven't yet written to President Calderon of El Salvador,
please consider doing so.

If you missed the RadioAction Alert circulated earlier, send me an
email and I'll forward a copy along with the fax numbers for the
President of El Salvador.

bg



------- Forwarded Message Follows -------
Date:          Sat, 9 Dec 1995 13:09:17 -0800 (PST)
From:          Stephen Dunifer <frbspd@crl.com>
To:            Bruce Girard <bgirard@ecnet.ec>
Subject:       Re: El Salvador - RadioAction Alert



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Radio Action Demonstration to Protest Salvadoran Government
Shutdown of 10 Community Radio Stations

Demonstration at the Salvadoran Consulate,
Flood Building - Powell & Market, San Francisco
Wednesday, December 13 - 12 noon.

Contact:  Stephen Dunifer, Free Radio Berkeley (510) 644-3779

	In solidarity with the 10 community radio stations shut down by
the Salvadoran police at the behest of Juan Jose Domenech, president of
ANTEL (the state agency in charge of broadcast regulation), Free Radio
Berkeley, San Francisco Liberation Radio, Radio Libre will be sponsoring a
support action at the El Salvadoran Consulate on Wednesday, December 13,
12 noon.

	Notification of this was received from the World Association of
Community Broadcasters (AMARC) from whose press release we quote the
following:

	SAN SALVADOR, DECEMBER 1995 -- In a simultaneous operation in
communities throughout the country, the Salvadoran National Civil Police
(PNC) closed and confiscated the equipment of ten community radio stations
on Monday December 4. All of the stations are members of the Association
of Participatory Radio Stations and Programs of El Salvador (ARPAS), and
the World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters (AMARC).

	According to members of the PNC, the operation was carried out at
the request of Juan Jose Domenech, President of ANTEL, the state agency
charged with regulating broadcasting and telecommunications. Sources
within the PNC said that Domenech had ordered the closure of "all the
community radio stations".

	Most of the stations operated with very low-power and were heard
only in the immediate vicinity of the municipality in which they were
located. The three most powerful stations broadcast with 100 watts and
were heard in most of the department in which they were located. There is
no indication that any of them interfered with the signals of other
existing radio stations.

	The stations are owned by their municipalities, by associations of
residents or agricultural workers, or by non-governmental organizations
concerned with improving social conditions. All of them are participatory
and educational in nature and strive to serve the poorer sectors of the
population. In more isolated zones, these radio stations also serve as the
"community telephone system", broadcasting messages, both emergency and
personal, to and from listeners. They are the most important source of
local and regional news and provide an electronic public bulletin board,
announcing community events and activities. All of these radio stations
offer a space in which all members of the community can exercise their
right to inform, to express their opinions, and to be heard.

	All of the stations have a history of cooperation with the
authorities, broadcasting messages on behalf of municipal governments, the
National Civil Police, the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of
Agriculture, the Ministry of Education and even ANTEL, the agency that has
ordered their closure.

	While none of the stations have received broadcast licenses from
ANTEL, some of them have been operating since 1990 and almost all of them
have been on the air for at least 2 years. During this period, it has been
shown that the stations do not interfere with existing stations and
numerous appeals have been made to ANTEL, the Legislative Assembly and
other authorities (see AMARC's RadioAction Alert of August 19, 1993). In a
statement issued December 5, ARPAS noted that "the radio stations have
done everything possible to assure their legality and continue to do so...
But in this country, admired around the world for its ability to
negotiate, it has not been possible to move foreword in the discussions
with ANTEL."

	According to ARPAS the principal problem is the "tremendous
confusion" in El Salvador's broadcast legislation. "If Salvadoran laws
restrict the use of radio to the state and commercial spheres, if public
service and social and cultural development are not part of the
broadcasting norm, if the laws do not support the rights of citizens and
civil society to have access to the means of communication, then it is
urgent that those laws be revised.

 (end of AMARC release)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Speaking for SF Liberation Radio, Richard Edmondson stated:  "The
action of the Salvadoran government is deplorable and should stand as a
reminder of what we can lose when governments silence free speech."

	Stephen Dunifer with Free Radio Berkeley said, "I see some rather
disturbing parallels between the actions of ANTEL and the Federal
Communications Commission (FCC).  Both agencies do not believe communities
should be empowered with their own low power FM broadcast stations and
have refused to create a special low power service category.  Further, the
FCC also has a history of using heavy handed police tactics against
unlicensed broadcasters.  In many ways the micropower radio stations
operating in the US serve the same function as the now silenced community
radio stations in El Salvador.  Apparently neither government can tolerate
the idea of democratic, grass roots community radio controlled by the
people it serves.  It is rather ironic that the Colombian government,
certainly not a bastion of civil right and liberties, has just recently
issued 1000 licenses for low power community radio stations.  We support
the following demands and will be ready to offer material and technical
assistance to these community radio stations."

________________________________________________________
Bruce Girard
Email: bgirard@pulsar.org.ec or amarcbg@web.apc.org
Tel: +(593-2) 525-521    Fax: +(593-2) 542-818
Avenida America 3584, Casilla 17-01-1171, Quito, Ecuador