AMARC Link Bulletin, Volume 9, number 1, April 2005
AMARC at the 5th World Social Forum in Porto Alegre, Brazil

AMARC participated in the 5th World Social Forum (WSF) held in Porto Alegre, Brazil from January 26th to 31st . AMARC organized or collaborated with partners of the Campaign CRIS in several events to analyze the challenges to communication rights from a civil society perspective. Summing up the six days of the forum, Steve Buckley, President of AMARC declared, “The 5th World Social Forum, will become a milestone in adopting the communication rights approach into the mainstream of social movements and civil society in general.” The following is a brief overview of AMARC’s participation in the Forum.

AMARC coverage at the WSF

An AMARC delegation comprising more than fifty journalists representing community radios from Latin America, North America, Africa, Europe and Asia covered the WSF activities in collaboration with Inter Press Service (IPS) and the Latin American Association of Radio Education (ALER), among others.

AMARC in the 49th Session of CSW

AMARC WIN was well represented in the recently concluded 10-year review and appraisal of the Beijing Platform for Action which took place in the context of the 49th session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) in New York, USA.

Women Media Pool

AMARC WIN representatives became active members of the Women’s Media Pool (WMP), a coalition of media and information and communications groups that produced online and print publications as well as broadcast coverage during the 49th session of the UN CSW.

AMARC at WSIS PrepCom2 in Geneva

A delegation of AMARC including Steve Buckley, President; Gustavo Gomez, Director of the Legislations and Communications Rights Program of LAC; Lettie Longwe, AMARC Africa WIN Program Director; Francesco Diaisio, AMARC representative in Europe; and Arturo Bregaglio from Radio Trinidad in Paraguay, participated in the Second Preparatory Committee (PrepCom2) for the Tunis phase of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) held in Geneva, Switzerland, from February 17th to 25th.

AMARC’s 3rd Pan-African Conference

Content for the Sustainable Development on Community Radio in Africa is the theme of the 3rd AMARC Pan-African Conference that will be held in Nairobi, Kenya, from April 18th to 23th, 2005.

Radio Voices Without Frontiers

Radio Voices Without Frontiers (RVSF) traveled the world for its eighth time on March 21st in a multilingual 23-hour radio marathon against discrimination.

AMARC celebrated Women's International Day

On March 8 2005, AMARC celebrated Women's International Day in collaboration with the Feminist International Radio (FIRE) and the World March of Women in organizing an 8-hour international radio broadcast live from the 49th session of the CSW in New York.

Community Radios on the agenda of the IACHR

LATIN AMERICA. The regional office for Latin America and the Caribbean of the World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters (AMARC LAC) is satisfied with the outcomes of the hearing and meetings held from February 28- March 3, 2005 in Washington, within the framework of the 122nd hearing period of the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights (IACHR).

Seminar on Legislation and Communication Rights

National representatives of AMARC LAC, program directors, members of the regional council and other special guests participated in a Seminar on Legislation and Communication Rights organized by the Legislation and Communications Rights Program of AMARC LAC, and held in Porto Alegre, Brazil, from February 1-2.

Radio Sagarmatha and other community radios under threat in Nepal

Community and private FM radio stations have come under an unprecedented level of threat since Nepal opened its airwaves for non-governmental broadcasting about 8 years ago, and at stake is the radio stations’ survival. Following the take over by King Gyanendra of Nepal on February 1, 2005, all community and commercial radio stations have been ordered to broadcast songs only.

AmmanNet in Jordan receives license for FM transmission

JORDANIA. After five years of broadcasting over the Internet, the cabinet of Jordan last December approved AmmanNet’s request for an FM license. AmmanNet will be heard in radio stations throughout the capital city of Jordan.

Dja FM closed down

REPUBLIC OF CHAD. Dja FM, the first private station in Chad, was shut down following a decision made by the communication’s regulatory body, the High Council for Communication (HCC) on January 13th.

4th European Social Forum in Athens next fall

GREECE. After Florence, Paris and London, Greece will be the host of the European Social Forum now in its 4th edition. Once more, community media will be well represented after almost three years of inactivity at the European level.

7th Interministerial Conference on Mass Media

UKRAINE. The 7th Inter-ministerial Conference on Mass Media was held in Kiev from March 8-11. The event was organized by the Council of Europe (CoE), a European institution formed by 46 countries.