[grc] Fwd: [WUNRN] Importance of Indigenous Radio & Media/Radio Leadership of Indigenous Women

Thu Feb 14 08:47:41 PST 2019

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Date: Wed, Feb 13, 2019 at 2:54 PM
Subject: [WUNRN] Importance of Indigenous Radio & Media/Radio Leadership of
Indigenous Women
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WUNRN

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February 13 is World Radio Day as proclaimed by UNESCO - UN Educational,
Scientific & Cultural Organization

Cultural Survival -
https://www.culturalsurvival.org/publications/cultural-survival-quarterly/indigenous-women-media-new-voices-indigenous-central

INDIGENOUS WOMEN IN MEDIA: NEW VOICES OF INDIGENOUS CENTRAL AMERICAN RADIO

[image: cid:image002.jpg at 01D4C321.8447EBB0]

*Author - **Teresita Orozco*
<https://www.culturalsurvival.org/taxonomy/term/3298>* - 2018*

"In my 12 years of doing community radio, I had never had the opportunity
to produce my own radio pieces. This was a task delegated and assumed by
men, and therefore I came to think it was something complicated. However,
now with this workshop, I learned not only how to do radio production, but
also realized that there is nothing that a woman cannot do, if approached
with dedication,” said Petronila Ch’umilkaj Tax, a radio volunteer from
Radio La Niña in Totonicapán, Guatemala. Indigenous women in Central
America continually experience discrimination based on their ethnicity and
gender. Although Central American economies vary, Indigenous women are
worse off economically and socially than any other group in the general
population, as they experience a deficit in access to education,
healthcare, and political participation. The human development indexes of
many countries confirm that the socioeconomic gap between Indigenous people
and non-Indigenous people is even more prominent when comparing Indigenous
to non-Indigenous women.

In the field of community radio, there is no exception. Indigenous women
have almost always been relegated to the lowest level tasks and excluded
from decision making, with the largest gender disparity remaining at the
decision making levels. This means that women’s voices are not taken into
account regarding programmatic content, economic sustainability, or
strategic planning. As a result, most Indigenous community radio stations
lack content promoting gender equality, addressing issues that are of
interest to women, or educating on women’s rights. Over the years,
Indigenous women community broadcasters from across Central America have
expressed their concern for, and interest in, the advancement of Indigenous
women’s rights, while recognizing the limitations of their own cultures
where women are often discouraged from participating. After years of
women’s activism, increasingly radio stations are acknowledging of the
importance of female participation.

Cultural Survival believes in promoting Indigenous women’s voices and
leadership, especially in media. In 2017, 167 Indigenous women from Central
America and Nepal took part in trainings in radio production and radio
journalism organized by Cultural Survival. Last fall, with the support of
the Channel Foundation, Cultural Survival’s Community Media Program
<https://www.culturalsurvival.org/programs/community-media>wrapped up a
training project aimed at strengthening the participation of Indigenous
women in community radio in Central America. Two sessions were held in
September, one with ten Guatemalan women in Quetzaltenango, Guatemala, and
the second in Managua, Nicaragua with ten women from El Salvador, Honduras,
Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama. The goal was to increase the knowledge
of women in journalism and radio production and plan a path from
empowerment to leadership. As a result of the trainings, several women
produced their own radio programs for the first time.

The two trainings offered playful exercises aimed at re-evaluation of
concepts surrounding female bodies and capacities as women and human
beings, fundamental to raising women’s self-esteem and strengthening
leadership skills of each of the participants. They also gave the women
space and time to reflect on their roles and daily lives, especially in
their roles as Indigenous women journalists, where they have the
opportunity to be voices for social change in the fight against gender
discrimination, racism, and human rights violations. In order to bring the
participants together, staff had to consider the long distances many had to
travel, which posed difficulty for some of the women to leave their remote
communities with little access to public transport, along with the scrutiny
from their relatives for so-called abandonment of their chores as women. In
order for Vilma Washington of Radio Wangki Tangi, the voice of the women in
Waspam, Nicaragua, to leave her community, she had to travel 20 hours in
poor conditions to arrive in Managua. Despite facing similar challenges,
many women said that they felt liberated by the simple act of leaving their
communities and were thus enabled to overcome their fears.

In Quetzaltenango, Guatemala, from September 6–8, 10 community journalists
from Totonicapán, Sololá, Quiché, Sacatepéquez, Alta Verapaz, and
Huehuetenango gathered in September to learn, share, and practice their
professional skills. Facilitator Alfredo Rax Coc, who was sensitized to the
gender approach, was warmly received by the women. “It is good for us to
have the support of Rax and to know that there are men who respect our
rights and are willing to support us,” said Erika Oxon of Radio Nimlajacoc.
The night before commencing a workshop on community feminism, led by Lorena
Cabnal (Xinka), community feminist and co-founder of the Association of
Indigenous Women of Santa María Xalapán, a major earthquake shook Mexico.
In Quetzaltenango, it was felt with an intensity of 7.8. The earthquake
caused much fear and resulted in evacuations from the hotel into the
streets in the middle of the night. However, the women found their desire
to talk about their realities as Indigenous women was stronger than their
fear. “It was interesting to listen to Lorena and learn from her,”
commented Rigoberta Gonzáles from Radio Ixchel. “Often people and society
create divisions between women, which mark our relationships. We leaxfrned
to respect plurality and how not to be part of the patriarchal system that
weakens through division. We often undertake struggles for material goods
and forget the many assets we possess—our bodies and our knowledge.”
Gonzáles also stressed that this training allowed her to renew her strength
to continue her struggle as a community journalist. To wit, Cabnal added,
“The journalists are the ancestral tabaleras, the community spokespeople.
They fight a daily struggle with manifestations of the machismo and the
criminalization of their work. Community feminism contributes from its own
view, promoting equity and living well for women and peoples.”

The second training, which took place from September 17-21, 2017, in
Managua, Nicaragua brought together ten women community journalists from El
Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama to learn how to use
an open source editing program, Audacity, and produce and edit their own
radio pieces. “Fear can paralyze us; knowledge can frighten fears,” said
Francisca Díaz (Lenca) from Honduras, who, at 52 years old, had never
touched a computer. Although she has more than five years’ experience as a
community journalist in Radio Taragual in La Pedernal La Iguala, she had
never been given a chance to produce her own programs until now. Díaz spoke
of her dream to be a doctor, but said she did not have the opportunity to
go to school. It was due to her need to communicate with the radio audience
that propelled her to learn to read and write. Today, Díaz is an
inspiration for young women, now serving as a doctor of traditional
medicine through her community radio program, “The Medicine Truck.”

[image: cid:image004.jpg at 01D4C321.8447EBB0]

Although the participation of women in most community radio stations is
still not widely deemed as a priority, there have been some positive
changes. Both the directors of local community radio stations and other
organizations that partner with Cultural Survival in the Central American
Indigenous Radio Network have begun to consider women’s participation as
something positive and as an asset. As a result of the trainings, there are
20 radio programs available on women’s issues produced by the participants,
addressing issues of importance to women and Indigenous Peoples according
to the context of each community and respecting the cultural practices of
each region and country. These programs will be aired at the women’s home
radio stations, enhancing the programming of each station. In addition, the
women who participated in the workshops are equipped with a greater sense
of hope, knowledge, and empowerment that will drive them forward in their
work. As many participants pointed out, being able to name to certain
social injustices is an empowering first step to identifying and working
toward their solutions.

Photos: In Guatemala — L-R: Rigoberta Gonzalez, Erika Oxom, Laura Ajcalon,
Petronila Ch'umilkaj Tax, Lorena Cabjanal, Alfredo Rax, Magdalena
Ixquiactap, Alicia Yaxcom Orozco, Daysi Bartolo, Delia Maquin.

In Nicaragua — L–R: Lauris Hernandez, Sarita Mendoza, Maria Santos Lopez,
Esmeralda Leiva, Bessi Ramirez, Maria Fracisca Diaz, Keilen Blanco,
Teresita Orozco, Vilma Washington.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

UNESCO COURIER – JANUARY 2019

https://en.unesco.org/courier/2019-1/radio-lifeline-indigenous-peoples

Radio: A Lifeline for Indigenous Peoples

[image:
https://en.unesco.org/sites/default/files/styles/img_688x358/public/courier/photos/cou_01_19_guatemala_web.jpg?itok=9HuyHt6_]

The Ixil Mayan community actively defends its cultural and linguistic
identity.

*As the preferred media for defending the rights of indigenous peoples,
community radio stations are not necessarily easily accessible, in spite of
commitments made by the state. Many indigenous radio stations have no
option but to operate illegally.*

By Avexnim Cojti & Agnes Portalewska

The role of radio

Indigenous community radio stations play a crucial role in defending the
right to freedom of expression of indigenous peoples. Providing the most
effective way of disseminating information on issues affecting the
communities, they also reveal news of the violence that hits them. They are
the  first to broadcast information about the incidents, and to interview
and air the views of community leaders on these acts of violence. The radio
stations publicly support land and human rights defenders, and raise public
awareness about their criminalization. This was the case with Radio Xyaab’
Tzuul Taq’a, a radio startup of the Maya Q’eqchi in El Estor, which
supported several defenders who have been arbitrarily accused and
imprisoned by the government for their human and land rights activities.

A thwarted right

Many Latin American countries have enshrined in legislation the right of
indigenous peoples to have their own media. But although many states have
committed to assigning frequencies to these media, this is often not
implemented. Numerous indigenous community radios are forced to broadcast
without a licence even after requesting a frequency as required by law –
and see their volunteers prosecuted for their radio activities.

In Guatemala, for example, the right of indigenous peoples to their own
media is guaranteed by the Constitution and the Peace Agreement(link is
external)
<https://www.usip.org/sites/default/files/file/resources/collections/peace_agreements/guat_950331.pdf>
signed
in 1996, ending a civil war that lasted over thirty  years. But the
licences are so expensive that non-profit community radios do not have
enough money to pay for them. In 2003, a frequency cost two million
quetzales ($274,000), for a modulated frequency (FM) in areas outside
Guatemala City and Quetzaltenango, the country’s second-largest city. The
current cost is unknown as public auctions have been stopped in recent
years, though  frequencies are still sold illegally by their owners. For
small farmers this amount is more than they can afford. With a salary of
$80 to $120 a month, purchasing a frequency is an unattainable  dream.

Decolonizing minds

Radio has proven that it is able not only to mobilize indigenous peoples,
but also to influence policies and to hold governments to account. Radio
stations organize social audits on the budget expenses of municipal
governments in indigenous communities, for example. They also organize
campaigns about the conscious vote. At election time, candidates are
invited to hold debates on the air and to receive questions from the
public. This public space for politicians to be accountable reduces the
margin of manipulation of the vote.

Community-based indigenous media is a powerful means to decolonize minds
and create a sense of cultural and linguistic pride. Radio can be
effectively used to highlight ancestral music and knowledge, and to inform
people of the local forms of organization that are today threatened by
globalization and the world-view imposed by major international media
corporations.

The medium has particularly proven itself in the remote areas of Latin
America, where the scourge of illiteracy prevents indigenous populations
from accessing information from print sources and where older people,
especially women – who very rarely know the dominant language – are unable
to get information from mainstream radio stations.

Last but not least, the survival of indigenous languages depends to a very
large extent on native speakers and their ability to speak them fluently.
In this respect, indigenous media can and must play a decisive role.

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Frieda Werden, Series Producer
WINGS: Women's International News Gathering Service www.wings.org
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