Latin America: Report from the II Continental Summit on Indigenous Communication Orsetta Bellani - Upside Down World
go to original October 30, 2013

In the chilly town of Santa Maria Tlahuitoltepec, perched in the Sierra Norte of Oaxaca, Mexico the Second Continental Summit of Indigenous Communication was held from October 7-13, 2013.

"This summit is very important because it allows us to strengthen our network of mutual support so that we can leverage greater international pressure," says Liliana Pachana Moila of the Misak people of Colombia, who is working on creating educational content for radios. In fact, in the plenary an agreement was made to build an Indigenous Multimedia Communication Platform for Abya Yala (an indigenous term used to refer to the American continent), as a tool for the articulation and socialization of political and communication processes of indigenous peoples, as well as their own Itinerant School of Communication.

Primarily indigenous media makers from various countries in Latin America attended the summit to share their ideas and experiences. There were those that are even particularly successful, such as Nicaragua’s Canal 22, which has the highest ratings in the areas where it operates, and the Ecuadorian Micc Tv that was born from the social mobilization of the Indigenous and Campesino Movement of Cotopaxi (Micc). The Ecuadorian indigenous channel managed to change the commercial media agenda as well as those of the state. "At first we were discriminated against as 'the channel of the Indians', then they began to worry because we have a quality product with a good signal and good reception from the people," says Jose Venegas, broadcaster and member of the Indigenous and Campesino Movement of Cotopaxi. "They thought that since we are an indigenous channel we were going to have indigenous on all day, however we have a newscast in Quitchwa and one in Spanish, music and cultural programs, documentaries and reports that the other channels don’t offer, as well as Latin American, European and U.S. alternative cinema to make people think differently. We are also linked to the mestizo population and believe that we don’t have to remain small just because we are an indigenous channel."

Indigenous peoples media, according to participants at the summit, must use indigenous languages that reflect their worldviews, strengthen organizational processes, show the cohesion and identity of the people, promote buen vivir and project a "good image" of native peoples, who the other media presents as simply folkloric, as terrorists or drunkards. They also have to work for the elimination of colonialism, racism and patriarchy. In fact, the community media environment itself can become a form of training and empowerment for women.

Read the rest at Upside Down World

Translation by Clayton Conn

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