Radio meet stresses Native concerns

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The world will be turned into Native concerns at the upcoming Second World Conference of Community Oriented Radio Broadcasters, July 25 - 29, in Vancouver, B.C., Canada.

The conference, known by its French acronym AMARC 2, will play host to 500 delegates from every continent who will discuss issues of mutual concern, exchange technical information, and set up international networks. Native broadcasting has been targeted as a focus of the event, with participation from remote stations in the far North, an American Indian Movement station in South Dakota, and the National Aboriginal Communications Society (NACS) in Canada, among others.

"Native communications are coming into their own," says Ray Fox, president of NACS. "We're reaching an exciting time here in Canada with the advent of a national organization this year. As a national organization it's great to see what's going on in the rest of the world. Our priorities are things like education, ending stereotypes, and helping people, and we want to get a feel for what's going on in the rest of the world in Native communications among First Peoples. The important thing about AMARC 2 will be to see what the rest of the world is using communications for."

Some of the questions to be raised at the conference include: In lieu of Aboriginal self-government, who are Native broadcasters accountable to? What does it mean to be responsible for broadcasting the culture of a community? What is Native journalism, as opposed to non-Native journalism?"

Extensive Native participation, the inclusion of Aboriginal speakers on a variety of panels, and space on the agenda for caucusing among Native delegates are all expected to result in in-depth debate of issues faced by Native broadcasters.

Some of the stations from other communities at the conference will be Radio Farabundo Marti of El Salvador, Radio Veritas from the Philippines, and possibly Radio Freedom, the station of the African National Congress in South Africa.

Luis Beltran, recent winner of the McLuhan Communications prize for his work

in Latin American communications, will give the keynote address.

AMARC 2 will also include a film and video festival, a sound festival, and a resource and documentation centre. It is hosted by Vancouver Co-operative Radio, English Canada's only listener-owned radio station.

For information on how to register, contact AMARC 2, 337 Carrall Street, Vancouver, B.C., Canada V6B 2J4 or call (604) 253-0427.