Final Declaration of Our Media/Nuestros Medios V: Democracy and Citizens' Media International Conference

Bangalore, India, December 5-9th, 2005.

We, the participants of the Our Media V, representing different countries and social affiliations, have gathered in Bangalore, India to collectively consider, debate, and find new ways to reaffirm and expand spaces for community participation and effective use of communication media in the context of an increasingly market-oriented and corporatized media and communication terrain globally.

Notwithstanding the rapid proliferation of new media channels of communication, which have grown exponentially as a result of a veritable revolution in the field of information technologies, there are an alarmingly fewer number of spaces for culturally, politically and socially diverse communities, particularly those communities whose voices have been traditionally marginalized by the major, global corporate media. It is with these issues in mind that Our Media has been gathering annually in different parts of the world to promote media democracy and citizens' participation, as well as academic and activist/practitioner collaborations on a global scale.

During this year's conference we were able once again to examine the critical role of communication in generating and facilitating processes of social change, participation, community empowerment and the importance of action research. From the use of media by young Dalit women in India, and by remote aboriginal children in central Australia, to the communication program of the indigenous movement in Colombia, from women's journalism in Turkey, and refugee information networks in Tanzania, to a campaign to restore democracy and independent radio in Nepal, Our Media participants examined a vast array of local experiences that provide clear examples of the importance of community participation in mass communication.

The role of media and communication activists was also discussed in this meeting. Several raised the importance of the kind of environment activists create through their work, and how vital it is to create non-threatening, non-hierarchical diverse environments for communities to engage in. The meeting affirmed the vital importance of respecting and actively engaging traditional and folk media forms organic in peoples' cultures in our work as activists for social change.

Raising concerns about the gap that exists between communication studies in most academic institutions and applied participatory approaches and action research, Our Media is calling on scholars, researchers and students to develop strategies for creating new forms of training communication professionals towards planning participatory communication processes. This would feed into local, regional, national and international activism.  In this spirit, we commit ourselves to deepen our own learning, reflection and search for ways to strengthen our practice. We will look honestly at the many challenges as well as the potential we encounter in using technology and communication for social change, and we will seek to share these findings – that is knowledge - with others.

In holding Our Media V in India, considerable attention was paid to the efforts of many community and grass-roots media organizations and activists in South Asia struggling for opening up independent and sustainable spaces in radio, television and other forms of new and emerging communication technologies. We heard from a number of key academics, legal experts, journalists and community media activists about the lack of regulatory mechanisms in place to legitimize and sustain community radio in India, more than a decade since the Supreme Court of India declared that "airwaves are public property."

During this year's meeting we were able to have a first hand account of the difficult situation facing community broadcasters in Nepal, particularly since the February 1, 2005 political crisis. FM radio in Nepal is the only source of news and information in rural areas. In different cases, radio has inspired local communities to participate in local development, contributed to promoting local good governance, increased local problem solving capacity through dialogue, increased local identity and pride, and increased intercultural relationships.

In closing this very important international gathering in Bangalore, we, the members of Our Media / NUESTROS Medios call for:

•       The government of India to urgently implement the landmark judgment of making the airwaves public by opening them up to community broadcasting, to ratify without delay the draft community radio policy currently with the Union Cabinet, and urge them to recognize that any regulatory measures vis a vis community radio take into account the true needs of the very diverse communities that make up the Indian landscape, which includes the lifting of restrictions on power output and access in order to account for geographical disparities in different regions of India;

•       The government of Nepal to immediately and unconditionally restore civil rights, freedom of expression, and democracy in Nepal. We express our strong solidarity with "Save Independent Radio Movement" (SIRM) in Nepal, and together with the Nepali media community, strongly voice support for unhindered and continuous access of Nepalese people to uncensored information and news;

•       A formal protest to the Indian government for preventing our Colombian colleagues from coming to India to share their experiences. It is really sad that the largest democracy in the world and fellow developing country has denied visas to citizens' media activists from Colombia to attend this meeting. The rich experiences of these courageous and committed citizens' media activists were missed by all participants of Our Media V ;

•       The defense of the rights of Colombia's growing community media movement, who, despite very difficult conditions caused by the internal conflict and political unrest, are struggling valiantly to maintain open spaces for democratic communication;

•       A move towards media democratization in Turkey, where as a result of its candidacy for membership in the EU, new opportunities have emerged for a more democratic media environment.  In this atmosphere of change, we call for support for the movement for an improved legislative and public funding environment that can enable the setting up of linguistically and culturally diverse community radio and television projects.

The Our Media conference is one international gathering designed to demonstrate that these and other community based media projects are not alone, from Tanzania to Nepal, Australia to India, the Philippines to Latin America. We hereby reaffirm our commitment to sustain and support independent, community-based media projects, defend media diversity and communication rights on a global scale.



Bangalore, India
December 8, 2005.