free radios meeting in naples
Assaulting the airwaves
(let's fight for radio and information rights in Italy)
Between 1975 and 1975, thanks to the liberalization of frequencies, several independent and free radios were born in Italy. Experiences which were born thanks to frequencies occupation and which were for the most part acknowledged by the authorities that assigned frequencies. Some of them still exist and play an important role in information in the political debate in the movements, and are structures that guarrantee freeedom and pluralism, creative expression and information in Italy. Since that time till the end of the 90's just sporadic and happy experiences, born by movements and students' occupations, followed the same path. Recently, thanks to the diffusion of new technologies, there's the chance to use new ways of communication, avoiding red tapes and legal problems. Not just ways that stay on written pages, but ways that find their own voice: streaming! At the end of the the 90's web radios start to stream. With web broadcasting former radio experiences on airwaves found a bigger diffusion, and , at he same time local groups, which couldn't have any chance to broadcast on the airwaves, had the chance to send their signal. New technologies also made a change creating new networks between new and old experiences.
Some so-called "historical" radios created new links and networks, which became recongnizable political sorts in the information scene. But his passage has to be reciprocal and let an air radio stream and a let a web radio find his place on air. There are some places where free and independetn information is a denied right, because of economical impositions due to the current frequencies law, impositions which created a market, that prefers advertising and speculation value to quality and heterogeneous expression and information. Above all, in these places, where communication has no otherway of expression, but informatics, a struggle is necessary, to reclaim spaces on the airwaves, which are today denied.
Some experiences, where born as web radios occupied frequencies, some are gonna find space on the airwaves. Repression episodes already happened towards those who tried to "assault" airwaves. What we need today is fighting together for information right, whatever we use to do it. We need to develop a common legal strategy, but respecting the differrent ways of accessing to the airwaves in the different cities. A network able to fight legally and through medias every time a radio is repressed by institutions or by official or corporate medias. Our aim is building a common ground to help radios, which are attacked by reppression actions in their freedom of expression and information.
16-17-18/1/04 Naples, Radio-meeting in Italy
