World Radio Day: Transforming lives through dialogue, tolerance, peace

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01:13

‍‍Recognizing the power of radio as a medium to promote dialogue, tolerance and peace, the UN chief has asserted that the mass medium is a vital way of informing, reuniting and empowering people affected by war, as the international community marks the eighth World Radio Day on Wednesday.

“Even in today's world of digital communications, radio reaches more people than any other media platform. It conveys vital information and raises awareness on important issues. And it is a personal, interactive platform where people can air their views, concerns, and grievances,” UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said, stressing that “radio can create a community.”

“For the United Nations, especially our peacekeeping operations, radio is a vital way of informing, reuniting and empowering people affected by war. On this World Radio Day, let us recognize the power of radio to promote dialogue, tolerance and peace,” the UN chief said.

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Since 2012, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has been hosting the annual World Radio Day on February 13, the anniversary of the establishment of the United Nations Radio in 1946 to recognize the hugely significant role of radio as a transformative medium across the world. This year's theme for the day is “Dialogue, Tolerance and Peace.”

“For this World Radio Day, we celebrate the unique, far-reaching power of radio to broaden our horizons and build more harmonious societies. Radio stations from major international networks to community broadcasters today remember the importance of radio in stimulating public debate, increasing civic engagement and inspiring mutual understanding,” UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay said in an official statement released on Wednesday.

Since its invention – over a hundred years ago – radio has sparked new conversations and broadcast new ideas into people's homes, villages, universities, hospitals and workplaces. To this day, dialogue across the airwaves can offer an antidote to the negativity that sometimes seems to predominate online, which is why UNESCO works across the world to improve the plurality and diversity of radio stations, she added.

'Reactive and engaging'

UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay. /Photo via UNESCO

Azoulay emphasized that radio still remains one of the most reactive and engaging media, adapting to 21st-century changes and offering new ways to interact and participate in the conversations that matter – especially to the most disadvantaged.

“Rural women, for example, constitute one of the most under-represented groups in the media. They are twice as likely to be illiterate as men, so radio can be a critical lifeline to express themselves and access information,” she noted, adding that UNESCO has provided support to radio stations in sub-Saharan Africa that enable women to participate in public debate, including on often-neglected issues such as forced marriage, girls' education or childcare.

The UNESCO chief also highlighted the positive role radio plays in regions marred with violence. “In former conflict zones, radio can dispel fear and present the human face of former foes, as in North-West Colombia where community radios – supported by UNESCO – are healing old wounds by highlighting the good deeds of demobilized combatants, such as clearing polluted waterways.”

Pointing out that UNESCO is marked 2019 as the International Year of Indigenous Languages, Azoulay highlighted how radio contributed in promoting linguistic diversity on air, which is the people's right to express themselves on-air in their own languages.

“Around the world – from radio stations for shack-dwellers in Kenya, to minorities in Mongolia or indigenous communities in Mexico – the inclusion of diverse populations make our societies more resilient, more open and more peaceful,” she elucidated.

The challenges we face – whether they be climate change, conflict or the rise in divisive views – increasingly depend on our ability to speak to each other and find common solutions, the UNESCO chief concluded.

'Not a silver bullet'

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Having worked for a number of years in conflict-ridden regions, Daniel P. Aldrich, director of the Security and Resilience Studies Program at Northeastern University in the U.S. city of Boston, felt that while the radio is a great tool for promoting dialogue and peaceful coexistence, it is certainly “not a silver bullet.”

“I've been very lucky to do fieldwork with the USAID and other US government agencies who are trying to reduce violent extremism in the Sahel and other areas in Africa. I think that the results of our research are very positive,” the professor of political science and public policy said in an interview circulated by UNESCO ahead of the World Radio Day.

“We see that radio programming and radios are not a silver bullet, they don't solve every problem, but they have a measurable impact in reducing the number of the factors that we believe might encourage individuals to support violent extremist acts or terror groups. We found especially because radio themselves are a widely available technology and because radio waves and radio programming are also relatively accessible across the area,” Aldrich noted.

“We believe broadly that this can be a powerful policy tool used by people around the world, whether in developed or developing countries, to further peace-building and conflict reparation,” he added.

Highlighting the advantages of radio, Aldrich noted how it empowered the weaker sections of the society. "Especially for areas unserved by the government that doesn't have the infrastructure or strong roads, radio can reach populations in very remote areas. For example, women who may not be allowed by cultural norms or local institutions to leave their home can get access to radio."

Aldrich emphasized that radio programming has tremendous potential across the world, both in developed and developing countries, to reduce support and participation in violent extremist groups, whether on the right or on the left.

“I think the growing body of research is showing how important it is to adopt what we call these softer developmental approaches to counter violent extremism rather than envisioning that our only policy tools available in this field might, for example, be ballistic tactics using battlefield strikes or drone strikes,” he said.

“We think that this is a great way to assist communities to develop a broad set of skills in radio programming, among which would be the reduction of support for these violent extremist groups,” he added.

'A healing touch'

Radio-Dodo founder Brigitte Alepin. /Photo via UNESCO

Inspired by the “magic of radio and its ability to cross borders” and a deep-rooted empathy for victims of armed conflict, especially children, Brigitte Alepin founded Radio-Dodo to reach out and heal the wounds of such children.

“Radio-Dodo is a radio for children who are victims of all forms of violence. The idea is to accompany them in the evening at the time of the dodo to try to help make them sweet dreams and try to make them forget their worries, the atmosphere of violence,” said the Canada-based author and tax expert.

“Radio-Dodo is preparing a radio program that lasts an hour with tales, stories. Each radio has a theme and tries to reach as many children as possible. We prepare three weekly programs each week, one in French, one in English and one in Arabic so children can choose the program according to the language spoken,” elaborated Alepin, who traces her ancestral roots to the war-torn Syrian city of Aleppo, from where she derives her second name.

It was the outbreak of the Syrian conflict in 2011, which ravaged a large part of the Middle Eastern country including Aleppo, that compelled Alepin to launch Radio-Dodo in a bid to reach out to the victims.

“When the conflicts broke out, I felt a pain, the need to help, a huge need never felt before, that there was an injustice in life, that the children with whom my son had played during our previous visit to Aleppo were stuck in this conflict while we in Quebec, we were safe,” she recalled.

When a friend told her about a radio project he was working on, “I instantly thought of an international radio for children who find themselves together as a family, through radio,” quipped Alepin.

“We hope that this radio will become part of their habits, of their lives, that they will have the reflex to listen to a Radio-Dodo program by going to bed, that for them it becomes a place to take refuge when they feel uncomfortable,” she said.

Stressing that radio could promote understanding and tolerance of refugees in her home country, Canada, Alepin said: “Radio-Dodo is a politically and religiously neutral radio program totally aimed at children. We do not make any difference between children. We believe that all children deserve to be comforted at bedtime, especially children who are victims of war or violence. In this sense, we are launching, I hope, a message of inclusion, tolerance and love for all children.”

(Cover: Photo via UNESCO)