Diaspora radio

From Cyberlaw

a questionaire for the diaspora conference
a way of relating to each delegate and asking each delegate to relate to us
a SET approach to crime

which would you prefer more guns, more police, more troops, more guards, more prisons -- in which case the way to do it is more fear, more crime, more war, more need to protect ourselves against ourselves.

or would you prefer smaller, more professional, safer, better paid, less crowded, fewer prisons, less crime, less war -- in which case the way to do it is the path of reason, creativity and restorative justice.

follow a path of peace and respect. complete the following questionaire and connect.

1. do you have broadband
2. do you have a computer connected to the net
3. do you have radio
4. is there a community radio station in your town
5. do you have tv
6. is there a public television station in your nation
7. do you have a digital camera
8. have you tried flickr
9. did you know that you can listen to roots fm from anywhere on the net
10. do you have an email address
11. would you like to participate in considering fundamental issues facing Jamaica?

Connect Jamaica, Island and Diaspora, in a Broadband Network projecting Self-Development and Restorative Justice.

Broadband and the digital revolution offer developing nations the opportunity to integrate, heal and grow. Jamaica can lead the way.

Broadband is available throughout the world to those with means to pay. Broadband is within the means of many Jamaicans whether on the island or in diaspora. Those who cannot afford broadband can connect through radio, tv and phone. All Jamaicans need to connect is good reason to do it. We propose to give them good reason, to let them know it's available, and show them how.

Who are we. We are Students and Staff Expressing Truth with Reverence for Life. We are inmates and warders in Jamaica's prisons offering a radical change of approach to crime and correctional education. We are families and friends of inmates and warders. We are Jamaicans and friends of Jamaica who have a story of Jamaica which we ourselves can tell.

We embrace the idea of self development at both individual and institutional levels. Our message is restorative. Our content is grounded in authenticity, expressed and projected with skill and talent multimedia to the world.

Diaspora Radio is Just a matter of Connecting

Integrating ICT and community radio offers a means to connect a nation with its Diaspora. Jamaica, which has recently held a Diaspora conference focused on "Unleashing the Potential" of its distributed people, and is soon to hold another, could serve as a model. The Diaspora conferences bring back to Jamaica delegates from Jamaican communities around the world. Estimates place the number of Jamaicans abroad between two million and 2.5 million, almost equal to those residing in Jamaica. They earn an estimated US$40 billion a year and sent back some US$1.3 billion last year in remittances, equivalent to 13 per cent of GDP, second in importance to the Jamaican economy only to tourism.

Jamaicans abroad represent substantially more in economic terms than just the remittance sent home to support families. Looked at as a bloc of savings, they also represent a substantial pool of potential investment capital.

Jamaican constituencies abroad also represent political power. Jamaica has influence beyond its size and economic power, driven substantially by the creative energy of its people, at home and in the Diaspora. If those abroad can be organized politically, there is the capacity to add another dimension to Jamaica's capacity on the international stage.

To enhance these already powerful aspects of the Jamaican Diaspora, Jamaicans abroad need a continuing stake in what happens at "home". There must be a contiguous relationship between those who live on the island and the offshore communities. ICT in combination with community radio offers a powerful means for enhancing such a relationship.

Through a combination of ICT and community radio, Jamaican populations in distributed locations can maintain connection. Just as inmates within prisons and their family members on the outside can be connected through the medium of community radio, families separated by geographic distance can be connected through a radio exchange. A network of cooperating stations could readily be formed to serve the Jamaican Diaspora. Stations in Kingston, Miami, New York, Toronto, London, and Washington D.C. could be recruited to participate, with linkage established among these stations by a radio and information exchange (PRX or Interworld) designed to facilitate easy exchange of listener generated messages and easy access to a rich supply of stimulus material of common interest.

Experience in other parts of the world indicates that community radio programs featuring messages to and from family and friends in remote places are highly popular. The UN's Radio Okapi's most popular program, for example, features messages sent by Congolese expatriates emailed to the station to be broadcast nationwide to their friends and family. Similarly, Radio Onas Azuyas in Ecuador invites Ecuadorian expatriates in the United States to phone in messages to a voice mailbox which are then sent as audio files via Internet and broadcast in Ecuador. Jamaica could do it even better.

The exchange of messages and programming can be readily accomplished among Jamaica Diaspora stations by using internet to share digital audio files and streams.

Establishing and operating a network will require:

• 1. Identification of community radio stations, and key contact persons interested in doing this;
• 2. Installation of equipment to coordinate call-in, recording, uploading and downloading;
• 3. Sponsorship and other forms of help from supporters and participants in the Jamaica Diaspora Conference, and from other entities interested in exposure to the Jamaican Diaspora;
• 4. Generation of a continuing source of Diaspora related programming material.

Unchained

Kevin Wallen hosts a radio program on Roots FM each Sunday afternoon in which he talks about issues relating to his work in Jamaica's prisons, and most interestingly, invites family members of inmates to call in to the station and talk to their loved ones who are listening inside. The idea of organizing a program like this traces to Ray Hill, who pioneered this approach in Texas, and to Ira Glass, who brought this idea to his audience on This American Life. Here's the Ray Hill Story.