Polyphonia’s national conferences in April and May 2001

What follows are reports of the discussions and results of the individual conferences.

Radio Contrabanda, which held its conference in Barcelona from the 20th to the 22nd of April, focussed on “women, lesbians and female migrants”. A total of 35 women – including representatives from community radios, handicapped lesbians, women in jail, transsexual women and women working as prostitutes – from all parts of Spain participated. There were three round table debates, which were open to interested persons and local organizations. In all three of these round table debates concern centered on bringing the reality of discrimination into the community radios.
•	Diverse women’s voices against discrimination” – Women from different groups and with differing backgrounds reported upon their experiences and strategies in their struggle against different kinds of discrimination. The women were from local as well as national organizations. A total of 100 women took part in this.
•	“Diverse voices in the community radios” – Experiences of various women and women’s groups in the radios were shared and the significance of individual discourses of discriminated groups was emphasized.
•	“Diverse voices against immigration laws” – Women involved in the struggles against immigration laws discussed the systemic discrimination which actually affects migrants (or: migrant women).

Besides taking part in these discussion groups women were also able to join various workshops:
•	“Getting on to the Internet”: This was a workshop for women who had no or only very limited experience with the Internet. The importance of existing networks as a possibility for exchange of information and creation of ties was stressed here.
•	“Radio Workshop”: The “first contact” with radio technologies, how to carry out an interview, talking into a microphone – a mix of theory and practice.
•	“Migration in the Media”: Stereotypical portrayals of migrants in mainstream media were analyzed and suggestions for reporting about this from a different point-of-view were discussed.
•	“Self Help Groups for Migrant Women”: Women of different backgrounds exchanged thoughts about their experiences, successes and difficulties being women who live far from their country of origin.
•	At the end of the conference, on Sunday, the focus was on bringing the various strategies and suggestions for the future together.

Because it had become very clear in the discussions at the conference that a tendency to stereotype and to distort exists in mainstream media, we decided to confront this deficiency of authentic reporting with a network of women in the community radios and organizations of migrant women. Beyond that access to community radios for migrant women was to be supported and (even) strengthened. Where ever contact was either limited or non-existent, participants of this conference were to establish contact in their towns and cities with migrant women’s groups. This budding network is to be expanded through the creation of further ties (to other groups) as well as through a continuing exchange of information. First contacts between lesbian migrants and handicapped lesbians, who met each other at the conference, were to be continued so that the “mixed perspective” of discrimination can develop from that grouping.

In Radio Ondarossa’s invitation to its conference, which was held in Rome from the 20th to the 22nd of April, was the following: “Radios in a Blender - Dissimilarities – Discrimination – Communication – Consciousness: We invite you to a meeting to talk about differences in informing and communicating.” The 30 participants at this conference came mostly from community radios in Italy, but there were people from organizations and other media as well. Approaching the topic from differing perspectives, these were all people who are confronted daily with how information and images are conveyed by media. The goal of this conference was to discuss if and, if so, how we who are in involved in alternative media could find a common denominator for the differences and the various causes of discrimination. Starting point was assessing what already existed in community radios, whether or not discrimination is addressed by the same and whether or not various groups are participating equally. It was found that people with handicaps and their struggles against discrimination are represented only rarely in comparison to migrants, lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transsexuals.

On the second day certain focus points and questions for the conference were worked out by various discussion groups:
•	“Topics” of discrimination and how they are known by, used by and related to alternative media
•	Sources of information, which we can use to report about discrimination
•	Which common sources of information exist for alternative media and how we can develop them further and how we can intensify our cooperation using the same
•	Alternative media as a possibility to convey information, which is often ignored by (or: left out of) mainstream media, and to speak in another language.
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In the conclusion report it was considered an important task to convey critical information (to listeners/recipients) that is aimed at eliminating discrimination. In order to facilitate future cooperation among the participants a mailing list was created and it was agreed that they should all meet again in summer.
On the third day of the conference there were workshops, some of which were held in the conference rooms, some of which were held at Radio Ondarossa itself. The object of these was to prepare a special day of broadcasting. With the support of radio editors at Radio Ondarossa news reports, interviews and other programming relating to this topic were put together. Our interest centered on creating a network with its main intersections at radios in Italy. Additionally though it should include and connect other media and organizations as agents in the struggle against discrimination.

“LesBiSchwulTrans.Medial – Idealvorstellungen von Öffentlichkeit“ (“LesBiGayTrans.Media – Ideal Conceptions of the Public Sphere”) – This was the title of the conference held in Vienna, Austria by Radio Orange 94,0 on the 4th and 5th of May. This conference selected the topic of discrimination due to sexual orientation, because of the one-sided and selective representation of lesbian-gay-bi-transgender topics that was to be expected of mainstream media in light of the fact that Euro-Pride was to be held in Vienna in June of 2001. The title of the conference was intentionally formulated in a positive way and this was indeed the guiding principle of the conference.

The conference consisted of five main parts:
•	A networking meeting for people working at radios in Austria
•	A discussion panel dealing with ideal conceptions of the public sphere with an additional discussion dealing with strategies of how to deal with the topic of discrimination in alternative media
•	A planning session dealing with the creation of a cooperative structure and the expansion of the same among radio stations and other organizations
•	A coordination meeting of representatives from Austrian community radios to plan the content and the technical realization of the project
•	A radio workshop for beginners

Forty-two people, including workers at radio stations and representatives of organizations, and coming mostly from Vienna took part at this conference. The creation of a structure enabling different groups to discuss with one another was seen as very positive and innovative. Due to the incredible diversity of interests, of men and women from very different areas of the lesbian-gay-bi-transgender movement(s), who were meeting here, one important question that came up was whether or not there is something that could be called a “queer community”. Representatives of all groupings exchanged ideas about their needs and theirs views with a view to going public with these. What this kind of publicity might look like depended upon who the target public was supposed to be:
•	In the broadest sense of the public sphere the “exotic fruits” should be less emphasized and more information should be available about the whole spectrum of (e.g. normal) lesbian, gay, bi and transgender reality.
•	Public relations within the community on the other hand can be directed to specific groups.

Community radio(s) was seen as an important focal point between these two areas. A crucial step in this direction was the planning of a special, nation-wide broadcast week for community radios. From the 25th to the 30th of June and under the banner of “queerattack-oag – Hitzewellen in den freien Radios“ (“queerattack-oag – Heat Waves in Community Radios”) the whole spectrum of this topic is to be presented in Austrian community radios, in order to provide a strong signal – created by the people who are affected – as a counterpoint to the one-sided and oftentimes discriminating reporting of mainstream media. In the feedback discussion the participants of the conference emphasized that this conference was a good starting place because it provided the possibility to exchange ideas, to discover similarities and differences as well as to plan collectively.

As the coordinating radio station of Polyphonia, Radio Dreyeckland decided to give the “mixed approach” highest priority at their conference, which took place 20 – 22 April as did the conferences in Rome and Barcelona. Using the working title “Is everything racism? Anti-discrimination in community radios“ a discussion was proposed in which the participants – who came from different groups – were to find out whether they considered a common approach to fight against discrimination meaningful or whether a skeptical or even critical attitude towards this idea prevailed. No topic papers or written orientation about the potential or difficulties relating to this question was provided in the beginning. This was intentional because we wanted first of all to determine more clearly what the status quo concerning a “mixed approach” in each of the groups at that time already was and to allow an exchange of political evaluations (related to this question) among the participants. Besides this the conference was also meant to provide a forum for the participants to discuss 1) the needs and expectations of their groups and organizations as these applied to alternative media, but especially in terms of community radio, 2) which subject areas were already well represented and which were not and 3) whether or not and if so to what degree different production teams were working together. With this aim in mind, the organizers of the conference decided to use the “open space” method: the participants themselves assumed responsibility in deciding which topics would be dealt with – in groups – in more depth.

A total of 40 persons from all around Germany took part: editors from community radios and representatives of organizations or projects. Among others were representatives from “The Voice of Africa Forum”, a self-help organization for refugees from Africa; from “Randschau”, a newsletter dealing with the politics of handicapped issues; from “Freakshow”, a gay and lesbian project, addressing the topic of being handicapped; and the Liaison Officer to the Gay Community of the Bundesland (i.e. province or state) of Niedersachsen. Very noticeable was the great interest of handicapped groups and organizations in taking part in this conference.

Right at the beginning, at the opening discussion, talk turned to which topics might be useful for interdisciplinary cooperation and which goals or tasks this cooperation might make possible to see in a new way. At this juncture exclusion was seen as the topic that would offer a common approach. For exclusion is something that all groups experience daily even though the barriers may differ from group to group. There seems to be little knowledge about the forms and consequences of discrimination experienced by groups other than one’s own and people who themselves are excluded, exclude others. On a political level there is no experience of solidarity among the different groups, especially in the media. One conclusion of this was that learning more about the situation of other groups is an important prerequisite to working on common projects. This is a task that community radios must recognize. Beyond this though they should also serve as a forum to help unearth prejudices between groups.

On the second day of the conference discussion groups were set up, which had been suggested by and which were coordinated by the participants:
•	The multi-culti-consume-machine: “Multiculturalness” is often portrayed as “exotic” and as such strengthens exclusion of those affected. Alternative media offer the possibility to deal critically with forms of “multiculturalism” which serve as vehicles of racist content.
•	Is everything racism? The discussion brought up more questions than it could answer, but it was about whether or not, and if so how, anti-racism could serve as a common platform to work against discrimination.
•	“Multiple Handicaps”: By participating in the process of public opinion, people who face different kinds of prejudice or handicaps would be able to set a process going wherein their concerns would be reflected. Community radios could offer a base for this. Also: community radios should not relegate these topics to “special” programming, but instead should integrate them into normal programming.
•	Discrimination as Anti-discrimination: A discussion about the effectivity of existing anti-discrimination laws, about their advantages and disadvantages and about differences in the legal situation of individual groups.
•	(Anti-)Discriminating language: An exchange of thoughts about exclusive and discriminatory language and about barriers that are caused by language. Ideas about how to overcome these and perhaps to invent a new way of speaking should come from the experiences of other groups.
•	 Potential cooperation among community radios: A discussion about existing and new possibilities to exchange programs on the internet.
•	Networking various media: In light of the lack of an “interdisciplinary media network” (radio, press, TV, internet), it was suggested to create a “Press Service” which would connect different groups, regions and media and which would include reports and experience from abroad.
•	Media Action Laboratory: A comparison of strengths and weaknesses of the medium “community radio” and the attempt to develop further a “special day of broadcasting” as a political activity.
•	How to stay connected: A continuing exchange among community radios concerning current events. Topics of discrimination should be dealt with and should be connected to existing networks of individual production teams. Seeing the obvious lack of radio programs for the handicapped it was suggested to create a forum for these.

In the common discussions where conclusions and reports of the smaller discussion groups were presented, we collected ideas and concepts about what is needed and what is possible in future work, for instance:
•	A continuous exchange of programming concerning the topic of anti-discrimination among community radios.
•	More exchange between and among production teams – the first steps to creating a network of handicapped production teams was taken at this conference.
•	Mix more! With more information about current problems and events of the individual groups. By working together on production teams, in order to not speak merely as one minority, but to address discrimination as a social problem of the majority. By changing positions, when for example people with handicaps speak about limited freedom of mobility of refugees. By changing the internal structure of radio stations so that not just single-topic programs are the norm, but that common programming can be made. And by more exchange among alternative media, in order to increase their effectiveness in the public sphere.
In the evaluation of the participants it was possible during the conference to achieve clarity about what potential is inherent in the “mixed approach” when fighting against discrimination. At the same time all agreed that the conference could only hope to be the beginning of such a process and there was still much to do in order to realize some of these ideas. The Polyphonia project – especially in the upcoming “days of action” – should be used a starting point in trying out some of the ideas as well as a way of staying in touch with one another. For this reason a mailing list was created by the participants.