07 Jul 2014 Building Young Indigenous Peasant’s Communication Rights

Argentina

MOCASE belongs to the National Movement of Indigenous Peasants which in turn is part of La Vía Campesina, the international peasant movement. Based in Santiago del Estero in northern Argentina, MOCASE brings together more than 9,000 families. Its overall aim is to protect land rights of the indigenous peasants and to promote solidarity, healthy food, agro-ecology, development, justice and social change. The indigenous peasant people in the area are constantly threatened with eviction from their land with little means of communication among themselves. The mass media in the area reproduce the discrimination and marginalisation felt by the indigenous rural people. MOCASE feels that it is essential to construct their own means of communication that can help the communities to generate and circulate their own information that reflects their life and struggles, and help to build consensus on the ways forward. The project established a community radio station, and provided technical and conceptual training for local youth in radio production. The radio station allows the youth to articulate and share views of the problems they face, and to protect their indigenous identity and way of life. It also reinforces the links between the rural people to defend nature and food sovereignty.

Final Report