06 Nov 2024 WACC urges ACT Alliance members to be attentive to issues of communicative justice

WACC has urged ACT Alliance members to give greater attention to communicative justice as a key dimension of sustainable development and humanitarian response, highlighting in particular the need for more inclusive and democratic media ecosystems.

A member of the global coalition of 152 faith-based organizations working in sustainable development, advocacy and humanitarian assistance, WACC was attending the ACT Assembly “Hope in Action” held 28 October–1 November in Yogyakarta, Indonesia.

Communication ecosystems are profit driven

Conversation on the topic of “Pushing back against the pushback” during the ACT Alliance assembly in 2024. Photo: Albin Hillert/ACT

It is impossible to tackle polarization, hate speech, and fundamentalisms without tackling systemic communication issues, especially the role of digital platforms in facilitating problematic speech, WACC Program Manager Lorenzo Vargas stressed as a member of a panel exploring how to counter opposing extremes and threatening and offensive discourse.

“The fact that our communication ecosystems are driven by profit rather than by a commitment to public interest is contributing to a situation where, to maintain ‘user engagement’ and create value for shareholders, digital platforms are giving spaces to anti-rights movements, creating challenges for electoral processes, and fueling social mistrust,” he said.

Drawing on examples provided by WACC partners in countries like the Philippines, Brazil, and Uganda, Vargas warned that unregulated AI can make matters worse by further blurring the lines between falsehood and truth.

“This in turn could have very negative consequences for humanity’s efforts to work together to tackle the many issues we are facing, particularly climate change and biodiversity loss,” he said.

Need for public interest media

To promote just and locally led solutions, Vargas invited fellow ACT members to fund and support public interest media – especially at the local level, to engage in advocacy for greater accountability and transparency, and to call for systemic changes to media and communication ecosystems. This must include steps to break digital monopolies and to establish new taxation mechanisms aimed at stemming the concentration of digital power, he added.

Moderated by Casey Harden of the World YWCA, the panel “Pushing back against the pushback. Countering polarization, fundamentalist backlashes, and hate speech” also included representatives from the Communion of Churches in Indonesia (CCI), Fundação Luterana de Diaconia (FLD), Servicio Evangélico de Diaconia (SEDI), and DanChurchAid.

Giving attention to communicative justice

In an assembly message, ACT members affirmed their intent to continue raising their voices for dignity, justice, peace, and full respect for human rights and the environment, with a commitment “to protect and expand civic space and address the escalating threats to human dignity and rights as a result of protracted conflicts and crises.”

While attention to communicative justice as a key dimension of sustainable development is scant within the global coalition, Vargas said that WACC is confident that many ACT Alliance members are beginning to turn their attention to this important issue.

“WACC looks forward to collaborating with our fellow members of the Alliance in the coming years on this subject, especially in ways that advance our collective goals of building a more inclusive and democratic world.”

WACC has been active as a member of the ACT Alliance since 2014, including in the network’s Global, European, and North American Forums and in its communities of practice and reference groups on gender, religion and development, and international development policy, among others.

WACC partners with fellow ACT members such as Bread for the World-Germany, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, and the Primate’s World Relief and Development Fund to support communication rights programming worldwide.

Photo: Participants in the ACT Alliance assembly in 2024 observe Thursdays in Black, for a world without rape and violence. Credit: Albin Hillert/ACT