The struggle for community radio is a part of something bigger

The math is simple. Most of the media we consume on a daily basis is owned by just six corporate media conglomerates. The top one percent of Americans own more wealth than the bottom 90% combined. Media ownership has always been inextricably tied with economic inequality.

The inequities in our media system are at once a reflection and a cause of the larger structural inequalities in our society. The 99% is robbed of its wealth and power by the same Wall Street corporations that silence our collective voices through their near total ownership of the outlets of communication. We are denied participation in what stories get told and what constitutes the truth. The heart of the Occupy movement is reclamation of public space (and space that has been privatized from the public), creation of new local communities and methods of cooperation, and opposition to the outrageous injustice of our economic system. Professor Dr. Cornel West refers to this movement as a “radical democratic awakening.” In moments like these, community media can play a powerful role.

Media has a preponderance of influence in shaping social and political change and on our everyday lives. The solution to the immense inequity in our society is obvious but often complicated and obscured by legalese, policy jargon, political theory, and press release speak. We must push for a redistribution of wealth and power from the elite to poor and working people, and introduce democratic participation in decision-making in all facets of our lives – in our communities, workplaces, schools, and media systems.

Our struggle for participatory community radio puts the tools of communication into the hands of poor and working communities. Media justice plays an important role in all other social and political causes because there is a battle of stories. Through corporate media conglomerates, the 1% decides which issues will be visible and which will be invisible. When we control the media, we decide. Media justice is a part of the larger global movement for a just and free world.

Over the years, the struggle for community radio has taken various forms, including civil disobedience, challenges to public policy, and community organizing. From broadcasting unlicensed micro radio in the late 1990's, to holding community radio barnraising for licensed stations, to battling Congress and the FCC for policy favoring community controlled media, to trainings and education in using radio as a tool for organizing, the goal has been the same. Build democratic control of our voices.

The passage of the Local Community Radio Act provides a window of opportunity for the 99% to acquire one of the most powerful tools in the struggle for social justice – media ownership. Next year we could see the largest expansion of community radio in U.S. history. Our movements have a unique opportunity to occupy the airwaves and build our power for the long haul.

What would you do with your own radio station? What could our movements do with thousands of them?

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