<html>
<body>
<font size=3>Honduras: Why Do Garifuna Community Radios Burn? <br><br>
</font><font size=1>
<a href="http://upsidedownworld.org/main/honduras-archives-46/2308-honduras-why-do-garifuna-community-radios-burn-honduran-black-fraternal-organization-denounces-attack-against-their-radio-station" eudora="autourl">
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/honduras-archives-46/2308-honduras-why-do-garifuna-community-radios-burn-honduran-black-fraternal-organization-denounces-attack-against-their-radio-station<br>
</a></font><font size=3>Written by Organización Fraternal Negra
Hondureña <br>
Wednesday, 13 January 2010 07:43 <br><br>
Translated by Ramor Ryan<br><br>
<i>Honduran Black Fraternal Organization Denounces Attack Against their
Radio Station<br><br>
</i>In the early morning hours of Wednesday January 6, the Garifuna
community radio Faluma Bimetu (“Sweet Coconut”) based in Triunfo de la
Cruz was burnt down by unknown armed individuals who proceeded to loot
the station's radio equipment. This is not the first time the radio has
been attacked and its equipment stolen.<br><br>
In 2002 unknown people stole the transmitter and other key tools for
radio transmission. The Garifuna people have been exposed to a slow
process of assimilation into the dominant culture through the mass media
- monopolies that are in the hands of figures who are well known
throughout the country as manipulators of information.<br><br>
Lacking control of our own Garifuna media has led to an acceleration of
loss of our culture, a process that has become increasingly painful. Most
of the communities with access to television are confronted by a
permanent alienation through consumerism, acculturation, alienation
(soccer, fashion, soap operas, cartoons and violence) and media
terrorism. We have also seen a decline in the use of our own indigenous
language, which has become, lamentably, a second language.<br><br>
Transmission of Radio Faluma Bimetu began in 1997, promoted by the Land
Defense Committee of Triunfo de la Cruz (CODETT), in order to strengthen
Garifuna culture and defend the ancestral territory of the
community.<br><br>
Triunfo de la Cruz, like other Tela Bay Garifuna communities, has become
a conflict zone since the intervention of businessmen, politicians and
foreign investors attempting to seize community land for the construction
of mega-tourism projects.<br><br>
This systematic usurpation at the hands of outsiders has led the
community – conducted by CODETT and the Community Board -- to file a
petition with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights<br>
(IACHR), who accepted the case on 14th March 2006, registered under No.
125-48. For the powerful ruling elite of Honduras, the staunch defense
taken by the community of Triunfo de la Cruz of their ancestral
territory, is a serious challenge to their economic interests.<br><br>
Honduras is renowned for the high level of poverty for the majority of
its inhabitants ruled by a minority that holds the country under a feudal
regime. The use of mass media by the local feudal lords has been an
effective tool for control and manipulation.<br><br>
As in the rest of Latin America, the media monopolies have served to
replicate the distortion of information and thus perpetuate domination.
The community radios of the Garifuna have been growing strong over the
past decade, setting a precedent among our people. And the primary goal
is the protection of our culture - which is closely linked to Mother
Earth.<br><br>
Up to the present moment, we have installed four community radios and in
the not too distant future we envision extending the network throughout
the entire Garifuna nation. The overarching goal: to strengthen and
enrichen our culture, to defend our ancestral territory and at the same
time, to build early warning systems to deal with climate change,
earthquakes, and diseases.<br><br>
The attack against Radio Faluma Bimetu can be simply reduced to the fact
that it enrages the power elite that we, the Garifuna, have been in a
process of cultural resistance that has lasted 212 years. And,
specifically, that we have broken chains by actively participating in the
resistance against the destruction of democracy in our country, a crime
(the June 28th Coup) committed by the Honduran oligarchy last year - with
the support of the troglodyte right wing of the United States.<br><br>
Given these facts, OFRANEH (Honduran Black Fraternal Organization)
demands respect for the right to provide information, as indicated in
Article 13 - Freedom of Thought and Expression, of the the Inter-American
Convention on Human Human. Specifically, we require a full investigation
into this act perpetrated against the Garifuna community radio and
against of our people in general.<br><br>
La Ceiba, January 8, 2010<br><br>
Miriam Miranda<br>
General Coordinator<br>
Organización Fraternal Negra Hondureña, OFRANEH<br>
Teléfono (504) 4420618, (504) 4500058<br>
Av 14 julio, calle 19, Contiguo Vivero Flor Tropical, Barrio Alvarado,
La<br>
Ceiba, Honduras<br>
email: <a href="mailto:garifuna@ofraneh.org">garifuna@ofraneh.org</a>
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript
enabled to view it ,
<a href="mailto:ofraneh@yahoo.com">ofraneh@yahoo.com</a> This e-mail
address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to
view it <br><br>
<br><br>
<br>
Also See:<br>
OFRANEH: Urgent! Attack against Garifuna Community Radio in Triunfo de la
Cruz<br>
<a href="http://hondurassolidarity.wordpress.com/" eudora="autourl">
http://hondurassolidarity.wordpress.com/<br>
</a>VIDEO: Radio Faluma Bimetu, antes y después del atentado<br>
<a href="http://chiapas.indymedia.org/display.php3?article_id=172695" eudora="autourl">
http://chiapas.indymedia.org/display.php3?article_id=172695<br><br>
<br><br>
</a></font><x-sigsep><p></x-sigsep>
<font size=3 color="#FF0000">Freedom Archives<br>
522 Valencia Street<br>
San Francisco, CA 94110<br><br>
</font><font size=3 color="#008000">415 863-9977<br><br>
</font><font size=3 color="#0000FF">
<a href="http://www.freedomarchives.org/" eudora="autourl">
www.Freedomarchives.org</a></font><font size=3> </font></body>
</html>