[Nettime-bold] Internet Radio for people of Afghanistan

["Ivo Skoric" <ivo@reporters.net>]


Internet and Radio 
for the people of 
Aghanistan.
a communication initiative
We all know that Internet is an essential tool for communication 
by literate people, including Afghans around the world, NGO's, 
Aid-workers, human rights activists, grass roots community 
developers and (media) activists. 
We also know that many people in Afghanistan are uprooted and 
dependent on aid for their survival and for rehabilitation of their 
environment, but don't have access to internet and are nowadays 
in their majority illiterate. 
Therefore a combination of internet facilities and independant 
community radio run and owned by Afghans seems to be the 
adequate option to provide the necessary communication to 
enable Afghans to fully participate in the process of rehabilitation 
and reconstruction of their lives and region. 
What we are interested in is a communication platform that is 
independent from political factions and is at the service of Afghan 
Civil Society, including its supporters. 
The media situation at this moment is as fluid as the policitical 
situation. The Northern Alliance forces took over Radio Sharia'a 
and still control Radio Aghanistan. Commando Solo is still airing 
from his airplanes. The BBC and Voice of America are doing 
their job. Especially the BBC Pashto and Dari programs are 
considered a reliable source of information by many. 
However, these media are not sufficient, to serve as a 
communicator for the civil society and the people in general, who 
have a whole range of needs: ranging from logistics to education 
and independent expression. 
The internet could, in combination with radio (and other traditional 
media), be of vital importance to connect people around the globe 
on various issues. Ranging from logistical communication to 
community cybercenters and exchange of private messages, 
educational material, agricultural information, weather and traffic, 
etc. 
Concretely the line of development which we envision might 
include: 
- internet access 
- community service centers 
- message board 
- editorial 
- open publishing 
independant radio: 
- both short wave and local community radio 
- using recorders and internet to collect contributions and feed 
back 
- cultural expression 
- education 
- health 
- agriculture 
- human rights 
- community building 
- news 
- music and amusement 
etc. 
Finally, creating a platform for communication for families 
in the country and in diaspora, a medium for open debate among 
civil society and 
discussion on the future of Afhanistan would enable people on the 
ground to create 
constructive alternatives for traditional ways of solving problems. 
 
a prototype in The Netherlands
We are now in the Netherlands in the process of building an 
internet radio station servicing the communication needs and 
desires of Afghani's wherever they are. The editors are all 
Afghans who live and work in the Netherlands and share an urge 
to do something for their country and people. 
It is a web site, a web based platform for producing radio, both on 
demand and as a live stream. 
This could be relayed on various ether frequencies around the 
globe (short wave, community radio, "official" radio). 
It can be received on a computer with sound card and internet 
access. 
In Herat the first internet is open again, it seems. Hopefully Kabul 
will follow soon. 
The working title of this radiostation on internet is Radio Reed 
Flute. It is a 
musical instrument, a brilliant poem by Molana Djalal eddine 
Roemi written in the 13th centry and it is a song that was played 
every morning on the radio in 
Aghanistan. It's a song known to every Afghan, because that's 
what you woke up with or played as a sheppard. 
Radio Reed Flute is to be an environment for people to meet 
eachother, to reach out and to relieve the Afghanis and all those 
that share a compassion for their plight. 
Radio Reed Flute is a multi layered media project that bundles all 
forms of open source, free distribution and open publishing tools 
and tactics available on the internet. 
partners: 
Qader Shafiq q.shafiq@planet.nl, writer and community worker in 
Nijmegen 
Jo van der Spek jo@xs4all.nl, radio journalist and tactical media 
consultant in Amsterdam 
Chris Swart gris@saloon.dhs.org, programmer and tools 
developer in Budapest and Amsterdam 
Zubair Faisal Abbasi, journalist and development consultant in 
Islamabad 
Rameen Moshref, academic and community worker in New York 
 
Amsterdam november 2001 
 

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