This Saturday (18 October) the Right2Know Campaign will be holding a national day of action for the right to communicate. The mobilisation is timed to commemorate Black Wednesday, the day the apartheid government banned a range of publications sympathetic to the Black Consciousness Movement, and arrested a group of journalists and editors, on 19 October 1977.
An effective and diverse media and more democratic access to telecommunications are vital in deepening democracy and addressing the many social justice challenges that South Africa faces. For an overview of the issues we will be raising and the demands R2K are developing, see this webpage.
Schedule of events
● JOHANNESBURG: March from Media24/Naspers (69 Kingsway Ave) to the SABC from 10am. Contact Bongani Xezwi, bongani@r2k.org.za, 073 904 1626/011 356 5860.
● CAPE TOWN: March for the Right to Communicate to Vodacom and Independent Newspapers from Naspers/Media24 (outside the CTICC @ 10am). Contact Vainola Makan, vainola@r2k.org.za, 079 648 1725/021 447 1000.
● DURBAN: Mass Meeting: MEDIA FOR DEMOCRACY – 10am @ St. Philomena’s, 92 Rippon Rd, Sydenham. Contact Joanne Adams, joanne@r2k.org.za, 083 498 1583.
The national day of action will highlight the need for greater access to a more diverse media, existing threats to media freedom from the state and commercial interests, and the democratizing potential that access to affordable telecommunications and the internet has to advance our right to communicate. We hope you will participate in the Day of Action.
