A TV channel run by the Mapuche community to start transmission on Dec. 7
By Daniel Lorenzo
The inter-cultural Wall Kintun TV Channel, run by the Mapuche community of Bariloche, will start transmitting on Dec. 7, as a symbol of the full application of the Audiovisual Communications Law.
On Dec. 7, according to a Supreme Court ruling, the Audiovisual Law will become fully effective, following the deadline of the preventive measures through which the Clarín Group attempted to delay its enforcement, by challenging its anti-monopoly article 161 as contrary to the Constitution.
The Mapuche channel shall become Channel 8, the second air signal in the Bariloche area, sharing the space with Channel 6, which belongs to the Clarín Group.
Inalén Antillanca, general producer, said that they shall transmit from Furilofche Warria Meu (Bariloche my place, in Mapuche), during a debate on the enforcement of the Audiovisual Law held last Friday in Bariloche.
Diego Pereira, another of the project leaders, told Télam that the production and transmission will be performed by the Cooperative of Mapuche Audiovisual Services.
"At the beginning we shall generate two programs, one of interviews to social workers, culture representative and men on the streets. And a second one devoted to debates", he explained.
"The programs shall have an editorial line according to the outlook of the native people", said Pereira, who belongs to the Kootaru community, at Villa Lanquin.
Pereira explained that the Mapuche community is very large in Bariloche, but lacks a cultural representation. "The Mapuche identity is strong in rural areas, but weak in urban places. Here in the cities we are regarded as something of the past are victims of oppression".
He also informed that the channel will use films produced by other native people from the Provinces of Jujuy, Salta, Chaco, Neuquén, Chubut and Santa Cruz.
Wall Kintun is part of the Coordinadora Audiovisual Indígena Argentina (CAIA), which reports on its activities through the Internet site www.originarios.org.ar
Source: Telam, 6th November, 2012