WACC - World Association for Christian Communication

I'm reading a handout by World Association for Christian Communication (WACC). I'm impressed at the linking of human rights and communication.

'In North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia and Australasia - wherever groups of people have been systematically victimised - thousands are still living with the pain if past atrocities, acts that have remained publicly unacknowledged. Their right to public memory has been suppressed. You can't really claim to have freedom of expression unless you have the right to know and remember what happened in the past, and to tell your stories in public' (Philip Lee, WACC deputy director of programs).

Certainly makes me think deeply about Aboriginal people in Australia. Sorry Day, and the Apology to the Stolen Generations, goes part of the way. I remember how moved I was by Henry Reynold's book, Why Weren't We Told?

The flip side is, who is stopping the stories from being told publicly? Who is served by suppressing these stories?

'We are looking at the role of mass media in this process since they are often owned by government or conservative business interests that stand to reap political and economic gains by suppressing these stories' (Philip Lee)

WACC believes that communication plays a crucial role in building peace, security and a sense of identity as well as in promoting justice, mutual accountability and transparency. Communication, WACC believes, contributes to the common good.”

While affirming that there can be “no peace without justice,” WACC’s members and partners would add that that there can be “no peace without communication.”

With the help of today’s information and communication technologies (ICTs), mass, community and social media play a fundamental role in countries throughout the world. ICTs are the nervous system that keeps people informed about ongoing events and issues in their communities, societies and nations. Indeed, genuinely participatory societies depend on a vast range of information and knowledge to enable them to function democratically.

In times of global conflict or local violence, when huge resources are shifted from peaceful activities to military agendas and many lives are at risk of being lost, people also need a diversity of reliable sources of information and communication to make informed and responsible decisions.

Peace with justice means peace with communication: Communication based on genuine dialogue. Communication that is truth-oriented, people-oriented and solution-oriented. Communication that is open to an inclusive range of people, ideas, and visions aimed at bringing about peace with justice.