In times of darkness and violence, radio is quietly being reborn on the internet – drawing together community stations, and marginalized communities, speaking in a chorus in multiple languages. “It is difficult for people to imagine now what Palestine looked like without the separation wall” is echoing as I write this. Tune into 24 Hours Palestine in its second edition now, running through Sunday, April 7.
Radio Alhara is now broadcasting via Wonder Cabinet, the young space in Bethlehem, in another combination of narrative/text and musical background. Today’s broadcasts trace an extraordinary collection of broadcasters and perspectives – some joining for a portion, some for all 24 hours, noon to noon Palestine local time.
You can follow those broadcasts here:
https://linktr.ee/24hrs.palestine
12:00 @birzeit.university / Ramallah
12:40 @futurenostalgia_ / Cape Town
13:05 @fdbckfdfwd @ameeraaslamwrites @beyondhijabsg / Singapore
13:45 @radiondarossa87.9 / Rome
14:45 @radiofantasia.typography @plotting_institute / Yerevan
15:30 @radiogalere / Marseille
17:00 @radioalhara @wonder.cabinet / Bethlehem
18:00 @egyptian.diaspora.resists / Berlin & New York
19:30 @qgzazale @collectifreunionpalestine @laboxproject / Le Tampon
20:30 @free_palestine_front @palestinianculturalclub / Beirut & Tripoli
22:05 @samidounpb @kpoo89.5 / Paris & Oakland
23:55 @futurenostalgia_ / Cape Town
00:40 / Dakar
01:40 @kpfaradio @denaaladeeb @aroc_bayarea @mecaforpeace @ucb.gsjp @berkeleylawforpalestine @b.a.a.a.g @palestinianfeministcollective / Oakland
02:40 @32degreeseast / Kampala
04:10 Lectures pour la Palestine / Paris
05:10 @centredartwaza / Lubumbashi
06:45 @radionopal / Mexico
08:45 @habkara / Belgrade
09:45 @goldsmithsforpalestine / London
10:45 @kolektiv.rks / Pizven
11:15 @akatawla / Cairo
12:15 Voices from Conakry / Conakry
13:15 @oflineout @mithran.rt @artedkar / Delhi
14:00 @poormagazine Oakland
15:30 @mgplusmsum / Ljubjana
17:00 @dublindigitalradio / Dublin
All of this is a reminder that, against hypercapitalist, commodified broadcasts – a performance theater for advertisers, showing young, same-looking, same-dressed consumers caring about nothing beyond a party in order to look ripe for brand integrations (sorry), the internet can be whatever we want. It can absolutely be superficial when we feel superficial (hey, that’s human, too), when we want to dance around or be silly. And it can be something else when we need that, too. Music can mix with text; text doesn’t have to be entirely in English (sorry again). We can connect places so that they’re as near as our headphones or speakers.
It’s moving seeing some of the places coming together, and their own histories – whether Lebanon (the Palestinian camps, specifically), Armenia, Senegal, Reunion Island, Kosovo, or the Egyptian Diaspora. It feels as though some of the othering of these stories is dissolving, as people tell the truth of their lived experience.
Against today’s 24-hour broadcast, Wonder Cabinet in Palestine is sharing their sound residency program and international performance projects, which are connecting the world to threatened land. (I’ll share more on that later – I’m listening now!)
I hope to share some of the archived programming soon. At the same time, there’s the comfort that says to me this is still worth calling “radio” – that ability to tune into a void, and have someone else speaking into the void, so we aren’t alone. It’s a feeling I remember loving as a child, trying to pull in the most distant signal I could even on AM bands. We get to casually come and go – interspersing the 24-hour broadcast with other activities in our day and night, returning to it in a moment to see what we hear. And as music streaming is taken over by machines making for machines, radio can keep us human, even if the world around us can be inhuman.