BAKU, Azerbaijan, July 10. An international conference titled “Media and Decolonization: Rising Voices, Growing Narratives” will be held in Baku, organized by the Baku Initiative Group.
This was announced in a report published by the Baku Initiative Group (BIG).
According to the report, the conference, which will be the first platform of its kind organized in Azerbaijan with the participation of media representatives from former colonial territories, will take place in an interactive format between journalists from these territories and representatives of local media.
''The conference will be attended by leaders and representatives of media organizations from former and current colonial territories, journalists, political commentators, representatives of diaspora organizations, experts in the field of media and communications, representatives of civil society institutions, researchers, diplomats, and representatives of government agencies, as well as representatives of local media,'' the report says.
The conference will address the role of the media in amplifying the voices of people and ethnic minorities who are subjected to neocolonial exploitation and live under conditions of colonial subjugation in the international information space, as well as the challenges they face.
The event will place special emphasis on international media coverage of colonial realities that have long remained in the shadows: economic exploitation of territories, the plundering of natural resources, the erasure of cultural identity, systemic discrimination, repression against indigenous peoples, and policies aimed at deliberately altering the demographic composition of the local population through the resettlement of outsiders, as exemplified by the Kanaks (New Caledonia) and the people of Bonaire.
The conference will also feature an exchange of views on issues such as breaking the artificial information blockade imposed on colonial territories, the use of cutting-edge artificial intelligence tools to combat disinformation and fake news — false information — the creation of an international coordination network among journalists and media organizations, and the strengthening of cooperation between international media organizations and local journalists.
The discussions will highlight the role of the media in decolonization, not only as a means of conveying information but also as a mechanism for exerting international pressure on those who pursue colonial policies. In this context, the discussions will address practical initiatives to document colonial crimes, debunk colonial narratives, scrutinize the official information policies of colonial states through fact-based research, convey the perspectives of Indigenous peoples to an international audience, monitoring human rights violations, keeping issues of environmental justice, including the consequences of the use of the pesticide chlordecone in Guadeloupe and Martinique, on the global agenda, advancing demands for reparations, and building international networks of solidarity and cooperation among journalists, human rights defenders, and civil society organizations operating in the territories of the Kanak, the Maohi, Guadeloupe, Martinique, Bonaire, Sint Maarten, and other colonial territories.
