Azerbaidjian, ritorno forzato alle onde corte

L'eco delle polemiche suscitate dalla decisione di sospendere dal primo gennaio di quest'anno la ritrasmissione di Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty sulle frequenze FM interne all'Azerbaidjian, ha fatto molta strada nei media occidentali. Nelle scorse settimane, le autorità della nazione caucasica hanno formalmente negato a Radio Azadliq (Libertà) ed altri broadcaster stranieri, BBC compresa, la licenza di trasmissione sulle frequenze locali. All'emittente, i cui programmi sono finanziati da RFE/RL, è rimasta solo una risorsa, oltre al satellite: le onde corte. Descrivendo gli eventi che hanno fatto seguito alla chiusura di Radio Azadliq in FM, Radio Free Europe riferisce che all'improvviso, nei negozi di elettronica di consumo di Baku e dintorni la richiesta di ricevitori in onde corte è alle stelle, la gente si accalca per procurarsi uno strumento che mezzo mondo ha dichiarato obsoleto da un pezzo.
In questi giorni di tensione e morte in Israele e a Gaza, con un amico siamo rimasti a lungo davanti a CNN e al BBC World Service televisivo, rimpiangendo le notti trascorse ad ascoltare notiziari e corrispondenze con le nostre semplici radioline. Avete mai provato ad andare a letto con un notebook? La cosa più scomoda del mondo, anche con Wi-Fi, eppure è quello che siamo costretti a fare oggi se vogliamo ascoltare, in streaming Web, un notiziario da Israele o da qualsiasi altra fonte, perché le voci sulle onde corte si stanno spegnendo una dopo l'altra, con il pretesto della "razionalizzazione" della spesa. Il caso Azerbaidjian dimostra che quando si tratta di informazione, di pluralismo, di libertà, al gioco della razionalizzazione perdiamo tutti.

January 02, 2009

RFE/RL Listeners In Azerbaijan Angry Over Closure Of Azadliq

“They shut you down, but it's too late. I already know what liberty is, and that liberty is possible. Thank you for that.”
That's what one listener wrote to Radio Azadliq [Liberty], the Azerbaijani service of RFE/RL, after the government ordered the closure of all foreign broadcasters in the country: BBC, Voice of America, and Radio Azadliq.
Rauf Mirkadirov, an analyst who writes for the newspaper "Zerkalo," echoed the listener's comments. “Radio Azadliq’s error is obvious. It makes people think," Mirkadirov writes. "If people think, they suffer, because they understand that the truth is not what the pro-government media shows: [a picture of] a country with economic growth and stability. They understand how bad the situation really is.”
Radio Azadliq started receiving messages of support on October 31 when Nushiravan Maharramli, the head of the National Television and Radio Council, announced the plan to stop foreign broadcasts on national frequencies.
The messages are still arriving. Radio Azadliq’s offices in Baku and Prague received thousands of phone calls, mobile text messages, and emails, while independent and opposition newspapers published commentaries regretting the government’s decision.
“I don’t understand this decision, and I don’t want to understand it,” wrote Vagif Samedoglu, a prominent writer and member of parliament. "They should not forget that these radio stations helped us, made our voices heard in the world in our bad days.... Especially Radio Azadliq.”
“Everyone would listen to Azadliq, from taxi drivers to housewives. This was enough to shut down the station. Where else you would hear alternative voices?” Mammad Suleymanov wrote in an opinion piece in "Bizim Yol."
Alternative voices are still being heard through Radio Azadliq -- but fewer people are able to hear them. Azadliq is still able to broadcast on shortwave frequencies, and shopkeepers say the demand for radios that receive shortwave has skyrocketed in past days. Others tune in on Azadliq's website, where they can hear not only current broadcasts but also older ones from the archive.
Most listeners, however, express grave concern not only about the fate of their favorite radio station, but about what the development means for Azerbaijan.
“Radio Azadliq would always inform us about different views. Now alternative information will be available only at funerals and mosques -- from the mullahs. These are only places where you don’t get arrested for listening to something other than the government’s propaganda,” said Elshan Poladli. Poladli is an activist of the Dalga youth movement, and has been arrested several times for organizing public protests against corruption, oil pollution, and restrictions on freedom of expression.
In his commentary, Suleymanov writes that “the restrictions placed on Azadliq will end up with bringing freedom to the people, because their unexpressed anger will build up and explode."