I had the privilege and honor of interviewing Maria Suarez Toro, who is an influential and passionate activist from Latin America. One of her prime successes is being the co-founder of FIRE, Feminist International Radio Endeavor, which brings together women and broadcasts their voices to an international audience. She is a perfect example of using the media to propel the women’s liberation cause. Below is a transcript of our interview:
-What kind of activism were you doing before FIRE, and what kind of success did you have?
Before starting FIRE in 1991 I was a human rights advocate in the Central American Human Rights Commission (CEDEHUCA) doing human rights education in the region and defending women in specific cases where their human rights were being violated.
I defended in Belize the first legal case about domestic violence that was defended on the basis of human rights and CODEHDUCA won the case in 1998. A Costa Rica woman married to a Belizean man was in jail for having killed her husband. She had everything against her: she was a woman, he was a man, she was a lay person, he was a pastor, she was a foreigner who killed a Belizean. Plus, there were no laws to protect a woman from violence against her and very little public awareness about the issue at the time. We were able to prove in court that she had killed him in self defense after years of abuse and violence and that the night she killed him he was going to kill her. The argument of self defense was used by the judge to release her because the penalty was death by hanging and we had organized a global campaign with Amnesty International to show that Belize still has de death penalty in its law, a violation of the right to live.
-Why did you choose to start using radio?
I was asked to start FIRE by the philanthropist, Genevieve Vaughan who created FIRE at Radio for Peace International. For the two decades that I had been doing education, first adult literacy and the human rights education, I realized that poor and illiterate people were a voice that was not heard in media, yet had a wealth of experience and knowledge that needed to be heard. Radio was the way to give them a voice, as they did not need to read and write to speak on a microphone.
-In a sentence or two, what do you see as the main objective of FIRE?
Connecting voices, communications technologies and action to amplify women´s voices worldwide.
-How many people does FIRE reach?
Throughout the 21 years of existence, FIRE has reached million of peoples in all continents, first through short wave radio before the advent of the world wide web and later in internet radio. Letters, emails, an academic study of the hits by FIRE as the first women´s internet radio station showcase that audience in the internet cannot be measured technically when it operated with a “multiplying effect” like FIRE has done, where our aim was not only to broadcast, but for other media to pick it up and re-broadcast or print.
-How do you think using radio has benefited your efforts and activism?
Radio has shown to be an excellent tool for activism as “voice” carries with it the power of feeling, commitment and passion connected to each call to action, and those are very necessary for people to believe that social change CAN happen and that ordinary people can make it happen.
In a world where mainstream politics have become a game to see who can best hide their true objectives, clear voices that speak from the heart and not only the head are crucial, and that happens in radio.
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