To democratize communication is one of the great challenges humanity faces at the end of this century. The impact communication is having in all aspects of life means that it is no longer a matter that only concerns specialists or professionals directly involved in this field, but is crucial to citizens in general.

With the recent impressive developments in communication technologies and techniques, unprecedented possibilities have emerged for the Earth's inhabitants to intercommunicate; yet paradoxically, non-communication has today become a planetary problem, due, among other things, to the deepening imbalance and inequity in the management of these resources.

The innovations registered in the communications field constitute one of the central factors of the present changes. Communication has thus been transformed into a front-line and highly profitable sector of the economy, which has set off a process of increased monopolization in all its areas. This process is not restricted to economic benefits, but is also expressed in the orientation of development, forms and uses of communication technologies and techniques.

In this context, the media have strengthened their traditional status as a power factor, to the point where they have assumed a role of social control, previously fulfilled by other institutions. It is now commonplace that the media determine what is socially relevant or not, who is worthy of being considered a social actor, etc., thus seriously distorting democratic processes. If citizens do not take on this issue, the danger of "media or computerized fascism" threatens to become reality.

The Right to Communicate

It is a universally accepted criterion that the vitality of democracy depends on citizens' participation. For this participation to be effective, it is fundamental for all sectors of citizens to be duly informed and to be able to express their particular viewpoints to the rest of society. This condition for democracy can only be guaranteed if communication is democratized.

Precisely because communication is a fundamental social process, it is an imperative of democracy that equality between whoever intervenes in this process be an accepted principle at all levels - all the more so when communications media and systems constitute a decisive factor in the formation of social and cultural protagonists. It follows that social responsibility cannot be subordinated to the private interests of those who control these resources.

One of the most significant advances of humanity in the present century has been the universal recognition of human rights, which expresses an evolution in the defense of personal dignity. In this framework, as a result of social advocacy, there is increasing recognition that social conviviality requires redistribution of material wealth. In this new context, we now need to press for the redistribution of symbolic wealth, which in turn implies consecrating the Right to Communicate.

The celebration of the 50th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights offers an opportunity to reflect on the challenges in this field posed by the new realities of the contemporary world, which without a doubt include the democratization of communication.

A civic initiative

With this motive, the International Forum: Communication and Citizenship will be held in San Salvador, El Salvador, on September 9-11 1998. The Forum is conceived as a meeting point of a variety of social groupings, so that they can draw up proposals and actions in favor of this Right, reinforce each others' initiatives and that movements pro-democratization of communication might converge.

Since it is a "common cause", this initiative is being "self-convened" by the different organizations and institutions that agree to become involved in its implementation, and that consequently incorporate it into their respective agendas and work plans.

In this sense, it is open to broad and pluralist participation, bringing together media, journalists associations and unions, academic sectors, human rights organizations, social and civic movements and organizations, development institutions, etc. Their appointment is not limited to the event itself, but begins in the present preparatory phase and will extend into the follow-up it generates. It is designed as a dynamic process, that will stimulate exchange, build bridges, and articulate a mutually enriching common space.

The central aim of the Forum is to generate an international process of civic reflection and action, so to affirm rights in the field of communication as a fundamental element of any democratic process. In more concrete terms is proposes to:

- Bring together social actors from different spheres of civil society to reflect together on the relation between communication, citizenship and democracy.

- Develop proposals with relation to rights in the field of communications and to promote actions aimed at inserting these rights on the agenda of social movements.

- Articulate a space for sectorial and intersectorial exchange on communication and citizenship in areas such as: human rights, academic research, ethics in journalism, gender perspective in communication, etc.

- Encourage exchange on experiences, proposals and actions that have made an impact in terms of more democratic communicational practices.

- Raise public awareness on these issues and their relevance for democratic process.