La Voladora Radio celebrates 20 years of alternative, collective and community communication.
We believed in the impossible, and were committed to its collective possibility. We dreamt of other realities from a small place in from which we started 20 years ago. On one hand we believed with uncertainty, on the other with desire but we always believed.
We have walked together for 20 years, always joined by many who bet on alternative communication in the very heart of Amecameca, Mexico State. Here we are celebrating 20 years of La Voladora Radio.
Our past and present steps have brought us to this moment: these 20 years have given us the possibility to see ourselves; to recognize ourselves in our community and to do solidarity work. We see ourselves in the mirror and in the many faces of those that struggle in realities different than ours, and what we have seen has impelled us not to give up, not to back down.
Twenty years ago we started broadcasting at the kiosk in Amecameca, Amaquemecan with very little but a desire to know ourselves together, the community signal began: simple and austere; accompanied by the foolishness to deconstruct the myth of the media. We were a radio station without a license but we knew that the only permission we needed and wanted was ours; and we gave ourselves permission to dream, in the end it is the only thing we have and no one, not even fear, can take that away from us.
We are the radio of the fire and the word; one of many voices. We learned to make radio, create radio. We are the result of the struggle of people far and near. We are the radio of the streets, of the protests; of the community market, of the bicycle taxi or of the collective transportation; we are the radio you hear in the stores and in the garages; in houses and in the countryside. Our existence as a radio station isn’t what gives us virtue, but rather all those who made it possible for the impossibility to be transformed. To all of those who are and were part of this journey, we show our gratitude from the deepest and most honest part of our flying heart.
We are also celebrating these 20 years with our own loss and pain. We are celebrating with the enormous sadness and emptiness left by the death of our dear brother Daniel Ivan, founder of Voladora. In spite of his physical absence, Daniel remains part of Voladora; he put his life, mind, body, soul and sorrow into this project. He remains in this space that he helped to build; in the voices that sound, in the learning that he shared. Part of our brother’s heart left, but the other part stays here with us. You should never see people you love die, but we also know that freedom is in other spaces. We are overjoyed with happiness to have shared this story, this radio, these years with you Daniel. And yes, life is different, but not too different; our heart continues to beat with him.
In this anniversary, we thank you all for sheltering us and for not letting go; for joining, believing and creating with us. We thank you for teaching us that community communication is an action that comes from sharing in the collective and within the community. We continue to learn.
This project is yours, inscribed with the contours of your heart and strength, born out of possibilities that only come from this collective space. And as Daniel Iván said, “There is no good thing that you are not deserving of, there is nothing bad that can overcome you. There should be nothing but light and love and good wine for you”. We are sure that you will always have that.
La Voladora Radio | Year 20.
October, 2020.
The orginal article can be found in Spanish at La Voladora Radio and was translated by Panama Black.