| dc.description.abstract | This study has addressed how propaganda and ideology in Burundi interacted synergistically to create panic and fear that allowed ordinary people to believe that they are killing to preserve traditional rights imperiled by threatening groups. Burundi has been in a severe crisis of protracted conflict over the past forty years. This conflict is characterized by ethnic cleavages and media influence. Using a strategy of divide and rule the colonial powers introduced a culture of ethnic categories where power and privilege was redistributed to the Tutsi on the basis of John Speke's Hamitic Theory of Races; the Hamitol Semitic hypothesis.
The resultant Hutu/Tutsi division and Hamitic myth provided a means of pitting different components of Burundi's population against one another. In Burundi's situations, the media's role was that of engendering fear, hatred and violence. Upon independence, Burundi inherited this colonial legacy of deep seated ethnic distrust and the existing structural arrangements left little room for the electronic media to serve without bias. Instead Burundi's media fed into the already heightened ethnic hatred and thus became a source of destabilization. The media was used, by both Hutu and Tutsi extremists, to incite and legitimatize the destruction of cultures and groups of innocent humans. The message from both sides of the divide was that violence was the only possible solution to the threatened loss of life, rights and property.
In this regard, Burundi has since 1995, been using the radio's all pervasive nature to try and heal the country's ethnic divide. Studio Ijambo's 'wise words' are replacing diatribes. Reconciliation is promoted via the radio as the substitute to violence and distrust. Since radio broadcasts are entirely through the spoken word, it is therefore part of oracy and consequently taps into Burundi's rich tradition of oral history. It follows that Studio Ijambo's mandate is to repair and transform damaged relationships through the power of oracy. With valid examples from Burundi, this study has presented the argument that radio is a medium of social and personal change in itself. Radio's emphasis is not so much the hard, cold facts but more on the aspects of human experience and social relations. Where hate Radio's simple model of a stimulus; message and news, causes an immediate direct effect; hate and violence. Burundi's Studio Ijambo's, media project design is conducted on the grounds of the 'reverse' assumption alone.
That the opposite to what is assumed to have worked for inciting hate and conflict is supposed to work in the same way; only with the opposite/positive impact- to foster reconciliation or peace. Studio ljambo has shown that through oral testimony radio enables those concerned with human rights violations and protection to capture voices of victims and even perpetrators. Following this line of argument, Studio Ijambo's productions are specifically designed for peace building in order to effectively enhance peace. Studio Ijambo has sought to deal with peace-oriented communication that is essential for enhancing development policies as well as for encouraging the development of democratic media structures. | en_US |
