Asian Migrant Media: A Local Perspective on Migration and Intercultural Dialogue: Roundtable

Event
  • DATE / TIME:
    2013•11•25
    Location:
    Barcelona, Spain

    On 25th November 2013, a panel of five of Barcelona’s migrant journalists joined the Director of Immigration and Interculturality at Barcelona City Council, Ramon Sanahuja I Vélez in the UNU-GCM offices to discuss intercultural dialogue. The event was jointly organized by UNU-GCM and Casa Asia and attracted a diverse public who also brought their own experiences and questions to the occasion. Eva Maciocco and Begoña Ruiz de Infante brought newspapers for the attendees to see, and although the majority of the text was in Urdu and Chinese, respectively, it was clear from the stories and advertisements that the papers were directed at a public rooted in Barcelona. However, as Daniel Infante Tuaño noted, often news stories about migrant communities in Catalunya can be taken up in their countries of origin and can therefore represent an important element in international friendships and understandings. He cited an example of a story he had reported upon regarding a Filipino who had made important contributions to his community in Barcelona which was taken up by the government of the Philippines. Raja Shafiq, meanwhile, presented his radio station, Radio Pakcelona, as a vehicle for integration, offering lessons in Catalan as well as programmes in the various languages of the Asian community in Barcelona. Zhang Qinfeng closed the proceedings with a description of his own experiences reporting in Barcelona. The event challenged the fear that some cite, that migrant media may re-entrench already closed communities and also offered an opportunity for all present to share ideas on how to further enable migrant media in Barcelona to develop its already positive role in the city.