Anti Colonial North-South communication

Anti Colonial North-South communication requires an understanding of the unique local challenges faced by economically developing countries, including poverty, political instability, and limited access to resources. This means that the process involves taking steps to ensure that communication is realised in a way that is aware of colonial power structures and avoids perpetuating stereotypes or prejudices. It is important to take the historical and cultural background of every country into account, as it shapes the mentality and growth process of its population. This background was shaped by duality throughout the years, creating colonial binaries such as developed countries vs developing countries, white vs black, civilization vs nature and many more.

For example, if you want to create a message about a white volunteer attending a volunteering camp in Kenya, pay attention to the language you use, the history of the countries and the colonial power structures. Often, images show white volunteers in the centre and some images even reinforce the idea that people in the Global South need white Europeans to come and “help”, e.g. by showing a white volunteer surrounded by children from Kenya. This is called the “white saviour complex”. Instead, frame the message as a mutual learning process, show collaboration and describe the tasks of the camp by taking into account both the perspective of the people who would go to the camp and the one of the people who would host it. Give voice to both sides.

In the context of war and militarism a lot of propaganda, media control and fake news can intervene. The information that reaches the masses can be heavily skewed towards one of the involved sides, blurring the reality of the other one and contributing to a one side/one voice perspective.