The Sound of Collective Action: We Are Many
Radio Buena Vida, a Govanhill-based online radio station, launched in 2020. Now a radio cafe on Victoria Road, it features diverse community content. The newest show, We Are Many, channels grief, pain, and determination into impactful, anti-racist resistance and the decolonial struggle for liberation in Palestine and beyond.
By The Sound of Collective Action | Photo by Iain McLen
Radio Buena Vida launched as a Govanhill-based online community radio station in 2020. They originally operated out of the Some Great Reward record shop, but in 2023 owners Suz O’Neill and David Fleming were able to realise their dream of opening their own radio cafe at 535 Victoria Road. As well as serving up food and drinks, the station plays host to a wide variety of styles and formats produced by community members. The slogan is: ‘The sound of collective action,’ so for this piece, we asked presenters of one of their newest shows, We Are Many – a ‘Glasgow-based radio project platforming anti-racist resistance and the decolonial struggle for liberation in Palestine and beyond – to explain what this platform means to them.
How has community radio been a way to find a voice, take part in community, and create social action?
Through radio our voices are amplified; we can reach a wide range of people with very different life perspectives and experiences. The potential for community is widened beyond geographical and social restraints.
After months of demonstrations in protest against Israel's horrific-beyond-words mass killings of Palestinians, we realised there was a need for collective action and togetherness beyond protest. In times like these when the racist bias by the political and British media comes into sharp focus, it's easy to feel isolated in our struggle for change, especially when it appears that you are surrounded by apathy and ignorance on the subject. Finding a place to share your voice on these challenging subjects became a necessity.
At a time when so many are deeply saddened and angered by the state of the world, community spaces are a means to building solidarity, remaining hopeful and maintaining stamina as we take social action. Our aim is to ensure that people in our communities are reminded that they are not alone in their struggles – we feel each other's pain and we will always strive to support and stand by each other.
How is your show doing this?
We Are Many was born out of the desire to come together and channel our grief, pain and determination into something positive and, hopefully, impactful for our communities. We want to reach a deeper understanding of the struggles against oppression that communities face. Music is something close to our hearts, a tool for starting conversations and a way of getting to know each other.
We invite people who are taking action on different issues to share their experiences and efforts as a way of building awareness, solidarity and extending that support network. We discuss, we question and we have our guests choose music that inspires their efforts. It’s about amplifying voices, it’s about bringing social action into daily life, it’s about mobilising community and it’s about reaching across the lines of division that we no longer accept.
How did you decide on Radio Buena Vida as a platform for this?
Thinking about a home for our show, RBV was at the top of our list. It’s an independent, grassroots platform where people from all walks of life connect and contribute. We needed to be based somewhere that wouldn’t shy away from challenging and difficult conversations – somewhere that was driven by an ethos of social change. It was also important for us that the radio project was able to provide a physical space where people can gather and RBV is quite unique in that sense. And so we found RBV and they found us.
How can radio combined with music be a platform for social change?
There’s something magical about radio when it comes to mixing conversation and music. Amplifying our voices is a powerful way to break the silence when the narrative is twisted to distort who is oppressing who. Personal stories cut through the wall of apathy and political spin, activating peoples’ sense of justice and informing their engagement on issues. Sitting and listening to those personal experiences of struggle builds awareness and social bridges between communities. Add music into the mix and it becomes another thing altogether. Music has the power to touch us, to connect us and to inspire us.
Other shows we love on Radio Buena Vida:
We Will Not Be Silent: Voices, Stories & Music of Palestinian Resistance
Everything But The West w/ C.A. Moses
Gorbals After Hours w/ Hu-Sane
Parveen's
Throughout June, we are taking part in the 'No News is Bad News’ campaign – which is founded on the belief that a well-informed community is more able to act together to shape its own future, that local news is fundamental to a healthy democratic society and invaluable in helping to create strong communities. As part of this campaign, any money we raise for the project during June will be doubled by an Indie News Fund.