The launch of the Colombian edition of the book Nonviolent Journalism will be a space to reflect on the future of journalism and social communication in the construction of today’s society.

The International Peace and Nonviolence News Agency, Pressenza, FES Comunicación and Ediciones Desde Abajo, will present the book “Nonviolent Journalism. Towards a humanising approach to communication” on the 19th of September 2022, at Casa FESCOL, from 5:30 pm. You will also be able to follow it through virtual transmission on the Twitter account @Fescomunica.

The book comes from the experience of the news agency created 13 years ago in Milan, Italy. This media outlet has 24 editorial offices in different countries, providing information in nine languages, with an editorial line focused on human rights, peace and non-violence.

Thus, the arrival of the book in Colombia in the midst of great political and social changes that tend towards the inclusion of all sectors and total peace in this country, gives rise to “the construction [of] another communication and another journalism that counts on the social bases as sources of information; that questions itself about what we narrate and how we do it; that move away from the homogenisation caused by the dominant discourse; that do not simplify or reduce the value of contexts, and that seek and report on experiences, projects and news that do not exalt violence but rather the diversity and creativity of the other worlds that are within this one,” said Iñaki Chaves, editor.

Who are the authors who will be at the launch?

The event, which will take place next Monday, will be attended by three of the five authors. Pía Figueroa is co-director of the International Peace and Nonviolence News Agency Pressenza, a humanist with a long trajectory and author of various monographs and books.

Nelsy Lizarazo, who is also co-director of Pressenza, has a long career in the field of communication, having worked as a communicator and educator in the Latin American Association of Education and Popular Communication (ALER). Both writers will connect virtually with the audience.

Javier Tolcachier, who will be present at the launch in Bogotá, is a researcher at the World Centre for Humanist Studies, columnist and founding member of the agency.

Nonviolent journalism travels the world

The collective work saw the light of day in 2021 and was presented successively in Quito, Barcelona and Santiago de Chile, to wide acclaim. To mark the launch of the Ecuadorian edition of “Nonviolent Journalism”, an in-person event will be held in Ecuador in October 2022.

The purpose of the authors is for the book to reach not only journalists with extensive experience, but also those who are new to the field. They also hope that higher education institutions that have in their academic curriculum the teaching of journalism will place the proposal to humanise social communication through non-violent journalism as an essential contribution to present and future society.