[grc] WBAI/Pacifica Information For Those Who Wish

[Tracy Rosenberg]

Hi GRC,

I'm just posting a few pieces of info/opinion for those who are interested
because of their role as Pacifica affiliated stations. I'm consolidating so
as the reduce the wear and tear on the list, and will engage in an ongoing
thread. It is just for informational purposes. Thank you.

1. Bylaws Amendment Proposal

It has been noticed for a possible PNB, delegates and membership vote and
can be reviewed at pacifica,org. I want to update the report issued to the
Pacifica Affiliates list from Robin Collier. (No fault of Robin's since
things are changing every day, but it does not have the latest
information).

The bylaws amendment proposal does not contain any representation on the
Pacifica National Board for any affiliate stations or affiliate reps. The
attorney Robin referred to has broken with the restructuring project
people. The current proposal features a self-selected six person majority
on the national board that permanently replicates, and an elected minority
of five that will be unable to act without the cooperation of the
self-selected majority of the board. It seems unlikely to me that the
proponents would upset that balance by adding elected affiliate
representation. I have not heard any of the six self-selected individuals
publicly commit to anything they would or would not do should they be
installed as the majority of the national board. So I would not assume
there will be any affiliate representation at all, should these new bylaws
come to pass.

I am enclosing some opinion essays, one by a long-time Native American WBAI
programmer now removed from the air and one by a fairly new member of the
KPFA LSB (a retired scientist) trying to come to terms with what is
happening. Both are thoughtful, well-written, non-inflammatory and focus on
the big picture. I hope they are helpful.

2. On Thu, Oct 24, 2019 at 12:19 PM 'John Kane' wrote:

Politics is local. And so are social justice issues. To declare ourselves
> as progressive radio, it is essential that the voices being broadcasted
> know the people they are talking to. Live with them. Feel the rain and wind
> hitting them on the street. Oh sure we can generalize and talk big about
> national movements and revolution but our job is to inform the public and
> offer news, views and opinions our public can't get from the national media.
>
> WBAI is a New York City institution. We have been on the front end of many
> of the pressing social issues, nationally and locally, for over half a
> century. And where ever events, conflicts, protests or rallies occur, WBAI
> has offered its listeners the perspectives they could only get from local
> programming.
>
> I represent the most marginalized people in the US and Canada. As a Native
> person, I have had the privilege of offering a Native perspective on local,
> State and national issues in a region where the Indigenous population had
> been wiped out. While I speak to the few Native people who have made this
> vast metropolitan area their homes and the even fewer who managed to never
> leave; the overwhelming majority of my audience is non-Native. To all, I
> offer history, culture and a view most never knew existed or certainly
> didn't know still existed. WBAI has ALWAYS been a platform for a Native
> voice, that is, until two weeks ago.
>
> I am an unpaid producer. My show is (was) unique in that it is a Talk-Back
> show with a host with a background that most New Yorkers have never had the
> opportunity to engage. My father was a high-steel construction worker,
> Mohawks in High Steel! He and members of my family and Native communities
> throughout the State and into Canada helped build the NYC skyline. They
> raised their families in places most people never heard of on remote Native
> communities, older than America, but worked in this city and others as an
> almost invisible workforce. I travel eight and a half hours by train each
> week to do a live talk-back show in a studio not far from where many of my
> family members lived as they worked in this city. I don't do "feel good"
> radio but rather "get smart" radio. And I do it by challenging the
> conventional wisdom and offering a counter narrative to history, politics
> and resistance.
>
> I hear hosts on Pacifica attempt to take on Native issues on occasion;
> rare occasion. And I hear other Native voices occasionally as well; you
> know...the famous ones with Harvard degrees, political appointments and
> their "Indian card" held up on display. But I live on Native lands. I live
> in a Native community. I live as a Native person on a dead-end road on the
> Cattaraugus Territory of the Seneca Nation with my wife of 37 years and my
> three children and nine grandchildren close by. Oh! And that eight and a
> half hour train ride? That's from Buffalo to New York and doesn't include
> the 45 minute drive to home. My perspective is not just from ancestry or
> from a Disney version of Native people or history. Mine comes from activism
> and fighting for our distinction everyday; at home, in Albany and in
> Washington, as well as in the communities that call for help.
>
> WBAI gave me that platform! And they have given many other marginalized
> people a platform to dig into the causes of that marginalization. We needed
> Pacifica to help us navigate the ever changing media landscape, not unplug
> us. No one wants improvement to WBAI more than the producers and listeners
> of this station. We do need comprehensive changes for how we deliver our
> product and how we fund raise. I personally bring into the studio a special
> camera for live-streaming and use social media to draw in more listeners
> and create viewership as well. This should be a Pacifica strategy and that
> of WBAI and the other stations, not just for an individual show. Sure we
> should have 10,000 listeners to our FM signal but we should have 100,000
> views and listens to our YouTube Channels and podcasts as well. And those
> platforms would drive more radio traffic.
>
> We need to be returned to the air and be provided with help not threats.
> We need to be plugged back in and plugged in to a few more places. We
> should be working towards solutions; all of us!
>
> John Kane - Host of "Let's Talk with John Kane" on WBAI FM 99.5 in New
> York City
>

3.
I was reluctant to weigh in on this public debate about the actions of the
iED and others in the take down of WBAI.  The lack of professionalism by
some members of the PNB and LSBs in this public forum is shameful.

Below is the letter that I had sent to the PNB in response to actions that
shut down WBAI.

PNB Directors,

 When actions are taken in the shadows and in secret to circumvent the law,
to prevent participation by elected officials, and to take power from those
elected officials, we call it a coup.  It is a practice we see all too
regularly from authoritarians in third world countries, often sponsored by
the CIA, and with the blessing of neoliberal institutions such as the IMF,
WSJ and CFR. Economic necessity is often used as the justification for
circumventing democracy – with the perpetrators often responsible for
creating the very economic crisis they purport to solve. Coups are often
performed if an election doesn't go in favor of the authoritarians - or
when there is concern that the election won't go their way. It is an
extreme form of anti-democratic action by those who either hold
self-righteous ideological beliefs that they are right, or who have
ulterior motives that allow them to profit from their actions. In any case,
it is typically performed by those who know that an open discussion and
fair hearing of their views will not result in the outcome they desire, so
instead they resort to underhanded acts plotted in the dark to force the
outcome that they want. Those who participate place their self-interest
above the community -- and are led by arrogant, paternalistic men (almost
always men) who really don't trust democratic participation or the rule of
law. They will invoke the TINA principle -- there is no alternative – and
use fear to cow others into following them -- knowing full well that most
people will be too distracted by life's trials to resist their actions.

To see these same tactics (planning and execution in the dark) being used
by Pacifica’s iED and some PNB members (and former members) to undermine
the LSB election cycle, WBAI's fundraiser, and Pacifica's bylaws brings
sadness to my heart. It doesn't matter whether those participating in the
WBAI take down are doing it for altruistic reasons or for personal gain --
it is wrong because it circumvents democracy and undermines the spirit of
the Pacifica Network as a democratic bottoms-up institution. Pacifica was
envisioned to be something more than a radio station that broadcast
progressive information and entertainment --- it was an experiment in
democracy. It was an attempt to demonstrate that democratic participation
can function, can be beneficial, and can compete with top-down
authoritarian corporate structures.  Those who engineered the take down of
WBAI don't really believe in the Pacifica’s dream. They only see Pacifica
as a propaganda tool for their liberal ideas – a tool to help them
establish their form of top-down rule by their enlightened elites. They
don’t understand that Pacifica was never about building a corporate model
of radio run by management taking their directions from wealthy elites. It
was the belief that something outside the corporate authoritarian model
could exist for the benefit of many. It was a mostly volunteer organization
whose programming goals were not so much to draw audience share as it was
to enlighten their listeners with truths that the establishment did not
want us to hear. Those who participated in the WBAI take down believe "the
ends justifies the means" – but forget that their “ends” were not arrived
at through democratic participation, but instead were defined by a few
grasping for power and control, by a few who in their hearts have no faith
in their fellow listeners ability to choose – so they take that choice away
in their paternalistic arrogance through an deceitful power grab. John Vern
ile and those others who planned this action exhibit the same psychological
mechanisms that right-wing authoritarians and fundamentalists use to
dismiss arguments and logic which conflicts with their beliefs and faith in
top-down authority. It allows those with compartmentalized minds to dismiss
evidence and only accept evidence that agrees with their notions about the
world.

Please don’t support this anti-democratic power grab at WBAI. Have some
faith in democratic institutions and democratic rule. Have faith in the
process outlined in the bylaws for change. The future is not so bleak as
painted by those who attempt to usurp Pacifica’s power. There is a
democratic path forward. A choice for democracy will be rewarded by
listener contributions, whereas the path of authoritarian control will set
Pacifica on the path followed by National Propaganda Radio (NPR) stations –
and Pacifica will become dependent on corporate donations and a few wealthy
Democrats that will slowly destroy alternative radio.

Dr. James McFadden, KPFA LSB




-- 
Tracy Rosenberg
Executive Director
Media Alliance
2830 20th Street Suite 102
San Francisco, CA 94110
www.media-alliance.org
415-746-9475
510-684-6853 Cell
Encrypted email at tracy.rosenberg at protonmail.com
Text via Signal

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