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Fri Aug 12 2005
KPFA Workers File Complaints About Working Conditions
August 11th, 2005: Eight women workers at KPFA women announced today that they are filing complaints with the Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH) against the station's General Manager, Roy Campanella II. They have also stated that there have been a persistent pattern of discrimination based on gender, and that the station is now a hostile workplace for women. Those who turned down his sexual advances have been retaliated against through public belittlement, threats to cut funding, criticism of their work to their supervisors, slander, and threats of termination. Sexual harassment is illegal under state and federal law.
80 KPFA workers have signed a statement that they have no confidence in Campanella's ability to manage the station. Meanwhile, several members of the Local Station Board have committed themselves to an agonizingly long due process. Additionally, the employees' union is filing with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) on behalf of seven male and female staff members for Campanella's violation of labor law and the contract between KPFA management and Communications Workers of America Local 9415. Fourteen weeks ago, on May 5th, Campanella threatened Weyland Southon, Executive Producer of Hard Knock Radio, with violence, and followed him out to the sidewalk to fight. The union demanded at the time that KPFA and its parent organization, Pacifica, provide the staff at the station with a safe work environment. Despite this, both Pacifica and KPFA's Local Station Board have failed to take action, and have dragged out deliberations about the General Manager's misdeeds over the past three and a half months. Read more | Press release from Local Station Board members | Daily Planet article | List of KPFA staff opposing GM Campanella
6/26 Open Letter from Hard Knock Radio Staff | KPFA Workers Website | Kiilu Nyasha's Open Letter to KPFA | Riva Enteen's "Confidential" Website | In June of this year, Noelle Hanrahan Filed a Sex Discrimination Suit Against KPFA | Solange EcheverrÃa was Forced Off Flashpoints the day after KPFA was served with Hanrahan's suit | Many KPFA listeners are concerned about Pacifica's monetary problems
80 KPFA workers have signed a statement that they have no confidence in Campanella's ability to manage the station. Meanwhile, several members of the Local Station Board have committed themselves to an agonizingly long due process. Additionally, the employees' union is filing with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) on behalf of seven male and female staff members for Campanella's violation of labor law and the contract between KPFA management and Communications Workers of America Local 9415. Fourteen weeks ago, on May 5th, Campanella threatened Weyland Southon, Executive Producer of Hard Knock Radio, with violence, and followed him out to the sidewalk to fight. The union demanded at the time that KPFA and its parent organization, Pacifica, provide the staff at the station with a safe work environment. Despite this, both Pacifica and KPFA's Local Station Board have failed to take action, and have dragged out deliberations about the General Manager's misdeeds over the past three and a half months. Read more | Press release from Local Station Board members | Daily Planet article | List of KPFA staff opposing GM Campanella
6/26 Open Letter from Hard Knock Radio Staff | KPFA Workers Website | Kiilu Nyasha's Open Letter to KPFA | Riva Enteen's "Confidential" Website | In June of this year, Noelle Hanrahan Filed a Sex Discrimination Suit Against KPFA | Solange EcheverrÃa was Forced Off Flashpoints the day after KPFA was served with Hanrahan's suit | Many KPFA listeners are concerned about Pacifica's monetary problems
Mon Aug 1 2005
Indymedia Seizure Documents Unsealed
8/1/2005: A number of Italian and U.S. government documents related to the seizure of Indymedia server "Ahimsa" from the UK have been unsealed by order of the federal court in San Antonio, Texas. On Thursday, October 7, 2004, more than 20 Independent Media Center (IMC) websites and other Internet services were taken offline after webhost Rackspace received a "Commissioner's Subpoena" for Indymedia's website logs.
Initially, the disappearance of the Indymedia servers was shrouded in secrecy, with no one willing to provide an explanation. On October 20, 2004, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) filed a motion to unseal the Indymedia documents in the U.S. District Court in San Antonio, where Rackspace is headquartered. In the motion, EFF attorneys argued that "the public and the press have a clear and compelling interest in discovering under what authority the government was able to unilaterally prevent Internet publishers from exercising their First Amendment rights." EFF argued further that secret court orders circumvent due process, undermine confidence in the judicial system, and deny those affected by the order any way to challenge it.
Nine months later, on July 20, 2005, the court granted the motion and ordered the majority of the underlying documents unsealed (but with the specific URLs of the pages being investigated redacted). On August 1, 2005, EFF received the newly unsealed documents and posted them on their website.
According to EFF, many questions remain regarding the unsealed documents. Rackspace has not commented on the matter since the case files were unsealed.
Previous Indybay Coverage of the Ahimsa Seizure
Initially, the disappearance of the Indymedia servers was shrouded in secrecy, with no one willing to provide an explanation. On October 20, 2004, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) filed a motion to unseal the Indymedia documents in the U.S. District Court in San Antonio, where Rackspace is headquartered. In the motion, EFF attorneys argued that "the public and the press have a clear and compelling interest in discovering under what authority the government was able to unilaterally prevent Internet publishers from exercising their First Amendment rights." EFF argued further that secret court orders circumvent due process, undermine confidence in the judicial system, and deny those affected by the order any way to challenge it.
Nine months later, on July 20, 2005, the court granted the motion and ordered the majority of the underlying documents unsealed (but with the specific URLs of the pages being investigated redacted). On August 1, 2005, EFF received the newly unsealed documents and posted them on their website.
According to EFF, many questions remain regarding the unsealed documents. Rackspace has not commented on the matter since the case files were unsealed.
Previous Indybay Coverage of the Ahimsa Seizure
Fri Jul 29 2005
Monthly Microradio Broadcast Airs July 30th
July's Critical Mass Radio Network broadcast focused on the theme of freedom/libertad. The broadcast aired Saturday, July 30th, between noon and midnight, Pacific time, at www.criticalmassradio.net—programs aired all day from across the U.S. and Mexico.
Highlights included Mexico's Radio Zapote joining the coordinated broadcast for the first time this month. New York City's August Sound Coalition reclaimed "the idea of freedom from the purveyors of freedom fries and proponents of the free market" by taking a different look at freedom in its "many-sided glory," including freedom on the internet and open source software; a re-enactment of the freedom claimed in the streets of Paris during the student riots of 1968; a group of "mentally ill" people talking about the pursuit of freedom from drug dependency and the psychiatric system; and a former Guantanamo detainee talking about his incarceration and freedom. All that plus weird sound art and good music. Listen
Highlights included Mexico's Radio Zapote joining the coordinated broadcast for the first time this month. New York City's August Sound Coalition reclaimed "the idea of freedom from the purveyors of freedom fries and proponents of the free market" by taking a different look at freedom in its "many-sided glory," including freedom on the internet and open source software; a re-enactment of the freedom claimed in the streets of Paris during the student riots of 1968; a group of "mentally ill" people talking about the pursuit of freedom from drug dependency and the psychiatric system; and a former Guantanamo detainee talking about his incarceration and freedom. All that plus weird sound art and good music. Listen
Wed Jul 20 2005
August 6th: Words and Scenes from Scotland and San Francisco
On Saturday August 6th, Indybay held a video screening and reportback from the G8 Protests in
Scotland and San Francisco.
The event took place in the AK Press Warehouse in Oakland. AK Press had an open house during the event. The event was a benefit for Indybay and the Bay Area Anti-G8 Legal Support Collective. Videos from UK Indymedia of the black bloc in Scotland, police bloopers, and more were shown.
Footage from the San Francisco demonstration was also shown.
Read More
Indybay Coverage Of G8 Protests: Scotland | San Francisco | Midwest and East Coast
The event took place in the AK Press Warehouse in Oakland. AK Press had an open house during the event. The event was a benefit for Indybay and the Bay Area Anti-G8 Legal Support Collective. Videos from UK Indymedia of the black bloc in Scotland, police bloopers, and more were shown.
Footage from the San Francisco demonstration was also shown.
Read More
Indybay Coverage Of G8 Protests: Scotland | San Francisco | Midwest and East Coast
Fri Jul 1 2005
Youth Media Salon at NMEC 2005
On June 25, 2005, A youth media salon was presented as part of the National Media Education Conference in San Francisco. The salon represented some of the most active media producers, teachers, filmmakers, and training programs in the Bay Area and beyond. Panelists included representatives from the Bay Area Video Coalition, Youth Outlook, Just Think, Conscious Youth Media Crew, and more.
Listen to audio and read a report by Luxomedia.
Listen to audio and read a report by Luxomedia.
Thu Jun 30 2005
StreetLevel TV Screens July 3rd at ATA
StreetLevel TV will be airing Episode 15 at Artists' Television Access on July 3rd. This month, StreetLevel features local videographers reporting on the PG&E powerplant in Bay View Hunter's Point, protests against racist bars in the Castro, the Biodiesel revolution, Media Reform vs. Media Justice, and the Grassroots spotlight on The People's Grocery. Also, a very special segment comes to us from the New York youth media group DAMN about the Hip Hop protest against "Hot 97". Check it out
Tue May 17 2005
Sat. May 21st in SF: Benefit Party for Fault Lines & ECR
Local house DJs Jacktavist (Fault Lines), Navarro, Art Affect (ILA, LNE), Ben Doren (2ndSunday, Levende Lounge), Ellen Ferrato (Sugar, 2ndSunday), Queen Agnes B (SisterSF) and LuLu (ILA, Peach, LNE), along with S.P.A.Z. DJs Ocelot, Agitate, Spukkin Faceship, Niteshade, Redzebrasymphony and Savage Rhythm, will be spinning at a massive all-night benefit party for Fault Lines newspaper and Enemy Combatant Radio. Visuals by VJ Kevlar and Belial. Saturday, May 21st, 9 p.m. - 4 a.m., 371 11th street (upstairs from the pizza place), SF. $10 donation, 21+. Come early and stay late, this soiree goes until 4 a.m.