KPFA Alert: "KPFA, Labor And The Elections" TV Broadcast on S.F. Cable Ch. 29

January 24, 2008

Dear Friends of KPFA/Pacifica (Berkeley, CA),

This press release has just been issued:
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Labor On The Job
Friday January 25, 2008 8:30 PM - 9:30 PM PST
San Francisco Comcast Channel 29
Streamed live on
http://accessf.org/guide/watch/



KPFA, Labor And The Elections

With Guests,

JaNay Jenkins, 2007 KPFA Elections Officer
Felipe Messina, 2007 KPFA LSB Elections Volunteer
Robert English, Candidate for KPFA LSB Elections and People's Radio
Carl Bryant, Labor Producer NALC TV214 & KPFA Labor Collective, Candidate for KPFA LSB Elections

KPFA is the largest community radio station in the bay area and is part of the Pacifica network. In the recent elections, the Alameda Labor Council and many top bay area union officials supported a grouping at KPFA called the "Concerned Listeners". This show will look at what happened in the recent elections and what role labor played and should play at KPFA radio.





"Labor On The Job" is programmed the very 2nd and 4th Friday at 8:30pm to 9:30 PM of the month on San Francisco Cable Channel 29. "Labor On The Job" is also the longest running labor cable show in the United States since 1983. It is produced and programmed by the Labor Video Project in San Francisco. Labor On The Job also programmed on Philadelphia Drexel TV 54 every Wednesday 5:30 PM to 6:30 PM and St. Louis cable systems on on cable ch. 22 in the "City" of St. Louis Fridays at 9:00 PM The Labor Video Project also produces labor documentaries and is part of the Union Producers and Programmers Network (UPPNET) http://www.uppnet.org


Labor Video Project
P.O.Box 720027
San Francisco,CA 94172
Phone (415)282-1908 Fax (415)695-1369
lvpsf [at] labornet.org
__________________________________



Dear Friends of KPFA/Pacifica,

I am Felipe Messina, as noted before, some of you may recall my participation with the KPFA Local Station Board (LSB) Elections processes last Fall of 2007 and the subsequent obstruction and violations of Fair Campaign Provisions by various individuals at KPFA, including the current management, the current interim Program Director, certain staff members, certain programmers, and others. (Especially, if you read the Fulcrumsofchange Digest, Vol 7, Issue 24, dated 12.24.07.) It is imperative that we seek and establish accountability for violations of Pacifica's Bylaws, lest we create the illusion that our hard-won Bylaws are selective at KPFA/Pacifica and we thereby doom ourselves to perpetual corruption of the Elections process until the excuse is manufactured to do away with the Elections process entirely. Let's endeavor to cast ever-greater light on the corruption of these past Elections as well as upon the personal experiences of the KPFA Elections Volunteers themselves, (of which I’m an example, as result of my unfortunate experiences of defamation of character and arbitrary banning).

In this spirit, I have just received the above press release.

If you are interested in the protection of fair and transparent participatory democratic process at grass roots, free-speech radio KPFA, please tune in and ask friends and family to tune in as well to S.F. Cable Channel 29, Friday January 25 from 8:30 pm to 9:30 pm.

In solidarity for peace, democracy, and social & economic justice,

Felipe Messina, KPFA Listener-Member, Volunteer
94.1 FM

Postscript,
For more information on the worsening corruption at KPFA/Pacifica (in terms of governance and management), please see:

KPFA Transcript: December 2007 KPFA Local Station Board Meeting Public Comment by Felipe Messina
( messinamorrissey [at] gmail.com ) Sunday Jan 20th, 2008 12:16 PM
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2008/01/20/18473668.php

KPFA: Peace & Freedom Party Candidate Forum Broadcast by Felipe Messina ( messinamorrissey [at] gmail.com ) Friday Jan 18th, 2008 7:32 AM
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2008/01/18/18473238.php

KPFA "Concerned Listers Grab All Top Positions-Follow "Winner Take All" Rules by Winner Take All?
Thursday Jan 17th, 2008 10:22 AM
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2008/01/17/18473049.php

Big D Democrat Party/Caucus Power and Influence at KPFA/KPFK and the Pacifica Mission by Bob English Tuesday Jan 15th, 2008 5:01 PM
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2008/01/15/18472757.php

KPFA Millionaire Local Station Board VP Calls Casey Peters "Incompetent" by We Need More Millionaires Monday Jan 14th, 2008 3:17 PM
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2008/01/14/18472440.php

KPFA Alert: Corrupted 2007 KPFA LSB Elections Must Be Nullified. <01.06.08> by Felipe Messina (messinamorrissey [at] gmail.com ) Sunday Jan 6th, 2008 9:07 PM
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2008/01/06/18470583.php

KPFA ALERT: Local Station Board meeting next week! (01.12.08) by Felipe Messina ( messinamorrissey [at] gmail.com ) Sunday Jan 6th, 2008 8:36 PM
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2008/01/06/18470578.php

KPFA: New Outreach Effort--TV Broadcast on Comcast Channel 29 in S.F.--Whistleblowing... by Felipe Messina
( messinamorrissey [at] gmail.com ) Thursday Jan 3rd, 2008 2:23 AM http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2008/01/03/18469772.php

"Concerned Listeners" Supporters-Candidates Sue Pacifica To Cover-up Election Misdeeds by Repost Sunday Dec 23rd, 2007 11:32 AM
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2007/12/23/18468602.php

KPFA New Outreach Effort: Whistleblowing, possible defamation of character, and corruption of the 2007 KPFA LSB Elections by Felipe Messina ( messinamorrissey [at] gmail.com ) Friday Dec 21st, 2007 4:55 PM http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2007/12/21/18468328.php




Commentary and Testimony by Felipe Messina, KPFA Listener-Member, Volunteer
Friends of KPFA and Pacifica, please note:

It is important for us to begin asking one another what connections the mainstream Wellstone Democratic Renewal Club (Berkeley, CA - http://www.wellstoneclub.org/) has with regard to supporting the so-called "Concerned Listeners" and increasingly manipulating the direction of KPFA/Pacifica. It is becoming clear that this rather mainstream political group, apparently funded and supported by middle-of-the-road Democrats, is in turn funding "Concerned Listeners" (see Nov. '07 newsletter, p. 3 - http://www.wellstoneclub.org/PDFs/wdrcNews_Nov07.pdf).

Indeed, it has been reported on elsewhere on this independent journalism website that the new KPFA LSB in 2008 has newly bolstered favoritism and nepotism, featuring two individuals who are married and two others who are brothers and who are multimillionaires, no less. What grass-roots members of the community can compete with deep pockets during Elections time? “If you can’t raise the money, then you don’t deserve to win!” those were the hostile words which assaulted the Lutheran Church of the Cross during the Sunday, November 4, 2007 KPFA LSB Candidate Forum by “Concerned Listeners” Candidate Warren Marr, seemingly buckling a little under the pressure of questions being raised about the $13,000., or so, used to mail propaganda to the whole of the KPFA listener-ship. Ties with mainstream politicos such as McNerney seemed to abound. With the entrenched staff and entrenched ruling class on the KPFA LSB brandishing such deep access to obscene funding and questionable political ties, the KPFA listeners appear to have little hope in retaining their democratic rights with regard to the governance of KPFA/Pacifica much longer.

The corruption at KPFA, the violation of any sense or code of ethics, the lack of integrity and accountability at KPFA must not be tolerated if we are to preserve this very precious institution that we call KPFA, the flagship station of Pacifica. The deep pockets now running KPFA, it appears, then, appear bent on furthering the corruption of KPFA/Pacifica away from a grass-roots ethic or radical activist sociopolitical perspective and towards an anti-activist, anti-listener-involvement, anti-boots-on-the-ground activists, pro-mainstream, softened Democrat sociopolitical slant. Of course, we understand the Democrats to be, like the Republicans, one of the twin political parties of the elites, of the ruling class. The notion of Democrats running Pacifica (pacifist/anarchist, hence the name) is antithetical to the very definition of Pacifica. Whereas, KPFA/Pacifica has traditionally been a home for the voices of dissent, of the silenced, of activists, of voices rarely or never heard elsewhere, today we are witnessing a complete u-turn.

The corruption at KPFA must be exposed. It must be known, the KPFA interim Program Director (iPD), Sasha Lilley circulated an e-mail (11.12.07) around KPFA falsely accusing me, a Volunteer during the LSB Elections, of misrepresentation and seeming "disturbed" for daring to rising to the challenge that they themselves put out on the air. Ironically, Lilley and interim General Manager (iGM) Lemlem Rijio literally encouraged me, personally, to get involved by actually soliciting me live on the air to come to the station with my resume to apply for a position at KPFA (listen at http://kpfa.org/archives/index.php?arch=22698). “There are nicer things to volunteer for,” uttered Erick Klein, KPFA Staffer and apparent “Concerned Listeners” supporter on Friday November 4, 2007 at the station, the day that I finally had my appointment with the iPD. I suppose for certain people at KPFA, volunteers are not welcome when it comes to bearing witness to the Elections process. Yet, if there were ever any questions, Lilley never made any attempts to communicate with me, especially when I was at the receptionist's desk of KPFA (11.12.07) pleading to have my questions answered. All I got in return for rising to the occasion of stepping up to the plate and volunteering, for going from being a passive cash donor to an active participant, was stonewalled, ejected, and apparently "banned" from the station. If there were any truth in Lilley's claims I'd be registered in some police log or in jail by now. Yet, no one seems aware of the crimes heaved against me when I attend the KPFA LSB meetings and, worst of all, everyone seems to have forgotten about the corrupted 2007 KPFA LSB Elections.

Thus, volunteers who ask questions or think for themselves are ostracised, as I was, when I was intimidated away from attending the November ‘07 KPFA LSB meeting. During the December ’07 KPFA LSB meeting, the iPD was absent, but the iGM made a silent and brief incognito cameo appearance under a large hat and face solemnly looking down. No mentions were made of Sasha Lilley’s slanderous e-mail, nor of the fallacious accusations made against me, nor of the fact that I had been, essentially, autocratically and arbitrarily banned from KPFA. No mentions were made, apparently, because it is becoming embarrassingly clear it has all been bogus.

We must continue to shed some light and ask the hard questions if we are to be successful in protecting the original mission of Pacifica against war and against corruption.

Testify.
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