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KPFA UPSO Staffers Release No-Confidence Statement as Fall Fund Drive Begins
The KPFA UPSO Staffers and their supporters are calling for the replacement of KPFA interim manager Lemlem Rijio for her creating an "atmosphere of intimidation", "increased security measures", "restrictions on airing of internal issues", "returning of banning individuals from the premises" and the "use of police force to address non-violent policy issues".
The KPFA Unpaid Staff Organization and other supporters have issued a statement of no-confidence of the KPFA interim manager Lemlem Rijio and called for the appointment of a new manager.
For Immediate Release UPSO (Unpaid Staff Organization) Contacts
September 18, 2008 Malihe Razazan (510) 501-1057 mrazazan [at] sbcglobal.net
Ruthanne Shpiner (510) 524-9680 ruthanne [at] sonic.net
Anthony Fest (415) 703-5790 adf55 [at] yahoo.com
Nick Alexander (510) 919-5384 nalexander [at] igc.org
KPFA Staffers Release No-Confidence Statement as Fall Fund Drive Begins
Community Supporters Express Dismay at Use of Police
Berkeley, CA – Nine years have passed since Pacifica radio station KPFA, the seminal community radio
outlet founded by pacifist Lew Hill in 1949, last had the police inside its doors to arrest its workers, but on
August 20, 2008, the Berkeley police were again summoned to 1929 Martin Luther King Jr Way, and asked
to eject programmer Nadra Foster, who had been allegedly banned for a disagreement involving usage of a
copier.
Fifty six of the station’s workers, paid and unpaid alike, have joined together to condemn what they
describe as a growing atmosphere of intimidation, including increased security measures, restrictions on
airing discussion of internal issues, the return of banning individuals from the premises, and the use of
police force to address non-violent policy issues.
Several prominent members of the progressive community the station serves have decried the use of force,
including authors Michael Parenti and Norman Solomon, devorah major, former SF poet laureate, Jack
Heyman of the ILWU, Mills College professor Julia Sudbury and advocacy groups Critical Resistance,
Legal Services for Prisoners with Children and Copwatch.
Project Censored Executive Director Peter Phillips commented "KPFA should only use outside police in
the station when a serious life-threatening circumstance is evident or major crime is in progress. A
progressive self-managed system of mutual respect and communication must take priority over outside
force”.
After Pacifica Radio surmounted a major crisis in the late 1990’s that involved ousting a Board of Directors
that planned to sell the stations, a subscriber-elected governance system was put into place, allowing
listeners who pledge $25 annually to select the network’s directors. An attempt to replace the current
interim manager, the station’s former development director, with a permanent hire was stymied last year
and the hiring process is again underway.
Media Alliance director Tracy Rosenberg, an elected local board member, commented “It is way past time
for KPFA, and Pacifica as a whole, to move away from discredited command and control tactics to manage
its diverse workforce”.
The Unpaid Staff Organization, (UPSO) which from 1990-onwards organized the 160+ unpaid
programmers, was de-recognized in August 2007, leaving the majority of the station’s producers and hosts
with no avenue for internal appeal of disciplinary actions and/or loss of status.
Programmer Foster, who suffered a severe sprain and bruises during her arrest, is still facing five
misdemeanor charges in Alameda County, including trespassing, resisting arrest and battery on an officer.
Her pre-trial hearing is scheduled to resume on September 22nd. Fellow staffers are trying to arrange a
fundraiser to assist her with legal expenses stemming from the August 20th incident.
The Pacifica Radio network, one of the few national media outlets that features news, information and
culture with a decidedly progressive slant, is said to be facing significant financial challenges in what is
clearly a difficult economic environment for journalism.
###
STATEMENT OF NO CONFIDENCE
We, the undersigned paid and unpaid KPFA staff do not have confidence in the management of
KPFA’s Interim General Manager Lemlem Rijio. Rijio's actions during the past 2 years have
caused the alienation of a large of number of staff members, have created turmoil within the
station and have resulted in her losing credibility with many staff members. Her shift of KPFA’s
culture away from one of collaboration and mutual support helped create the climate leading
to the tragic and unnecessary police arrest of unpaid staff member Nadra Foster. KPFA and
Pacifica management’s transformation of a workplace dispute, internally resolvable through
collaborative means, into a major police action violates KPFA’s mission to promote peaceful
ways to solve conflicts. Moving toward a more restrictive work environment will distance the
station further from grassroots communities that Pacifica aims to serve.
We look forward to the appointment of a new General Manager from the list of 11 candidates,
prepared by KPFA’s Local Station Board, in order to bring comprehensive teamwork, support,
and peace to the station. We agree with the nearly 80 staff members who signed a recent
“Open Letter on New KPFA Leadership Attributes/Priorities” that it’s time for fresh leadership.
1.Shahram Aghamir, Producer, Voices of the Middle East and North Africa
2. Nick Alexander, KPFA Producer, Reporter
3. Naji Ali, Graduate First Voice Apprenticeship, Co-producer, Full Circle, Executive
Producer/Host Crossing The Line: Life in Occupied Palestine.
4. Rosie Austin- First Voice Group 33
5. Nora Barrows-Friedman, Senior Producer & Co-host, Flashpoints
6. Amanda Bellerby, Producer, Flashpoints
7. Donna Bellorado, First Voice Graduate 2007, pending Lead Segment Editor
8. Khalil Bendib, Producer & Co-host, Voices of the Middle East & North Africa
9. Dennis Bernstein, Host, Senior Producer, Flashpoints
10. Allison Budner, First Voice Apprentice, Full Circle Producer
11. Erica Bridgeman, Engineer, Co-Producer, The Radio Chronicles
12. Greg Bridges, Host of Transitions on Traditions
13. Afrikahn Jahmal Dayvs, Producer/Host of BAJABA on JazzLine, substitute voice on KPFA
14. Darren J. de Leon, Producer/Co-Host Radio 2050
15. Angela Fautt-DeCastro- First Voice Group 33
16. Lisa Dettmer, KPFA Producer, Women's Magazine
17. Tara Dorabji, Co-Host La Onda Bajita
18. Doug Edwards, Programmer/Producer, Music of the World and Ear Thyme
19. Professor Samera Esmeir, Producer, Voices of the Middle East & North Africa
20. Anthony Fest, News Anchor
21. Rainjita Geesler, First Voice Co-Director, Co-Host Apex Express
22. Victoria Gutierrez, Co-host, Radio Zapatista (La Onda Bajita)
23. Francisco Herrera, Co-host and Producer, Flashpoints, La Onda Bajita
24. Yvette Hochberg-producer Women's magazine
25. Shuka Klanatari, Producer, Voices of the Middle East and North Africa.
26. Kayumanggi' Kaloy, KPFA DJ, API Specials Lead Producer, Apprenticeship Grad '89
27. Wildecy de Fatima Jury, Apprentice, graduated from Quilombo Group
28. Rahul C, Lagura, Asian=Pacific Islander Annual Specials, Producer
29. Adrienne Lauby, Producer/Host Pushing Limits
30. Fabian Chavez Martinez, Live Music Engineer
31. M. Mayzes, Producer/Engineer
32. David McBurnie, Producer, Music of the World
33. Miguel Molina, Executive Producer, La Onda Bajita; Roving Producer, Flashpoints
34. Jill Montgomery First Voice Apprentice, KPFA Board Operator
35. Tony Moses, KPFA Reggae Programmer (Since 1974)
36. Emmit A. Powell, DJ and Programmer, The Gospel Experience
37. Kate Rafael, Producer, Womens Magazine
38. Malihe Razazan, Producer, Voices of the Middle East and North Africa
39. Alejandro Reyes, Radio Zapatista (La Onda Bajita) and Mexico correspondent, Flashpoints.
40. Rosi Reyes, Host, Ritmo de las Americas
41. Art Sato, Host, Producer, In Your Ear
42. Jan Santos, Producer, Pushing Limits
43. Doyle Saylor Host, Producer Pushing Limits
44. Adália M. Selket , Brazilian Music Program Producer , 1st Voice Graduate
45. Nina Serrano, Co-producer La Raza Chronicles, Monthly Host/Producer, Open Book
46. Preeti Shekar, Producer, Womens Magazine
47. Ruthanne Shpiner, News Reporter, Host, Producer, Pushing Limits
48. Frank Sterling- First Voice Technical Fellow
49. Kirsten Thomas, Board Op/Producer, Morning Show/Democracy Now! Apprentice Alumnus
50. Walter Turner, Producer, Host of Africa Today
51. JR Valrey, Producer of POCC: Block Report Radio
52. Gabrielle Wilson, Producer, Co-Host of The Gospel Experience
53. Ali Zadeh, Voices of the Middle East & North Africa
54. Dr. Zeina Zaatari, Producer, Voices of the Middle East & North Africa
55. Carla West, Graduate, First Voic, News
56. Bonnie Faulkner – Host and producer, Guns and Butter
STATEMENT OF COMMUNITY SUPPORTERS
As part of the progressive community, we are appalled at the use of the Berkeley Police
Department to remove unpaid programmer Nadra Foster from the KPFA premises on August
20th, 2008. This act is contrary to principles of justice, free speech, and peace that we expect
KPFA to practice, on-air and off" (selected)
Peter Phillips, Project Censored
devorah major, former poet laureate of San
Francisco
Karen Shain, Legal Services for Prisoners With
Children
Michael Parenti, Author
Norman Solomon, Author
Rose Braz, Critical Resistance
Julia Sudbury, Chair Ethnic Studies, Mills
College
Andrea Pritchett, Copwatch
Jack Heyman, ILWU Local 10
Tim Durning, Treasurer, Harvey Milk GLBT
Democratic Club
Leslie Mullin, Haiti Action Committee
Tommi Avicolli Mecca, LGBT activist
Janelle White, San Francisco Women Against
Rape
Audrey Hawley, Sonoma Valley Peace and
Justice
Tom Lacy, Chair SF Peace and Freedom Party,
OPEIU Local #3
Vicky Fouts – KFCF, Fresno FCF
CT Weber, Region 3 Director, California State
Employees Association, SEIUc
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I want to draw everyone's attention to the recent Berkeley Daily Planet letter from the KPFA staff. For those who have not read it, it is entitled
"HEALING KPFA", and bemoans the fact that there is dissention at the station, while not even getting into the reasons for it. In many ways, it puts the blame on those who are brining out the Nadra Foster incident, and infer that they are troublemakers with their own selfish agenda.
Coming from my point of view, the phrase "PURGING KPFA" should be used instead. Its as if we who are not part of the "Concerned Listeners" are a disease that must be excised from the body of Pacifica. The deceit that these people will stoop to will definately sicken anyone who reads it.
It can be found at
htttp://http://www.berkeleydailyplanet.com/issue/2008-09-18/article/31145?headline=Healing-KPFA
Sincerely,
John F. Davies
KPFA subscriber since 1989
"HEALING KPFA", and bemoans the fact that there is dissention at the station, while not even getting into the reasons for it. In many ways, it puts the blame on those who are brining out the Nadra Foster incident, and infer that they are troublemakers with their own selfish agenda.
Coming from my point of view, the phrase "PURGING KPFA" should be used instead. Its as if we who are not part of the "Concerned Listeners" are a disease that must be excised from the body of Pacifica. The deceit that these people will stoop to will definately sicken anyone who reads it.
It can be found at
htttp://http://www.berkeleydailyplanet.com/issue/2008-09-18/article/31145?headline=Healing-KPFA
Sincerely,
John F. Davies
KPFA subscriber since 1989
Wow I am impressed Guns n Roses er butter host and flashpoints guru on the same bill Amazing. Wasn't flashpoints staff the defenders of the last GM of Kpfa? So from my objective observer position, I don't work for kpfa but support indymedia, this is some serious wing nuttery.
Odviously there was some sort of terrible mistake involving police, but do people on the left have the ability to make mistakes without others waging a pogrom against them? Is it that perhaps, these people at kpfa don't ever make mistakes. What sort of GM do these people want?
I am glad that I live in a time when infighting is the most effective political work that can be accomplished. We odviously have to be defeatist about a bunch of other burning problems.
Horray for Berkeley! Defend Berkeley, naw destroy it.
Odviously there was some sort of terrible mistake involving police, but do people on the left have the ability to make mistakes without others waging a pogrom against them? Is it that perhaps, these people at kpfa don't ever make mistakes. What sort of GM do these people want?
I am glad that I live in a time when infighting is the most effective political work that can be accomplished. We odviously have to be defeatist about a bunch of other burning problems.
Horray for Berkeley! Defend Berkeley, naw destroy it.
To call armed goons (known as ''police'' ) on a unpaid staff member over a minor dispute is a lot of things but it isn't a mere ''mistake ''.
Shouting at my woman friend during a lover's quarrel is a mistake . Beating her would be a crime .
All those involved in this outrageous incident should be fired .
To compound this outrage defenders of KPFA mgmt. condemm Nadra Foster for alleg. attempting to defending herself .
Yet tommorrow night KPFA is sponsoring a event on '' 1968'' . One of the speakers is a former Black Panther political prisoner . One of the key tenets of the BPP was the right of self defence .
I have no doubt that Sasha Lilly , Intermin Program director who will chair the event , will applaud the speaker .
Such hyprocrisy !
Shouting at my woman friend during a lover's quarrel is a mistake . Beating her would be a crime .
All those involved in this outrageous incident should be fired .
To compound this outrage defenders of KPFA mgmt. condemm Nadra Foster for alleg. attempting to defending herself .
Yet tommorrow night KPFA is sponsoring a event on '' 1968'' . One of the speakers is a former Black Panther political prisoner . One of the key tenets of the BPP was the right of self defence .
I have no doubt that Sasha Lilly , Intermin Program director who will chair the event , will applaud the speaker .
Such hyprocrisy !
It is great to see that so many staff don't support the recent move by the entrenched MGT. What I don't understand is why there are so few community people listed as supporters???? Doesn't that isolate the staff that are taking a stand?? Aren't there hundreds of community people that support this staff "speak out"??? It appears that whoever is organizing this is either clueless or lazy. There should be hundreds of names below these courages staff names!!!
Time to really take back KPFA . We very likely on the brink of a international depression, Both McCain and Obama want more wars and are even willing to invade Nuclear armed Pakistan . and Global warming is galloping along .
But the Concerned Listeners want the station to be'' responsible'' and respectable in these dire times ? And are willing to call the cops to enforce the latter.
No No No.
But the Concerned Listeners want the station to be'' responsible'' and respectable in these dire times ? And are willing to call the cops to enforce the latter.
No No No.
I condemn to the utmost the behavior of Nadra Foster. She who essentially stole listener subscriber money by abusing station resources for her personal benefit. I also condemn her abuse and violent assault on a station manager who attempted to ask her to please stop. I condemn her blatant disregard of KPFA's reasonable order that she not return to the station. I then condemn in no uncertain terms her defiance of a request that she leave the station after being warned that if she didn't, the police would be called. I condemn her idiotic decision to defy the police request that she leave the station peacefully. I then condemn her decision to act out violently and assault a police officer, who although he was wearing a uniform, is still a human being who shouldn't be violently attacked. Foster created this situation and if you're a fair-minded person you know she created the situation and should have the honesty to call her on it.
Meanwhile, speaking of hypocrisy, how many of you would have protested so vehemently if one of your "entrenched" staffers or managers had acted so irresponsibly and had themselves removed from the station by police? ANSWER: Not a single, self-righteous, hypocritical, self-promoting, shameless one of you!!!
Meanwhile, speaking of hypocrisy, how many of you would have protested so vehemently if one of your "entrenched" staffers or managers had acted so irresponsibly and had themselves removed from the station by police? ANSWER: Not a single, self-righteous, hypocritical, self-promoting, shameless one of you!!!
Nadra Foster was banned, after years of unpaid volunteer work, for using kpfa printers and paper to print out some coloring book pictures for her kids to do to keep them busy at the station while she worked for kpfa without pay. anyone who denounces her for this is being completely ridiculous. i would much rather that a couple bucks of the money i've donated to kpfa over the years be used for this purpose than to pay the fat cats at the top management who don't give a sh*t about their workers.
Cops kill. Being arrested is terribly dehumanizing and potentially lethal experience, especially for people of color. The fact that the police were called to enforce her banning is disgusting.
Over some coloring book pages for her kids? Shame, shame.
I absolutely will not donate money to kpfa ever again unless the management involved are fired, a public statement of apology is made, legal support is provided to Nadra, kpfa UPSO are confident they are given the respect they deserve, and a committee to increase programming content relevant to the struggles of African Americans is established.
And I will encourage everyone else I know who regularly contributes to do the same.
Cops kill. Being arrested is terribly dehumanizing and potentially lethal experience, especially for people of color. The fact that the police were called to enforce her banning is disgusting.
Over some coloring book pages for her kids? Shame, shame.
I absolutely will not donate money to kpfa ever again unless the management involved are fired, a public statement of apology is made, legal support is provided to Nadra, kpfa UPSO are confident they are given the respect they deserve, and a committee to increase programming content relevant to the struggles of African Americans is established.
And I will encourage everyone else I know who regularly contributes to do the same.
> Nadra Foster was banned, after years of unpaid volunteer work, for using kpfa printers and paper
Absolutely false. She was merely spoken to about that. She was banned because her response to this ordinary directive was to scream and yell and push and get right up in someone's face in an act of physically violent intimidation right there in the KPFA hallway where dozens heard and witnessed. The GM they want removed was not even there and was furious when she found out the cops had been called. The people who went to press with "her arm was broken" and "she was pregnant" were terribly irresponsible for manipulating the public trust with these claims that are now known to be absolutely false.
And as far as "after years of unpaid volunteer work" do you call getting to attend a FREE six month long radio training program and then getting to host your own evening radio show some selfless act of volunteerism? please!
Absolutely false. She was merely spoken to about that. She was banned because her response to this ordinary directive was to scream and yell and push and get right up in someone's face in an act of physically violent intimidation right there in the KPFA hallway where dozens heard and witnessed. The GM they want removed was not even there and was furious when she found out the cops had been called. The people who went to press with "her arm was broken" and "she was pregnant" were terribly irresponsible for manipulating the public trust with these claims that are now known to be absolutely false.
And as far as "after years of unpaid volunteer work" do you call getting to attend a FREE six month long radio training program and then getting to host your own evening radio show some selfless act of volunteerism? please!
Re the last pro mgmt. post. First off arguing however strongly with someone isn't a ''violent assault '' Only in the fantasy world of New Age idiots would a heated discussion be equated with physically attacking someone .! By your standards any anti-war heckler of a pro-war politician or a Union organizer challenging a corporate CEO are ''thugs '' !
As for your strange charge of hyprocrisy , that if we (the increasing number of staff and listeners that have no confidence in KPFA mgmt. ) were in a position of power at the station and were confronted with a member of the ''entrenched '' having a equally minor dispute with a staffer , we would also call the cops , Absolutely not !
For any number of reasons . First while we aren't all idelogical pacifists we do believe in resolving disputes non violently wherever possible . When you call the Police any thinking person , especially KPFA listeners , know there is a very good possibilty of a violent outcome .
Secondly police of any department or agency aren't friends of Pacifica . We expose their beatings, racism, sometimes murders, strike breaking , and spying on progressive organizations .
To INVITE them to enter our premises (except in the most truly dire situation or to document a robbery or break in ) is insane. (And even in the those execptional situations where we would have no choice we should watch them like a hawk to avoid later ''discoveries''(ie Planting ) by them of illegal substances or weapons )
To conclude i agree with a late leader of my union when asked by a un street wise liberal friend that wouldn't he (the Union man ) call the cops if there were fist fights in the union hall ? The lifelong trade unionist first chuckled '' IF ?'' (referring to fist fights ) and then said we let cops in only if they have genuine warrants . Short of that we would be endangering and betraying our members .
My two cents .
As for your strange charge of hyprocrisy , that if we (the increasing number of staff and listeners that have no confidence in KPFA mgmt. ) were in a position of power at the station and were confronted with a member of the ''entrenched '' having a equally minor dispute with a staffer , we would also call the cops , Absolutely not !
For any number of reasons . First while we aren't all idelogical pacifists we do believe in resolving disputes non violently wherever possible . When you call the Police any thinking person , especially KPFA listeners , know there is a very good possibilty of a violent outcome .
Secondly police of any department or agency aren't friends of Pacifica . We expose their beatings, racism, sometimes murders, strike breaking , and spying on progressive organizations .
To INVITE them to enter our premises (except in the most truly dire situation or to document a robbery or break in ) is insane. (And even in the those execptional situations where we would have no choice we should watch them like a hawk to avoid later ''discoveries''(ie Planting ) by them of illegal substances or weapons )
To conclude i agree with a late leader of my union when asked by a un street wise liberal friend that wouldn't he (the Union man ) call the cops if there were fist fights in the union hall ? The lifelong trade unionist first chuckled '' IF ?'' (referring to fist fights ) and then said we let cops in only if they have genuine warrants . Short of that we would be endangering and betraying our members .
My two cents .
> arguing however strongly with someone isn't a ''violent assault ''
I agree, but pushing your body up against them and screaming an inch from their face certainly is, and does not belong in any workplace
> watch them like a hawk
I also agree, and I think everyone involved has acknowledged that this was a mistake, what bothers me is the lies being told about this story, how she was "beaten" "broken arm" "pregnant" "for using the copier" "for her children" give me a break. These were all lies and she was WAY out of line.
Look, KPFA has an HR arm, what does any HR flack do in a workplace do when they are physically threatened? If they do not have a security staff the cops are who is called. This woman got up in someone's face, streets-style like they were gonna brawl. The people she did this to and around felt like she was going to strike. And then she came back and REFUSED TO LEAVE!!! She sounds like a total nutball to me and sometimes when people are scared and confronted with defiant people who are acting that nutty they pick up the phone and dial 911.. in the case it turned out to be a mistake that escalated the conflict, sounds like they did not have or follow protocols for calling police, and half the upper management was out of the building, but they have acknowledged this and I think their call for healing is the most sensible thing I've heard about this sad incident.
I agree, but pushing your body up against them and screaming an inch from their face certainly is, and does not belong in any workplace
> watch them like a hawk
I also agree, and I think everyone involved has acknowledged that this was a mistake, what bothers me is the lies being told about this story, how she was "beaten" "broken arm" "pregnant" "for using the copier" "for her children" give me a break. These were all lies and she was WAY out of line.
Look, KPFA has an HR arm, what does any HR flack do in a workplace do when they are physically threatened? If they do not have a security staff the cops are who is called. This woman got up in someone's face, streets-style like they were gonna brawl. The people she did this to and around felt like she was going to strike. And then she came back and REFUSED TO LEAVE!!! She sounds like a total nutball to me and sometimes when people are scared and confronted with defiant people who are acting that nutty they pick up the phone and dial 911.. in the case it turned out to be a mistake that escalated the conflict, sounds like they did not have or follow protocols for calling police, and half the upper management was out of the building, but they have acknowledged this and I think their call for healing is the most sensible thing I've heard about this sad incident.
The "Concerned Listener" management supporter who is probably a staff member now seems to think that everyone knows way Nadra Foster was banned. This is completely ludicrous since if everyone knew she was banned the Engineer at the station would not have let her in the studio room to do programming work.
The fact of the matter is that the "Concerned Listeners" management team is out of control. They have no transparent or democratic process to deal with grievances by the unpaid staff and in fact they allowed Lemlem Rijio to unilaterally de-recognize the unpaid staff just before the last election cycle. The reason this was done was to disenfranchise the unpaid staff from voting in the election. This was also supported by the company union leadership at KPFA endangering their own members. This effort to rig the election to benefit the "Concerned Listeners" grouping was completely dishonest and violated the integrity of the election processand this crew knows it. They illegally rigged the election and the Pacifica Counsel used his authority as acting executive director to place his own personal positions on the KPFA election website attacking one of the other groupings.
The fact of the matter is that the management staff at KPFA and Pacifica are caught in their lies and contradictions and the police attack on Nadra Foster is the logical outcome of a management out of control. The effort to defame Nadra Foster and those staff who are challenging these methods is another common tactic of the "Concerned Listeners". When you challenge the incompetence of the their management staffers the CL claims that you are trying to destroy the station yet their very tactics are the very policies that are threatening the station and the foundation. The physical and financial costs of their antics are driving the station and the network into a tailspin. They are now arguing that if this fund drive is failure they will have to shut down the station. This is another canard of these charlatans. The fact of the matter is that there are 40 to 43 full time paid staffers at KPFA and this number is not required to run the station. KPOO in Portland and other excellent community radio stations are run with many less full time employees and this is exactly what KPFA has to do to get in a sounder footing. This is not going to be another NPR type station despite the dreams and the plans of the "Concerned Listener" staff and supporters. Members of KPFA should withhold all donations until the management is held accountable for their actions. If donations are cut 50% this cycle this should make it clear that this management has to go and there are systemic problems in their operation of the station and the network. They have illegally put Concerned Listener lawyer Sherry Gendelman in as chair of the foundation and are now boycotting meetings of the foundation to make sure no action is taken to deal with the growing crisis.
This irresponsible and despicable conduct will soon become common knowledge among more and more members of KPFA and they will see who the real wreckers are at the station and the network.
The fact of the matter is that the "Concerned Listeners" management team is out of control. They have no transparent or democratic process to deal with grievances by the unpaid staff and in fact they allowed Lemlem Rijio to unilaterally de-recognize the unpaid staff just before the last election cycle. The reason this was done was to disenfranchise the unpaid staff from voting in the election. This was also supported by the company union leadership at KPFA endangering their own members. This effort to rig the election to benefit the "Concerned Listeners" grouping was completely dishonest and violated the integrity of the election processand this crew knows it. They illegally rigged the election and the Pacifica Counsel used his authority as acting executive director to place his own personal positions on the KPFA election website attacking one of the other groupings.
The fact of the matter is that the management staff at KPFA and Pacifica are caught in their lies and contradictions and the police attack on Nadra Foster is the logical outcome of a management out of control. The effort to defame Nadra Foster and those staff who are challenging these methods is another common tactic of the "Concerned Listeners". When you challenge the incompetence of the their management staffers the CL claims that you are trying to destroy the station yet their very tactics are the very policies that are threatening the station and the foundation. The physical and financial costs of their antics are driving the station and the network into a tailspin. They are now arguing that if this fund drive is failure they will have to shut down the station. This is another canard of these charlatans. The fact of the matter is that there are 40 to 43 full time paid staffers at KPFA and this number is not required to run the station. KPOO in Portland and other excellent community radio stations are run with many less full time employees and this is exactly what KPFA has to do to get in a sounder footing. This is not going to be another NPR type station despite the dreams and the plans of the "Concerned Listener" staff and supporters. Members of KPFA should withhold all donations until the management is held accountable for their actions. If donations are cut 50% this cycle this should make it clear that this management has to go and there are systemic problems in their operation of the station and the network. They have illegally put Concerned Listener lawyer Sherry Gendelman in as chair of the foundation and are now boycotting meetings of the foundation to make sure no action is taken to deal with the growing crisis.
This irresponsible and despicable conduct will soon become common knowledge among more and more members of KPFA and they will see who the real wreckers are at the station and the network.
Bravo to all those taking action above.
a couple of random things
Self defense and BPP
I think that biting kops and resisting arrest when it is one person against 2 or more kops is odviously not self preservationist or valid self defense. Why didn't the staff that supported her unarrest her? They witnessed this behavior and let it happen. Instead there were eye witness accounts of brutality, used for political capital in some sort of long standing station beef.
Aren't the current management staff, from the rank n file workers at the station? Aren't they all youngish women? I have been actually really impressed with the station since the last managers left.
Where do you mean to take kpfa back to? The 60s?
What does this mean? What is the vision of taking it back? How do you fund a taken back station? Maybe there should be no paid employees and only people with reasources to have the time to volunteer to produce shows should be able to run the station, is that like taking it back.
Self defense and BPP
I think that biting kops and resisting arrest when it is one person against 2 or more kops is odviously not self preservationist or valid self defense. Why didn't the staff that supported her unarrest her? They witnessed this behavior and let it happen. Instead there were eye witness accounts of brutality, used for political capital in some sort of long standing station beef.
Aren't the current management staff, from the rank n file workers at the station? Aren't they all youngish women? I have been actually really impressed with the station since the last managers left.
Where do you mean to take kpfa back to? The 60s?
What does this mean? What is the vision of taking it back? How do you fund a taken back station? Maybe there should be no paid employees and only people with reasources to have the time to volunteer to produce shows should be able to run the station, is that like taking it back.
Crap. We have all the confidence in the world that if another out of control racist feminist gets out of control and acts like a fool that the cops will be called and she will be cuffed and stuffed. You can't reason with nor talk to someone like this nedra foster. She stole from the station and wanted to get all up in someones face when called on it. She got less than what she deserved.
All the sudden the expert who knows and supports the great management at KPFA is confused about how to run a station with less full time staffers. This person should do some research on community radio and start with for example KPOO radio in Portland. It produces many good shows and is run with much fewer full time employees. It also has a democratic structure. You can research the station and learn all about how community radio should be run. Your present "model" at KPFA and Pacifica is not working and set for a crash. The fact of the matter is that you don't need a $4.5 million budget to run a community radio station with volunteer producers. A growing part of that budget is also going to financial settlements as a result of incompetent management that you and the "Concerned Listeners" are supporting. You should check with other community stations and see how they deal in a democratic and transparent process with the unpaid staff so they don't have continuous law suits threatening the viability of their stations.
Then you can report back so we can all learn about your discoveries.
Then you can report back so we can all learn about your discoveries.
This KPFA staffer and Concerned Listener management supporter now wants to defend "professional journalists". Are these the same journalists such as Aileen Alfandary who told people at the station that the police attack and beating of Nadra Foster at the station was "not news"? Is this the Executive Director of Pacifica Nicole Sawaya who supported calling the police and then tried to physically block the KFPA staffer from taping the action of the police at the station as they brutalized Nadra Foster?
It seems you have a very corporate idea of what news is and that is why the KPFA news department continues to spend thousands of dollars on an AP news feed so they can rip and read the stories. These are true professionals? By the way, when was the last time the KPFA news department which gets a large part of the budget at KPFA won any awards or recognition from professional organizations for their professional journalism and investigations?
There are competent journalists at KPFA and in fact many of them are volunteers who are not careerists whose job depends on supporting a management that tramples on the rights of the majority of the staff which is the unpaid staff.
It seems you have a very corporate idea of what news is and that is why the KPFA news department continues to spend thousands of dollars on an AP news feed so they can rip and read the stories. These are true professionals? By the way, when was the last time the KPFA news department which gets a large part of the budget at KPFA won any awards or recognition from professional organizations for their professional journalism and investigations?
There are competent journalists at KPFA and in fact many of them are volunteers who are not careerists whose job depends on supporting a management that tramples on the rights of the majority of the staff which is the unpaid staff.
Firstly: there are *lots* of community supporters of the no-confidence statement signed by the staffers (60+ of them at last count - it keeps going up). The statement says *selected* - that means it is a sampling of a longer list. It's a press release - so isn't meant to be six kajillion pages long.
Secondly: What is this business about violence and intimidation? One could say that its also intimidating to be harassed and singled out about doing something all the folks on the payroll do all day long. Trust me, I used to work there and share a communal printer. You don't even want to imagine how many pages of personal crap I used to wade through to find what I had printed. Obviously, some people are being bugged and other people get to do whatever they want - like most workplaces. Depends where you are on the totem pole.
Probably Nadra was annoyed at being harassed over the copier. Who wouldn't be if you had your kids with you, were volunteering and trying to keep them quiet for a while so you could do some stuff? Its petty. She lost her temper and yelled. Might even have merited a note in her file with a reprimand. But instant banning? Is this a gulag? If everybody I ever saw at KPFA yell loudly got instantly banned, I doubt there'd be much of anybody left.
Its petty, dictatorial, discriminatory in application, unfair and extremely bad policy from any sort of sensible perspective. You de-escalate the situation and tell the person to go cool off and maybe apologize for being bitchy and move on. Those who carry on about violent, threatening assaults are the ones being dramatic here IMHO.
Demonizing the victim is pretty unsavory. Out-of-control racist feminist? That's how we refer to young black women? Are we on Rush Limbaugh? Get a grip.
KPFA gets money from private foundations to train people under-represented in radio with productions skills and air their programs. It applied for a grant and got it to fund this program. It's not a gift to poor Nadra who should be grateful and never yell or have the audacity to use the copier like "real staff" - It's a social service in the public interest that KPFA agreed to perform and has a responsibility to perform by contract.
Management's so-called supporters are a scary bunch. I expect they are exposing the reality behind the cynical talk of "healing" and "mistakes".
Calling the police and getting someone beaten up is a pretty hard mistake to make, and I appreciate the peanut gallery for revealing that it wasn't a mistake at all - just a statement about who is valuable and who is dispensable and who is welcome and who is not.
So its easy enough for station subscribers. Do a values check and throw the Concerned Listeners folk out at the next election cycle so they stop propping up a management that engages in this behavior. Or make it clear to them that if they continue to endorse this manager against the wishes of a majority of her staffers and a mistake of this magnitude, they'll pay for it.
Plain and simple.
Secondly: What is this business about violence and intimidation? One could say that its also intimidating to be harassed and singled out about doing something all the folks on the payroll do all day long. Trust me, I used to work there and share a communal printer. You don't even want to imagine how many pages of personal crap I used to wade through to find what I had printed. Obviously, some people are being bugged and other people get to do whatever they want - like most workplaces. Depends where you are on the totem pole.
Probably Nadra was annoyed at being harassed over the copier. Who wouldn't be if you had your kids with you, were volunteering and trying to keep them quiet for a while so you could do some stuff? Its petty. She lost her temper and yelled. Might even have merited a note in her file with a reprimand. But instant banning? Is this a gulag? If everybody I ever saw at KPFA yell loudly got instantly banned, I doubt there'd be much of anybody left.
Its petty, dictatorial, discriminatory in application, unfair and extremely bad policy from any sort of sensible perspective. You de-escalate the situation and tell the person to go cool off and maybe apologize for being bitchy and move on. Those who carry on about violent, threatening assaults are the ones being dramatic here IMHO.
Demonizing the victim is pretty unsavory. Out-of-control racist feminist? That's how we refer to young black women? Are we on Rush Limbaugh? Get a grip.
KPFA gets money from private foundations to train people under-represented in radio with productions skills and air their programs. It applied for a grant and got it to fund this program. It's not a gift to poor Nadra who should be grateful and never yell or have the audacity to use the copier like "real staff" - It's a social service in the public interest that KPFA agreed to perform and has a responsibility to perform by contract.
Management's so-called supporters are a scary bunch. I expect they are exposing the reality behind the cynical talk of "healing" and "mistakes".
Calling the police and getting someone beaten up is a pretty hard mistake to make, and I appreciate the peanut gallery for revealing that it wasn't a mistake at all - just a statement about who is valuable and who is dispensable and who is welcome and who is not.
So its easy enough for station subscribers. Do a values check and throw the Concerned Listeners folk out at the next election cycle so they stop propping up a management that engages in this behavior. Or make it clear to them that if they continue to endorse this manager against the wishes of a majority of her staffers and a mistake of this magnitude, they'll pay for it.
Plain and simple.
I, too, would have flipped out if someone from the station gave me sh*t about using the copier to print out some coloring book pictures for my kids while I volunteered. That's ridiculous. Face it. If kpfa management has problems with how they spend their money, the UPSO staff using the copier is the last place they need to cut back.
Did Nadra, armed like the cops are, storm the studio flipping out and causing a ruckus and ripping off lots of money from kpfa just cause she's a wingnut?
No! So stop trying to spin it that way.
And who are you? The freakin well funded Messiahs? The FREE-ness of the radio training isn't charity, it's SOLIDARITY. Learn about it.
Let me reiterate, if kpfa management has problems with how they spend their money, the UPSO staff using the copier is the last place they need to cut back and make an issue about. The only reason they would make an issue of it is because UPSO staff are an EASY scapegoat. Nadra wasn't so easy, was she? God damn right.
Full legal support for Nadra and a special program to address this issue specifically. Or no more money from me.
-Fresno!
Did Nadra, armed like the cops are, storm the studio flipping out and causing a ruckus and ripping off lots of money from kpfa just cause she's a wingnut?
No! So stop trying to spin it that way.
And who are you? The freakin well funded Messiahs? The FREE-ness of the radio training isn't charity, it's SOLIDARITY. Learn about it.
Let me reiterate, if kpfa management has problems with how they spend their money, the UPSO staff using the copier is the last place they need to cut back and make an issue about. The only reason they would make an issue of it is because UPSO staff are an EASY scapegoat. Nadra wasn't so easy, was she? God damn right.
Full legal support for Nadra and a special program to address this issue specifically. Or no more money from me.
-Fresno!
Foster had done more than simply printing coloring books. Her use of station resources for personal stuff had been going on for months before the incident, if not years. It was the on-going abuse that prompted a manager to confront her and ask her to stop. She was printing out papers for her kids so she could use the phone for a personal matter unrelated to station work. No one can really even name a program she'd worked on in the past few months. When asked to stop she could have been an adult about it, admitted she was wrong, and apologized instead of going ballistic like a spoiled 10-year-old caught with her hand in the cookie jar. She definitely did not have the right to scream in someone's face and make physical contact with her, which is legally recognized as assault, not just a heated exchange. She had no business even coming back to the station when she was told she was not allowed. She was asked to leave and could've left, but chose to escalate the situation to the point where the only way to remove her was to call the police. Hell, even when the police came she still could've left peacefully and not resisted like she did.
As far as all this stuff about the cops being out to get people, give me a break. Everyone knows police, like anyone in authority can abuse their power. It happens, but please, most people in working class and minority communities have good relations with police, fire and other officials they see in their neighborhoods. In fact, most people in these comminities are good law abiding people who are glad to see the cops from time-to-time, because they're sick and tired of gangs, drug dealers and other criminals thinking its their right to bring mayhem to the community. Most folks want to be able to take a walk in their community, or take their kids to a neighborhood park without fear of a petty gang turf war breaking out into gunplay. That's what most working class persons of color want. They're not particularly crazy about condescending white liberals, with their ultra radical rhetoric about police "attacks" on poor communities and that kind of garbage. How often do these white liberals come into their communities and demand that the criminal element stop harrassing the community and making it unsafe? They never do. They never leave Berkeley or turn their dials away from KPFA long enough to see the real world.
As far as all this stuff about the cops being out to get people, give me a break. Everyone knows police, like anyone in authority can abuse their power. It happens, but please, most people in working class and minority communities have good relations with police, fire and other officials they see in their neighborhoods. In fact, most people in these comminities are good law abiding people who are glad to see the cops from time-to-time, because they're sick and tired of gangs, drug dealers and other criminals thinking its their right to bring mayhem to the community. Most folks want to be able to take a walk in their community, or take their kids to a neighborhood park without fear of a petty gang turf war breaking out into gunplay. That's what most working class persons of color want. They're not particularly crazy about condescending white liberals, with their ultra radical rhetoric about police "attacks" on poor communities and that kind of garbage. How often do these white liberals come into their communities and demand that the criminal element stop harrassing the community and making it unsafe? They never do. They never leave Berkeley or turn their dials away from KPFA long enough to see the real world.
Police brutality is rampant in workingclass communities. As was reported on KPFA earlier in the year, the police murdered a middle aged woman at her home in Berkeley for no good reason whatsoever. There is no love for the police or the criminals in the workingclass communities. The above statements by Wesclox defending the police is from a cop. Cops, get off this website.
As to whatever the very young single mother Nadra Foster may have done, THERE IS NOTHING THAT CAN JUSTIFY 8 OR MORE ARMED THUG COPS VICIOUSLY AND BRUTALLY BEATING UP ANY HUMAN BEING, HOG-TYING MS. FOSTER, PUTTING MS. FOSTER IN A WRAP, AND FALSELY AND MALICIOUSLY ARRESTING HER. This does not constitute escorting anyone of the premises. One of these thugs could easily have taken this skinny kid by the arm and walked her out of the station, if that was the intent. The intent was clearly ATTEMPTED MURDER OF MS. FOSTER and the WARNING OF ATTEMPTED MURDER TO ALL THE REST OF THE STAFF, a viciously anti-labor police state position perpetrated by KPFA management and its reactionary lawyer, Dan Siegel.
WE ARE NOT CONTRIBUTING TO KPFA DURING THIS FUNDRAISER UNTIL The people who both refused to anounce this incident on the KPFA news and the perpetrators of this incident should be fired IMMEDIATELY. They are Nicole Sawaya, Lemlem Rijo, Sasha Lilley, Lois Withers, Dominga Estrada, Vini Beecham, Aileen Alfandary, Mitch Jeserich, and Andrea Ali. Dan Siegel, the current lawyer for this thug gang, should be fired too.
HOPEFULLY, NADRA FOSTER HAS FILED A LAWSUIT, one of many that has been filed against KPFA.
This is a profoundly reactionary station, with its police state atmosphere and its Democratic Party campaign focus on the 6 p.m. news, making it now almost worthless. That leaves Flashpoints and Guns and Butter to listen to; there is nothing else worth bothering with. We can get Democracy Now online, and most of that is also not worth bothering with as it is also a campaign pitch for the twin party of war and fascism with the Republicans, the Democratic Party. We do not need or want any of this and will not pay for it.
The mealy mouth statement by the Concerned Listeners gang in the Berkeley Daily Planet article above states that KPFA has stagnant audience members. WITH ALL THE CRIMES BOTH THE DEMOCRATS AND REPUBLICANS HAVE COMMITTED, if KPFA loudly condemned both and offered serious labor and black liberation programming, and promoted serious peace parties like Peace & Freedom Party and the Green Party, KPFA would have at least a million subscribers from the Bay Area, where 7 million people live, part of Northern California, where 11 million people live. Flashpoints put their jobs on the line by reporting the same news that the SF Chronicle, the Daily Planet and many other publications have reported, namely the police brutality at KPFA. KPFA's 6 p.m. news has yet to report this serious incident. Flashpoints is the most innovative program at KPFA. This writer has been listening to KPFA practically since its inception 59 years ago and knows that Flashpoints and Guns & Butter are the kind of programs that KPFA should feature 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
As to whatever the very young single mother Nadra Foster may have done, THERE IS NOTHING THAT CAN JUSTIFY 8 OR MORE ARMED THUG COPS VICIOUSLY AND BRUTALLY BEATING UP ANY HUMAN BEING, HOG-TYING MS. FOSTER, PUTTING MS. FOSTER IN A WRAP, AND FALSELY AND MALICIOUSLY ARRESTING HER. This does not constitute escorting anyone of the premises. One of these thugs could easily have taken this skinny kid by the arm and walked her out of the station, if that was the intent. The intent was clearly ATTEMPTED MURDER OF MS. FOSTER and the WARNING OF ATTEMPTED MURDER TO ALL THE REST OF THE STAFF, a viciously anti-labor police state position perpetrated by KPFA management and its reactionary lawyer, Dan Siegel.
WE ARE NOT CONTRIBUTING TO KPFA DURING THIS FUNDRAISER UNTIL The people who both refused to anounce this incident on the KPFA news and the perpetrators of this incident should be fired IMMEDIATELY. They are Nicole Sawaya, Lemlem Rijo, Sasha Lilley, Lois Withers, Dominga Estrada, Vini Beecham, Aileen Alfandary, Mitch Jeserich, and Andrea Ali. Dan Siegel, the current lawyer for this thug gang, should be fired too.
HOPEFULLY, NADRA FOSTER HAS FILED A LAWSUIT, one of many that has been filed against KPFA.
This is a profoundly reactionary station, with its police state atmosphere and its Democratic Party campaign focus on the 6 p.m. news, making it now almost worthless. That leaves Flashpoints and Guns and Butter to listen to; there is nothing else worth bothering with. We can get Democracy Now online, and most of that is also not worth bothering with as it is also a campaign pitch for the twin party of war and fascism with the Republicans, the Democratic Party. We do not need or want any of this and will not pay for it.
The mealy mouth statement by the Concerned Listeners gang in the Berkeley Daily Planet article above states that KPFA has stagnant audience members. WITH ALL THE CRIMES BOTH THE DEMOCRATS AND REPUBLICANS HAVE COMMITTED, if KPFA loudly condemned both and offered serious labor and black liberation programming, and promoted serious peace parties like Peace & Freedom Party and the Green Party, KPFA would have at least a million subscribers from the Bay Area, where 7 million people live, part of Northern California, where 11 million people live. Flashpoints put their jobs on the line by reporting the same news that the SF Chronicle, the Daily Planet and many other publications have reported, namely the police brutality at KPFA. KPFA's 6 p.m. news has yet to report this serious incident. Flashpoints is the most innovative program at KPFA. This writer has been listening to KPFA practically since its inception 59 years ago and knows that Flashpoints and Guns & Butter are the kind of programs that KPFA should feature 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
So management cracked down and "confronted" this volunteer of 12 years duration to "make her leave" to avoid more copying and local phone calls (cost of the infractions described: 4 copies at 8 cents each, 1 local phone call at 20 cents) and has caused a new lawsuit the station will probably be lucky to settle out of court at $100,000 or so.
Yep, I'm glad management is doing such worthwhile things with my contributions.
Greg Bridges, the host of the Monday night program Transitions on Traditions and one of the signers of the No Confidence letter from the Unpaid Staff Organization, has already confirmed that Ms. Foster was doing work with him on his program.
Having Md. Foster copy activity sheets for her kids and call someone to arrange a ride is *exactly* like being beseiged with "gangs and drug dealers and other criminals". Westclox, go cover the Criminal Resistance 10 conference this upcoming week. (It's in Oakland, not Berkeley). You have a lot to learn.
Yep, I'm glad management is doing such worthwhile things with my contributions.
Greg Bridges, the host of the Monday night program Transitions on Traditions and one of the signers of the No Confidence letter from the Unpaid Staff Organization, has already confirmed that Ms. Foster was doing work with him on his program.
Having Md. Foster copy activity sheets for her kids and call someone to arrange a ride is *exactly* like being beseiged with "gangs and drug dealers and other criminals". Westclox, go cover the Criminal Resistance 10 conference this upcoming week. (It's in Oakland, not Berkeley). You have a lot to learn.
Typo ...CRITICAL RESISTANCE-10
Oh my lord, how ignorant is this donor person. The posting did not in any way make a comparison between what Foster did and gangs and drugs. They were two entirely different topics. That's why there are these things called paragraphs to denote that a writer has changed topics. Didn't you pay attention in 2nd grade grammar?
It didn't matter how much the materials Foster used cost. THAT'S NOT THE POINT. If you've come to do work, the materials you use should be for work related matters. PERIOD. It doesn't matter if the materials cost two cents.
As for the other person going by ^, You're posting made no sense whatsoever. Now you're accusing someone of attempted murder. Are you nuts? The police tried to get Foster to leave peacefully. She fought with them when they tried to escort her out.
And on the issue of whether most people in working class communities dislike the police, that's patently false. The only people who really don't like them are the people committing crimes and terrorizing the neighborhoods. You obviously don't live in one of these communities and are talking out of your backside. Have you ever had you're home broken into, been mugged? Have you or a family member been assaulted? I seriously doubt it, or you wouldn't be saying the idiotic things you're saying. People in poor communities have as much right to police protection from criminals as anyone else. They want it, their taxes pay for it and it's necessary. If you want to have serious discussions about profiling, or excessive force than do it. But don't put on this super radical pose to impress your friends. The overwhelming majority of poor working class people of color LOATHE the criminals and the gangs and the drug dealing poisoners. They see police protection as their right as law abiding taxpayers. They want the police accountable, of course, but more than anything THEY WANT THEIR HELP! If there is a consistent complaint in working class communities, of which many of us, AND NOT YOU, are, that complaint is the police are often not there when you need them or are slow to respond. Real world things. Things you would know nothing about.
It didn't matter how much the materials Foster used cost. THAT'S NOT THE POINT. If you've come to do work, the materials you use should be for work related matters. PERIOD. It doesn't matter if the materials cost two cents.
As for the other person going by ^, You're posting made no sense whatsoever. Now you're accusing someone of attempted murder. Are you nuts? The police tried to get Foster to leave peacefully. She fought with them when they tried to escort her out.
And on the issue of whether most people in working class communities dislike the police, that's patently false. The only people who really don't like them are the people committing crimes and terrorizing the neighborhoods. You obviously don't live in one of these communities and are talking out of your backside. Have you ever had you're home broken into, been mugged? Have you or a family member been assaulted? I seriously doubt it, or you wouldn't be saying the idiotic things you're saying. People in poor communities have as much right to police protection from criminals as anyone else. They want it, their taxes pay for it and it's necessary. If you want to have serious discussions about profiling, or excessive force than do it. But don't put on this super radical pose to impress your friends. The overwhelming majority of poor working class people of color LOATHE the criminals and the gangs and the drug dealing poisoners. They see police protection as their right as law abiding taxpayers. They want the police accountable, of course, but more than anything THEY WANT THEIR HELP! If there is a consistent complaint in working class communities, of which many of us, AND NOT YOU, are, that complaint is the police are often not there when you need them or are slow to respond. Real world things. Things you would know nothing about.
The supporters of KPFA "concerned listeners" now have to justify the use of police at KPFA and the need to have the police defend the community. This mentality typifies the mentality of the KPFA and management at KPFA who have reprimanded programmers like Miguel Molina for encouraging people to go to a peaceful anti-war protest and have unilaterally removed guests without any hearing or justification.
The treatment of Black and Latino people in this country and their massive incarceration in the prison system according to this "Concerned Listener" supporter is justified because the police are protecting the people and defending them from crime. According to his mentality the solution is more police to solve the problems.
The political bankruptcy of those in charge of KPFA is evident this morning. In the midst of the greatest financial crisis since the depression, the Sunday morning show has nothing to say. Sasha Lilley who has unilaterally decided who the hosts will be has picked the latest one who obviously doesn't have a clue in the world that maybe something is going on for KPFA to focus on. But that might disturb their idea of a plum lifetime job is which they basically just have to show up and pretend they are doing serious radio. Another reason listenership is dropping.
The treatment of Black and Latino people in this country and their massive incarceration in the prison system according to this "Concerned Listener" supporter is justified because the police are protecting the people and defending them from crime. According to his mentality the solution is more police to solve the problems.
The political bankruptcy of those in charge of KPFA is evident this morning. In the midst of the greatest financial crisis since the depression, the Sunday morning show has nothing to say. Sasha Lilley who has unilaterally decided who the hosts will be has picked the latest one who obviously doesn't have a clue in the world that maybe something is going on for KPFA to focus on. But that might disturb their idea of a plum lifetime job is which they basically just have to show up and pretend they are doing serious radio. Another reason listenership is dropping.
First off, if the previous poster can't even bring his or herself to acknowledge that Foster's actions precipated all this nonsense then the person is not serious and is just out to fight ideological battles. It's no use trying to convince someone who is not interested in facts and truth when it doesn't conform to the pre-existing beliefs.
That said, the person obviously does not live in a poor community of color because the person's tune would change overnight. It must be nice to have the comforts of a safe, middleclass, crime and drug free community from which to issue your moronic pseudo radical statements. The US does have a high incarceration rate, about half the people in prison are there for drug offences. I and many REAL progressives support alternatives to prison for NON-VIOLENT offenders who may have been caught with drugs. They need help and rehabilitation. But, the dealers are scum and parasites who prey off the misery of working class and poor communities. It is they and their gang member allies who make working class communities unlivable. It is poor and working class and honest people who are the majority in these communities held hostage by the dirt bags. It is they who pay taxes and ask for more police help in cleaning up the neighborhoods and taking them back. It is they who vote for candidates who say they're going to hire more police and provide channels for the police and the communities to communicate and work together.
You obviously know nothing about the subject beyond what you read in your disturbingly strident extremist newspapers and pamphlets. You don't go to these communities. You don't offer help to confront the criminals terrorizing the working class people of color, you claim to care about. You make excuses for the tiny minority of gang members and drug dealers instead of offering to help good hard working black and Latino people drive the Scum out of their communities. You're a laptop revolutionary with no solutions other than talking down to people and patronizing them and supporting those who victimize them.
That said, the person obviously does not live in a poor community of color because the person's tune would change overnight. It must be nice to have the comforts of a safe, middleclass, crime and drug free community from which to issue your moronic pseudo radical statements. The US does have a high incarceration rate, about half the people in prison are there for drug offences. I and many REAL progressives support alternatives to prison for NON-VIOLENT offenders who may have been caught with drugs. They need help and rehabilitation. But, the dealers are scum and parasites who prey off the misery of working class and poor communities. It is they and their gang member allies who make working class communities unlivable. It is poor and working class and honest people who are the majority in these communities held hostage by the dirt bags. It is they who pay taxes and ask for more police help in cleaning up the neighborhoods and taking them back. It is they who vote for candidates who say they're going to hire more police and provide channels for the police and the communities to communicate and work together.
You obviously know nothing about the subject beyond what you read in your disturbingly strident extremist newspapers and pamphlets. You don't go to these communities. You don't offer help to confront the criminals terrorizing the working class people of color, you claim to care about. You make excuses for the tiny minority of gang members and drug dealers instead of offering to help good hard working black and Latino people drive the Scum out of their communities. You're a laptop revolutionary with no solutions other than talking down to people and patronizing them and supporting those who victimize them.
On Sept. 19 "Everyone Knows" wrote that:
The people who went to press with "her arm was broken" and "she was pregnant" were terribly irresponsible for manipulating the public trust with these claims that are now known to be absolutely false.
Please answer: She is not pregnant and people were saying she was knowing it was a lie?
In any case, cops should not brutalize anyone, but particularly not women whose mass and strength is usually far less than that of most men and who, yes, might be pregnant.
The people who went to press with "her arm was broken" and "she was pregnant" were terribly irresponsible for manipulating the public trust with these claims that are now known to be absolutely false.
Please answer: She is not pregnant and people were saying she was knowing it was a lie?
In any case, cops should not brutalize anyone, but particularly not women whose mass and strength is usually far less than that of most men and who, yes, might be pregnant.
get off you westclock gregorian time,i am not white and i dont care for police and dont see them as ever protecting me,having fought off klan attaks and cops did nothing to go after the white racist assaulters.get oput of the bay area for awhile ,but you dont have to even do that to find racist cops,just go around bay area too,with a black man,and watch the cops swarm around you
A Few Things
by Anonymous
Friday Sep 19th, 2008 6:28 PM
Firstly: there are *lots* of community supporters of the no-confidence statement signed by the staffers (60+ of them at last count - it keeps going up). The statement says *selected* - that means it is a sampling of a longer list. It's a press release - so isn't meant to be six kajillion pages long.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Do you realize how weak your comment looks? Is this elite support lists now? Why in the hell wouldn't you want one or two hundred names of KPFA people if you had them? Another reason the CLers keep control, the lack of organizing ability of some on the listener side, due to ignorance or maybe some misconceptions or personal ego trips? Where are all the names of the people that have fought this management for years? Not select enough for the current "leaders" that don't know how or where to lead but have to be in control??? Give the press the story with the longest list you can and let them decide what to print, announce. Let the people know that hundreds of people support this staff action.
This is a mass struggle, not a struggle about a few on either side that want to be the "leaders". Although from an outside observer it often seems that way. If you don't involve the masses and educate them you will continue to lose to the CLers while you play at politics. Oh, I forgot while you play you get the ego trip of being a "leader" and to some that is all that matters. If you have a demo at the station are only "select" people going to be invited? Only those that will follow your backward self-first journey? Put the Mission and the peace and justice movements first and rally as many people as you can and leave the "select" lists for the CLers.
by Anonymous
Friday Sep 19th, 2008 6:28 PM
Firstly: there are *lots* of community supporters of the no-confidence statement signed by the staffers (60+ of them at last count - it keeps going up). The statement says *selected* - that means it is a sampling of a longer list. It's a press release - so isn't meant to be six kajillion pages long.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Do you realize how weak your comment looks? Is this elite support lists now? Why in the hell wouldn't you want one or two hundred names of KPFA people if you had them? Another reason the CLers keep control, the lack of organizing ability of some on the listener side, due to ignorance or maybe some misconceptions or personal ego trips? Where are all the names of the people that have fought this management for years? Not select enough for the current "leaders" that don't know how or where to lead but have to be in control??? Give the press the story with the longest list you can and let them decide what to print, announce. Let the people know that hundreds of people support this staff action.
This is a mass struggle, not a struggle about a few on either side that want to be the "leaders". Although from an outside observer it often seems that way. If you don't involve the masses and educate them you will continue to lose to the CLers while you play at politics. Oh, I forgot while you play you get the ego trip of being a "leader" and to some that is all that matters. If you have a demo at the station are only "select" people going to be invited? Only those that will follow your backward self-first journey? Put the Mission and the peace and justice movements first and rally as many people as you can and leave the "select" lists for the CLers.
I am offended by the lie that the unpaid staff issued the above statement. As an unpaid staff member, I was never consulted about the above statement, there was never a vote. No petition was ever circulated to the entire unpaid staff.
There are people who claim they represent the unpaid staff. The UPSO do not represent us. They are a tiny minority, of the staff. The majority of people who have programs and work to create the on the air programs never saw this statement. They only circulated it to those who they knew would sign it.
I’m offended and sick of the lies these people spread regarding this unfortunate incident to further their own agendas and their attempted power grab. Beware of these people. They will destroy KPFA and Pacifica.
There are people who claim they represent the unpaid staff. The UPSO do not represent us. They are a tiny minority, of the staff. The majority of people who have programs and work to create the on the air programs never saw this statement. They only circulated it to those who they knew would sign it.
I’m offended and sick of the lies these people spread regarding this unfortunate incident to further their own agendas and their attempted power grab. Beware of these people. They will destroy KPFA and Pacifica.
since you do not recognize upso, who does represent you as an volunteer? And what do these people who signed the petetion want?
thanks
thanks
Sherry [at] aol.com would be an e-mail address for Sherry Gendelman, current Pacifica National Board Chair and one of the Concerned Listeners faction on the board. She's not an unpaid staff member at KPFA, she's an attorney. Is that who posted the message about how unpaid staff doesn't feel represented by the Unpaid Staff Organization?
OK, I think you should tell us exactly what is it that we are lying about. The fact the UPSO was destroyed? The fact that our calls for a civil and rational solution has been ignored? the fact that our e-mails and our phone calls are not returned? The fact that we can not put our announcements on the kpfa unpaid staff website? We can not use the staff e mail list to tell people about the meetings? The fact that we have no way of sitting down with the so called manager to come up with a unpaid staff list? the fact that they do not give us a list ? and many others... Power grab.. Now that is good joke.. what power... look around the staion and tell me who has power.And by the way, the letter was discussed in the general unpaid staff meeting and it was not a secret... people could have signed it and let's be honest here.. Some unpaid staffers do not want the organization and they do not want to be represented. Their choice.. like people who want to unionize a factory and some do not want to be unionized and they even work with the bosses to break the union... same idea..
These conversations do float around a bit, don't they?
On the police: what we are discussing is calling the police on an African-American person who is not a drug dealer or a gang member, but an unpaid radio producer accused of using $5 or so of "resources" at a place where she volunteered and worked for over a dozen years, but was "wanted gone" by management parties. Believe me, African-Americans and other minority groups know well that they pay a higher price and have a harder time when caught up in the criminal justice system. So they aren't generally fans of involving the police in minor matters, because people get hurt. Which is exactly what happened here.
Nadra's arm was severely swollen and painful from the police encounter. It felt broken to her. It wasn't x-rayed at Santa Rita Jail. When she got to a doctor on the Monday after she was bailed out, turned out it was a severe sprain and not the fracture she thought it was. I've had a severely sprained arm and it hurts like hell. No way to tell without an x-ray. Nadra shouted to the police that she was pregnant. Which is what you do when you're a woman with six cops on you as self-defense. When her family was asked to confirm it - they apparently figured that she might be and didn't deny what she had said. Which is why it went to press. Turns out she wasn't. Personally, I wouldn't be saying well then, since she wasn't pregnant, no reason not to f*ck her up.
On the selected supporters: It's not elitism. It's simply that a no-confidence in management letter by the staff is essentially a staff effort, not a community one. Community supporters are more than invited to submit their own opinions and concerns and organize themselves and one hopes they will. The list of selected supporters was a few big names who agreed to put their names out in support. It doesn't stop anyone else from doing anything else they feel will express their concerns and support the effort to make sure this does not happen again to someone else.
The letter of no-confidence in management now has over 60 signatures. That is not a small minority of the staff. It's a very significant chunk and given the likelihood of some retaliation if management ends up retained, a pretty impressive one.
As contrasted with the six-sign ons for the healing platitudes. Do the math. 60 is a lot more than 6.
The people who signed the petition don't want this manager and management regime. Plain and simple. They want a recognized unpaid staff bargaining unit, a fair grievance procedure and a responsive management that doesn't issue unilateral decrees.
As for sherry [at] aol.com, nice try. I'm sure that was a huge coincidence, lol.
On the police: what we are discussing is calling the police on an African-American person who is not a drug dealer or a gang member, but an unpaid radio producer accused of using $5 or so of "resources" at a place where she volunteered and worked for over a dozen years, but was "wanted gone" by management parties. Believe me, African-Americans and other minority groups know well that they pay a higher price and have a harder time when caught up in the criminal justice system. So they aren't generally fans of involving the police in minor matters, because people get hurt. Which is exactly what happened here.
Nadra's arm was severely swollen and painful from the police encounter. It felt broken to her. It wasn't x-rayed at Santa Rita Jail. When she got to a doctor on the Monday after she was bailed out, turned out it was a severe sprain and not the fracture she thought it was. I've had a severely sprained arm and it hurts like hell. No way to tell without an x-ray. Nadra shouted to the police that she was pregnant. Which is what you do when you're a woman with six cops on you as self-defense. When her family was asked to confirm it - they apparently figured that she might be and didn't deny what she had said. Which is why it went to press. Turns out she wasn't. Personally, I wouldn't be saying well then, since she wasn't pregnant, no reason not to f*ck her up.
On the selected supporters: It's not elitism. It's simply that a no-confidence in management letter by the staff is essentially a staff effort, not a community one. Community supporters are more than invited to submit their own opinions and concerns and organize themselves and one hopes they will. The list of selected supporters was a few big names who agreed to put their names out in support. It doesn't stop anyone else from doing anything else they feel will express their concerns and support the effort to make sure this does not happen again to someone else.
The letter of no-confidence in management now has over 60 signatures. That is not a small minority of the staff. It's a very significant chunk and given the likelihood of some retaliation if management ends up retained, a pretty impressive one.
As contrasted with the six-sign ons for the healing platitudes. Do the math. 60 is a lot more than 6.
The people who signed the petition don't want this manager and management regime. Plain and simple. They want a recognized unpaid staff bargaining unit, a fair grievance procedure and a responsive management that doesn't issue unilateral decrees.
As for sherry [at] aol.com, nice try. I'm sure that was a huge coincidence, lol.
Yeah these postings do cover a lot of ground because the people defending Foster's behavior can't know Foster's actions were stupid and can't even bring themselves to admit that her actions caused all of this. It is the defender's of Foster(using the issue as a stick to batter KPFA) who then go on and on about police going around getting their jollies beating up minority people. This prompted me to point out that most people in minority communities want the police around to help them take back their communities from the criminals. I also pointed out the hypocrisy of those claiming to care about these communities and doing nothing to condemn the drug pushers and gang members who really hold these communities hostage. These are two separate topics, which are denoted by new paragraphs, which some people who were obviously asleep in 2nd grade grammar lessons, can't seem to figure out.
There is a "hey look at me and how radical I am" element in this thread who just want to shout anti-police rhetoric and never go into working class communities of color and actually talk to people or interact with them. They'd never in a million years help them drive out the criminals. They never ask if maybe these people want and deserve safe neighborhoods and parks and want the scumbags out. If you go to them with all this crap about racist, fascist police you'll quickly get an earful from them. They'll say the police (many of whom are themselves from working class minority backgrounds) aren't perfect, there needs to be better communication between the police and the communities they serve, but we don't want them to go away, because if they do the parasites win.
There is a "hey look at me and how radical I am" element in this thread who just want to shout anti-police rhetoric and never go into working class communities of color and actually talk to people or interact with them. They'd never in a million years help them drive out the criminals. They never ask if maybe these people want and deserve safe neighborhoods and parks and want the scumbags out. If you go to them with all this crap about racist, fascist police you'll quickly get an earful from them. They'll say the police (many of whom are themselves from working class minority backgrounds) aren't perfect, there needs to be better communication between the police and the communities they serve, but we don't want them to go away, because if they do the parasites win.
On the selected supporters: It's not elitism. It's simply that a no-confidence in management letter by the staff is essentially a staff effort, not a community one.
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Then why have any community supporters at all? Nothing you say makes any sense. Obviously you have a hidden agenda for these inconsistent and nonsensical comments. You sound too much like the entrenched, just from your side. How sad. Either you didn't want others involved so you can be "in charge", or you don't know how to organize or you are too lazy to get a real list of supporters. The separation, this is a "staff effort" is so contrary to progressive values and the basic statement of "an injury to one is an injury to all" and the need for people to support the positive things happening at KPFA. What I find very interesting missing in your "selected" list" are the community activists that have donated hundreds of hours of their time to make the station better, who stop the entrenched from doing more damage and to set the stage for the current struggle. For some reason you don't want them involved????? It appears that you are more interested in control of the struggle than rallying mass support for real change at KPFA!!!
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Then why have any community supporters at all? Nothing you say makes any sense. Obviously you have a hidden agenda for these inconsistent and nonsensical comments. You sound too much like the entrenched, just from your side. How sad. Either you didn't want others involved so you can be "in charge", or you don't know how to organize or you are too lazy to get a real list of supporters. The separation, this is a "staff effort" is so contrary to progressive values and the basic statement of "an injury to one is an injury to all" and the need for people to support the positive things happening at KPFA. What I find very interesting missing in your "selected" list" are the community activists that have donated hundreds of hours of their time to make the station better, who stop the entrenched from doing more damage and to set the stage for the current struggle. For some reason you don't want them involved????? It appears that you are more interested in control of the struggle than rallying mass support for real change at KPFA!!!
From rallying mass community support?
Have at it.
You see the petition above.
Go solicit 1,000 more signatures.
Much appreciated.
Have at it.
You see the petition above.
Go solicit 1,000 more signatures.
Much appreciated.
Maybe a dress code is the solution for the poor troubled KPFA ? Coats and ties for gentlemen , dresses or skirts and pearls for the ladies .
Folks, in 1995 over 100 part-time/unpaid staff members were summarily dismissed at KPFA. Many of these people were people of color, women and mostly people active in their communities. They were community people doing radio, not radio people pretending to be for our communities. The management that runs KPFA is a direct descendent of the management that tried to destroy the community base of KPFA. They didn't kill it but they wounded the community connection severely, by design. Many of the people signing on to the NO CONFIDENCE in management statement are community first people doing radio to help change the world as their primary focus, their primary focus is not having a microphone in front of their face.
Calling the police to the station and the periodic banning of people who don't kiss their ring and kneel to their authority is just one of the many wrongs that need to be changed and can't be changed with the current management. There have been several incidents of violence and intimidation, free speech restrictions, and election rules violations by management's allies over the years and no police and no banning's have occurred. Calling the police was just one more straw on the camel's broken back.
How come none of these CLers or Management/staff advocates are willing to debate any of the many issues at KPFA/Pacifica? I have challanged any and all of them over the years. Sarah Palin come to mind?
Richard Phelps, former Chair KPFA LSB, 34 year listener/subscriber, former AM/FM radio announcer and producer of a several programs at KPFA over the years starting in 1975.
Calling the police to the station and the periodic banning of people who don't kiss their ring and kneel to their authority is just one of the many wrongs that need to be changed and can't be changed with the current management. There have been several incidents of violence and intimidation, free speech restrictions, and election rules violations by management's allies over the years and no police and no banning's have occurred. Calling the police was just one more straw on the camel's broken back.
How come none of these CLers or Management/staff advocates are willing to debate any of the many issues at KPFA/Pacifica? I have challanged any and all of them over the years. Sarah Palin come to mind?
Richard Phelps, former Chair KPFA LSB, 34 year listener/subscriber, former AM/FM radio announcer and producer of a several programs at KPFA over the years starting in 1975.
Just checking but isn't the GM a woman of color? Is or is not the embattled management team mostly women, of various cultural backgrounds?
I love how people throw around the race card, I am sure that no one means to do that. But putting a picture up of kpfa historic management (aka take back kpfa for white people right?), and then talking about how anti racists will not support the white male management. This is all just really strange.
I would actually encourage people to join kpfa right now to help drive these factionalists out of kpfa, I have never financially supported kpfa, but now I do. So see yall at the polls and God bless!
I love how people throw around the race card, I am sure that no one means to do that. But putting a picture up of kpfa historic management (aka take back kpfa for white people right?), and then talking about how anti racists will not support the white male management. This is all just really strange.
I would actually encourage people to join kpfa right now to help drive these factionalists out of kpfa, I have never financially supported kpfa, but now I do. So see yall at the polls and God bless!
Well in spite of the letters, the vote of no-confidence, the 11 candidates recommended by KPFA's LSB for new GM. The outgoing loonie ED, Nicole announced today that Lemlem is the official GM of KPFA.
I wonder if Lemlem was one of the top recommendations, or even in that list.
I wonder if Lemlem was one of the top recommendations, or even in that list.
As a KPFA listener/member of over twenty years, I am very heartened to see the Unpaid Staff Organization step up like this. I've not been able to keep up with the latest developments surrounding KPFA as I would like to, but to read this is encouraging.
We have to surmount the climate of fear inclulcated by the entrenched bullies at KPFA who have earned that description by refusing to publicly debate any of the substantive issues of concern to the community at large. These bullies include the "Concerned Listeners," Wellstone Democratic Renewal Club, and other political groups hijacking and narrowing the broader social justice vision of KPFA.
So, it is very reassuring to see some of the braver souls at KPFA step up more and more by putting their names and reputations on the line, as Dennis Bernstein says, and putting themselves where their beliefs are. We know that any dissenting perspectives deviating from Sasha Lilley's program is met with serious retribution by the abuse of police and judicial threats and intimidation, so I want to express support for those workers at KPFA who have stepped up. Perhaps, some well-deserved doses of shame are in order for those riding the fence? I can understand the vulnerable position that a "Hard Knock Radio" may find itself in. But where's Davey D? Surely, he doesn't fear all the rubbish going on at the station with his 'national correspondent' status at KPFA and his long KMEL, Bay Area, and national legacy. Where's Noelle Hanrahan? With the cornered market on all things Mumia Abu Jamal, surely she doesn't fear Sasha Lilley and the lawyers at KPFA. I don't mean to diss my long-time heroes, but for someone as naive as me, I speak from sincerity. It's hard for me to understand the intrigues and intricacies of political expediency, image preservation, or name-climbing. Again, I have nothing but respect and admiration for folks like Hanrahan and Davey D, yet it’s heart-breaking to find them MIA on this. As for the others at KPFA, especially those who endorsed the corrupt "Concerned Listeners," we know where they stand as the self-portrayed elitist "vanguard."
Who did endorse "Concerned Listeners"? Let's see, some of the disappointing names (to a naive listener like myself) are: C.S. Soong ("Against The Grain," that was heart-breaking), Bonnie Simmons (the self-described "Sophist," how confounded I was, when she extolled the virtues of deceit to my friend and I), Angela Davis (what?!), Kevin Danaher ("Global Exchange"), Renee Saucedo ("Exec.Director of San Francisco's Day Laborer Program," regular guest on "Flashpoints"), Norman Solomon, David Bacon ("labour" journalist), Max Pringle ("Labor Beat" reporter), Prattap Chatterjee ("Corpwatch," ex-"Terra Verde" bloke), Amelia Gonzalez-Garcia, Aileen Alfandary, Aaron Glantz ("founding producer of FSRN"), Matthew Lasar. Of course, these are people who seem to have carte blanche at KPFA, even today.
During the KPFA Crisis Forums of this Spring ('08), the question of boycotting KPFA came up. Many sneered at the notion. That was a difficult question. I had the privilege of speaking briefly up on stage and tried to air this discussion and it was as difficult then as it is now. Is a rotten KPFA better than nothing? A rotten KPFA has hope of being salvaged and rehabilitated, whereas a bankrupt one...well, I can't imagine the FM dial being devoid of free speech radio. But at this point, there is no free speech at KPFA, anyway. The most radical voices on the air, I am afraid, have been sounding more and more intimidated and self-censored to my sensitive ears. Maybe this is just because I've been increasingly aware of the corruption and intimidation behind the scenes since the last KPFA LSB Elections of 2007. I was less critical of KPFA when I thought there was actual cooperation and sincerity running the station. Now, I have less sympathy for some of the Layna Burmans, Kris Welches, goofy "Morning Show" personalities, and warbly Jennifer Stones of the KPFA world. If they refuse to come out in public and meet the people face to face and answer substantive questions, how can they claim to represent the KPFA community, or any community? By what sense of entitlement do they justify their claim to this public trust? Sheer tenure?
I was driving home today and caught David Harvey, Ph.D., the social theorist, on KPFA. I had never heard of him. I thought, wow, who is this? Why haven’t I heard of him before on KPFA? Oh, right, it’s the fund-drive season. Philip Maldari preempted “Explorations” to play bits of audio from various lectures on Marxian thought (economics, Das Kapital, critical theory, social theory, etc.), which illuminated a very thoughtful, insightful presentation and analysis of Marx, as he’s often caricatured in the mainstream. Dr. Harvey illuminated the intellectual giant in Marx beyond the narrow communist bloc or class struggle association people usually think of when they think of Marx. Dr. Harvey is not a new figure on the international scene, yet, he sounded like a stranger to KPFA. Well, today, KPFA used Dr. Harvey’s lectures as a fundraiser (or as part of the Leftist Shopping Network), also on “The Morning Show.” Richard Phelps was right when he raised this issue in the past (please see his article in IndyBay or the People’s Radio website). Without engaging the volunteer base of KPFA's listenership or appealing to people to take part in the democratic governance, KPFA reduces itself to being the "Leftist Shopping Network."
For a working-class person such as I, struggling to make ends meet, like most of us, laying down $300 bucks to listen to this very insightful analysis is not an option. Yet, it’s a shame that the whole point of KPFA (an educational non-profit), the dissemination of alternative voices toward peace and social justice, is undermined by holding captive for ransom those very voices from the FM airwaves. When I got home, I looked up David Harvey online and found the same audio Maldari was selling for free at http://davidharvey.org/ ! Classic.
To lay down any money at all is, in fact, a challenge. I usually prefer to volunteer my time and energy as a way to support KPFA and aim more toward socialism than capitalism. And I must confess, since the Fall of 2007, I’ve found it increasingly difficult to contribute any money at all to KPFA, even when I could afford to do so. It’s rough knowing KPFA used my money to turn around and call the cops on me, rig elections, waste loads of money on crooked lawyers, avoidable litigation, and calling the cops on their own. (Whether Foster was banned or not. If I were Sasha Lilley or Nicole Sawaya I would have sat down with her and discussed things. If Foster was being hostile or violent, I would have simply documented that on video to have an airtight case. Instead Sawaya swatted away videocameras, very revealing in itself.)
I agree with the call to boycott the current regime at KPFA. This is not showing contempt for KPFA, especially if people continue to contribute enough to retain voting and membership rights. This part is critical. In November of 2007, when I first met Tracy Rosenberg I proposed some ideas to her about expanding the possibilities for listeners to volunteer and become listener-members. The Pacifica Bylaws state that volunteering three hours or more per year entitles an individual to full Membership rights. This is great because many working-poor, such as I, have little money to give to charity, but can certainly give our time and energy to the station. But the spots to volunteer in the phone room are limited. So, I proposed to Tracy Rosenberg (an LSB Member) the idea of expanding opportunities for volunteering whilst expanding interest in and awareness of KPFA. For example, doing KPFA promotions in one’s respective communities, such as tabling, town hall events, or film-screenings, or other KPFA-related promotions, much the way other radio stations do. She shrugged and agreed she thought it could work. I’m still waiting for her to raise this idea onto the beleaguered LSB agenda. I am very patient.
So, boycotting doesn’t have to be anathema, when we can ramp up our support for the true spirit of KPFA in other ways, while being openly honest about the problems at KPFA in the true spirit of free speech.
By the way, as I pulled up to my carpark (just before 3pm), Maldari noted a recent CEO of Morgan Stanley being paid “$17,000 per hour” to fleece people. Oddly, then Maldari turns to his “Concerned Listener” accomplice, Brian Edwards-Tiekert to mention that Brian Edwards-Tiekert recently received a pay-raise to bring BET up to $20 per hour. Apparently, the 20 or so paid bosses at KPFA have recently received pay raises merely ‘adjusting for inflation’ (quips BET). I remember hearing BET at an LSB meeting (Oct. ‘07) wax on about donating $100 despite barely clearing about $25k for the previous year. So I guess, $20 an hour bumps him (and other paid elites) up to about $41,600 a year. (BET got a decent raise, then, for his good works at KPFA and the LSB this last year.) That’s an odd budgetary move when there are reports left and right around KPFA and Pacifica of major money problems. Isn’t BET still Treasurer of KPFA’s governing body, the LSB? On the “Environmental Justice Beat,” I suppose Brian should be excused for failing to give any props to the majority who devote their time and lives for zero wages. We’ll have to count on David Bacon or Max Pringle for that.
I say props to the KPFA staffers that speak out and shame on the elitist bosses at KPFA who remain in silence and refuse to back up their shite.
We have to surmount the climate of fear inclulcated by the entrenched bullies at KPFA who have earned that description by refusing to publicly debate any of the substantive issues of concern to the community at large. These bullies include the "Concerned Listeners," Wellstone Democratic Renewal Club, and other political groups hijacking and narrowing the broader social justice vision of KPFA.
So, it is very reassuring to see some of the braver souls at KPFA step up more and more by putting their names and reputations on the line, as Dennis Bernstein says, and putting themselves where their beliefs are. We know that any dissenting perspectives deviating from Sasha Lilley's program is met with serious retribution by the abuse of police and judicial threats and intimidation, so I want to express support for those workers at KPFA who have stepped up. Perhaps, some well-deserved doses of shame are in order for those riding the fence? I can understand the vulnerable position that a "Hard Knock Radio" may find itself in. But where's Davey D? Surely, he doesn't fear all the rubbish going on at the station with his 'national correspondent' status at KPFA and his long KMEL, Bay Area, and national legacy. Where's Noelle Hanrahan? With the cornered market on all things Mumia Abu Jamal, surely she doesn't fear Sasha Lilley and the lawyers at KPFA. I don't mean to diss my long-time heroes, but for someone as naive as me, I speak from sincerity. It's hard for me to understand the intrigues and intricacies of political expediency, image preservation, or name-climbing. Again, I have nothing but respect and admiration for folks like Hanrahan and Davey D, yet it’s heart-breaking to find them MIA on this. As for the others at KPFA, especially those who endorsed the corrupt "Concerned Listeners," we know where they stand as the self-portrayed elitist "vanguard."
Who did endorse "Concerned Listeners"? Let's see, some of the disappointing names (to a naive listener like myself) are: C.S. Soong ("Against The Grain," that was heart-breaking), Bonnie Simmons (the self-described "Sophist," how confounded I was, when she extolled the virtues of deceit to my friend and I), Angela Davis (what?!), Kevin Danaher ("Global Exchange"), Renee Saucedo ("Exec.Director of San Francisco's Day Laborer Program," regular guest on "Flashpoints"), Norman Solomon, David Bacon ("labour" journalist), Max Pringle ("Labor Beat" reporter), Prattap Chatterjee ("Corpwatch," ex-"Terra Verde" bloke), Amelia Gonzalez-Garcia, Aileen Alfandary, Aaron Glantz ("founding producer of FSRN"), Matthew Lasar. Of course, these are people who seem to have carte blanche at KPFA, even today.
During the KPFA Crisis Forums of this Spring ('08), the question of boycotting KPFA came up. Many sneered at the notion. That was a difficult question. I had the privilege of speaking briefly up on stage and tried to air this discussion and it was as difficult then as it is now. Is a rotten KPFA better than nothing? A rotten KPFA has hope of being salvaged and rehabilitated, whereas a bankrupt one...well, I can't imagine the FM dial being devoid of free speech radio. But at this point, there is no free speech at KPFA, anyway. The most radical voices on the air, I am afraid, have been sounding more and more intimidated and self-censored to my sensitive ears. Maybe this is just because I've been increasingly aware of the corruption and intimidation behind the scenes since the last KPFA LSB Elections of 2007. I was less critical of KPFA when I thought there was actual cooperation and sincerity running the station. Now, I have less sympathy for some of the Layna Burmans, Kris Welches, goofy "Morning Show" personalities, and warbly Jennifer Stones of the KPFA world. If they refuse to come out in public and meet the people face to face and answer substantive questions, how can they claim to represent the KPFA community, or any community? By what sense of entitlement do they justify their claim to this public trust? Sheer tenure?
I was driving home today and caught David Harvey, Ph.D., the social theorist, on KPFA. I had never heard of him. I thought, wow, who is this? Why haven’t I heard of him before on KPFA? Oh, right, it’s the fund-drive season. Philip Maldari preempted “Explorations” to play bits of audio from various lectures on Marxian thought (economics, Das Kapital, critical theory, social theory, etc.), which illuminated a very thoughtful, insightful presentation and analysis of Marx, as he’s often caricatured in the mainstream. Dr. Harvey illuminated the intellectual giant in Marx beyond the narrow communist bloc or class struggle association people usually think of when they think of Marx. Dr. Harvey is not a new figure on the international scene, yet, he sounded like a stranger to KPFA. Well, today, KPFA used Dr. Harvey’s lectures as a fundraiser (or as part of the Leftist Shopping Network), also on “The Morning Show.” Richard Phelps was right when he raised this issue in the past (please see his article in IndyBay or the People’s Radio website). Without engaging the volunteer base of KPFA's listenership or appealing to people to take part in the democratic governance, KPFA reduces itself to being the "Leftist Shopping Network."
For a working-class person such as I, struggling to make ends meet, like most of us, laying down $300 bucks to listen to this very insightful analysis is not an option. Yet, it’s a shame that the whole point of KPFA (an educational non-profit), the dissemination of alternative voices toward peace and social justice, is undermined by holding captive for ransom those very voices from the FM airwaves. When I got home, I looked up David Harvey online and found the same audio Maldari was selling for free at http://davidharvey.org/ ! Classic.
To lay down any money at all is, in fact, a challenge. I usually prefer to volunteer my time and energy as a way to support KPFA and aim more toward socialism than capitalism. And I must confess, since the Fall of 2007, I’ve found it increasingly difficult to contribute any money at all to KPFA, even when I could afford to do so. It’s rough knowing KPFA used my money to turn around and call the cops on me, rig elections, waste loads of money on crooked lawyers, avoidable litigation, and calling the cops on their own. (Whether Foster was banned or not. If I were Sasha Lilley or Nicole Sawaya I would have sat down with her and discussed things. If Foster was being hostile or violent, I would have simply documented that on video to have an airtight case. Instead Sawaya swatted away videocameras, very revealing in itself.)
I agree with the call to boycott the current regime at KPFA. This is not showing contempt for KPFA, especially if people continue to contribute enough to retain voting and membership rights. This part is critical. In November of 2007, when I first met Tracy Rosenberg I proposed some ideas to her about expanding the possibilities for listeners to volunteer and become listener-members. The Pacifica Bylaws state that volunteering three hours or more per year entitles an individual to full Membership rights. This is great because many working-poor, such as I, have little money to give to charity, but can certainly give our time and energy to the station. But the spots to volunteer in the phone room are limited. So, I proposed to Tracy Rosenberg (an LSB Member) the idea of expanding opportunities for volunteering whilst expanding interest in and awareness of KPFA. For example, doing KPFA promotions in one’s respective communities, such as tabling, town hall events, or film-screenings, or other KPFA-related promotions, much the way other radio stations do. She shrugged and agreed she thought it could work. I’m still waiting for her to raise this idea onto the beleaguered LSB agenda. I am very patient.
So, boycotting doesn’t have to be anathema, when we can ramp up our support for the true spirit of KPFA in other ways, while being openly honest about the problems at KPFA in the true spirit of free speech.
By the way, as I pulled up to my carpark (just before 3pm), Maldari noted a recent CEO of Morgan Stanley being paid “$17,000 per hour” to fleece people. Oddly, then Maldari turns to his “Concerned Listener” accomplice, Brian Edwards-Tiekert to mention that Brian Edwards-Tiekert recently received a pay-raise to bring BET up to $20 per hour. Apparently, the 20 or so paid bosses at KPFA have recently received pay raises merely ‘adjusting for inflation’ (quips BET). I remember hearing BET at an LSB meeting (Oct. ‘07) wax on about donating $100 despite barely clearing about $25k for the previous year. So I guess, $20 an hour bumps him (and other paid elites) up to about $41,600 a year. (BET got a decent raise, then, for his good works at KPFA and the LSB this last year.) That’s an odd budgetary move when there are reports left and right around KPFA and Pacifica of major money problems. Isn’t BET still Treasurer of KPFA’s governing body, the LSB? On the “Environmental Justice Beat,” I suppose Brian should be excused for failing to give any props to the majority who devote their time and lives for zero wages. We’ll have to count on David Bacon or Max Pringle for that.
I say props to the KPFA staffers that speak out and shame on the elitist bosses at KPFA who remain in silence and refuse to back up their shite.
So Nicole Sawaya's final act as ED was to name Lemlem "General Manager." But why? Was Nicole really that angry at KPFA?
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