KPFA's Board Chair Puts Kabosh On "Concerned Listeners" Fundraiser-Benefit Fiasco Exposed

KPFA local station Board chair and member of the Mukani Mawethu musical group Andrea Turner has been forced to cancel a Feb 6th benefit for the "Concerned Listeners" grouping at KPFA. The "Concerned Listeners" of whom Turner is a member have backed the management action to call police on Black community programmer Nadra Foster who was beaten and arrested at the station. They have also supported the action by KPFA manager Lemlem Rijio and the management team to de-recognize the unpaid staff organization. In the Foster incident, Foster, a single mother still faces police charges and possible jail time for this police action called by the KFPA and Pacifica management team. Former Pacifica Executive Director Nicole Sawaya and KFPA pro-management supporter Chris Welch were actively encouraging and helping the police during the assault on Foster.
These union busting tactics which have also been backed by Pacifica lawyer Dan Siegel who wrote that he was "surprised" by the action of the Berkeley police but defended Rijio and the Pacifica management for calling the police. These incidents have also provoked rage and anger by the KPFA unpaid staff organization who passed a statement of no confidence in Rijio.
One of the reasons for the cancellation is that the Mukani Mawethu South African musical group if they had participated would have had to cross a picket line not only of KPFA programmers but Black community members who have been angered by this vicious attack on Foster. Turner who is a longtime manager at the City of Oakland and one of the leaders of the Mukani Mawethu musical group would have not only been embarassed but members of her group would have blamed her for getting them in the middle of a bitter dispute at the station. Having a Black community muscial group crossing a picket line of KPFA programmers and Black community supporters protesting the beating of Nadra Foster would have been very problematic since they proclaim that they are for freedom in South Africa.
This cancellation of the benefit has exposed the rifts in the "Concerned Listeners" grouping and they may face future picketing of other events that they are planning on having including possible benefits at the Hallinan's house.


*CONCERNED LISTENERS BENEFIT FOR HALLINAN MILLIONAIRES AT LA PENA ON
FEBRUARY 6TH*

*Only 2 weeks after the UPSO-sponsored benefit for Nadra Foster, the
programmer defending herself from the cops KPFA called on her… Concerned
Listeners have the audacity to present a benefit for themselves!

Will the labor luminaries cross an UPSO picket line?
*
Featuring:
1) VUKANI MAWETHU is a nonprofit multiracial choir which sings the freedom
songs of Southern Africa, and also gospel, spirituals, labor and civil
rights songs linking peoples in the U.S., South Africa, and around the
world. Formed in 1986 by the late great James Madhlope Phillips, an ANC
union and cultural organizer, we are united by our strong opposition to
racism and apartheid and by our love of the rhythms and melodies which have
grown out of century-long struggles for freedom. *(510) 444-5009*

2) JON FROMER is an award-winning singer/songwriter whose music is a special
blend of folk, blues and country that has been at the center of movements
for peace and social change in the San Francisco Bay Area for decades. Every
November, Jon helps lead and organize the music for the annual mass
demonstrations of more than 20,000 protesters outside the School of The
Americas at Ft. Benning, Georgia. *(415) 383-2593*

3) PAT WYNNE is a performer, music teacher and vocal coach as well as a long
time labor activist and organizer. Pat teaches parttime in Labor Studies
and Music at City College of San Francisco and at Laney College in Oakland
where she conducts the Labor Chorus. *415-648-3457 *

CALL THESE FOLKS NOW!