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Remembering KPFA Day - don't forget to vote!
Ten years ago, one of the most remarkable events in the annals of United States broadcasting took place. Looking back on it now, I can hardly believe that it happened, even though I was there and saw it myself. On a very sunny Saturday July 31, 1999, about ten thousand people gathered in a park to demand the reopening of listener-supported radio station KPFA-FM in Berkeley, California. Ten thousand was the police estimate. It looked like more to me at the time. (by Matthew Lasar, 2009)
Ten years ago this Friday, one of the most remarkable events in the annals of United States broadcasting took place. Looking back on it now, I can hardly believe that it happened, even though I was there and saw it myself. On a very sunny Saturday July 31, 1999, about ten thousand people gathered in a park to demand the reopening of listener-supported radio station KPFA-FM in Berkeley, California. Ten thousand was the police estimate. It looked like more to me at the time.
Why would anyone want to silence that nice little station, you ask? You know, the non-commercial one that was started by pacifists after World War II, and plays folk music, Amy Goodman’s Democracy Now!, and operates almost entirely on subscriber donations? Surely this must have been the nefarious work of the FBI, you say, or the CIA, or some local rogue police operation working in cahoots with state government reactionaries.
Nope, the clampdown came from the station’s owner, the Pacifica Foundation, via its Executive Director, Lynn Chadwick, with support from its National Board and its Chair, the celebrated historian Mary Frances Berry, she also then head of the United States Civil Rights Commission. In fact, I think this little failed putsch came from the American Left.
But let’s put the complexities aside for a minute. Here’s how I described the demonstration in my book, Uneasy Listening: Pacifica Radio’s Civil War.
By the time I got there at about 11 a.m., it was already obvious that the event would be enormous. The plaza had become a forest of placards – “FREE FREE-SPEECH RADIO” and “Free Speech SAVE KPFA.” Dozens of organizations that depended on the station for outreach – Physicians for Social Responsibility, Global Exchange, Berkeley’s La Peña Cultural Center, Earth First! – came with their own banners. “We’ve got no SAY without KPFA,” read one. Dozens of activists came to the Sproul steps to speak. “I will protect KPFA until the day I’m done,” declared Dolores Huerta of the United Farm Workers Union.
Then Larry Bensky [the station's senior political reporter] introduced attorney Dan Siegel. Thirty years earlier Siegel, as president of UC Berkeley’s student body, had spoken at a noon rally urging students to take back People’s Park, a piece of land cordoned off by the university administration. Berkeley officials rewarded him with an inciting-to-riot charge, which he beat in court. Now Siegel represented a group Pacifica station local advisory board members who on June 16 filed suit in Alameda County Superior Court, charging that Pacifica had created “a self-perpetuating [National] Board without any accountability to the members and subscribers of the Foundation.” Unless restrained, the complaint continued, “the Board now threatens to utilize its newly created powers to abandon the mission and historic role of the Pacifica radio network and threatens to sell one or more of the Foundation’s five radio stations.”
“Look around,” Siegel told the crowd. “There’s something wrong with this demonstration this morning. And it’s not a lack of diversity. It’s not a lack of commitment. What’s wrong with this demonstration is that it’s not being carried live on KPFA.” The audience roared its approval.
“So here’s my thought for the day,” Siegel concluded. “Let’s go down and take our radio station back!”
And with that the throng, led by a dance/percussion ensemble and veterans of the Berkeley Free Speech movement, marched down Telegraph Avenue. Marching bands played “Keep Your Eyes on the Prize.” One delegation brought a float depicting a cheerful Lynn Chadwick wielding an axe over handcuffed KPFA listeners. Others manipulated giant puppets – gagged, of course – who hovered above the walkers. A demonstrator in pink tights rode on a unicycle around banners urging justice for Leonard Peletier and Mumia Abu Jamal. Behind them union locals – especially the service unions – carried banners and American flags.
After five blocks, they turned right on a side street corner to the accompaniment of drums, crying, “Shout it out loud . . . free speech now!” and marched down to KPFA. The police were gone. Pacifica had boarded up the station’s front door and windows. Although some suggested occupying the building, it would have been a pointless act of defiance, since Pacifica controlled the transmitter on Grizzly Peak. Demonstrators raised their fists and uttered warwhoops as they passed the structure. Others just gazed sadly at their building and wondered how things had gotten this far. A band played “We Shall Overcome” and “We Shall Not Be Moved” as the protesters slowly made their way toward the park. Staff now led the charge with a huge banner: “FREE SPEECH 1964-1999 . . .? SAVE KPFA!”—1964 a reference to the Free Speech Movement of that year.
At Martin Luther King, Jr., Park, [Berkeley Mayor] Shirley Dean greeted the demonstrators. “Thank you for being strong,” she declared. “Thank you for being there. Save KPFA!” She was followed by a procession of Bay Area politicians whose offices had been overwhelmed over the previous three weeks by email, voice mail, snail mail, and faxes – among them, San Francisco supervisor Tom Ammiano and San Francisco’s Mayor Willie Brown. Brown called for the resignation of the Pacifica board as some protesters, irate at his housing and homeless policies, stupidly booed him. It was, in fact, a testimony to the strength of this movement that so many political figures ambivalent about the station’s politics came to pay homage.
Equally remarkable declarations of solidarity came from afar, one from an alternative radio station banned in Serbia. Larry Bensky read its communiqué at the rally. “Radio B92 condemns in the strictest terms the repression and exertion of force against the staff of Radio KPFA,” its staff declared. “Long live freedom of speech! And down with media repression which knows no ideological or national boundaries, in either Berkeley or Belgrade.”
The park was packed; the streets beyond overflowed with people. Police estimated that ten thousand demonstrators had come to defend KPFA, the biggest East Bay crowd since the Vietnam antiwar protests, and surely the largest demonstration in American history on behalf of a radio station.
What impressed me then (and still now) about that fight was the extent to which it spilled out into the larger civil society. In the immediate moment a big chunk of the East Bay had no police protection for days because of the number of cops stationed around KPFA to keep its listeners and supporters out. As the crisis spread to varying degrees to all the Pacifica stations and some affiliates, the California state assembly held a hearing on the battle, as did the New York City Council, as did Congress. Dozens of newspapers covered the conflict: just to name a few, The New York Times, The San Francisco Chronicle, The Washington Post, and even overseas newspapers such as Le Monde and United Kingdom’s Guardian and The Economist. Scores of activist groups, non-profits, and alternative media outlets struggled to make sense of the fight and to offer some kind of constructive response to it, most notably The Nation magazine.
Photo: Susan Druding
Photo: Susan Druding
Why did Pacifica shut down KPFA? Easy explanations point to corporate intrigue or the machinations of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. I think the crisis had its roots in a twenty year effort by progressives to turn Pacifica into a broadcasting network competitive with commercial and mainstream public media. That project, full of centralizations and schedule cleanups, produced some good results, most notably Democracy Now!, but pushed the organization beyond its limits. In the 1990s it threw too many people off the air who had no where else to go to reach a big signal terrestrial radio audience (Pacifica’s five stations have powerful transmitters; well over 100,000 watts in the case of KPFK in Los Angeles). These ejected programmers and their supporters, in turn, availed themselves of the Internet’s then new tools—most notably listserves and websites—to resist those changes. By the late 1990s Pacifica’s managers and directors had simply lost patience with the process and opted for repression.
In the end, Pacifica radio is a bad candidate for centralized makeovers. For better and for worse, its political economy is bottom up. The listener sponsored system, with its emphasis on voluntarism, puts too much power in the hands of volunteer workers and contributors to allow any small group of people to self consciously contour the network in any coherent way. This is good news if your heart palpitates at the sound of words like “grassroots” and “community.” But if your whistle whets at the prospect of a broadcasting organization that can compete with mainstream media to reach a big terrestrial/streaming audience, well, take a look at Pacifica’s resources and its present very complex democratic structure (a result of the settlement of that war). To put it gently, your efforts are best directed elsewhere.
What the Pacifica stations can most effectively offer today, I think, is what is missing from so much broadcast media at present: localism. As the rest of radio automates and newspapers continue to collapse, these signals stand out as unique resources for news/information about the local political process and as venues for local music and other cultural forms. Web 2.0 has yet to really prove whether it can do this. KPFA, KPFK, WBAI in New York City, WPFW in Washington, D.C., and KPFT in Houston already have.
But this blog post is not about working out Pacifica’s future. It’s about celebrating that moment ten years ago when thousands marched in Berkeley, declaring that radio of the people, by the people, and for the people should not vanish from the earth. I am sure that I am not the only person who remembers that amazing day.
----------------------------------------
This article was originally published at http://www.radiosurvivor.com/2009/07/29/remembering-save-kpfa-day/.
Again, it's time to save the station. The SaveKPFA candidates are Matthew Hallinan, Margy Wilkinson, Suzi Goldmacher, Mal Bernstein, Terry Doran, Mark Hernandez, Dave Saldana, Jack Kurzweil, Tanya Russell, and Don Goldmacher. http://savekpfa.org/
Why would anyone want to silence that nice little station, you ask? You know, the non-commercial one that was started by pacifists after World War II, and plays folk music, Amy Goodman’s Democracy Now!, and operates almost entirely on subscriber donations? Surely this must have been the nefarious work of the FBI, you say, or the CIA, or some local rogue police operation working in cahoots with state government reactionaries.
Nope, the clampdown came from the station’s owner, the Pacifica Foundation, via its Executive Director, Lynn Chadwick, with support from its National Board and its Chair, the celebrated historian Mary Frances Berry, she also then head of the United States Civil Rights Commission. In fact, I think this little failed putsch came from the American Left.
But let’s put the complexities aside for a minute. Here’s how I described the demonstration in my book, Uneasy Listening: Pacifica Radio’s Civil War.
By the time I got there at about 11 a.m., it was already obvious that the event would be enormous. The plaza had become a forest of placards – “FREE FREE-SPEECH RADIO” and “Free Speech SAVE KPFA.” Dozens of organizations that depended on the station for outreach – Physicians for Social Responsibility, Global Exchange, Berkeley’s La Peña Cultural Center, Earth First! – came with their own banners. “We’ve got no SAY without KPFA,” read one. Dozens of activists came to the Sproul steps to speak. “I will protect KPFA until the day I’m done,” declared Dolores Huerta of the United Farm Workers Union.
Then Larry Bensky [the station's senior political reporter] introduced attorney Dan Siegel. Thirty years earlier Siegel, as president of UC Berkeley’s student body, had spoken at a noon rally urging students to take back People’s Park, a piece of land cordoned off by the university administration. Berkeley officials rewarded him with an inciting-to-riot charge, which he beat in court. Now Siegel represented a group Pacifica station local advisory board members who on June 16 filed suit in Alameda County Superior Court, charging that Pacifica had created “a self-perpetuating [National] Board without any accountability to the members and subscribers of the Foundation.” Unless restrained, the complaint continued, “the Board now threatens to utilize its newly created powers to abandon the mission and historic role of the Pacifica radio network and threatens to sell one or more of the Foundation’s five radio stations.”
“Look around,” Siegel told the crowd. “There’s something wrong with this demonstration this morning. And it’s not a lack of diversity. It’s not a lack of commitment. What’s wrong with this demonstration is that it’s not being carried live on KPFA.” The audience roared its approval.
“So here’s my thought for the day,” Siegel concluded. “Let’s go down and take our radio station back!”
And with that the throng, led by a dance/percussion ensemble and veterans of the Berkeley Free Speech movement, marched down Telegraph Avenue. Marching bands played “Keep Your Eyes on the Prize.” One delegation brought a float depicting a cheerful Lynn Chadwick wielding an axe over handcuffed KPFA listeners. Others manipulated giant puppets – gagged, of course – who hovered above the walkers. A demonstrator in pink tights rode on a unicycle around banners urging justice for Leonard Peletier and Mumia Abu Jamal. Behind them union locals – especially the service unions – carried banners and American flags.
After five blocks, they turned right on a side street corner to the accompaniment of drums, crying, “Shout it out loud . . . free speech now!” and marched down to KPFA. The police were gone. Pacifica had boarded up the station’s front door and windows. Although some suggested occupying the building, it would have been a pointless act of defiance, since Pacifica controlled the transmitter on Grizzly Peak. Demonstrators raised their fists and uttered warwhoops as they passed the structure. Others just gazed sadly at their building and wondered how things had gotten this far. A band played “We Shall Overcome” and “We Shall Not Be Moved” as the protesters slowly made their way toward the park. Staff now led the charge with a huge banner: “FREE SPEECH 1964-1999 . . .? SAVE KPFA!”—1964 a reference to the Free Speech Movement of that year.
At Martin Luther King, Jr., Park, [Berkeley Mayor] Shirley Dean greeted the demonstrators. “Thank you for being strong,” she declared. “Thank you for being there. Save KPFA!” She was followed by a procession of Bay Area politicians whose offices had been overwhelmed over the previous three weeks by email, voice mail, snail mail, and faxes – among them, San Francisco supervisor Tom Ammiano and San Francisco’s Mayor Willie Brown. Brown called for the resignation of the Pacifica board as some protesters, irate at his housing and homeless policies, stupidly booed him. It was, in fact, a testimony to the strength of this movement that so many political figures ambivalent about the station’s politics came to pay homage.
Equally remarkable declarations of solidarity came from afar, one from an alternative radio station banned in Serbia. Larry Bensky read its communiqué at the rally. “Radio B92 condemns in the strictest terms the repression and exertion of force against the staff of Radio KPFA,” its staff declared. “Long live freedom of speech! And down with media repression which knows no ideological or national boundaries, in either Berkeley or Belgrade.”
The park was packed; the streets beyond overflowed with people. Police estimated that ten thousand demonstrators had come to defend KPFA, the biggest East Bay crowd since the Vietnam antiwar protests, and surely the largest demonstration in American history on behalf of a radio station.
What impressed me then (and still now) about that fight was the extent to which it spilled out into the larger civil society. In the immediate moment a big chunk of the East Bay had no police protection for days because of the number of cops stationed around KPFA to keep its listeners and supporters out. As the crisis spread to varying degrees to all the Pacifica stations and some affiliates, the California state assembly held a hearing on the battle, as did the New York City Council, as did Congress. Dozens of newspapers covered the conflict: just to name a few, The New York Times, The San Francisco Chronicle, The Washington Post, and even overseas newspapers such as Le Monde and United Kingdom’s Guardian and The Economist. Scores of activist groups, non-profits, and alternative media outlets struggled to make sense of the fight and to offer some kind of constructive response to it, most notably The Nation magazine.
Photo: Susan Druding
Photo: Susan Druding
Why did Pacifica shut down KPFA? Easy explanations point to corporate intrigue or the machinations of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. I think the crisis had its roots in a twenty year effort by progressives to turn Pacifica into a broadcasting network competitive with commercial and mainstream public media. That project, full of centralizations and schedule cleanups, produced some good results, most notably Democracy Now!, but pushed the organization beyond its limits. In the 1990s it threw too many people off the air who had no where else to go to reach a big signal terrestrial radio audience (Pacifica’s five stations have powerful transmitters; well over 100,000 watts in the case of KPFK in Los Angeles). These ejected programmers and their supporters, in turn, availed themselves of the Internet’s then new tools—most notably listserves and websites—to resist those changes. By the late 1990s Pacifica’s managers and directors had simply lost patience with the process and opted for repression.
In the end, Pacifica radio is a bad candidate for centralized makeovers. For better and for worse, its political economy is bottom up. The listener sponsored system, with its emphasis on voluntarism, puts too much power in the hands of volunteer workers and contributors to allow any small group of people to self consciously contour the network in any coherent way. This is good news if your heart palpitates at the sound of words like “grassroots” and “community.” But if your whistle whets at the prospect of a broadcasting organization that can compete with mainstream media to reach a big terrestrial/streaming audience, well, take a look at Pacifica’s resources and its present very complex democratic structure (a result of the settlement of that war). To put it gently, your efforts are best directed elsewhere.
What the Pacifica stations can most effectively offer today, I think, is what is missing from so much broadcast media at present: localism. As the rest of radio automates and newspapers continue to collapse, these signals stand out as unique resources for news/information about the local political process and as venues for local music and other cultural forms. Web 2.0 has yet to really prove whether it can do this. KPFA, KPFK, WBAI in New York City, WPFW in Washington, D.C., and KPFT in Houston already have.
But this blog post is not about working out Pacifica’s future. It’s about celebrating that moment ten years ago when thousands marched in Berkeley, declaring that radio of the people, by the people, and for the people should not vanish from the earth. I am sure that I am not the only person who remembers that amazing day.
----------------------------------------
This article was originally published at http://www.radiosurvivor.com/2009/07/29/remembering-save-kpfa-day/.
Again, it's time to save the station. The SaveKPFA candidates are Matthew Hallinan, Margy Wilkinson, Suzi Goldmacher, Mal Bernstein, Terry Doran, Mark Hernandez, Dave Saldana, Jack Kurzweil, Tanya Russell, and Don Goldmacher. http://savekpfa.org/
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The "Concerned Listeners" have stolen "Save KPFA" -- a name belonging to the group of activists who fought for listener democracy during most of the 1990's. Their name "Save KPFA" is legendary, inappropriate for the "Concerned Listeners", a group whose purpose is diametrically opposite.
"Concerned Listeners" is the election slate representing the status quo at KPFA. Recently they suddenly changed their name. Why? I don't really know, but I suspect they felt burdened with negative name recognition. Perhaps too many listener-voters had come to know them for who they are.
These wolves in sheep's clothing are now calling themselves "Save KPFA," stealing the name belonging to the group of activists who fought for listener democracy during most of the 1990's and laid the ground work for the successful overthrow of the hijacker regime. For good reason, their name "Save KPFA" is legendary, inappropriate for a group whose purpose is diametrically opposite.
The "Concerned Listeners" (the bogus Save KPFA) assumed the name without asking permission, or giving any acknowledgement, and the original Save KPFA folks are outraged. They object to this use of their name and have asked the Concerned Listeners to immediately stop calling themselves" Save KPFA." Curt Gray, a co-treasurer of the original group, wrote in an email:
"We view it as an arrogant appropriation and intentional erasure of our historic efforts. And we are particularly concerned because we understand that the current group using our name seems to oppose and undermine the very work of democratizing reform at Pacifica and KPFA that our earlier group laid the foundation for."
Below is Curt Gray's letter of August 12, 2010.
To the KPFA and Pacifica election coordinators, and all concerned
From Curt Gray
Member of the original Save KPFA
Hello, my name is Curt Gray. I was the co-treasurer of the original Save KPFA, which was a listener activist group that started in 1993. I have recently learned that an election slate running in the KPFA board elections is using our name. The original Save KPFA was one of the earliest groups calling for subscribers to be voting members of the foundation, with the power to elect a local station governing board. This was back when there was only a self-appointed local advisory board for KPFA and the only members of the foundation were the Nat. board itself. Save KPFA eventually begot Take Back KPFA, which eventually led to the creation of the current group Coalition for a democratic Pacifica. All of these groups worked for the democratic reform of Pacifica that led to the elections Pacifica has now.
I have proofs of the existence of our original group, and that its prior existence is public knowledge through recent on-line discussions and documents that are currently available on the web. Plus, I have documents like fictitious name app, bank statement, statements printed in the KPFA Folio program guide that was published back in those days and fliers. I am also putting together a joint statement protesting the use of our name from members of the original coordinating committee of our group.
From what I can tell, the group using our name is against Pacifica having elections, and that KPFA board members associated with this faction using our name have worked to undermine the functioning of the democratically elected boards to perform their duties under the bylaws, and to undermine the fair election process itself.
I am sending you this e-mail as a first notice of protest, and when these other materials mentioned above are assembled, we plan to submit a formal objection to all concerned about this use of our name that we believe to be misleading as to what this current group using our name stands for, and confusing to voting members, who may think use of our name is an endorsement of this anti-democratic slate. If necessary there may be a legal challenge.
I do not have any contact information for the group that is currently using our name, so I have not sent this to them yet. Please let me know that you have gotten this notice from me and whatever actions you intend to take regarding this issue. Feel free to send this to the group using our name, so they can know that there is a serious objection to their using this name, and that we are not going to let them undermine our years of work, or damage our reputations as pro-democracy listener activists. We expect them to immediately stop using our name, and to send out notices to anyone they contacted using our name that the original Save KPFA did not give permission, that we object to the use of our name in this manner, and that we do not endorse them.
Curt Gray
August 12, 2010
"Concerned Listeners" is the election slate representing the status quo at KPFA. Recently they suddenly changed their name. Why? I don't really know, but I suspect they felt burdened with negative name recognition. Perhaps too many listener-voters had come to know them for who they are.
These wolves in sheep's clothing are now calling themselves "Save KPFA," stealing the name belonging to the group of activists who fought for listener democracy during most of the 1990's and laid the ground work for the successful overthrow of the hijacker regime. For good reason, their name "Save KPFA" is legendary, inappropriate for a group whose purpose is diametrically opposite.
The "Concerned Listeners" (the bogus Save KPFA) assumed the name without asking permission, or giving any acknowledgement, and the original Save KPFA folks are outraged. They object to this use of their name and have asked the Concerned Listeners to immediately stop calling themselves" Save KPFA." Curt Gray, a co-treasurer of the original group, wrote in an email:
"We view it as an arrogant appropriation and intentional erasure of our historic efforts. And we are particularly concerned because we understand that the current group using our name seems to oppose and undermine the very work of democratizing reform at Pacifica and KPFA that our earlier group laid the foundation for."
Below is Curt Gray's letter of August 12, 2010.
To the KPFA and Pacifica election coordinators, and all concerned
From Curt Gray
Member of the original Save KPFA
Hello, my name is Curt Gray. I was the co-treasurer of the original Save KPFA, which was a listener activist group that started in 1993. I have recently learned that an election slate running in the KPFA board elections is using our name. The original Save KPFA was one of the earliest groups calling for subscribers to be voting members of the foundation, with the power to elect a local station governing board. This was back when there was only a self-appointed local advisory board for KPFA and the only members of the foundation were the Nat. board itself. Save KPFA eventually begot Take Back KPFA, which eventually led to the creation of the current group Coalition for a democratic Pacifica. All of these groups worked for the democratic reform of Pacifica that led to the elections Pacifica has now.
I have proofs of the existence of our original group, and that its prior existence is public knowledge through recent on-line discussions and documents that are currently available on the web. Plus, I have documents like fictitious name app, bank statement, statements printed in the KPFA Folio program guide that was published back in those days and fliers. I am also putting together a joint statement protesting the use of our name from members of the original coordinating committee of our group.
From what I can tell, the group using our name is against Pacifica having elections, and that KPFA board members associated with this faction using our name have worked to undermine the functioning of the democratically elected boards to perform their duties under the bylaws, and to undermine the fair election process itself.
I am sending you this e-mail as a first notice of protest, and when these other materials mentioned above are assembled, we plan to submit a formal objection to all concerned about this use of our name that we believe to be misleading as to what this current group using our name stands for, and confusing to voting members, who may think use of our name is an endorsement of this anti-democratic slate. If necessary there may be a legal challenge.
I do not have any contact information for the group that is currently using our name, so I have not sent this to them yet. Please let me know that you have gotten this notice from me and whatever actions you intend to take regarding this issue. Feel free to send this to the group using our name, so they can know that there is a serious objection to their using this name, and that we are not going to let them undermine our years of work, or damage our reputations as pro-democracy listener activists. We expect them to immediately stop using our name, and to send out notices to anyone they contacted using our name that the original Save KPFA did not give permission, that we object to the use of our name in this manner, and that we do not endorse them.
Curt Gray
August 12, 2010
Peter Phillips of Project Censored in his endorsement of the Independents for Community Radio:
**
Here is what at stake and what KPFA subscribers need to know.
At the heart of Pacifica's struggles and that of much of progressive media, is a split between two visions. The first calls for more professionalism, mainstreaming, providing a progressive alternative that is comfortable and not too challenging. Known by many names in the past, including the Healthy Station Project, it is represented in this election by the candidate group called “Save KPFA”, formerly “Concerned Listeners”.
The second, closer in spirit to the WWII pacifism of founder Lew Hill, seeks to feature radical voices ahead of their times, uncomfortable and challenging points of view, perspectives that are rarely if ever heard in media, and directly connect with communities that are the most deeply impacted by social and economic injustice, here and around the world. This point of view is represented by “Independents for Community Radio (ICR)”.
**
The candidates running on the ICR slate are:
Tracy Rosenberg
Hyun-Mi Kim
Stephen Astourian
Cynthia Johnson
Kate Tanaka
Janet Kobren
Gina Szeto
Monadel Herzallah
Georgia Frazer
Naeem Deskins
Please visit http://www.voteindyradio.org
**
Here is what at stake and what KPFA subscribers need to know.
At the heart of Pacifica's struggles and that of much of progressive media, is a split between two visions. The first calls for more professionalism, mainstreaming, providing a progressive alternative that is comfortable and not too challenging. Known by many names in the past, including the Healthy Station Project, it is represented in this election by the candidate group called “Save KPFA”, formerly “Concerned Listeners”.
The second, closer in spirit to the WWII pacifism of founder Lew Hill, seeks to feature radical voices ahead of their times, uncomfortable and challenging points of view, perspectives that are rarely if ever heard in media, and directly connect with communities that are the most deeply impacted by social and economic injustice, here and around the world. This point of view is represented by “Independents for Community Radio (ICR)”.
**
The candidates running on the ICR slate are:
Tracy Rosenberg
Hyun-Mi Kim
Stephen Astourian
Cynthia Johnson
Kate Tanaka
Janet Kobren
Gina Szeto
Monadel Herzallah
Georgia Frazer
Naeem Deskins
Please visit http://www.voteindyradio.org
The Thug Hallinan Gang also known as "SaveKPFA," SlaveKPFA," and Concerned Listeners, are clearly using an old fascist tactic of using left rhetoric as a cover for their fascist deeds. This time, they stole the name of Save KPFA so they can destroy KPFA, which they have been busy doing, so that KPFA has no money to pay staff or benefits or Democracy Now. This is, of course, what the Democratic Party, the organization which is the political base of these thugs, does. It espouses pro-workingclass rhetoric to make sure we never vote Red (socialist) or Green and then when in office, carries out the same capitalist agenda as the Republican Party, as they are both paid by the same capitalist corporations to promote the private profit system, always anti-workingclass by definition.
They even falsely used the name of a national labor publication, Labor Notes, to promote their destructive agenda. See
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2010/09/25/18659879.php?show_comments=1#18660023
and
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2010/09/25/18659879.php?show_comments=1#18660026
Nazis stands for National Socialist Workers Party, although there was nothing socialist or labor based about them. They even waved red flags, as did the communists, the 3rd largest party in Germany at the time.
The fact that they are campaigning on this website, better known as pissing on this website, which does not support the Democratic Party, and at this late date when all you can do is walk your ballot to the station, makes we wonder just what criminal deeds they plan to do in desperation to maintain their destruction of KPFA, which at this moment, is not a viable institution due to the evil deeds of the Thug Hallinan Gang, with its terrorism and till-tapping.
This must be viewed as part of Obama's continuation of all previous president's attacks on the Left. See
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2010/sep2010/pers-s27.shtml
If you still have not marked your ballot, please do so today and walk it to the station. The best opposition to the Thug Hallinan Gang are the Voices for Justice Radio slate, namely:
Steve Zeltzer, Dr. Sureya Sayadi, Jaime Cader, Felipe Messina
See:
http://www.voicesforjusticeradio.org/
Their endorsers are
Cindy Sheehan, Anti-war activist
Cynthia McKinney, Former Congresswoman
Gayle McLaughlin, Mayor of City of Richmond, California
Peace and Freedom Party California
Green Party of Contra Costa County Council
San Francisco Bayview Newspaper
Education Not Incarceration, SF Chapter
Idriss Stelley Action and Resource Center (ISARC)
Transport Workers Solidarity Committee (TWSC) http://www.transportworkers.org
Mary And Willie Radcliff, Publisher, San Francisco Bayview Newspaper
Gray Brechin, UCB Geography Department and Author "Imperial San Francisco"
Genoveva Calloway, Vice-Mayor, City of San Pablo
Jovanka Beckles, The Richmond Planning Commission
Trent Willis, Former Vice President ILWU Local 10
Clarence Thomas, Former ILWU Local 10 Secretary Treasurer
Francisco De Costa, Executive Director of Enviromental Justice Advocacy San Francisco
Roger Scott, Past President AFT 2121, Professor San Francisco City College
Bill Carpenter, Professor, San Francisco City College, Videographer
Todd Davies, Lecturer, Stanford University (endorsing Steve Zeltzer only)
Rick Hauptman, Chair, North Mission Neighborhood Alliance
Mary Ellen Churchill, Videographer and media activist
Lotus Fong, Community Activist
Philip Santos, Muscian, member of American Federation of Musicians
Ralph Schoenman, Co-Producer Taking Aim
Cynthia Servetnick, Member IFPTE Local 21, Save the Laguna Street Campus
Lisa Milos, UCSF CWA-UPTE Member
Mary Ann Ring, UCSF CUE 9 Delegate
Russ Miyashiro, ILWU Local 34 Assistant Dispatcher
Brad Wiedmaier, SEIU, Architectural Historian, 113 Steuart St. Labor Center Project
Jemahl Ämen
Dr. Ahimsa Porter Sumchai, Phyisican, Environmental Activist
Charles Smith, AFSCME 444 Chief Steward
Diane Brown, President of United Teachers of Richmond, CTA/NEA and Progressive Teachers Caucus of Richmond
Riva Enteen, former Chair KPFA Local Station Board
JR Valery, Producer of the Black Report (endorsing Steve Zeltzer only)
Skip Charbonneau, member SEIU 1000
Regina Carey, Community Activist Marin County
Lynda Carson, Freelance journalist & tenant activist
Peter Philipps, Founder of Project Censored and Professor Sonoma State University
John Mifsud, Artistic Director of Diversity Productions
Anore Shaw, Green Party member
Roger Hill, Founder-Director of Mental-Rev Productions
Jeff Blankfort, Radio Producer
Dennis Bernstein, programmer KPFA Flashpoints
Anne Garrison, endorses Steve Zeltzer
Organizations after the names are identification only
Also good are some candidates on the Independents for Community Radio slate. See http://www.voteindyradio.org
PLEASE ALSO LISTEN TO THE ON-AIR FORUMS ON KPFA, 94.1 FM, SEPT 27, 28, 29 FROM 8-10 P.M. You can call in with your questions at 8:30 and 9:30 p.m. as the second half hour of each 1 hour forum is for listener call-ins. The entire Thug Hallinan Gang needs to be condemned for its thuggery, till-tapping, and viciousness at the forums. Mel Bernstein engaged in vicious false name-calling in his phony closing statement at an on-air forum. Others from this Gang claim to know absolutely nothing about KPFA when confronted with the issues, which begs the question, why are they running for KPFA's Local Station Board? They have a medical doctor, a psychiatrist, Donald Goldmacher, claiming to be a filmmaker, which is his hobby, who engages in a dirty campaign on this website and regurgiates a standard line of drivel at his last on-air forum. See http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2010/09/26/18660028.php
Please call in with your budget questions and put these thugs on the spot. AND ABOVE ALL, VOTE. We need 10% of the 20,000 listener-subscribers to vote to make this election valid, always a challenge. All 20,000 listener-subscribers should vote.
They even falsely used the name of a national labor publication, Labor Notes, to promote their destructive agenda. See
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2010/09/25/18659879.php?show_comments=1#18660023
and
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2010/09/25/18659879.php?show_comments=1#18660026
Nazis stands for National Socialist Workers Party, although there was nothing socialist or labor based about them. They even waved red flags, as did the communists, the 3rd largest party in Germany at the time.
The fact that they are campaigning on this website, better known as pissing on this website, which does not support the Democratic Party, and at this late date when all you can do is walk your ballot to the station, makes we wonder just what criminal deeds they plan to do in desperation to maintain their destruction of KPFA, which at this moment, is not a viable institution due to the evil deeds of the Thug Hallinan Gang, with its terrorism and till-tapping.
This must be viewed as part of Obama's continuation of all previous president's attacks on the Left. See
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2010/sep2010/pers-s27.shtml
If you still have not marked your ballot, please do so today and walk it to the station. The best opposition to the Thug Hallinan Gang are the Voices for Justice Radio slate, namely:
Steve Zeltzer, Dr. Sureya Sayadi, Jaime Cader, Felipe Messina
See:
http://www.voicesforjusticeradio.org/
Their endorsers are
Cindy Sheehan, Anti-war activist
Cynthia McKinney, Former Congresswoman
Gayle McLaughlin, Mayor of City of Richmond, California
Peace and Freedom Party California
Green Party of Contra Costa County Council
San Francisco Bayview Newspaper
Education Not Incarceration, SF Chapter
Idriss Stelley Action and Resource Center (ISARC)
Transport Workers Solidarity Committee (TWSC) http://www.transportworkers.org
Mary And Willie Radcliff, Publisher, San Francisco Bayview Newspaper
Gray Brechin, UCB Geography Department and Author "Imperial San Francisco"
Genoveva Calloway, Vice-Mayor, City of San Pablo
Jovanka Beckles, The Richmond Planning Commission
Trent Willis, Former Vice President ILWU Local 10
Clarence Thomas, Former ILWU Local 10 Secretary Treasurer
Francisco De Costa, Executive Director of Enviromental Justice Advocacy San Francisco
Roger Scott, Past President AFT 2121, Professor San Francisco City College
Bill Carpenter, Professor, San Francisco City College, Videographer
Todd Davies, Lecturer, Stanford University (endorsing Steve Zeltzer only)
Rick Hauptman, Chair, North Mission Neighborhood Alliance
Mary Ellen Churchill, Videographer and media activist
Lotus Fong, Community Activist
Philip Santos, Muscian, member of American Federation of Musicians
Ralph Schoenman, Co-Producer Taking Aim
Cynthia Servetnick, Member IFPTE Local 21, Save the Laguna Street Campus
Lisa Milos, UCSF CWA-UPTE Member
Mary Ann Ring, UCSF CUE 9 Delegate
Russ Miyashiro, ILWU Local 34 Assistant Dispatcher
Brad Wiedmaier, SEIU, Architectural Historian, 113 Steuart St. Labor Center Project
Jemahl Ämen
Dr. Ahimsa Porter Sumchai, Phyisican, Environmental Activist
Charles Smith, AFSCME 444 Chief Steward
Diane Brown, President of United Teachers of Richmond, CTA/NEA and Progressive Teachers Caucus of Richmond
Riva Enteen, former Chair KPFA Local Station Board
JR Valery, Producer of the Black Report (endorsing Steve Zeltzer only)
Skip Charbonneau, member SEIU 1000
Regina Carey, Community Activist Marin County
Lynda Carson, Freelance journalist & tenant activist
Peter Philipps, Founder of Project Censored and Professor Sonoma State University
John Mifsud, Artistic Director of Diversity Productions
Anore Shaw, Green Party member
Roger Hill, Founder-Director of Mental-Rev Productions
Jeff Blankfort, Radio Producer
Dennis Bernstein, programmer KPFA Flashpoints
Anne Garrison, endorses Steve Zeltzer
Organizations after the names are identification only
Also good are some candidates on the Independents for Community Radio slate. See http://www.voteindyradio.org
PLEASE ALSO LISTEN TO THE ON-AIR FORUMS ON KPFA, 94.1 FM, SEPT 27, 28, 29 FROM 8-10 P.M. You can call in with your questions at 8:30 and 9:30 p.m. as the second half hour of each 1 hour forum is for listener call-ins. The entire Thug Hallinan Gang needs to be condemned for its thuggery, till-tapping, and viciousness at the forums. Mel Bernstein engaged in vicious false name-calling in his phony closing statement at an on-air forum. Others from this Gang claim to know absolutely nothing about KPFA when confronted with the issues, which begs the question, why are they running for KPFA's Local Station Board? They have a medical doctor, a psychiatrist, Donald Goldmacher, claiming to be a filmmaker, which is his hobby, who engages in a dirty campaign on this website and regurgiates a standard line of drivel at his last on-air forum. See http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2010/09/26/18660028.php
Please call in with your budget questions and put these thugs on the spot. AND ABOVE ALL, VOTE. We need 10% of the 20,000 listener-subscribers to vote to make this election valid, always a challenge. All 20,000 listener-subscribers should vote.
by Daniel Borgstrom
Monday Sep 27th, 2010 9:44 AM
The "SaveKPFA"group who have been told their name is a violation of fair rules when they try to link it to the historic well-known movement have posted at the last minute a blatant link with the picture of the banner from '99.
Matthew Lasar went on-air claiming he does not endorse these people. Then he posted his endorsements all over the place. The effect of things if they get their way is to close out all but a VERY few gatekeepers at the network. What would prevent the worst of the Democratic Party or any other party from appointing themselves to the national board if Lasar's desire to eliminate an ELECTED board takes effect? Do you think the KPFA news could be improved? Then do NOT vote for this group. (one small example...) (See Robbie Osman's http://www.robbie.org)
There may not be a way to sanction this "SaveKPFA" group of candidates, who have behaved in very slimy ways, as their new posting and picture here is "anonymous."
Vote for ANYONE other than "SaveKPFA." At least read the article from Robbie Osman if you have time for nothing else:
http://www.robbie.org
http://danielborgstrom.blogspot.com/
As has been pointed out elsewhere, not everyone who fought in '99 did so for the same reason.
http://www.robbie.org
Monday Sep 27th, 2010 9:44 AM
The "SaveKPFA"group who have been told their name is a violation of fair rules when they try to link it to the historic well-known movement have posted at the last minute a blatant link with the picture of the banner from '99.
Matthew Lasar went on-air claiming he does not endorse these people. Then he posted his endorsements all over the place. The effect of things if they get their way is to close out all but a VERY few gatekeepers at the network. What would prevent the worst of the Democratic Party or any other party from appointing themselves to the national board if Lasar's desire to eliminate an ELECTED board takes effect? Do you think the KPFA news could be improved? Then do NOT vote for this group. (one small example...) (See Robbie Osman's http://www.robbie.org)
There may not be a way to sanction this "SaveKPFA" group of candidates, who have behaved in very slimy ways, as their new posting and picture here is "anonymous."
Vote for ANYONE other than "SaveKPFA." At least read the article from Robbie Osman if you have time for nothing else:
http://www.robbie.org
http://danielborgstrom.blogspot.com/
As has been pointed out elsewhere, not everyone who fought in '99 did so for the same reason.
http://www.robbie.org
For more information:
http://www.robbie.org
Peoples Radio the longstanding caucas fighting for Democracy, Transparentcy, and a truly Left alternative KPFA/Pacifica Recommends voting for the following candidates :
(Note that these rankings were arrived at by a democratic vote of our members combining many opinions . Not everyone agrees with the order of the rankings but we believe in majority rule )
1. KIm (ICR )
2. Messina (VFJR )
3. Tanaka (VFJR )
4.Johnson (ICR )
5. Zeltzer (VFJR )
6.Astourian (ICR )
7.Sayadi (VFJR )
8.Diehl (Independent )
9.Rosenberg (ICR )
10. Aarons (Independent )
11. Szeto (ICR )
12. Kobren (ICR )
Please check out peoplesradio.net/election2010.htm for more infro re our choice of candidates . (On 9/28 )
(Note that these rankings were arrived at by a democratic vote of our members combining many opinions . Not everyone agrees with the order of the rankings but we believe in majority rule )
1. KIm (ICR )
2. Messina (VFJR )
3. Tanaka (VFJR )
4.Johnson (ICR )
5. Zeltzer (VFJR )
6.Astourian (ICR )
7.Sayadi (VFJR )
8.Diehl (Independent )
9.Rosenberg (ICR )
10. Aarons (Independent )
11. Szeto (ICR )
12. Kobren (ICR )
Please check out peoplesradio.net/election2010.htm for more infro re our choice of candidates . (On 9/28 )
Tanaka is with the ICR not the VFJR slate .
"Peoples" Radio's belated endorsement list -- which they still can't seem to get straight -- confirms that they are really in favor of the Concerned Listener/Save KPFA imposters.
There is a serious issue here about CL/Save trying to fool people into thinking they are the real Save KPFA. You muddy the waters and produce an asinine set of endorsements to that subject (your third in the last week) that does more to help CL/Save than ICR which really has people who go back to playing a real role in those days on the streets, such as Tracy Rosenberg.
Fortunately, PR is down to about four and a half people at this point and is ever more immaterial.
There is a serious issue here about CL/Save trying to fool people into thinking they are the real Save KPFA. You muddy the waters and produce an asinine set of endorsements to that subject (your third in the last week) that does more to help CL/Save than ICR which really has people who go back to playing a real role in those days on the streets, such as Tracy Rosenberg.
Fortunately, PR is down to about four and a half people at this point and is ever more immaterial.
The anonymous poster, writing under the name “Done With Your Foolishness”, pretends to be an ICR person, angry at People’s Radio. Well, there are differences between ICR and People’s Radio. But I suspect that post was by a CL’er.
Hum, different recommendations were circulating on lists from People's Radio last week....
SubJ: Nbay4kpfa / Fw: These are People's Radio's voting recommendations.
These are People's Radio's voting recommendations.
Most of us believe that a unified voting order is the most likely to gain
seats for our side, so please observe this voting order.
You don't need to vote for all 11, though, so vote for 9 or fewer, however you prefer.
1 Kate Tanaka
Long time listener
2 Felipe Messina
New to station but very knowledgeable, organized, and energetic,
devoted
3 Hyun-Mi Kim
Impressed us with her intelligent approach, stands for youth
and diversity; even though not currently knowledgeable about station
4 Cynthia Johnson
Long time listener, familiar with station issues
5 Stephen Astourian
New to station but good understanding of our goals and generally
knowledgeable
6 Janet Kobren
Has participated in KPFA democratic governance groups for a few
years but untried in leadership role
7 Tracy Rosenberg
The most knowledgeable about KPFA/Pacifica affairs and a powerful voice for progressive governance; strong reservations within our group about her autocratic and even unprincipled management style; has refused to work in coalition with us and others; as an incumbent, has a good chance of winning
8 Gina Szeto
A voice for diversity and youth but very new to KPFA and has not
been participating much in election events; might not have
the consistent attendance our side needs
9 Steve Zeltzer
Very strong voice for justice with a broad view of the movement,
but unable to ally with others, tends instead to attack his allies
as much as our enemies; little sense of strategy
10 Aaron Aarons
His main issue is promoting socialism, does not align with others,
but he understands the governance issues at the station as well
11 Sureya Sayadi
A strong ally but gives us a bad name by not adhering to rules of
meeting discourse - not observing the agenda and leadership of the chair, etc.
SubJ: Nbay4kpfa / Fw: These are People's Radio's voting recommendations.
These are People's Radio's voting recommendations.
Most of us believe that a unified voting order is the most likely to gain
seats for our side, so please observe this voting order.
You don't need to vote for all 11, though, so vote for 9 or fewer, however you prefer.
1 Kate Tanaka
Long time listener
2 Felipe Messina
New to station but very knowledgeable, organized, and energetic,
devoted
3 Hyun-Mi Kim
Impressed us with her intelligent approach, stands for youth
and diversity; even though not currently knowledgeable about station
4 Cynthia Johnson
Long time listener, familiar with station issues
5 Stephen Astourian
New to station but good understanding of our goals and generally
knowledgeable
6 Janet Kobren
Has participated in KPFA democratic governance groups for a few
years but untried in leadership role
7 Tracy Rosenberg
The most knowledgeable about KPFA/Pacifica affairs and a powerful voice for progressive governance; strong reservations within our group about her autocratic and even unprincipled management style; has refused to work in coalition with us and others; as an incumbent, has a good chance of winning
8 Gina Szeto
A voice for diversity and youth but very new to KPFA and has not
been participating much in election events; might not have
the consistent attendance our side needs
9 Steve Zeltzer
Very strong voice for justice with a broad view of the movement,
but unable to ally with others, tends instead to attack his allies
as much as our enemies; little sense of strategy
10 Aaron Aarons
His main issue is promoting socialism, does not align with others,
but he understands the governance issues at the station as well
11 Sureya Sayadi
A strong ally but gives us a bad name by not adhering to rules of
meeting discourse - not observing the agenda and leadership of the chair, etc.
I am a bit unclear why Peoples Radio numbered the candidates the way they did .
But I cannot vote for all of the ICR candidates .Two haven't appeared at any campaign events . Any candidate that is too busy to campaign will probably be too busy for the LSB. Another issue is that one of the ICR candidates is working for the Service Employees International tops in the election at Kaiser against the New National Union of Health Care Workers . The entire Labor Movement supports the NUHW in that battle . Read Labor's Uncivil wars by Cal Winslow . Anyone that doesn't support democracy in the Labor movement can't be relied on to fight for democracy at KPFA.
But I cannot vote for all of the ICR candidates .Two haven't appeared at any campaign events . Any candidate that is too busy to campaign will probably be too busy for the LSB. Another issue is that one of the ICR candidates is working for the Service Employees International tops in the election at Kaiser against the New National Union of Health Care Workers . The entire Labor Movement supports the NUHW in that battle . Read Labor's Uncivil wars by Cal Winslow . Anyone that doesn't support democracy in the Labor movement can't be relied on to fight for democracy at KPFA.
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