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(I've had my differences with Weinberg in the past, mostly about
Yugoslavia, but it is a disgrace that he has been censored at WBAI.)
NY Times May 26, 2011, 7:44 am
At On-Air Haven for Dissent, a Dissenting Voice Is Silenced
By COLIN MOYNIHAN
For nearly 20 years, an East Village journalist named Bill Weinberg has
been a familiar late-night voice on the left-leaning radio station
WBAI-FM (99.5), ruminating about radical politics, global turmoil and
life in New York City.
In mid-March, however, the station canceled Mr. Weinberg’s program, the
Moorish Orthodox Radio Crusade, after he accused WBAI of promoting
fringe right-wing commentators and conspiracy theories claiming that the
United States government was behind the destruction of the World Trade
Center.
Mr. Weinberg, who runs a blog called the World War 4 Report, has
reported for The Nation and The Village Voice and written a book about
the Zapatistas in Mexico called “Homage to Chiapas.” Since his ouster,
he has hardly withdrawn — he has posted the Radio Crusade’s “Statement
of Continued Resistance — In Exile” on World War 4 Report, and has
spoken at any number of political forums. But on the airwaves, Mr.
Weinberg’s insistent, raspy voice has fallen suddenly silent.
Mr. Weinberg said that though it was disappointing to lose the program,
he did not regret speaking up. “It was ethically necessary,” he said.
“I absolutely thought I had a responsibility.”
The station refused to comment on his departure.
In Mr. Weinberg’s two decades at WBAI, he connected peace activists from
Belgrade, Zagreb and Sarajevo on the air during Balkan wars and more
recently interviewed secular Iraqis who oppose both American soldiers
and the religious jihadis who attack them.
Mr. Weinberg said the disagreements that led to his departure began in
2009 when he questioned gifts sent to people who had donated money to
the station. The gifts included documentary-style DVDs like “Painful
Deceptions” and “Loose Change 9/11,” which presented the destruction of
the World Trade Center as “an inside job” orchestrated by the Bush
administration or by foreign governments with ties to it.
Although the DVDs were popular with some listeners, Mr. Weinberg said
they were intellectually lazy productions full of falsehoods and
speculation, unworthy of a station that aspires to produce serious news.
Given WBAI’s history — the station went to the Supreme Court in the
1970’s to battle the federal government over the broadcast of satire by
George Carlin, and bears the motto “Free Speech Radio” on its Web site —
Mr. Weinberg decided his program provided the perfect forum to broadcast
his dissent.
Management, however, disagreed and called him on the carpet. Mr.
Weinberg said he told a program director, Tony Bates, that he would
refrain from issuing criticisms on his program. But when the station
later broadcast comments from the Sept. 11 conspiracist David Icke, who
is also known for his interest in “shape shifting” humans who may turn
into reptiles, Mr. Weinberg could not hold his tongue.
“The output of the lugubrious mini-industry which has sprung up around
9/11 conspiranoia has become increasingly toxic over the passing years,”
Mr. Weinberg said on the air. “The most innocent of the DVDs and books
are just poorly researched, merely exchanging the rigid dogma of the
‘official story’ for another rigid dogma, no more founded in empiricism
or objectivity. But, not surprisingly, lots of creepy right-wing types
have got on board, using 9/11 as the proverbial thin end of a wedge.”
A few weeks later, his program was moved from midnight to two a.m. and
shortened from 90 minutes to an hour. Mr. Weinberg called the change “an
act of censure for political dissent” and declared the Moorish Orthodox
Radio Crusade to be in a “state of resistance.” He openly criticized
ideas expressed by other producers.
In mid-March, Mr. Bates wrote a letter to Mr. Weinberg saying that he
had broken “a cardinal rule” by “denigrating other programmers on the
airwaves,” and added: “We have decided to sever the relationship between
you and WBAI.”
Berthold Reimers, the general manager of WBAI, could not be reached at
the station and did not respond to voicemail messages left on his cellphone.
Mr. Weinberg, who has supported himself as a freelance copy editor, has
not yet formulated the next chapter of his radio career but is
considering the idea of doing his program on an Internet station.
On a recent evening, he showed up at a lecture series in Chelsea called
the Anarchist Forum. Mr. Weinberg weighed in on the dilemma facing
leftists who deplore Western intervention in the Middle East but who
must acknowledge that many in Libya have welcomed the help of foreign
armies.
“Without NATO, the rebellion would likely have been crushed,” he said.
“That is a point we cannot shirk from; we have to grapple with it.”
After the forum, he stood outside, chatting with fellow participants.
Then, hearing that visiting activists from Egypt were speaking at the
Brecht Forum in the West Village, Mr. Weinberg pedaled his bicycle
downtown, hoping to hear part of the discussion there.
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