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The Internet Anti-Fascist: Tuesday, 27 July 99
Vol. 3, Numbers 58 (#299)
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INTRODUCTION TO THE PACIFICA FOUNDATION DISPUTE
The material below documents the current dispute over radio station
KPFA and the Pacifica Foundation. It is sad when internal controversy
strikes organizations usually dedicated to the cause of tolerance and
anti-bigotry. The situation is even sadder when charges of intolerance
and made by each side against the other.
The management of KPFA-owner Pacifica has charged the radio station
lacks "diversity" while appealing almost exclusively to "white males."
The claim takes on particular importance when it is made by a black
woman, who, we may infer, has some experience to back her analysis.
But the claim is also suspect coming from major Democratic Party honcho
Mary Francis Berry who heads the U.S. Civil Rights Commission. Her
charges against the workers at KPFA are also disputed by fired station-
manager Rafael Renteria who documented the actual reduction of
diversity as third-world and other minority shows were killed. The
workers case has also been supported by the Alameda County AFL-CIO who
formally calls for the Pacifica Board to be investigated. (All of these
documents are included below, as well as an analysis of the situation
by Michael Novick from People Against Racist Terror.)
Why should anti-fascists be interested in these matters?
The first is that Pacifica has long been an anti-fascist resource,
providing voice to specific regular shows as well as allowing new
reports and analysis a distribution they would not otherwise receive.
The second is because it allows us a glimpse of how the anti-bigotry
message can be perverted: into an attack on diversity in the name of
"diversity;" an attack on politically unpopular female journalists in
the name of resisting "male domination;" and, a sweeping dismissal of
third-world journalists in the name of attacking a "white" audience.
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RESOLUTION IN SUPPORT OF FREE SPEECH
& COMMUNITY CONTROL OF KPFA RADIO
Central Labor Council Of Alameda County AFL-CIO -- 19 Jul 99
WHEREAS, KPFA has consistently covered Bay Area labor activities such
as picket line, marches and demonstrations;
And Whereas, KPFA has always provided air time for labor spokespersons
on labor issues such as NAFTA, downsizing, exporting US jobs to low
wage countries, child labor, health and safety, living wage ordinances
and the effects of the new global market on wages and working
conditions;
And Whereas, KPFA has consistently covered issues important to working
families such as health care reform, affordable housing, the
educational crisis and affordable child care,
And Whereas, Pacifica's decision on Tuesday July 12th, 1999 to cancel
all scheduled programs and put all staff on administrative leave, has
deprived labor of an essential means of communicating our issues;
And Whereas, Pacifica fired Larry Bensky, a thirty year employee, and
Robbie Osman, a volunteer programmer for Pacifica for seventeen years,
for engaging in their free speech rights to educate the public on the
dispute between the Pacifica Foundation and KPFA staff and KPFA
community;
And Whereas, Pacfica Foundation recently ruled that local Advisory
Board members could not be on the Pacifica National Board thereby
depriving the KPFA community of representation;
And Whereas, Pacifica Foundation Board members have been considering
the possible sale of KPFA to private entities which would thereby
deprive the Bay Area of its only community supported non-profit
progressive radio station;
Be it resolved that the Central Labor Council of Alameda County, AFL-
CIO representing sixty eight thousand AFL-CIO workers and their
families demands that Pacifica;
1. Immediately re-hire Larry Bensky, Robbie Osman and Nicole Sawaya
2. Immediately restore normal programming and recall all staff on
administrative leave
3. Rescind their decision to prohibit local advisory Board members from
serving on the Pacifica National Board
4. Drop all charges against staff and community members arrested fro
peaceful and non-violent protests against Pacifica's actions
5. Agree to submit all issues to a mediator mutually agreeable to the
KPFA staff, KPFA community and Pacifica
Be it further resolved that the Central Labor Council of Alameda
County, AFL-CIO;
1. Contact our elected officials and ask them to investigate the
actions of the Pacifica National Board
2. Form a Central Labor Council of Alameda County Support KPFA
Committee to be chaired by a representative from CWA Local 9415 to plan
labor activities to support KPFA staff and community in their struggle
to maintain free speech and community control of KPFA
3. Support and endorse KPFA mobilization activities including July 24,
1999 Labor Support rally from 1:00 PM to 2:00 PM in front of KPFA
(Martin Luther King and University in Berkeley) and the July 31,
Community Support Rally and ask affiliates to make every effort to be
well-represented at these important events
Dorthy Portier President
Judith M. Goff Executive Secretary
7992 Capwell Drive Oakland California, 94621
510-632-4242
* * * * *
The Union Producers and Programmers Network (UPPNET) has also called
for the removal of Mary Frances Berry not only from the Pacficia
National Foundation but from the chair of the US Civil Rights
Commission. Also, there is a national effort to demand that William
Lucy, Executive Secretary Of AFSCME and President of the Coalition Of
Black Trade Unionist oppose these union busting tactics. Lucy is also a
national board member of the Pacifica Foundation and has supported
Berry in her management tactics in t he past.
William Lucy's phone number at AFSCME is 202-429-1200 and his email is
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
A longer article by myself on the history of unionbusting at Pacifica
is also on line at www.sfbg.com/kpfa/zelt.html
In Solidarity,
Steve Zeltzer
Labor Video Project
P.O.Box 425584
San Francisco,CA 94142
415-282-1908
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
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RACISM AT THE ROOT OF PACIFICA'S DESTRUCTION BY NATIONAL BOARD
Michael Novick <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> (People Against Racist Terror)
24 Jul 99
What is happening at Pacifica is a classic case of what Pastor
Neimoller described about the nazis: "First, they came for the
communists, but I did nothing because I wasn't a communist..." At
Pacifica, first they came for the revolutionary nationalists and
internationalists, the people of color. The litany of steady, slow
destruction recounted below for Pacifica's Texas affiliate has been
exactly paralleled at KPFK. The demands we are raising now need to
incorporate all the injustices and censorship that Pacifica has
successfully imposed in the past, with little opposition: Reinstate
Afrikan Mental Liberation programming; reinstate Miya Iwataki and "East
Wind"; reinstate "Family Tree," the rotating Wednesday Black
liberation/ New Afrikan programming; restore "Music Chicanos/Chicanas
may consider;" return Ron Wilkins and "Continent to Continent: An
African Issues Magazine" to the air; restore Dedon Kamathi/Ken Carr's
show and allow him to return to the national board; restore the Native
American programming; restore the atheist, communist, and other
commentaries; restore Blaise Bonpane; restore the cuts in Spanish
language programming; etc etc.
Ron Wilkins was cut off the air mid-broadcast and banned from KPFK for
daring to put on the air via call-in several other Black programmers
who had already been driven from Pacifica's airwaves locally and
nationally, including (I believe) Kiilu Nyasha at KPFA. The deafening
silence that greeted this blatant racist censorship has led inevitably
to the current situation. Pacifica's national leadership and their
racist, elitist flunkies like mark Schubb cut authentic community
radio's throat then, and have simply allowed it to bleed to death
slowly ever since.
In this respect, Pacifica followed exactly the model provided by the
state in COINTELPRO -- by attacking and isolating revolutionary Black,
Puerto Rican, Chicano-Mexicano and Native American leadership, they
rendered the "white" "left" ineffective and irrelevant. In the current
turmoil that Pacifica's final self-exposure provides, we have the
opportunity to redeem ourselves and make amends for our own racist
complicity with their previous purges of radical voices of color by
putting those demands for full restoration of those programmers front
and center. Larry Bensky is a fine journalist, but he's a journalist -
- we need the engaged activist forces that once were able to program
directly on the air -- like the Patrice Lumumba Coalition, the Malcom X
Grassroots Movement, the African United Front -- back on the air, and
back on the local governing bodies of the stations. Anything less is a
sham.
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"...THE DEATH OF DIVERSITY: THE PACIFICA AGENDA
Rafael Renteria (CounterPunch)
Mary Francis Berry, Chair of both the US Civil Rights Commission and of
the Pacifica Board, held, in a talk at Columbia University, that
Pacifica station KPFT represents the direction Pacifica should be
moving with respect to diversity. As a former Program Director at that
station, I have an intimate knowledge of just what she means by this.
The record here speaks for itself and paints its own picture as to who
and what is being served by Pacifca's Five Year Plan. This, then, is a
partial record of the changes that have occurred at KPFT, Berry's
'model' of diversity.
KPFT 's locally produced news programming has been completely
eliminated.
Mid-Day public affairs programming no longer exists.
There is no longer a single public affairs program rooted in the Latino
community - a community that makes up fully a third of Houston's
population.
The Persian Program - founded by anti-Shah/ anti-Khomeni activists -
was eliminated at a time when there was imminent danger of war between
Iran and US imperialism, as the US had warships in the Persian gulf.
The Arabic Hour - one of the most intellectually respectable programs
on KPFT, was eliminated. during Desert Shield - as the US prepared to
go to war against Arab Iraq to seize strategic control of the world's
oil supply.
Gay programming has been significantly cut - its been depoliticized -
it is no longer the force - or the threat - it was when KPFT volunteer
programmer Fred Paez, a high profile gay activist, was murdered by
Houston Police.
Lesbian programming has been driven off the air - including
Breakthrough -a hugely popular program that was one of the stations'
highest revenue generators.
There is now one hour of feminist programming each week.
Peace, Pipes and Visions, the Native American program, is gone.
The Atheist program is gone.
The Viet Namese program is gone.
The Chinese program is gone.
The Pakistani program -gone.
Only one Black program remains today at KPFT and an African music
program.
Variety in musical programming has been dramatically curtailed. (While
there has been an increase in overall listenership for the station,
what they are listening to is a homogenized blend of NPR style talk
programs with a kind of country music format that bears no resemblance
to the kind of programming the original Pacifica Mission statement
required.)
The Music of India program is gone after 19 years of service. There is
not a single Asian program left on KPFT.
Gary Coover's brilliantly produced Celtic music program, Shepherd's Hey
has fallen, because Gary stood up and spoke out against the changes.
Indeed, all organized opposition was crushed.
KPFT once broadcasted in 8 languages. Today the trend is "English
Only."
Such, then, is the record. At KPFT, Berry's model for diversity, and
throughout the network, diversity in programming is systematically
being killed. These changes represent a protracted assault on and
betrayal of the values that Pacifica has long embodied and represent
the essence of Pacifica's Five Year Plan. That plan is, in its origin,
its effect and as we shall see, in its very essence, racist and
classist. Similar, though less drastic changes have occurred throughout
the network, including the virtual elimination of Spanish language
programming at Pacifica's Los Angeles station, KPFK and the elimination
of the more radical Black programmers at KPFA in Berkeley.
The open letter from the "Diversity Group" asserts the following:
"The problems facing Pacifica and KPFA are not new ones. They have
existed in various forms for the past 20 years. The underlying issue is
about power; its overarching theme is about diversity and what that
means for the future of Pacifica. The outcome, whatever that may be, is
about how to bring about change. Pacifica has defined the change in its
long-term vision statement as an attempt to make the Pacifica stations
more relevant and more representative of the audiences that they should
serve. However, on a local level, the KPFA staff have defined the issue
as their ability to make programming and financial decisions without
oversight. These are two completely different formulations of the same
issue - the exercise of power. In the process of staking out these
positions, what is lost is the common issues that unite Pacifica
management, KPFA staff, and the community. It is important to remember
that the current state of affairs at KPFA does not have to be viewed as
an "us and them" situation, nor do possible solutions have to be
limited to "either one or the other..."
We can see that, indeed, ONE of the key issues at Pacifica is
diversity. We can see what the Five Year Plan has meant in practice (
that plan is also referred to as the 'vision' document') and we can
also see , in small part, what is meant - and what is not meant- by the
term 'relevant and more representative of the audiences that they
should serve.' It means Not serving those audiences, despite the
rhetoric of the Diversity Group, Berry, Chadwick and Pacifica itself.
THE CPB AND PACIFICA'S 'FIVE YEAR PLAN'
What remains to be seen is the nature of Pacifica's 'vision' in the
context of governmental string-pulling and pressure to mainstream
programming throughout the world of public radio, how this pressure
gave birth to the Five Year Plan and the drastic and antidemocratic
results of all this in the entirety of the Pacifica network-- including
the racist and sexist programming policies that engendered such heavy
changes at KPFT, where the Pacifica vision has advanced farthest, union
busting efforts on the part of Pacifica. Only then can we properly
address the issue of the demands being raised by the KPFA staff. It is
, contrary to the Diversity Group position, and 'us or them' situation.
What follows is a brief sketch of the relationship between 'diversity,'
Corporation for Public Broadcasting manipulation of the direction of
programming in public radio, and its impact at Pacifica. Perhaps the
sharpest and clearest way in which to illuminate this process will be
to look at it through the lens of the allegations of racism leveled By
Dr. Berry and the Diversity Group against the KPFA staff and
supporters...
Lynn Chadwick, Pacifica's Executive Director, comes to us from the NFCB
(the National Confederation of Community Broadcasters,) and also by
way of having played a role in establishing new CPB standards for the
eligibility of community radio stations to receive goevernment funding.
These standards require of community radio stations a higher level of
income from listener-sponsors if they are to qualify for government
monies. Only those entities that can be shown to qualify as 'minority'
groups can be exempted from these standards.
Despite the admiration of some groups for Chadwick's commitment to
diversity, these changes force community stations- if they have become
dependent on CPB funds for staffing or other needs ( real or perceived)
to alter their programming schedules so as to appeal to a higher income
bracket, White, and more mainstream audience than has been traditional
at many community stations- most especially in the Pacifica network.
This, as we have seen in the example of KPFT above, leads to the
elimination of diversity at the stations effected, especially, as
should be obvious by now, it leads to the elimination of programming
for lower income, non-White groups and other audiences not in the
mainstream of American culture and cash flow. In short, the CPB
policies which Chadwick helped to create, are, in their essence, racist
and classist. Of course the kind of radical politics that are at the
heart of the Pacifca tradition - including some feminist programming-
are being mainstreamed out of the schedules as well.
Another result has been the tokenization of the Pacifica's national
board. The presence of 'minority' representatives on the Board has
little to do with serving the objective interests of their respective
communities and everything to do with the 'need' to retain CPB funding,
which, of course, is the linchpin in a schema that that squeezes out
programming for the oppressed nationalities and propertyless and other
non-mainstream audiences.
All the talk in Pacifica's Five Year Plan about the professionalization
of the air sound, the capturing of the mainstream news/ talk audience
and the 'vision' concentrated therein of a Pacifica that is influential
in Washington- all this reduces, in fact, to the elimination of the
Pacifica tradition in programming. The simple fact that 'The New
Pacifica' eliminated the original Mission Statement of the Foundation
bears eloquent testimony to this point. A Board that promotes this
agenda is hardly promoting an agenda of 'diversity,' the presence of a
few 'minority' faces in high places notwithstanding.
Yet these are the forces, Dr. MF Berry foremost among them, that, while
falsely claiming the mantle of 'diversity,' attack their opponents with
charges of 'racism.' That these charges are disingenuous, (even given
the unsubstantiated likelihood that in a few instances racially
motivated slurs may have occurred on the part of scattered individuals
in what is a very broad based movement,) should be obvious by now.
But to complete the picture, let's examine the record in light of the
following comments by John Stauber of PR Watch on the measures taken by
many corporate PR offices to discredit oppositional movements, bearing
in mind as we do the recent charges by Pacifica and the Diversity Group
of extremism, localism and racism on the part of their opponents at
KPFA and their characterization of the broad based movement to free
Pacifica as 'violent.'
* * * * *
PACIFICA'S WAR ON TRUTH: SPIN CONTROL AND POLICE MEASURES
[From "War on Truth, The Secret Battle for the American Mind - an
interview with John Stauber". Sentient Times, June 1999.]
"Some years ago, in a speech to clients in the cattle industry, Ron
Duchin, senior vice-president of the PR firm Mongoven, Biscoe and
Duchin (which probably represents a quarter of the largest
corporations), outlined his firm's basic divide-and-conquer strategy
for defeating any social change movement. Activists, he explained, fall
into three basic categories: radicals, idealists, and realists. The
first step in his strategy is to isolate and marginalize the radicals.
They're the ones who see the inherent structural problems that need
remedying if indeed a particular change is to occur. To isolate them,
PR firms will try to create a perception in the public mind that people
advocating fundamental solutions are terrorists, extremists, fear
mongers, outsiders, communists, or whatever.
After marginalizing the radicals, the PR firm then identifies and
"educates" the idealists - concerned and sympathetic members of the
public - by convincing them that the changes advocated by the radicals
would hurt people. The goal is to sour the idealists on the idea of
working with the radicals, and instead get them working with the
realists.
Realists, according to Duchin, are people who want reform but don't
really want to upset the status quo; big public-interest organizations
that rely on foundation grants and corporate contributions are a prime
example. With the correct handling, Duchin says, realists can be
counted on to cut a deal with industry that can be touted as a "win-
win" solution, but that is actually an industry victory."
That the Diversity Group and Pacifica intend to isolate and split the
movement arrayed against them, painting it as racist and violent, that
they intend to sour relations between the Berkeley groups and their
progressive supporters nationally while serving up a 'solution' that
would constitute a victory for the pro-CPB, pro- Five Year Plan and
pro-government forces within Pacifica itself, cannot be denied.
Amor y Lucha Hasta la Victoria!
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WHAT'S WORTH CHECKING
stories via <ftp://ftp.nyct.net/pub/users/tallpaul/publish/story4/>
Associated Press (no author), "20,000 Flee Republic of Congo," 20 Jul
99, "Fighting in the Republic of Congo has driven 20,000 people into
neighboring Gabon since the beginning of July, the U.N. refugee agency
said Tuesday." <1041.txt>
Joan Gralla (Reuters), "Two more insurers face Holocaust probe," 20 Jul
99, "Switzerland's largest life insurer, Swiss Life, and German
insurer, Gerling-Konzern, have become the next European firms to face
an international panel's probe into whether they owe money to Holocaust
victims whose policies were not honored, a Jewish group said on
Tuesday. Elan Steinberg, executive director of the World Jewish
Congress, said the two firms got the same letter from former U.S.
Secretary of State Lawrence Eagleburger, the commission chair, that was
sent to Dutch insurer AEGON NV and Munich Re (quote from Yahoo! UK &
Ireland: MUVGn.F) and which told those firms they might face the same
liabilities." <1042.txt>
Mike Corder (Associated Press), "Prosecutor: Croat Head Caused Purge,"
26 Jul 99, "Croatian President Franjo Tudjman's 'obsession' with
annexing parts of Bosnia led to the massacre of hundreds of Muslims, a
Yugoslav war crimes tribunal prosecutor said today. Prosecutor Gregory
Kehoe said Bosnian Croat forces acted as agents of Tudjman's regime as
they swept through central Bosnia in 1992-94 killing Muslim men, women
and children and torching their homes and mosques." <1043.txt>
Michael J. SNiffen (Associated Press), "Ex-Nazi Guard Loses U.S.
Citizenship," 21 Jul 99, "A 79-year-old retired aircraft worker was
stripped of U.S. citizenship by a federal judge because of his service
as a Nazi concentration camp guard during World War II, the Justice
Department announced Wednesday. Michael Negele, of St. Peters, Mo., was
ineligible for U.S. citizenship because he served in the Nazi SS
Death's Head Battalion as a guard of civilian prisoners at
Sachsenhausen concentration camp near Berlin and at the Theresienstadt
Jewish ghetto in Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia, U.S. District Judge E.
Richard Weber ruled Tuesday in St. Louis." <1044.txt>
Reuters (no author), "Argentina Seeks Expulsion Of Another Alleged
Nazi," 24 Jul 99, "The head of Argentina's federal anti-racism unit
asked the Interior Ministry Friday to expel alleged former Nazi Party
special police Capt. Pablo Herbert Habel from the country, the second
such request this month. The federal agency's director, Victor Ramos,
asked that Habel be stripped of his Argentine citizenship." <1045.txt>
Amnesty International (press release), "Northern Ireland Parades
Amnesty International sends monitor," 2 Jul 99, "Amnesty International
is sending a representative to Northern Ireland to monitor the policing
of marches between 2 and 12 July 1999. This is the third year that the
human rights organization has decided to observe some of the marches.
In previous years, Amnesty International had been concerned about the
apparent disproportionate firing of plastic bullets by police against
protesters, and about the dangers of indiscriminate firing at crowds of
people with this potentially lethal weapon." <1046.txt>
Long Standing Bear Chief, "ILLEGAL STATE COUNTIES WITHIN INDIAN
NATIONS: Presentation to Blackfeet Tribal Business Council At Browning,
Montana USA," 1 Jul 99 <1047.txt>
Hala Saleh (BBC), "Middle East net clampdown criticised -- Pornography:
An excuse for excessive control? ," 7 Jul 99, "Internet growth in the
Middle East and North Africa has been stunted by countries fearing it
will undermine their control over information, a Human Rights Watch
report says. It says politically sensitive Websites are reported to
have been actively blocked in Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and Tunisia."
<1048.txt>
Associated Press (no author), "McVeigh Moved to Federal Death Row," 13
Jul 99, "Oklahoma City bomber Tim McVeigh and 19 other prisoners facing
federal death sentences were moved Tuesday to a new death row outside
this western Indiana city." <1049.txt>
United Press International (no author), "Duke to enter feud over Lee
portrait," 15 Jul 99, "Former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke heads to
Richmond, Va., to help organize whites who are trying to restore a
portrait of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee to an outdoor gallery."
<1050.txt>
* * * * *
In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material is
distributed without profit or payment to those who have expressed a
prior interest in receiving this information for non-profit research
and educational purposes only.
______________________________________________________________________
FASCISM:
We have no ethical right to forgive, no historical right to forget.
(No permission required for noncommercial reproduction)
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