------------------------- Via Workers World News Service Reprinted from the April 19, 2001 issue of Workers World newspaper ------------------------- DEMONSTRATE APRIL 28: FRIENDS OF WBAI FIGHT FOR PROGRESSIVE RADIO By John Catalinotto New York Organizers of several groups fighting to keep WBAI-FM and Pacifica Radio progressive have called for a public demonstration April 28 to meet in downtown Brooklyn and march across the Brooklyn Bridge to WBAI's offices on Wall Street. The groups--the Concerned Friends of WBAI, the Community for Progressive Radio and the Campaign to Stop the Corporate Takeover of Pacifica--are fighting to save a radio network that has been an important ally of anti-racist, anti-war and other progressive organizing nationally. A shift to the right by the Pacifica Board that manages this listener-sponsored radio has already removed most political programs from Pacifica stations in Los Angeles, Houston and Washington, D.C., and replaced them with music. Listeners at KPFA in Berkeley, Calif., fought back against a Pacifica Board takeover two summers ago. WBAI in New York has been under siege since producer Sharann Parker and morning talk-show host of "Wake-up Call" and former station manager Bernard White were fired last December and volunteer Janice Bryant was barred from the station. All three are people of African descent. The new management then started slowly purging all producers and volunteers who didn't fall into line. By the beginning of April "Democracy Now!" producer Amy Goodman was fired from her "Wake-up Call" duties. Ken Nash, Mimi Rosenberg, Robert Knight and Deepa Fernandes were also fired. Award-winning journalists Juan Gonzalez and Mario Murillo resigned in protest. It was announced March 31 that even nonagenarian and prisoner supporter "Grandpa" Al Lewis of TV's "The Munsters" fame was pushed out. Last March 1-4 in Houston, hundreds of listeners held teach- ins and protests at a board meeting that forced some tactical retreats, according to organizers. But the WBAI management continued to push people out and to remove much of the radical politics from the morning show. IMPORTANCE TO COMMUNITIES OF COLOR Workers World spoke with Anthony Mackall, an organizer with the Community for Progressive Radio--a group of people mostly of African descent who are listeners and activists-- and with the Concerned Friends. Mackall, who lives in Brooklyn and has been a WBAI listener for over 30 years, also helps collect books to fill libraries in Ghana, something he said WBAI was able to help with enormously. "My group," said Mackall, "the CPR, came together in response to firings and the Pacifica Board's attempt to attack democratic process. The struggle seemed to need particular work in communities of color. WBAI's new management presented the issues as just involving an internal squabble or were a series of racist attacks by opponents. We felt that they were purposely spreading false information and it had to be corrected by presenting the specific actions of the Pacifica Board and its history. "This is not just an internal thing. WBAI really is important to the Black community. We had no real choice but to take on these issues," Mackall said. "Working with several organizations in a Pan-Africa coalition, we sponsored a teach-in program that drew 700 mostly Black and Latino people to the Dempsey Center on 127th Street in Harlem in February. Some of the people from that area had supported the interim manager Utrice Leid and we felt we had to expose them to the truth." Leid, the new manager of WBAI, is of African descent. "On March 17, a dozen African American women in CPR and friends picketed at Utrice Leid's home in Brooklyn, called for her removal, and stated in no uncertain terms that they were neither fooled nor hoodwinked by claims of racism. They made it clear they thought that by using racism charges as a cover, this trivializes racism and its effects. It allows critics to ignore racism in other circumstances," he said. "Many working people and labor groups recognize the value of WBAI. Labor supports our struggle not just because they miss Mimi Rosenberg's show but because our struggle is one where management has stepped on rights of paid and unpaid workers at the station. The grass roots movement that's opposed to globalization also supports us. We need to work together," Mackall said. "But those oriented toward the Pacifica Board majority, toward the corporate approach, now have control of the air waves. We feel we need to focus our message more. That's another reason to support the demonstration on April 28. By having it in Brooklyn we're addressing the interest of rank- and-file listeners who want the organizers to be in communities where people can be given the information." Mackall mentioned how on March 5 Leid interrupted an interview by Ken Nash with Rep. Major Owens. She fired Nash, who was the co-host of "Building Bridges," on the spot. Owens, who represents a Black community in Brooklyn, then read a critique of WBAI and Pacifica into the Congressional Record. Mackall outlined his organization's plans for April. On April 21 the Local Advisory Board and other local groups will hold a fund raiser for Free Speech Radio in Exile, in which the host of "Wake-Up Call," Bernard White, hosts of "Building Bridges" and Grandpa Al Lewis will join other banned staff in a live radio program stream ed over the Internet from the Theater for the New City on the Lower East Side. On April 25, the CPR will sponsor a teach-in at The House of the Lord Church in Brooklyn, 415 Atlantic Ave. It is aimed especially at giving the Black and Latino communities an update. Then comes the public demonstration on April 28. Readers wanting more information can call Concerned Friends at (800) 825-0055 or go to www.wbaiaction.org. - END - (Copyright Workers World Service: Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies of this document, but changing it is not allowed. For more information contact Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011; via e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For subscription info send message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Web: http://www.workers.org) ------------------ This message is sent to you by Workers World News Service. To subscribe, E-mail to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To unsubscribe, E-mail to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To switch to the DIGEST mode, E-mail to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Send administrative queries to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
