“At a labor conference on Fascism, Democracy, and a workers party, CUNY AFT PSC professor Johanna Fernandez gave a presentation on the roots of fascism and the US working class. This presentation was made on September 7, 2024 in Los Angeles at the conference initiated by Roofers Local 36.

“Production of Labor Video Project www.labormedia.net” —quotation from video description.

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“A workers meeting of labor and the community is being organized in Los Angeles on the issue of fascism, democracy and a workers party. Cliff Smith who is the business manager of Roofers Local 36 in Los Angeles has initiated a day long meeting in Los Angeles on September 7 on the issue of fascism, democracy and the formation of a workers party.

“Cliff Smith who is the Business Manager of Roofers Local 36 in Los Angeles with the support of his local has called for a labor community conference on Fascism, Democracy and a Workers Party.

“He spoke with Steve Zeltzer of WorkWeek about this meeting in Los Angeles on September 7, 2024 and why labor and working people need to get educated and organized to prepare for a fascist movement and another possible insurrection and coup attempt.

“He also discussed the bi-partisan support for trillions of dollars for wars abroad and the continuing US supported Israeli genocide in Gaza and the recent Zionist Fascist attacks on a UCLA peaceful encampment for Palestine. […]”

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“920 S. Alvarado St., Los Angeles, CA 90006-3008

“Event by Roofers Union Local 36, Elect Cliff Smith to L.A. City Council District 8, and five others. […]”

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The presentation on fascism by Prof. Johanna Fernandez in the video above from the 2024 Los Angeles Roofers Local 36 Conference is the type of excellent presentation, which would have been featured on the original KPFA. The KPFA I knew in the 1980s and ’90s has been increasingly morphed into an NPR-ized version of itself by those, who disagree with keeping KPFA true to its antiwar and social justice activism mission. This NPR-ized version of KPFA—manifested by Democrat-Party-apologist liberals on KPFA (e.g., Mitch Jeserich, Philip Maldari, Brian Edwards-Tiekert, et al.) and supported by their proxies (i.e., “KPFA Protectors”, et al.) on the KPFA Local Station Board—filters compelling perspectives out of KPFA’s airwaves, such as those of Prof. Johanna Fernandez, as much as they can, whilst maintaining a façade of authentic, honest, grassroots, radical (i.e., going to the root causes of social ills), community radio.

KPFA listeners used to regularly hear compelling, radical, provocative, inspiring, and politically mobilizing speeches and talks from people like Noam Chomsky, Michael Parenti, Ralph Nader, Arundhati Roy, Mumia Abu-Jamal, Pam Africa, Utah Phillips, Howard Zinn, John Trudell, and others. With radical voices like those regularly on the air, KPFA listeners could not be so easily fooled or seduced by the “lesser of two evils“. KPFA listeners had a more sophisticated grasp of just how rigged our political system has been, how important political alternatives are, and how important political reform is to realizing the will of the people. As KPFA’s editorial direction increasingly drifted towards the political center, becoming duller, many of those listeners turned away from KPFA.

So, KPFA has lost tens of thousands of listener-members, as it has largely lost its edge whilst pandering to the political center, a center which perpetually shifts rightward in the absence of any meaningful leftist counterbalance to rightist extremism. Granted, many of the above luminaries, like Michael Parenti or Utah Phillips, are retired from the public eye or are no longer with us. But there are many new radical and cogent voices, such as Prof. Johanna Fernandez, Max Blumenthal, Aaron Maté, Omali Yeshitela, Scott Ritter, Chris Hedges, Ben Norton, Esther Iverem, et al. who deserve to populate the KPFA airwaves. Instead, we mostly get a lot of Democrat Party apologism and establishment punditry/sophistry from KPFA programmers, like Mitch Jeserich, Brian Edwards-Tiekert, Philip Maldari, Kris Welch, et al.

I was looking for some good radio to listen to this morning (11 SEP 2024) during the 4am timeslot, as I got myself ready for the work day. But KPFA disappointed me with hours of electronic music, which I find uninteresting. Don’t get me wrong. I love electronic music, along with many other genres, from classic jazz to metal to classical to hip hop to Americana to mariachi, and many other genres in between. But this was a waste of KPFA airtime, in my opinion, especially when the state of the world (locally, regionally, nationally, globally) continues to worsen. And good, honest, compelling, critical news and information is so scarce these days, even on free speech radio KPFA, which increasingly sounds as mealy-mouthed and middle-of-the-road as NPR or PBS.

So, I turned to YouTube and found this excellent presentation on fascism today in the USA by Prof. Johanna Fernandez, which reminded me of the KPFA I grew up with in the 1980s and 1990s, even in the early 2000s. The issue of burgeoning fascism and totalitarianism is an important issue, which is underreported. Recall the important book by Prof. Sheldon S. Wolin, Democracy Incorporated: Managed Democracy and the Specter of Inverted Totalitarianism, with an Introduction by Chris Hedges. These types of descriptions and analyses communicate a more honest portrait of our nation and the world, which listeners used to be educated about on KPFA. These are the types of voices listeners deserve to hear on KPFA’s airwaves, voices not commonly heard elsewhere, yet which challenge conventional thinking.

Prof. Johanna Fernandez, speaking in the video above from the 2024 Roofers Local 36 Conference (c. 27min 29sec): “In the 1930s, there was a [Great Economic] Depression. And, ironically, fascism emerges in Europe. But it doesn’t emerge in the United States. Why doesn’t it emerge in the United States? It doesn’t emerge in the United States because there was an organized, coordinated, revolutionary union movement, that explained to the workers: The problem is not the Mexicans and the blacks and the immigrants. The problem is our rulers and the captains of industry, who will do anything to take home profits, even if it costs us our lives.

“And the most epic union movement was built, that averted fascism in this country. The only thing, that will avert the re-emergence of fascism or its threat is a working-class movement, that teaches the working class—the white working class—the root causes of their betrayal. And that cannot happen within the Democratic Party.

“If you think about what has happened in this country over the last 50 years, union halls are empty in the middle of fucking-nowhere-America, where they’re most needed. Before the 1980s and ’90s, white people probably had backward ideas. But they went to the union meeting; they talked to their guys; and they got a different understanding of the world. That doesn’t exist anymore. So, it is our responsibility to actually rebuild the movement of workers, a union movement, and a workers party, that will explain the deep crisis and despair that white Americans are experiencing, but that we are experiencing, too, and that the entire world is living through.”

Prof. Johanna Fernandez said, “The only thing, that will avert the re-emergence of fascism or its threat is a working-class movement, that teaches the working class—the white working class—the root causes of their betrayal.” She was speaking about the working class, particularly the white working class, having been betrayed by neoliberalism, by the two-party dictatorship of collusion between the Democrat and Republican parties both facilitating corporate capitalism, shipping jobs overseas, and the deindustrialization of the nation. However, an important institution for peace and for averting fascism in the USA has been the Pacifica Radio Network, which has a duty and responsibility enshrined within its Mission Statement to educate the working class and all people about the root causes of conflicts and wars, such as the military-industrial-congressional complex. Unfortunately, the dominant editorial direction of KPFA manifested by the likes of Brian Edwards-Tiekert, Mitch Jeserich, Ian Masters, Philip Maldari, Thom Hartmann, and KPFA News Anchors Max Pringle, Scott Baba, et al. refuses to discuss root causes. Instead, they perpetuate the false left-right paradigm, which redirects listeners’ attention away from the militarism and anti-working-class agendas of the Democrat Party and focuses listeners’ attention mainly on the militarism and anti-working-class agendas of the Republican Party. This is another kind of betrayal; this is establishment apologism. This is a lack of journalistic integrity. This is a betrayal of the Pacifica Radio Network mission.

Prof. Johanna Fernandez (c. 29min 47sec): “There was deindustrialization in the United States. But there’s also deindustrialization happening now in the third world. Right? And, so, the reason why there are immigrants flooding into our cities is because capitalism has created wars and de-industrial displacement everywhere. And where else are they gonna go, but where they think they can survive?

“So, if we think that our situation in the United States is a hellscape, tell that to the Syrians and to the people from the Ukraine and to the people from Palestine and to the people coming from the Congo, who are dying en route to safe haven in Europe and America. These are people, who are literally taking a path of death out of their countries and walking hundreds and hundreds and thousands of miles to get to safety.

“So, that’s why fascism is on the rise, not just in the United States, but around the world, because capitalism is in a crisis, that it cannot contain.

“And what’s happening in Palestine, the genocide that’s happening in Palestine is a taste of what the world is up against in the future. The Palestinians are being killed because their labor is not important. They are a marginal people, disconnected to industry in the global economy. So, [capitalists] can disappear them.

“But that’s the case with people in the Congo. That’s the case with many people here in the United States. That’s why [President Nayib] Bekele in El Salvador has built a prison of 40,000 people. But that large-scale prison was first built in the United States. And, now, it’s being exported all over the world, [including] in India.

“So, this is what the ruling class has in store for us. And what we need to do is wake up to the magnitude of the crisis that’s going to destroy and devastate humanity on a scale unseen. And we’ve not even talked about the environment. […]

“On this question of internationalism, part of what you’re saying and illustrating is the profound creativity and knowledge and skill of workers around the world, regardless of nation. And that’s, ultimately, what we need to amplify, rather than our nationality.”

It’s truly a shame that KPFA did not inform its listeners about this inspiring event, the 2024 Roofers Local 36 Conference in Los Angeles. An event like this used to be part of the DNA, part of the heart and soul of free speech radio KPFA. At one point, journalist and political prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal called in from prison to the event during Prof. Johanna Fernandez’s presentation and spoke in solidarity with the “objectives of this meeting”, referring to the Conference. As Mumia said, the conference was “remarkable” and “timely” “because [of] the choices before us. The choices represented by the two major political parties—the Democrats and the Republicans—are really choices between neoliberalism and neofascism”, “which is really the same thing. And those are not choices for working people because what both parties and the neoconservative and neoliberal movements present [prison telephone message interruption] is the sale of their party to the highest bidder. To suggest that the corporate elites, the wealthy, the super-wealthy are in control of these parties is but to state the obvious. The only thing they don’t control is independent workers, who gather together to defend their class interests and the interests not just of their people but of all people, of the common people of the world. That can be done. But it must be a conscious effort by people who want to see social transformation […]”

This is an example of a living community embodiment of the spirit of the Pacifica Mission Statement, which is filtered out of free speech KPFA by the dominant editorial patronage clique represented by the “KPFA Protectors” proxies on the KPFA Local Station Board.

I did a quick search for Prof. Johanna Fernandez on KPFA.org and there were only a few entries from years ago, circa 2016-2020. Why is Prof. Johanna Fernandez not featured more often on KPFA?

These issues inform my participation as a 2024 KPFA Local Station Board candidate. I am honored to have been nominated as a listener candidate. And I understand that not every one in the Rescue Pacifica organization will agree with everything I have to say. But I trust defenders of free speech will defend my right to exercise my First Amendment-protected right to free speech, whether they agree with me or not. The best antidote to bad speech is more good free speech, rather than censorship.

—Felipe “Phil” Messina, 2024 KPFA Local Station Board (LSB) Candidate

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NB: The views and opinions expressed in the above commentary do not necessarily reflect the views of the Rescue Pacifica organization or other Rescue Pacifica LSB members or candidates.

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This post was last edited/modified on 11 SEP 2024 at 20:15 PDT.

Quotation from the “About This Blog” page for Pacifica In Exile:

“Pacifica in Exile is a documentation archive of the Pacifica Radio Foundation, the nation’s first listener-sponsored noncommercial radio stations and the only national media network that is not in corporate or government hands. Pacifica In Exile relies on multiple sources inside and out of Pacifica governance and staff, as well as the engaged membership community to bring you regular updates about foundation business and shine a light on problems that are putting the survival of the network in doubt.”

The quotations from Pacifica In Exile above and below were accessed on September 1, 2024, https://pacificainexile.org/ .

Pacifica In Exile is an important resource for everyone, who cares about free speech, free speech media, free speech radio, and, especially, the Pacifica Radio Network. If you care about Pacifica Radio, then you will appreciate this valuable resource.

There are two basic areas of concern regarding the Pacifica Radio Network.

One area of concern is the on-air programming. If the programming is shifted away from the original spirit of community radio, which champions grassroots peace, freedom, and justice perspectives not heard elsewhere, that is a problem. If the Pacifica Radio Network is transformed into another NPR with a façade of leftism and progressivism, that is a problem. Evaluating programming involves exercising our critical media literacy. Historically, the Pacifica Radio Network has been treasured as a haven for progressivism and perspectives not heard elsewhere on terrestrial radio. The airwaves belong to the people. Yet, corporations have captured almost all of the airwaves, except for the frequencies held by Pacifica. And NPR, PBS, et al. do not provide meaningful war resistance programming nor any meaningful resistance to the establishment status quo, as KPFA and the Pacifica Radio network set out to do in 1949. Whether or not KPFA and the Pacifica Radio Network becomes completely corporatized depends on the magnitude and character of participation from listener-members.

Another area of concern is the behind-the-scenes dynamics. While listeners, such as myself, have a lot to say about the on-air programming. Pacifica In Exile is important for understanding the behind-the-scenes dynamics. One perspective behind the scenes (e.g., KPFA Protectors, New Day Pacifica, Pacifica Safety Net, et al) prefers keeping listeners in the dark, avoiding required Town Hall meetings, avoiding monthly Managers Report to the Listeners broadcasts, making unilateral programming decisions without listener-member input (e.g., removing WorkWeek Radio with Steve Zeltzer, the only labor program on KPFA; airing nine hours per week of Background Briefing with Ian Masters, a program which engages in apologism for the status quo militarism of Democrat Party politics and policies), breaking up the Pacifica Radio Network, and so forth. Another perspective behind the scenes (e.g., Rescue Pacifica, Pacifica Fightback, et al) prefers keeping listeners informed about Pacifica governance matters; prefers democratic governance of Pacifica and shared decision making among station workers and the community; restoring a democratic Program Council to make programming decisions; staying true to the original Pacifica Foundation Mission statement; maintaining the Pacifica Radio Network intact; and so forth.

You don’t have to take my word for it. View or listen to the KPFA Local Station Board (LSB) meetings for yourself, past and future. For example, look at the video for the KPFA LSB meeting from March 16, 2024 and decide for yourself. (The video segment of the meeting begins at 5min 33sec.) The video captures the actual debate and vote during the LSB meeting during which the “KPFA Protectors” voted down an LSB resolution to support a cease fire in Gaza. Similarly, the Berkeley City Council has been opposing a resolution calling for a cease-fire in Gaza. (The public can also access audio archives of LSB meetings at KPFTX.org.) This is the state of the progressive left, the state of what used to be a beacon for peace and progressivism in the United States. Where once there was a spirit of peace and emphatic support for peace, freedom, and justice, there is now staunch defense of the status quo, a status quo of corporatized political parties and support for “humanitarian interventions”, which result in genocide.

The more one observes the dynamics behind the scenes, exemplified by the March 16, 2024 LSB meeting, the more obvious it becomes to the observer that the perspective dominating KPFA and the Pacifica Radio Network (displayed by the likes of KPFA Protectors, New Day Pacifica, Pacifica Safety Net, et al) is one, which is inimical and antithetical to the original vision for KPFA/Pacifica envisioned by its founder Louis “Lew” Hill. As John Whiting wrote in his 1999 review of Matthew Lasar’s book, Pacifica Radio: The Rise of an Alternative Network:

“Because of constant penury, KPFA’s survival depended on a preponderance of volunteer labour, even on the air. Except for staff members, no programme participants or producers were paid, and so the airwaves were effectively open to whatever individuals and special interest groups could summon up the time and energy to occupy them. It was Hill’s intention that these factions would settle their differences and reach an accommodation by engaging in dialogue, thus setting an example for the whole human race; but in practice it gradually resulted in a Balkanisation [how that word has gained a new currency!] which in the 70s would erupt into internecine warfare. Thereafter one’s slot in the broadcast schedule would be ring-fenced and defended with ethnic bellicosity.”

Dialogue is a commonsense solution to disagreement and controversy, especially dialogos, in good faith and good will. This was the spirit in which I basically pleaded with my opponents during the 2024 KPFA Local Station Board Election On-Air Forum I participated in, encouraging the opponents of Rescue Pacifica to organize in-person public candidate forums in which we could engage in dialogue to understand each other and increase listener participation. But the opponents of Rescue Pacifica have refused to engage in meaningful dialogue and, thus, have refused to honor the original spirit of KPFA/Pacifica envisioned by Lewis Hill. They refuse to set “an example for the whole human race”, as the John Whiting quote above suggests, to set an example of civil, transparent, commitment to peace, freedom, and justice. The limited, circumscribed questions, the limited 90-second candidate responses, the limited 90-second questions from listeners, the lack of opportunities for rebuttals, and other issues conspired to render the 2024 KPFA LSB Election On-Air Forums rather useless for achieving any meaningful understanding between the two slates, or two communities, of candidates.

I am in community—in common unity—with the Rescue Pacifica community because we share similar values and principles. I know this is true for most, if not all, members of the Rescue Pacifica community.

I am not in community—in common unity—with the community opposed to Rescue Pacifica (i.e., KPFA Protectors, New Day Pacifica, Pacifica Safety Net, et al) because I do not share their values or principles for programming (i.e., a travesty of the original KPFA/Pacifica radio) nor for top-down governance of Pacifica by self-selecting boards. (A more detailed criticism of the programming imposed and supported by KPFA Protectors, et al. is documented elsewhere and will be expanded continually.)

It’s important for the opposing communities interested in KPFA and the Pacifica Radio Network to understand one another and to do so through public dialogue or dialogos. In this way, listeners can be well-informed about the true nature of the ongoing struggle for the heart and soul of Pacifica. However, it has been my personal experience and the experience of others I know that KPFA Protectors, et al are unwilling to engage in meaningful, public dialogue nor in private, for that matter. The broader Pacifica Radio Network community is only harmed by deceptions and self-deceptions. So, we must shine light in communion with one another to find the common ground and the irreconcilable differences.

I am willing to debate any opponent of Rescue Pacifica publicly in a real debate without the limiting constraints of the On-Air Forums, as I’m sure many other members and supporters of Rescue Pacifica are willing to do. But I know those, who disagree with Rescue Pacifica, have an indefensible position. And the radio programming they support and defend would be opposed by Lewis Hill as a travesty of Pacifica Radio.

John Whiting: “KPFA was founded by conscientious objectors as part of a larger project to promote pacifism. An internal memo written in 1948, whose style and content identify Lewis Hill as the probable author, began as follows:

“This project was begun as an attempt to carry a radical war resistance program into a mass medium. . . . The formula conceived at the outset was that mass education for war resistance would take place in direct proportion to the radio station’s growth in stature as a source of non-ideological entertainment and artistic activity. . . . Our whole project was a war-resistance weapon and nothing else, to be used as long as its usefulness for that purpose was definite, to be sacrificed with maximum notoriety possible when it could no longer be used for that purpose.“

Free speech KPFA and the Pacifica Radio Network, built over decades by grassroots community groups and individuals devoted to pacifism, antiwar activism, peace, freedom, and justice greatly contributed to the evolution of the character of Berkeley and the Bay Area as a mecca for progressivism. Now, KPFA and Pacifica are being turned into tools for the establishment in the absence of transparency and community inclusion. Let’s turn that around. Let’s shine a light on what’s going on.

Please read the important archives at Pacifica In Exile and learn about the important issues affecting our beloved Pacifica Radio Network. Then, take informed and principled action. Join us and help us, at Rescue Pacifica, increase transparency at KPFA and throughout the Pacifica Radio Network. Help us keep the Pacifica Foundation intact. Help us strengthen democratic governance and shared decision making among station workers and the community. Help us restore a democratic Program Council to make programming decisions.

KPFA is your station. The Pacifica Radio Network is your radio network. That is, if we can keep it. As Benjamin Franklin famously responded after the Constitutional Convention on September 17, 1787 to Elizabeth Willing Powell’s question: “Well, doctor, what have we got, a republic or a monarchy?” “A republic, if you can keep it,” answered Benjamin Franklin.

So, we must all do our part to get involved and shine light on the problems in order to develop solutions and help rescue Pacifica.

If you have given at least $25 to free speech KPFA between July 1, 2023 and June 30, 2024, you are eligible to vote in the 2024 KPFA Local Station Board (LSB) Election, as a voting member of KPFA. Improve KPFA with your voting power and vote for all Rescue Pacifica candidates.

Here is another quotation from the “Welcome to Pacifica In Exile” page for Pacifica In Exile:

“Pacifica in Exile is an independent publication that documents and records the activities of the Pacifica Radio Foundation, the founder of listener-sponsored noncommercial radio in the United States and the current license-holder for five public stations: KPFK in Los Angeles/Santa Barbara, WBAI in New York/New Jersey, WPFW in Washington DC, KPFT in Houston and KPFA in Berkeley/Oakland/San Francisco. Pacifica also distributes programs to 200+ affiliated stations and maintains a historical audio archive.

“Pacifica in Exile tracks the democratic governance experiment that began in Pacifica Radio in 2002, when a three year rebellion by staffers and some listeners in the network’s signal areas resulted in an intervention by the California Attorney General and the replacement of the organization’s structure and board. Pacifica’s democratically elected boards are open to anyone who can convince 15 other members to sign in support of them, donate $25 a year and win a local election that uses an STV proportional voting system.

“Pacifica has been struggling to keep up with massive changes in the media landscape with its boards composed of ordinary folks and has suffered a significant decline in financial support (more than 25% since 2007), managerial and executive instability, and local and national boards that have largely deteriorated into factional turf battles for control of program slots and the hiring/firing of personnel.

“Pacifica in Exile draws upon significant hands-on experience with Pacifica, including paid and volunteer positions as well as governance experience to tell the tale starting from the board coup of March of 2014 to the current day. We include as much back-up documentation and organizational history as possible and verification of any statements included in the blog, if not provided in the text on the website, is available upon request to journalists or engaged listener-members of the radio stations.”

I, for one, do not want “factional turf battles for control of program slots and the hiring/firing of personnel,” as the passage from Pacifica In Exile above describes. I prefer to engage in reasoned dialogue with those, who disagree with Rescue Pacifica. Unfortunately, the 2024 “Protectors” candidates have refused to meet in person for candidate forums, only participating in the bare minimum of a few on-air candidate forums with 90-second responses from candidates. During the KPFA LSB Election On-Air Forum in which I participated, I urged the KPFA Protectors to organize in-person public forums open to the community to broaden our dialogue and include more community participation. Unfortunately, the Protectors have not organized any public forums for LSB Election candidates. Conversely, Rescue Pacifica has organized LSB candidate forums in the South Bay and Central Valley.

I love KPFA and Pacifica Radio. This is not about me against the world. This is about finding common ground with other people, who care about being agents for peace, for freedom, for justice.

These issues inform my participation as a 2024 KPFA Local Station Board candidate. I am honored to have been nominated as a listener candidate. And I understand that not every one in the Rescue Pacifica organization will agree with everything I have to say. But I trust defenders of free speech will defend my right to exercise my First Amendment-protected right to free speech, whether they agree with me or not. The best antidote to bad speech is more good free speech, rather than censorship.

—Felipe “Phil” Messina, 2024 KPFA Local Station Board (LSB) Candidate

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NB: The views and opinions expressed in the above commentary do not necessarily reflect the views of the Rescue Pacifica organization or other Rescue Pacifica LSB members or candidates.

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This post was last edited/modified on 7 SEP 2024 at 09:37 PDT.

[Traducción al español a continuación]

If I remember correctly, Jeffrey Blankfort is an important activist voice for saving KPFA from a corporate-style takeover after the 1999 KPFA Lockouts and attempted takeover by Democrat Party partisans, such as Lynn Chadwick and Mary Frances Berry.

Yes, a quick search online pulls up a good article, which must never be forgotten because of its importance to the history of free speech and free speech radio in U.S. history: “Stealing Save KPFA: Erasing History” by Jeffrey Blankfort, Maria Gilardin, Curt Gray, Marianne Torres, 18 JUL 2015, https://pacificainexile.org/archives/1007

I remember when that article first came out on a different website circa 2010, I think. In 2010, I ran for a seat on the KPFA Local Station Board alongside Steve Zeltzer, Sureya Sayadi, and another candidate, whose name escapes me at the moment. He was brown, like me, or Hispanic or Latino, as people say. We were known as the Voices For Justice caucus (or slate of candidates).

I’m glad this important article by Jeffrey Blankfort and friends is now archived on the website called Pacifica In Exile. If you haven’t read the article before, please do. Even if you have read it, please re-read it, as I will do in a moment. It’s always a good reminder to revisit this history for people, who love free speech, free speech radio, and free speech media. The article is co-written by Curt Gray, another champion of KPFA, Pacifica Radio, and free speech media. I’m proud to say I was in contact with him for a while via telephone conversations in the early 2000s. And I learned a lot from Curt Gray about the forces working against the grassroots free speech pacifist spirit of KPFA and Pacifica Radio. For example, Curt Gray taught me about the patronage system, which operates within KPFA. Later, I would learn more about how patronage systems operate in many institutions and centers of power in the USA and beyond.

In this new video by the laborvideo YouTube channel created by The Labor Video Project featuring an interview conducted on Friday, August 30th, 2024, Jeffrey Blankfort exposes some of the problems of Zionist lobbyist influence in the Democrat Party, which supports U.S. government funding for the belligerent and genocidal Israeli military. The genocide in Gaza is one of the important issues of our time. But, of course, some of us have been calling for freedom for Occupied Palestine for decades. In Jeffrey Blankfort’s case, he has been calling for freedom for Occupied Palestine for some five decades.

Jeffrey Blankfort is interviewed here by Steve Zeltzer of The Labor Video Project, one of his many important projects. One very interesting thing they mention is both having been sued by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), the New York-based international Jewish non-governmental organization (NGO) for their peace activism and labor activism. The ADL was formerly known as the Independent Order of B’nai B’rith.

Steve Zeltzer asked Jeffrey Blankfort (c. 4min 54sec): “Now, you’ve been sued by the ADL. I was sued as well. Why did they sue? Why did the Zionist entity, the ADL, which has worked with the B’nai B’rith, worked with the Nazis during the Second World War [sue]?”

Jeffrey Blankfort recalled: “What they did was, one of the ADL’s main concerns is with the American labor movement and also with the threat of the antiwar movement toward Israel. So, you and I were both involved in anti-apartheid work…”

For further reading on the ADL and their false civil rights facade, their counterinsurgency agenda, their mission to protect the mutual interests of U.S. imperialism and the Zionist Israeli government, to eliminate solidarity among oppressed and colonized peoples, especially concerning Occupied Palestine, and the ADL’s record of supporting anti-Jewish state violence and normalizing Nazis read:

“Dismantle the ADL: The Anti-Defamation League’s record of racist counterinsurgency and espionage: Throughout its history the mission of the ADL has been to protect the mutual interests of the US and Israel – including eliminating solidarity among oppressed peoples, especially concerning Palestine.” by The Mapping Project, Mondoweiss, 27 JUL 2022, https://mondoweiss.net/…/dismantle-the-adl-the-anti…/

Jeffrey Blankfort went into great detail, as he and interviewer Steve Zeltzer (Labor Video Project) discussed being involved in the U.S. labor movement and the movement against apartheid in South Africa, especially as they tended to overlap. How low our collective American consciousness has descended. Nowadays, few people recognize that apartheid and—worse—genocide is happening in Occupied Palestine right now. Or people might be in denial, if not apathetic. There has been an upsurge in antiwar activism on college and university campuses across the nation. But, of course, it was crushed by the police state, which crushes dissent, whether a Democrat or a Republican administration is in power.

And, yet, many people, who opposed or would have opposed apartheid in South Africa from the late 1940s until the early 1990s, today support, or are uncritical of, the apartheid in Occupied Palestine and genocide in Gaza. This is especially true of the dominant editorial direction of public affairs programming and the news department at free speech KPFA/Pacifica radio, which influences hundreds of free speech Pacifica Radio Network affiliates across the country.

Somehow, so-called people of conscience these days can say they oppose the genocide in Gaza out of one side of their mouths, but, then, out of the other side of their mouths support the Democrat Party, or they engage in Democrat Party apologism, or perpetuate the false notion that people of conscience must support “the lesser of two evils”, rather than organize for true democracy without an Electoral College, which undermines the popular vote, the people’s vote. Too many “people of conscience” perpetuate the polarizing two-party system instead of rejecting it in favor of building a multiparty system with ranked-choice voting, publicly-funded elections and sincere working-class political parties.

Of course, this often has to do with the simplistic mindset of the good cop/bad-cop routine of the two-party dictatorship, the political theater pushed on the American people. The Democrats are cast as the only hope for peace, freedom, and justice against the villainous Republicans when, in fact, both of those parties support militarism, the military-industrial-congressional-complex. This is not a difficult fact to corroborate, in case any readers disagree with this fact-claim. Both dominant U.S. political parties are enemies of freedom and justice. Both parties are eroding our civil liberties and human rights. Both parties are waging class warfare from above against the working class, as jobs become scarcer, unemployment worsens, homelessness worsens, wages stagnate, healthcare costs rise, housing costs rise, and so on.

I trust most of my readers, understand these things and agree with me. But I am also speaking to my conservative friends and neighbors, who are also part of the working class. We often agree on descriptions of social ills, but often disagree on the prescriptions for those social ills. Sometimes, there are irreconcilable differences, such as with the might-equals-right doctrine of belligerent militarism versus the JFK-style spirit of diplomacy and peace. (Read or listen to the excellent work of former political organizer and historian Dr. Aaron Good for more information on how JFK began as an imperialist, like most, if not all U.S. presidents, but evolved into the last U.S. president for peace, for example here or here or here.) But, sometimes, there is common ground, which transcends the left-right divide. We simply need more dialogue, dialogos, to find that common ground upon which the working class can organize to defend itself against the common enemy, the ruling class or the power elite.

It’s very good to hear from Jeffrey Blankfort again. I admire his activism, his civic engagement and political engagement, his sense of responsibility and duty to his community and the world. All of his work and historical memory must be archived for the benefit of all, especially for present and future peace, freedom, and justice groups. Jeffrey Blankfort deserves to be on free speech Pacifica Radio, especially at a time in U.S. history when our Bill of Rights, including the First Amendment, is being destroyed by both wings of the corporate duopoly in government. The fact that Jeffrey Blankfort is not heard regularly on free speech KPFA and Pacifica Radio, despite his wealth of knowledge as an elder activist, who embodies the best of what free speech KPFA and Pacifica Radio espouses, reflects how KPFA radio has been hollowed out from the inside by synthetic-left phonies, like Brian Edwards-Tiekert, Mitch Jeserich, Kris Welch, Philip Maldari, Sasha Lilley, C.S. Soong, et al., the power clique within KPFA and its proxies on the KPFA Local Station Board (i.e., the “Protectors”), which has been operating the dominant patronage system behind the scenes at KPFA for at least two decades now using various monikers.

These issues inform my participation as a 2024 KPFA Local Station Board candidate. I am honored to have been nominated as a listener candidate. And I understand that not every one in the Rescue Pacifica organization will agree with everything I have to say. But I trust defenders of free speech will defend my right to exercise my First Amendment-protected right to free speech, whether they agree with me or not. The best antidote to bad speech is more good free speech, rather than censorship.

—Felipe “Phil” Messina, 2024 KPFA Local Station Board (LSB) Candidate

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NB: The views and opinions expressed in the above commentary do not necessarily reflect the views of the Rescue Pacifica organization or other Rescue Pacifica LSB members or candidates.

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Si no recuerdo mal, Jeffrey Blankfort es una voz activista importante para salvar a KPFA de una toma de control de estilo corporativo después de los cierres patronales de KPFA en 1999 y el intento de toma de control por parte de partidarios del Partido Demócrata, como Lynn Chadwick y Mary Frances Berry.

Sí, una búsqueda rápida en Internet muestra un buen artículo, que nunca debe olvidarse debido a su importancia para la historia de la libertad de expresión y la radio libre de expresión en la historia de los EE. UU.: “Stealing Save KPFA: Erasing History” de Jeffrey Blankfort, Maria Gilardin, Curt Gray, Marianne Torres, 18 de julio de 2015, https://pacificainexile.org/archives/1007

Recuerdo cuando ese artículo apareció por primera vez en un sitio web diferente alrededor de 2010, creo. En 2010, me postulé para un puesto en la Junta de la Estación Local de KPFA junto con Steve Zeltzer, Sureya Sayadi y otro candidato, cuyo nombre no recuerdo en este momento. Él era moreno, como yo, o hispano o latino, como dicen. Éramos conocidos como el grupo de candidatos Voices For Justice (Voces por la Justicia).

Me alegra que este importante artículo de Jeffrey Blankfort y amigos esté ahora archivado en el sitio web llamado Pacifica In Exile (Pacifica en el exilio). Si no has leído el artículo antes, hazlo. Incluso si lo has leído, vuelve a leerlo, como lo haré yo en un momento. Siempre es un buen recordatorio para las personas que aman la libertad de expresión, la radio de libre expresión y los medios de comunicación de libre expresión. El artículo está coescrito por Curt Gray, otro defensor de KPFA, Pacifica Radio y los medios de comunicación de libre expresión. Me enorgullece decir que estuve en contacto con él durante un tiempo a través de conversaciones telefónicas a principios de la década de 2000. Y aprendí mucho de Curt Gray sobre las fuerzas que trabajan contra el espíritu pacifista de libertad de expresión de base de KPFA y Pacifica Radio. Por ejemplo, Curt Gray me enseñó sobre el sistema de clientelismo, que opera dentro de KPFA. Más tarde, aprendería más sobre cómo funcionan los sistemas clientelistas en muchas instituciones y centros de poder en los EE. UU. y más allá.

En este nuevo video del canal de YouTube laborvideo creado por The Labor Video Project que incluye una entrevista realizada el viernes 30 de agosto de 2024, Jeffrey Blankfort expone algunos de los problemas de la influencia del lobby sionista en el Partido Demócrata, que apoya la financiación del gobierno de Estados Unidos al beligerante y genocida ejército israelí. El genocidio en Gaza es uno de los problemas importantes de nuestro tiempo. Pero, por supuesto, algunos de nosotros hemos estado pidiendo libertad para la Palestina ocupada durante décadas. En el caso de Jeffrey Blankfort, él ha estado pidiendo libertad para la Palestina ocupada durante unas cinco décadas.

Jeffrey Blankfort es entrevistado aquí por Steve Zeltzer de The Labor Video Project, uno de sus muchos proyectos importantes. Una cosa muy interesante que mencionan es que ambos han sido demandados por la Liga Antidifamación (ADL), la organización no gubernamental judía internacional con sede en Nueva York, por su activismo por la paz y el activismo laboral. La ADL se conocía anteriormente como la Orden Independiente de B’nai B’rith.

Steve Zeltzer le preguntó a Jeffrey Blankfort (aproximadamente 4 min 54 s): “Ahora, la ADL te ha demandado. A mí también. ¿Por qué te han demandado? ¿Por qué la entidad sionista, la ADL, que ha trabajado con B’nai B’rith, trabajó con los nazis durante la Segunda Guerra Mundial [ha demandado]?”

Jeffrey Blankfort recordó: “Lo que hicieron fue que una de las principales preocupaciones de la ADL era el movimiento obrero estadounidense y también la amenaza del movimiento contra la guerra hacia Israel. Así que tú y yo estábamos involucrados en el trabajo contra el apartheid…”

Para más información sobre la ADL y su falsa fachada de derechos civiles, su agenda de contrainsurgencia, su misión de proteger los intereses mutuos del imperialismo estadounidense y el gobierno sionista israelí, de eliminar la solidaridad entre los pueblos oprimidos y colonizados, especialmente en lo que respecta a la Palestina ocupada, y el historial de la ADL de apoyo a la violencia estatal antijudía y la normalización de los nazis, lea:

“Desmantelar la ADL: El historial de contrainsurgencia y espionaje racista de la Liga Antidifamación: A lo largo de su historia, la misión de la ADL ha sido proteger los intereses mutuos de los EE. UU. e Israel, incluida la eliminación de la solidaridad entre los pueblos oprimidos, especialmente en lo que respecta a Palestina”. por The Mapping Project, Mondoweiss, 27 JUL 2022, https://mondoweiss.net/…/dismantle-the-adl-the-anti…/

Jeffrey Blankfort entró en gran detalle cuando él y el entrevistador Steve Zeltzer (Labor Video Project) hablaron sobre su participación en el movimiento laboral estadounidense y el movimiento contra el apartheid en Sudáfrica, especialmente porque tendían a superponerse. ¡Qué bajo ha caído nuestra conciencia colectiva estadounidense! Hoy en día, pocas personas reconocen que el apartheid y, peor aún, el genocidio están ocurriendo en la Palestina ocupada en este momento. O la gente puede estar en estado de negación, si no apatía. Ha habido un aumento del activismo contra la guerra en los campus universitarios de todo el país. Pero, por supuesto, fue aplastado por el estado policial, que aplasta la disidencia, ya sea que haya una administración demócrata o republicana en el poder.

Y, sin embargo, muchas personas, que se opusieron o se habrían opuesto al apartheid en Sudáfrica desde fines de la década de 1940 hasta principios de la de 1990, hoy apoyan, o son acríticos con respecto al apartheid en la Palestina ocupada y al genocidio en Gaza. Esto es especialmente cierto en el caso de la dirección editorial dominante de la programación de asuntos públicos y del departamento de noticias de la radio KPFA/Pacifica, que ejerce su influencia sobre cientos de filiales de la red de radio Pacifica, que ejerce su influencia sobre la libertad de expresión, en todo el país.

De alguna manera, las llamadas personas de conciencia hoy en día pueden decir que se oponen al genocidio en Gaza por un lado, pero, por el otro, apoyan al Partido Demócrata, o se dedican a hacer apología del Partido Demócrata, o perpetúan la falsa noción de que las personas de conciencia deben apoyar “el menor de dos males”, en lugar de organizarse para una verdadera democracia sin un Colegio Electoral, que socava el voto popular, el voto del pueblo. Demasiadas “personas de conciencia” perpetúan el polarizador sistema bipartidista en lugar de rechazarlo a favor de la construcción de un sistema multipartidista con votación por orden de preferencia, elecciones financiadas con fondos públicos y partidos políticos sinceros de la clase trabajadora.

Por supuesto, esto a menudo tiene que ver con la mentalidad simplista de la rutina del policía bueno y el policía malo de la dictadura bipartidista, el teatro político impuesto al pueblo estadounidense. Los demócratas son presentados como la única esperanza de paz, libertad y justicia contra los malvados republicanos cuando, de hecho, ambos partidos apoyan el militarismo, el complejo militar-industrial-congresional. Este no es un hecho difícil de corroborar, en caso de que algún lector no esté de acuerdo con esta afirmación. Ambos partidos políticos dominantes de Estados Unidos son enemigos de la libertad y la justicia. Ambos partidos están erosionando nuestras libertades civiles y derechos humanos. Ambos partidos están librando una guerra de clases desde arriba contra la clase trabajadora, a medida que los empleos escasean, el desempleo empeora, la falta de vivienda empeora, los salarios se estancan, los costos de la atención médica aumentan, los costos de la vivienda aumentan, etc.

Confío que la mayoría de mis lectores, entienden estas cosas y estan de acuerdo conmigo. Pero también estoy hablando con mis amigos y vecinos conservadores, que también son parte de la clase trabajadora. A menudo coincidimos en las descripciones de los males sociales, pero a menudo no estamos de acuerdo en las prescripciones para esos males sociales. A veces, hay diferencias irreconciliables, como la doctrina de la fuerza igual al derecho del militarismo beligerante frente al espíritu de diplomacia y paz al estilo JFK. ((Lea o escuche el excelente trabajo del ex organizador político e historiador Dr. Aaron Good para obtener más información sobre cómo JFK comenzó como un imperialista, como la mayoría, si no todos los presidentes estadounidenses, pero evolucionó hasta convertirse en el último presidente estadounidense por la paz, por ejemplo aquí o aquí o aquí).) Pero, a veces, hay un terreno común que trasciende la división entre izquierda y derecha. Simplemente necesitamos más diálogo, diálogos, para encontrar ese terreno común sobre el cual la clase trabajadora pueda organizarse para defenderse contra el enemigo común, la clase dominante o la élite en el poder.

Es muy bueno volver a escuchar a Jeffrey Blankfort. Admiro su activismo, su compromiso cívico y político, su sentido de responsabilidad y deber hacia su comunidad y el mundo. Todo su trabajo y su memoria histórica deben archivarse para el beneficio de todos, especialmente para los grupos de paz, libertad y justicia presentes y futuros. Jeffrey Blankfort merece estar en la radio Pacifica de la libertad de expresión, especialmente en un momento de la historia de los EE. UU. en el que nuestra Carta de Derechos, incluida la Primera Enmienda, está siendo destruida por ambas alas del duopolio corporativo en el gobierno. El hecho de que Jeffrey Blankfort no sea escuchado regularmente en la radio de libertad de expresión KPFA y Pacifica, a pesar de su riqueza de conocimiento como activista veterano, que encarna lo mejor de lo que la radio de libertad de expresión KPFA y Pacifica defiende, refleja cómo la radio KPFA ha sido vaciada desde adentro por farsantes de izquierda sintética, como Brian Edwards-Tiekert, Mitch Jeserich, Kris Welch, Philip Maldari, Sasha Lilley, C.S. Soong, et al., la camarilla de poder dentro de KPFA y sus representantes en la Junta de la Estación Local de KPFA (es decir, los “Protectores”), que ha estado operando el sistema de patrocinio dominante detrás de escena en KPFA durante al menos dos décadas ahora usando varios apodos.

Estos temas orientan mi participación como candidato a la Junta Local de la Estación KPFA en 2024. Me siento honrado de haber sido nominado como candidato de los oyentes. Y entiendo que no todos en la organización Rescue Pacifica estarán de acuerdo con todo lo que tengo que decir. Pero confío en que los defensores de la libertad de expresión defenderán mi derecho a ejercer mi derecho a la libertad de expresión protegido por la Primera Enmienda, ya sea que estén de acuerdo conmigo o no. El mejor antídoto contra el mal discurso es más libertad de expresión buena, en lugar de censura.

—Felipe “Phil” Messina, Candidato a la Junta de la Estación Local (LSB) de KPFA 2024

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NB: Los puntos de vista y opiniones expresados ​​en el comentario anterior no reflejan necesariamente los puntos de vista de la organización Rescue Pacifica ni de otros miembros o candidatos de Rescue Pacifica LSB.

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This post was last edited/modified on 1 SEP 2024 at 19:46 PDT.

[The following commentary was originally published by Daniel Borgström at Daniel’s Free Speech Zone on September 13, 2023. Daniel Borgström is currently a member of the KPFA Local Station Board as a listener representative.]

Early morning radio listeners might’ve thought they’d tuned in to the wrong station. No, they had the right one—KPFA, at 94.1 FM. But, yes, something was strange, weird, and even downright wrong. Listeners were hearing a pitch for improving the Military Industrial Complex, a need to build up U.S. defense industries in order to send more weapons to the proxy war in Ukraine.

This new show was Background Briefing, hosted by Ian Masters. He came to KPFA in April 2023.

“I had never heard of him until I tuned in at 5 a.m., and there he was,” a listener emailed. “I didn’t find much for the first part of his broadcast to disagree with. Then he said something that made me cringe. It took about fifteen minutes for me to recognize that this guy wasn’t any kind of leftist I was familiar with.”

Other listeners expressed similar surprise and disapproval. This was KPFA, founded by Lew Hill, a dedicated pacifist who spent time in prison for his uncompromising beliefs. Since going on the air in 1949, this station stood up to Senator Joe McCarthy and the witch hunts of the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC). Show hosts at this station opposed the wars in Korea and Vietnam as well as nuclear armament. They supported the Civil Rights and other progressive movements. This is a radio station with a seven decade tradition of speaking out on social issues and opposing war.

Nevertheless, here is a very different voice, promoting a proxy war. Before coming to KPFA, Ian Masters hosted his program at KPFK [90.7 FM] in Los Angeles. Like KPFA here in the San Francisco Bay Area, the LA station is part of the Pacifica radio network, dedicated to opposing imperialism and promoting social justice. Nevertheless, Ian Masters seems to have had no problem with offending the station’s listeners. “He regularly lambasted Venezuela and Cuba,” a listener from Los Angeles remembered. “He rejoiced when Fidel Castro was ailing.”

Ian Masters attacked Mumia Abu-Jamal, an award-winning prisoner-journalist whose commentaries are aired on Pacifica stations. When a person in New York emailed and asked him about that, Ian Masters replied with the police narrative and called Mumia’s supporters “gullible.”

Many, probably most of us who listen to Pacifica stations, support Mumia Abu-Jamal. Mumia is an archetypal case of a person who got railroaded through the “justice” system and continues to be denied a fair trial. And here’s a show host who endorses that ongoing injustice and calls us “gullible” if we don’t go along with him.

KPFK kept Ian Masters on the air until two years ago, when he got in a hassle over the outcome of a “New Day“-sponsored referendum, which was a bid to take over the Pacifica Radio Network. That referendum failed, and the “New Day” folks disputed the results. Ian Masters, also a member of “New Day”, took the dispute a step further. During the station’s next fund drive, he urged listeners NOT to donate to the station. He broadcast that request on KPFK’s airwaves, two and sometimes three times a day, for a week. That was in July 2021.

With that he finally became persona non grata and left the station. Nothing was heard of him again ’til last spring when he showed up on the air at KPFA, the Bay Area station.

His fund drive sabotage in Los Angeles would seem terminally outrageous enough to render him forever unwelcome anywhere in the five-station Pacifica Radio Network. So why was he now welcomed to KPFA? Strange! Or maybe not so strange. He was a staunch supporter of “New Day,” which is aligned with the “KPFA Protectors.” The “Protectors” represent the gatekeepers at KPFA and have a super majority on KPFA’s board.

That group, which goes under several deceptive names including “New Day”, ” Safety Net,” “KPFA Protectors,” and formerly “SaveKPFA“—that name was ripped off from many of us who worked to save the station in the 1990s—has done numerous destructive deeds. Here are a couple of examples from a long list: in December 2020 they asked a California court to put the Pacifica network into receivership—bankruptcy. The petitioners included Christina Huggins, chair of KPFA’s board. Had that request been granted, the entire network, including KPFA, would’ve gone into the hands of a corporate lawyer and from there presumably become the private possession of the “New Day” folks. Through that and other lawsuits, they’ve cost Pacifica OVER half a million dollars in court costs—this at a time when the foundation is out of money and deeply in debt, on the very edge of financial collapse.

The secretary of KPFA’s board, Carol Wolfley, petitioned the FCC to deny renewal of the New York station’s broadcasting license. She and their majority faction, the “Protectors,” passed a resolution in support of it. If the FCC were to grant the “Protectors” request, it would cost Pacifica the loss of an asset valued at somewhere between $20 to $50 million.

Compared to the actions of his associates, Ian Masters’ fund drive caper pales to relatively minor mischief. Anyway, his show, Background Briefing, is being aired; so I wondered, what is it like?

Actually, it’s handily available for review. For each broadcast he posts a summary of his topics, along with the names and backgrounds of his guests. These summaries, regardless of whatever else anyone might say or think of Ian Masters, are very well done.

Let me take a couple of lines to say that one of the big weaknesses of KPFA is that these summaries are generally not done. We live in the 21st century—an age of podcasting—and, yet, few programmers at KPFA seem to be aware of that. This means that a listener might visit the KPFA.org website to look for an excellent show on the topic of X, Y, or Z, that was aired a couple of weeks ago, and not easily find it. Since archives aren’t properly labeled, it’s like searching through the proverbial haystack. Our affinity group, “Rescue Pacifica,” has brought this issue up time and again over the years. But nothing happens. Or at least very little happens. Now, here comes this war promoter who does an outstandingly excellent job of summaries and labeling. I have to admire the perverse irony of this situation.

So, returning to Ian Masters. He promotes the proxy war in Ukraine, accuses Russia of blowing up the Nova Kakhovka dam, and suggests that the Russians may be planning a false flag operation to blow up the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant. Nevertheless, on the other hand, he also discusses progressive topics, such as climate change, abortion access, LGBTQ people’s rights, student debt cancellation. He castigates “Draconian cuts in an already inadequate social safety net,” and “Republicans who are equating Latino immigration with white replacement while blaming immigrants for crime.”

And he criticizes the defense industries—for their inefficiency. On August 1, 2023 his topic was the “history of the Military Industrial Complex’s consolidation, privatization, outsourcing, job cuts, federal inaction, and a hunt for larger profits that has created a perfect storm, which now hobbles security assistance for Ukraine, and potentially for future conflicts as well.”

Okay. It’s a well known fact that the U.S. war industries are notoriously corrupt. But what does anybody who’s been paying attention think those defense industries are for? Their primary mission is to make money on overwhelming quantities of incredibly expensive junk—the F-35, for example. But, really, do we progressives want an efficient war machine to defend the empire? Well, I sure hope not!

The warmongering agenda used to belong to the centrists, the establishment Democrats and Republicans. Now, it has moved into the progressive zone. A major part of this shift happened during the 2016 election, when Donald Trump launched his candidacy. Trump is a bad guy to be sure, but when you look behind the façade, most U.S. presidents aren’t really so wonderful. What distinguishes Donald Trump is his bizarre and powerful charisma, that attracts many people and repels just as many. Folks on both sides of the divide lose their rationality over Trump. His supporters follow him blindly; and vast numbers of his opponents are smitten by an acute psychotic disorder known as “Trump Derangement Syndrome” (TDS). The corporate media has played a major role both in publicizing Trump and in promoting TDS very effectively. And since enemies of enemies may look like friends, any and all who opposed Trump became the “good guys”—that included the FBI and CIA, whose many sins were forgiven.

Our rehabilitated and now trustworthy FBI joined with the Hillary Clinton folks in crafting Russiagate, a very successful effort to falsely tag Donald Trump as a Russian agent, and portray Vladimir Putin as our evil, conniving and underhanded enemy. That fabrication was extremely useful in mustering public support for NATO and the proxy wars. Although it’s been exposed as a deception, Ian Masters works to keep Russiagate alive.

On his May 31, 2023 show he castigated investigators and researchers who’d made “the label ‘Russiagate’ equivalent to a hoax when the evidence is overwhelming that Putin helped elect Trump in 2016.” Ian Masters’ concern, he tells us, is that if Trump were to return to the White House, he would “cut off aid to Ukraine and pull the US out of NATO.”

Actually, his fears of a peaceful Trump are probably unfounded. During his recent presidency, Donald Trump did his share of bombing and would presumably do so again.

Donald Trump is one of Ian Masters’ favorite topics. He has other topics too, and not everything he says is wrong or incorrect. So, here we have this show host with some good stuff while pushing a new cold war ideology and promoting some of the empire’s biggest hoaxes and most intense propaganda. What to make of this? Maybe it’s like a guy in LA said, “Ian’s M.O. is to always keep his ‘progressive’ credentials polished so that he appears to be seen in that light.”

A lot of folks, in Los Angeles and elsewhere, have repeatedly told us, warned us, and reminded us that this show host is a CIA asset. But do we know that for sure? There’s a saying: If it walks like a duck, swims like a duck, flies like a duck and quacks like a duck, then you still better not assume without absolutely solid proof that it is a duck. Lacking final confirmation, we can only report on how it walks, swims, flies, and quacks.

What we can say is that this bird doesn’t fly with the Pacifica mission.


DANIEL BORGSTRÖM

September 13, 2023

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NB: The views and opinions expressed in the above commentary do not necessarily reflect the views of the Rescue Pacifica organization or other Rescue Pacifica LSB members or candidates, except for Phil Messina (he wholeheartedly agrees with this commentary).

This post was last edited/modified on 31 AUG 2024 at 22:02 PDT.

[Traducción al español a continuación]

Quotations from video description: “Rescue Pacifica held a press conference at KPFA on July 31, 2024 to warn about the FCC monitorship of KPFA and Pacifica and the dangers with the rise of fascism.

“The press conference participants reported that the members of KPFA “Protectors” group including candidates who are on the majority on the KPFA Local Station Board had filed a complaint with the FCC [Federal Communications Commission] to monitor WBAI and have tried to physically shutdown the New York WBAI Affiliate of Pacifica.

“These delegates at KPFA as a result of their complaint with the FCC forced Pacifica to pay a fine of $25,000 and also ended up in a full monitorship and oversight of the entire Pacifica foundation and all stations including KPFA. This has led to a dangerous situation in which KPFA has been unable to have a summer fund drive in a time of dire need and financial crisis. The PNB [Pacifica National Board] management which is controlled by The Protectors has also laid off all the staff of the Pacifica Archives which threatens the historic archives of the Pacifica Foundation. The Protectors and their supporters around the country have refused to report on the attack on the Pacifica archives with the elimination of the entire staff.” [End of quotations from video description]

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We need an informed citizenry for a healthy democracy, for a democratic society. Corporate news doesn’t tell us the truth about what’s going on in our world. That’s why we need free speech media, free speech TV, and free speech radio.

KPFA and the Pacifica Radio Network is the nation’s first listener-sponsored radio station and national radio network in U.S. history, if not world history. It was founded in Berkeley, California in 1949 by pacifists opposed to war. Since 1949, KPFA and the Pacifica Radio Network has been the standard-bearer in media for progressivism, for peace and justice, for freedom and socioeconomic justice.

But free speech radio KPFA and the Pacifica Radio Network has been under attack for years by people, who do not want honest news and information to be broadcast to local communities around the nation. They oppose dissidents to the left of them on the political spectrum. They want to pretend to be truth-seekers with journalistic integrity, as they support ‘humanitarian interventions’ which perpetuate war. And they promote broadcasting of Democrat Party apologism, which advances corporate agendas waging class warfare from above against the working class.

We don’t just need to defend KPFA and the Pacifica Radio Network. We, the working class, need to expand the Pacifica Radio Network. The airwaves belong to the people. The airwaves do not belong to corporate America.

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“La supervisión de la FCC amenaza a KPFA y Pacifica; rescata a Pacifica [Rescue Pacifica] conferencia de prensa” por laborvideo [The Labor Video Project], 23 AUG 2024.

Cotizaciónes de la descripción del vídeo: “Rescue Pacifica celebró una conferencia de prensa en KPFA el 31 de julio de 2024 para advertir sobre la supervisión de la FCC [Comisión Federal de Comunicaciones] a KPFA y Pacifica y los peligros con el ascenso del fascismo.

“Los participantes de la conferencia de prensa informaron que los miembros del grupo “Protectores” de KPFA, incluidos los candidatos que son mayoría en la Junta de la Estación Local de KPFA, habían presentado una queja ante la FCC para que supervisaran a WBAI y habían intentado cerrar físicamente la Afiliada de Pacifica a WBAI en Nueva York.

“Estos delegados en KPFA, como resultado de su queja ante la FCC, obligaron a Pacifica a pagar una multa de $25,000 y también terminaron bajo una supervisión y supervisión total de toda la fundación de Pacifica y todas las estaciones, incluida KPFA. Esto ha llevado a una situación peligrosa en la que KPFA no ha podido realizar una campaña de recaudación de fondos de verano en un momento de extrema necesidad y crisis financiera. La dirección del PNB [Junta Nacional de Pacifica], controlada por Los Protectores, también ha despedido a todo el personal de los Archivos de Pacifica, lo que pone en peligro los archivos históricos de la Fundación Pacifica. Los Protectores y sus partidarios en todo el país se han negado a informar sobre el ataque a los archivos de Pacifica y la eliminación de todo el personal.” [Fin de las cotizaciónes de la descripción del vídeo]

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Necesitamos una ciudadanía informada para una democracia sana, para una sociedad democrática. Las noticias corporativas no nos dicen la verdad sobre lo que está pasando en nuestro mundo. Por eso necesitamos medios de comunicación, televisión y radio que respeten la libertad de expresión.

KPFA y Pacifica Radio Network son la primera estación de radio patrocinada por los oyentes y la primera red de radio nacional en la historia de los Estados Unidos, si no en la historia mundial. Fue fundada en Berkeley, California, en 1949 por pacifistas opuestos a la guerra. Desde 1949, KPFA y Pacifica Radio Network han sido los abanderados en los medios de comunicación del progresismo, la paz y la justicia, la libertad y la justicia socioeconómica.

Pero la radio que promueve la libertad de expresión KPFA y Pacifica Radio Network ha sido atacada durante años por personas que no quieren que se transmitan noticias e información honestas a las comunidades locales de todo el país. Se oponen a los disidentes situados a la izquierda de ellos en el espectro político. Quieren aparentar ser buscadores de la verdad con integridad periodística, mientras apoyan “intervenciones humanitarias” que perpetúan la guerra. Y promueven la difusión de apologías del Partido Demócrata, que promueven agendas corporativas que libran una guerra de clases desde arriba contra la clase trabajadora.

No solo necesitamos defender a KPFA y a la Pacifica Radio Network. Nosotros, la clase trabajadora, necesitamos expandir la Pacifica Radio Network. Las ondas de radio pertenecen al pueblo. Las ondas de radio no pertenecen a las corporaciones estadounidenses.

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This post last edited/modified on 31 AUG 2024 at 22:42 PDT.

[Traducción al español a continuación]

Quotation from video description: “The Pacifica [Radio] Network is having [Local Station Board] elections at each station and there was a KPFA Local Station Board town hall meeting in the Central Valley on August 10., 2024. All KPFA candidates were invited to participate and it was sponsored by the Valley Improvements Project which is based in Modesto, California. The meeting also had participants who spoke on the issues.”

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Press Release:

2024 KPFA Local Station Board Election Forum

Monday, August 5, 2024

Thomas Helme

tom@VIP209.org

Valley Improvement Projects is holding a KPFA Local Station Board forum at Valley Improvement Projects headquarters (1224 K Street, Modesto, California, 95354) on Saturday, August 10, 2024 at 2:00 pm PST. 

KPFA is part of the national Pacifica Radio Network.  Pacifica Radio Network stations are governed by democratically elected Local Station Boards (LSB), which are composed of listener-members and staff.  As part of the 2024 KPFA LSB election cycle, all KPFA LSB candidates are invited to participate in this forum, and all members of the Central Valley community are invited to attend, at the headquarters of Valley Improvement Projects (VIP), a non-profit organization dedicated to social and environmental justice. (See https://valleyimprovementprojects.org/ )

The Pacifica Radio Network was founded in 1949 by antiwar pacifists dedicated to promoting peace and “a lasting understanding between nations and between the individuals of all nations, races, creeds and colors; to gather and disseminate information on the causes of conflict between any and all such groups; and through any and all means compatible with the purposes of this corporation to promote the study of political and economic problems and of the causes of religious, philosophical and racial antagonisms.” (See Pacifica Foundation Mission Statement, https://pacifica.org/about_mission.php)

Among the non-profit educational purposes of Pacifica Radio, which includes the encouragement of the arts and “other creative activities which will serve the cultural welfare of the community”, Pacifica Radio is dedicated to “radio broadcasting operations [which] promote the full distribution of public information; to obtain access to sources of news not commonly brought together in the same medium; and to employ such varied sources in the public presentation of accurate, objective, comprehensive news on all matters vitally affecting the community.”  (See Pacifica Foundation Mission Statement, https://pacifica.org/about_mission.php)

VIP engages in several social and environmental justice projects, including Modesto CopWatch, which advocates for policing reform and police accountability in the public interest of the community.  Both organizations provide “”Know Your Rights” information to community members and increase community oversight of local law enforcement agencies to eliminate abuse, profiling, and harassment.” (See https://valleyimprovementprojects.org/ )

The mission of VIP is:  “To improve the quality of life of underrepresented and marginalized residents of California’s Northern San Joaquin Valley by advocating for social and environmental justice.”

The public service to the community, the common ground and mutual interests of Pacifica Radio and VIP have inspired the convening of this forum.

The purpose of this forum at VIP is to provide an opportunity to the 2024 KPFA LSB Candidates and members of the Central Valley community as well as all KPFA listeners to dialogue in the interest of mutual understanding and in the spirit of mutual aid.

KPFA is a terrestrial radio station with a wide signal range reaching the Silicon Valley-SF-Oakland Bay Area.  KPFA is also accessible beyond its terrestrial signal range via livestream and audio archives at KPFA.org.  Broadening community engagement is mutually beneficial for Pacifica Radio, for community organizations, like VIP and Modesto CopWatch, and for the people in the communities served by such organizations.  It is also important that KPFA LSB candidates have an opportunity to engage with diverse communities in the Bay Area and adjacent Central Valley communities.  Many people, who live in the Central Valley, commute daily to the Bay Area for work.  This makes these shared interests all the more intertwined and vital.

It is coming to light that Project 2025, the rightist agenda for this upcoming presidential election, has named Pacifica Radio as an entity, which it is planning to shut down.  Our communities’ interests are at stake.  Therefore, our communities deserve an opportunity to address this issue and what can be done to stop this threat to the Pacifica Radio Network.

In light of the forces at play in this election, these are all important discussions, which all communities with an interest in the community radio model, which Pacifica represents, deserve to hear about first-hand from all KPFA LSB candidates.

To participate in this forum, please contact Thomas Helme:  tom@VIP209.org

The host and moderator of this KPFA LSB Election Forum will be Valley Improvement Projects director Thomas Helme. 

All candidates, moderator/hosts, timekeepers and others are required to fill out and sign the following Google Form, agreeing to the ground rules below: https://forms.gle/fsoY8cRmXSoPeyGo6 

Your electronic signature ensures you, as participant, have read, and agree to abide by, the ground rules.

Election Event Ground Rules 2024

GROUND RULES

• All election events must be open to all listeners and all candidates and must not promote one specific candidate or slate.

• MODERATOR: The election event (debate, forum or other format) must be run by a moderator, who does not act as a spokesman for the station or any individual candidate or candidate slate on the subjects discussed, but has the sole function of ensuring that the ground rules are observed.

• DISCLAIMER: At the beginning and end of the election event, the moderator must state that the views expressed are those of the candidates, not of the radio station or Pacifica Foundation, and that the sponsorship of the debate is not an endorsement by the sponsor of any candidate.

• The moderator must clearly explain the events format and time limits allotted to candidate statements or responses. 

• All participants (Moderators / Hosts, Timekeepers, Board Operators, Candidates) must disclose, in writing, any affiliations with, and/or endorsements for, any candidates, or candidate slates to the National Election Supervisor using this form.

• There will be no substitutes or stand-ins for the candidates. In the event of absence, candidates can provide a 1 minute statement (140 words) to be read by the moderator.

• Candidates will be introduced by their name.

• Random sequence can be generated by random.org in order to decide the order of candidates’ responses. 

• Candidates can bring notes, pad and pens for taking notes.

• Time should be equally allotted to candidates and stated clearly by the moderator.

• The candidates will not interrupt one another.

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“Reunión municipal de la junta local de la estación KPFA Pacifica en el Valle Central: los candidatos se expresan” por laborvideo [The Labor Video Project], 15 de agosto de 2024.

Cotización de la descripción del vídeo: “La cadena Pacifica [Radio] [Pacifica Radio Network] está llevando a cabo elecciones [de la Junta Local de la Estación] en cada estación y hubo una reunión del ayuntamiento de la Junta Local de la Estación de KPFA en el Valle Central el 10 de agosto de 2024. Se invitó a todos los candidatos de KPFA a participar y la reunión fue patrocinada por el Proyecto de Mejoras del Valle [Valley Improvement Projects], que tiene su sede en Modesto, California. La reunión también contó con participantes que hablaron sobre los temas”.

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Comunicado de Prensa:

Foro de Elecciones de la Junta Local de la Estación KPFA 2024

Lunes, 5 de agosto de 2024

Thomas Helme
tom@VIP209.org

Valley Improvement Projects llevará a cabo un foro de la Junta Local de la Estación KPFA en la sede de Valley Improvement Projects (1224 K Street, Modesto, California, 95354) el sábado 10 de agosto de 2024 a las 2:00 p. m. (hora del Pacífico).

KPFA es parte de la red nacional Pacifica Radio Network. Las estaciones de Pacifica Radio Network están gobernadas por Juntas Locales de la Estación (LSB) elegidas democráticamente, que están compuestas por miembros oyentes y personal. Como parte del ciclo electoral de la LSB de KPFA 2024, todos los candidatos de la LSB de KPFA están invitados a participar en este foro, y todos los miembros de la comunidad del Valle Central están invitados a asistir, en la sede de Valley Improvement Projects (VIP), una organización sin fines de lucro dedicada a la justicia social y ambiental. (Ver https://valleyimprovementprojects.org/ )

La Pacifica Radio Network fue fundada en 1949 por pacifistas contra la guerra dedicados a promover la paz y “un entendimiento duradero entre las naciones y entre los individuos de todas las naciones, razas, credos y colores; para recopilar y difundir información sobre las causas de conflicto entre todos y cada uno de esos grupos; y a través de todos y cada uno de los medios compatibles con los propósitos de esta corporación para promover el estudio de los problemas políticos y económicos y de las causas de los antagonismos religiosos, filosóficos y raciales”. (Ver la Declaración de misión de la Fundación Pacifica, https://pacifica.org/about_mission.php)

Entre los propósitos educativos sin fines de lucro de Pacifica Radio, que incluyen el fomento de las artes y “otras actividades creativas que servirán al bienestar cultural de la comunidad”, Pacifica Radio se dedica a “operaciones de transmisión de radio [que] promuevan la distribución completa de información pública; para obtener acceso a fuentes de noticias que no suelen reunirse en el mismo medio; y emplear fuentes tan variadas en la presentación pública de noticias precisas, objetivas y completas sobre todos los asuntos que afectan vitalmente a la comunidad”. (Ver la Declaración de Misión de la Fundación Pacifica, https://pacifica.org/about_mission.php)

VIP participa en varios proyectos de justicia social y ambiental, incluido Modesto CopWatch, que aboga por la reforma policial y la rendición de cuentas policial en interés público de la comunidad. Ambas organizaciones brindan información sobre “Conozca sus derechos” a los miembros de la comunidad y aumentan la supervisión comunitaria de las agencias locales de aplicación de la ley para eliminar el abuso, la discriminación y el acoso”. (Ver https://valleyimprovementprojects.org/ )

La misión de VIP es: “Mejorar la calidad de vida de los residentes subrepresentados y marginados del norte del Valle de San Joaquín de California mediante la defensa de la justicia social y ambiental”.

El servicio público a la comunidad, los puntos en común y los intereses mutuos de Pacifica Radio y VIP han inspirado la convocatoria de este foro.

El propósito de este foro en VIP es brindar una oportunidad a los candidatos de KPFA LSB 2024 y a los miembros de la comunidad del Valle Central, así como a todos los oyentes de KPFA, para dialogar en aras del entendimiento mutuo y en un espíritu de ayuda mutua.

KPFA es una estación de radio terrestre con un amplio rango de señal que llega al área de la Bahía de Silicon Valley-SF-Oakland. KPFA también es accesible más allá de su rango de señal terrestre a través de transmisión en vivo y archivos de audio en KPFA.org. Ampliar la participación de la comunidad es mutuamente beneficioso para Pacifica Radio, para las organizaciones comunitarias, como VIP y Modesto CopWatch, y para las personas en las comunidades a las que sirven dichas organizaciones. También es importante que los candidatos de KPFA LSB tengan la oportunidad de interactuar con diversas comunidades en el Área de la Bahía y las comunidades adyacentes del Valle Central. Muchas personas, que viven en el Valle Central, viajan diariamente al Área de la Bahía para trabajar. Esto hace que estos intereses compartidos estén aún más entrelazados y sean vitales.

Está saliendo a la luz que el Proyecto 2025, la agenda derechista para las próximas elecciones presidenciales, ha nombrado a Pacifica Radio como una entidad que planea cerrar. Los intereses de nuestras comunidades están en juego. Por lo tanto, nuestras comunidades merecen una oportunidad de abordar este tema y qué se puede hacer para detener esta amenaza a la Red de Radio Pacifica.

A la luz de las fuerzas en juego en estas elecciones, todos estos son debates importantes, que todas las comunidades con un interés en el modelo de radio comunitaria, que representa Pacifica, merecen escuchar de primera mano de todos los candidatos de KPFA LSB.

Para participar en este foro, comuníquese con Thomas Helme: tom@VIP209.org

El anfitrión y moderador de este Foro Electoral de KPFA LSB será el director de Valley Improvement Projects, Thomas Helme.

Todos los candidatos, moderadores/anfitriones, cronometradores y otros deben completar y firmar el siguiente formulario de Google, aceptando las reglas básicas a continuación: https://forms.gle/fsoY8cRmXSoPeyGo6

Su firma electrónica garantiza que, como participante, ha leído y acepta cumplir las reglas básicas.

Reglas básicas del evento electoral 2024
REGLAS BÁSICAS

Los candidatos no se interrumpirán entre sí.

Todos los eventos electorales deben estar abiertos a todos los oyentes y candidatos y no deben promover a ningún candidato o lista de candidatos en particular.

MODERADOR: El evento electoral (debate, foro u otro formato) debe estar a cargo de un moderador, que no actúe como portavoz de la estación ni de ningún candidato o lista de candidatos en particular sobre los temas discutidos, sino que tenga la única función de garantizar que se respeten las reglas básicas.

DESCARGO DE RESPONSABILIDAD: Al comienzo y al final del evento electoral, el moderador debe indicar que las opiniones expresadas son las de los candidatos, no las de la estación de radio o Pacifica Foundation, y que el patrocinio del debate no es un respaldo del patrocinador a ningún candidato.

El moderador debe explicar claramente el formato del evento y los límites de tiempo asignados a las declaraciones o respuestas de los candidatos. • Todos los participantes (moderadores/anfitriones, cronometradores, operadores de la mesa redonda, candidatos) deben informar por escrito al Supervisor Nacional de Elecciones, mediante este formulario, cualquier afiliación o respaldo a cualquier candidato o lista de candidatos.

No habrá sustitutos ni sustitutos de los candidatos. En caso de ausencia, los candidatos pueden proporcionar una declaración de 1 minuto (140 palabras) para que la lea el moderador.

Los candidatos serán presentados por su nombre.

Se puede generar una secuencia aleatoria a través de random.org para decidir el orden de las respuestas de los candidatos.

Los candidatos pueden traer notas, bloc y bolígrafos para tomar notas.

El tiempo debe ser equitativo para los candidatos y el moderador debe indicarlo claramente.

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This post last edited/modified on 26 AUG 2024 at 18:04 PDT.

August 24, 2024 | Pacifica FightBack National Virtual Town Hall

Part One featured guest speakers: journalist Scott Ritter and members of the Uhuru 3, Omali Yeshitela (Chair of the African People’s Socialist Party) and Penny Hess (Chair of the African Peoples Solidarity Committee).

Penny Hess and Omali Yeshitela are facing a McCarthyist trial in September. In April 2023, the Uhuru 3 were indicted by the U.S. government on bogus charges of being “agents of a foreign government” because of the Uhuru Movement’s work over the past 50 years to advocate for the liberation and unification of Africa and forcibly dispersed African people everywhere.

Scott Ritter is also facing McCarthyist repression. On Wednesday, August 7, 2024, the FBI executed a search warrant at Scott Ritter’s home in New York state. The FBI claimed they were investigating whether Scott Ritter was functioning as an unregistered agent of a foreign government. This is based on Ritter’s freelance journalism contributing to various news outlets, especially his contributions to RT. But journalism is not a crime. First Amendment-protected activity is not a crime. What was really taking place was a frontal assault on peace.

All three featured guests spoke about their recent experiences of repression at the hands of the FBI and U.S. government. The homes of the Uhuru 3 were raided by FBI agents with guns drawn on their families because of their outspoken activism against the U.S. proxy war in Ukraine and their decades of advocacy for liberation. Journalist Scott Ritter, who is also facing bogus charges, also had his personal and work effects confiscated by the FBI for his principled reporting against war. The FBI confiscated Ritter’s belongings, including his computer and his document archives from his time as a United Nations weapons inspector in Iraq, which contradicted claims that there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq at the time of the US-led war against Iraq.

A video of this Pacifica Fightback national town hall event will be edited and posted soon at PacificaFightback.org. RescuePacifica.net has been granted permission to feature the video here. So, please stay tuned!

Part Two featured 2024 Local Station Board candidates from various Pacifica Radio Network stations from around the country.

Quotations from Pacifica Fightback email communication for this event:

“FREE SPEECH IS UNDER ATTACK

“Felipe and James are only two of the candidates you’ll meet! This is a crucial election! Let’s talk! Your vote will determine the future of your station.

“We need YOUR VOTE to save free speech and democracy in Pacifica! Shrinking our boards and putting more power in the hands of a few will NOT solve Pacifica’s financial problems. We need MORE seats at the table and the mic, not less! Democracy is the only antidote to growing fascism. Pacifica is mentioned BY NAME in Project 2025! They want to destroy the radical voices—REAL alternative media—that oppose war, defend the Uhuru 3, Scott Ritter, Stop Cop City, Mumia, Leonard, Indigenous land and water defenders, and YOUR human rights.

“Only REAL alternative media will defend Freedom of Speech!

(More quotations from Pacifica Fightback email communication for this event)

“BUT WHAT DO PACIFICA ELECTIONS HAVE TO DO WITH THIS?

“Everything. The antidote to fascism is democracy. Even in a radio network. Back in October, 2019, a faction of the Pacifica National Board (PNB), accompanied by armed guards, illegally seized control of WBAI in NYC. They shut it down, fired the entire staff, stole the computers, padlocked the place and began piping in programming from KPFA, WBAI’s sister station in Berkeley, CA. WBAI had to go to court to get the station back.

“Since then the key players in the failed “WBAI Coup” have

• lost two referenda that would strip away our democratic bylaws.
• tried to sue individual Directors
• Pacifica Safety Net sicced the FCC on WBAI. Now the entire network is under FCC monitorship and could easily be shut down! Pacifica is already in the crosshairs of Project 2025. This also cost Pacifica $25K and added more restrictions on fundraising!
• blamed network-wide drop in radio listeners and resultant fundraising woes solely on WBAI (which some secretly want to sell)

“Their promised “New Day” has only led to new debt. Their lawsuits are draining the network.

“TAKING POTSHOTS AT OUR DEMOCRATIC BYLAWS, ONE AT A TIME

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“LEAKED: Legally, Listeners and Staff have the right to VOTE on Bylaws changes that will affect them in a Referendum. But die-hard New Day supporters are attempting to BYPASS a referendum. They claim the Local Boards can just vote them up or down. THIS IS A VIOLATION OF THE CURRENT BYLAWS but they are trying it anyway!

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“Here are some UNdemocratic proposed Bylaws changes New Day wants, to increase power of the majority, that will help them gain CONTROL of the network.

Cut the size of your Local Station Board in half. From 24 down to 12. Would you like it if Trump cut the size of the House of Representatives in half? In a city with millions of people, does CUTTING the # of reps INCREASE Diversity, Equity & Inclusion? NO!

Turn Runners Up into “Losers.” Currently, if an LSB member drops out, the next highest vote-getter steps up and fills the seat. New Day wants the LSB to choose who takes the seat. And guess what? Ever hear of the “Tyranny of the Majority.” Yup. Whoever controls the most seats on the LSB will get to choose who fills the vacancy.

PNB chair elected by members nationally. Sound like “direct democracy?” It’s not! It means the station with the LARGEST membership (KPFA) will always win!

The Executive Director (ED) gets more power. The ED will pick the General Manager and the Program Director. The LSB can recommend two candidates. The ED also recommends two, and has the final say. Currently the LSB does the search and presents the choices to the ED. (Again: this is a LOSS of local influence!)

“CANDIDATES: Who should I vote for?

Can’t find your ballot? They are sent every Thursday by Pacifica Foundation.

Problems? Write to the National Election Supervisor at nes@pacifica.org or call (707) 500-1910.

WHAT WE SUPPORT:

YOU and your ideas to grow Pacifica! Let’s talk!

The Pacifica Mission & Democratic Bylaws

Measurable diversity, equity and inclusion in programming & governance

Integrated tv, social media & live reporting

Financial transparency

Training & Youth programming

NO bombs for genocide! Free Palestine!

Pacifica FightBack recommend the following candidates. They may be on a slate or running as individuals. [Click on candidates’ names to learn more.]

KPFA Listener Candidates:

• Dr. Rabab Abdulhadi
• Donna Carter
• Felipe (Phil) Messina
• Pathma Venasithamby
• Phoebe Thomas (AKA Phoebe Sorgen)
• Stan Woods
• Virginia Browning
• Michai Freeman

KPFA Staff Candidates:

• Anthony Fest
• Miguel Antonio Perez

KPFK Listener Candidates:

• Jack Neff
• Marisol Bielma
• Jack Artz
• Roberto Diaz
• Denis P. Recendez
• Todd Williams
• Diana Parmeter
• Sasha Karlik
• Ahjamu Makalani
• Ian Johnston

KPFK Staff Candidates:

• Ninel Centeno
• Brenda Martinez
• Jeanine Rohn

KPFT Listener Candidates:

• Anisa Faruqi
• Robert Gartner
• PK McCary
• Vinisha PatelAdams
• Nancy Saibara-Naritomi

KPFT Staff Candidate:

• Rad Rich

WBAI Listener Candidates:

• Rachel Barr
• John David Brinkley
• James Bryan
• Bounubti Kamenthou
• Elaine Lloyd-Nazario
• Sharonne Salaam
• Corazon Valiente
• Barbara White

WBAI Staff Candidates:

• Milton Allimadi
• Randy Credico
• Jeremy Kuzmarov

WPFW Staff Candidates:

• Violetta Diamond
• Kamau Harris

End of quotations from Pacifica Fightback email communication for this event.

This page last edited/modified on Saturday, August 26, 2024 at 22:17 PDT.