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Response from Tony Regusters Re: Jo Reid's "On the Margin" program
>From : "Tony Regusters" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To : [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject : Re: Jo Reid's "On the Margin" program
Date : Mon, 15 Apr 2002 17:55:30 +0000
Dear Ms. Hey,
Please know that I will take your concerns very
seriously, as they reflect my own. I did not hear the interview in
question, but will meet with Ms. Reid to further obtain details.
I certainly, truly believe that every word you
wrote reflects the new paradigm for a restored Pacifica -- and that it is
my role as the guy hired by the "true Pacifica people" to assure that the
editorial views, news and information promoted on WPFW's airwaves are in
synchronization with our hardworking allies in the NGO, institutional and
activist community.
I promise you that I will investigate this matter
and the issue at hand and take steps to assure that it does not reoccur.
Thank you for bringing it to my attention.
Tony Regusters
interim General Manager
WPFW-FM
From: "Nancy A. Hey" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Date: Mon, 15 Apr 2002 12:40:56 -0400
From: DC Coalition to Stop the War Against Iraq
To: Mr. Tony Regusters, WPFW Radio
Subject: Interview with Samantha Powers on the March 28th edition
of "On the Margin"
Dear Mr. Regusters:
We at the DC Coalition to Stop the War Against
Iraq raise serious objections about the interview you aired on the 3/38
edition of Josephine Reid's show "On the Margin", in which Ms. Reid
interviewed Samantha Powers, author of a book titled "A Problem From Hell",
a book about responding to cases of genocide in the world.
We are appalled that in the interview, Ms.
Powers shamelessly advocated American military intervention in any area of
the world where there are civil wars going on, and charges of genocide
being committed against various ethnic groups. She defended American
military intervention in Iraq, Bosnia, Somalia and Kosovo, and said that the
US should intervene militarily in other areas of the world as well, such as
Rwanda. She went on to say that she felt former President Bill Clinton
should have intervened even earlier,
and with more firepower than he did in Bosnia, Somalia and Kosovo.
Her position on intervention in the Balkans was very hypocritical, since it
was American intervention in the form of support for secessionists in the
early 1990's that led to the breakup of Yugoslavia and the resulting ethnic
conflicts in the first place.
We feel that arguments such as Ms. Powers' in
favor of US military intervention are very self-righteous, in that they
imply that the United States has the moral authority to tell other countries
how they should resolve their internal conflicts, and that the US supposedly
has a "moral" duty to intervene in conflicted areas in the name of
"humanitarian" intervention.
Pacifica is a network that purports to be
progressive, and was founded by pacifists. Many people in the progressive
community such as ourselves look to Pacifica for alternative views not aired
in the mainstream media, especially those that support the kind of work that
groups such as our own do to promote peace and oppose American imperialistic
wars abroad.
That is why we are disappointed that your network would see fit to air such
a pro-militarist and pro-imperialist piece as the Samantha Powers
interview. This viewpoint is heard constantly in the commercial media, and
on NPR - there is no need to give it further air time in an alternative
media source like Pacifica.
We believe that it is very dangerous at this
time of increasing militarism and war fervor for your network to be
promoting and encouraging such pro-interventionist sentiments, especially
without even offering counter arguments on the show. The ploy of couching
wars in terms of "humanitarian intervention", as Ms. Powers does is
dangerous, because it gives these wars an air of undeserved legitimacy.
Bill Clinton's claims that the war against
Serbia was a war to protect the rights of ethnic minorities, and
George Bush's claims that the war against the Taliban "liberated" Afghan
women, only disguise the fact that these wars have caused thousands of
innocent civilians to die, and that the true reason for these interventions
was not concern for human rights. Rather, the war in Kosovo was fought for
the expansion of Western economic control over Eastern Europe, and access to
Caspian Sea oil, and intervention in the Middle East and Afghanistan is done
for the sake of controlling the access of competing industrialized nations
to oil and dominating a region that is at the connecting point of Europe,
Africa, and Asia.
We believe that if there are real cases of
genocide happening and people feel compelled to do something to help in
these situations there are charitable non-governmental organizations that
activists can support as individuals that will help the victims. However,
progressives should never call for the military force of the US government
to be brought down on smaller, weaker nations, and the US government should
not be the judge of what does or does not constitute "genocide", as the US
government is, itself, guilty of crimes against people that could be
considered "genocide".
In the spirit of supporting Pacifica's true
mission statement, we ask that you please use your time to air alternative,
anti-military viewpoints, rather than the pro-military propaganda that
already gets so much air time in the mainstream media.
Sincerely,
Nancy Hey, on behalf of
The DC Coalition to Stop the War Against Iraq
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