Ballots went out this week in the local station board elections for KPFK and other Pacifica stations, and if you are a listener-sponsor, you should be getting yours shortly. There have been significant problems in the past with people not receiving their ballots in a timely fashion, and if you are a subscriber and don't get yours soon, check with the station.
This is a crucial election. KPFK is searching for a new general manager, and the attack on the station by various right-wing, corporate, statist and other reactionary elements is increasing. The LA Weekly, now part of the "New Times" group of pseudo-alternative newspapers, has been keeping up a steady drumbeat of attacks, principally from former KPFK honcho Marc Cooper, aimed at undermining the current fund drive and long term pushing the station to the right. Internally, forces with an agenda aimed at turning KPFK and Pacifica into a lapdog for the Democratic Party in time for the 2008 election are sharpening their knives, having smelled blood with the resignation of Eva Georgia. Spanish-language programming is one immediate target, perhaps more so for its political independence and grassroots orientation. In this context, it is crucial to elect candidates with a strong grassroots orientation, a history of involvement not only in Pacifica but in daily struggles against the empire and its crimes. Candidates should be accountable to communities and to organizations and coalitions that can keep them focused and effective once they are elected. They must be prepared to defend free speech, and help mobilize listeners to build and defend KPFK and Pacifica as a community-oriented medium of information and enlightenment that can help people free themselves from ignorance, fear, and repression. I believe that a number of people running this year for the LSB (from among whose ranks delegates to the pacifica national board which holds kpfk's license will be selected) merit your support. Most of them are people of color who support making space on the airwaves for grassroots voices that are too often unheard or ignored. Others are people of European descent who understand the critical importance of solidarity and anti-racism. KPFK and Pacifica use a single-transferable-voting system that allows you rank candidates in order of preference. The top 9 vote-getters will be elected. I urge you to vote for the following candidates (affiliations mentioned by me, not as an organizational endorsement) in the following order: Lawrence Reyes (member of Puerto Rican Alliance) Kahllid A. Al-Alim (member of Coalition for Educational Justice) Rufina Juarez (member of South Central Farmers) Joaquin Cienfuegos (member of Copwatch) Schyna Pour (member of Union of Progressive Iranians) Reza Pour (same) Moe Mansour (same) Leslie Radford (migrant rights defender) Chuck Anderson (Orange County justice & peace activist) Cliff Smith (opponent of police abuse and anti-immigrant racism) Summer Reese Sergio Monteiro Alise Sochaczewski If you are not currently a listener-sponsor or volunteer, you cannot vote in the current election, but now is the perfect time to get on board by making a pledge or subscription during the current fund drive -- tune in to 90.7 in Los Angeles, 98.7 in Santa Barbara, or the web at www.kpfk.org, and call in to 818-985-5735 or make on on-line donation. The base of the station must be built among those the system is trying to beat down, because they are the most motivated and most capable of defending the station and the network against the attacks that are sure to come, especially in the wake of the 2008 election (no matter which party wins). The Democratic Party corporatists who nearly destroyed Pacifica under Bill Clinton backed off when Bush was elected, because they were willing to let Pacifica survive and to allow a few grassroots voices back on the air in the context of the Bush regime. But they are coming back in force, smelling a Democratic victory in 2008 and determined to make Pacifica toe their party line. The continued existence of free-speech, community-oriented listener sponsored radio is in the balance. Michael Novick, Anti-Racist Action Los Angeles/People Against Racist Terror (ARA-LA/PART) elected listener rep to KPFK interim Program Council --------------------------------------------------------------------------- LAAMN: Los Angeles Alternative Media Network --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Unsubscribe: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subscribe: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Digest: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Help: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Post: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Archive1: <http://www.egroups.com/messages/laamn> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Archive2: <http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Yahoo! 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