since there was some discussion of pacifica/WBAI on this list, i thought the following info might be appreciated: -------- Original Message -------- Subject: ZNet Update / Pacifica Protest Date: Tue, 22 May 2001 00:10:15 -0400 From: "Michael Albert" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Hello, Today is an important day in the continuing struggle over Pacifica's future. This ZNet Update has two components meaning to contribute to the effort: a call for action TODAY, and a letter from Juan Gonzales relaying recent events and information. We include those at the end of this message. Two other recent Pacifica reports by Evan Davis and Bob Lederer are at http://www.zmag.org/CrisesCurEvts/Pacifica/pacupda vis.htm and at: http://www.zmag.org/CrisesCurEvts/Pacifica/pacuple derer.htm Those unaware of the Pacifica conflict might wish to consult ZNet's coverage at http://www.zmag.org/CrisesCurEvts/progpacif.htm ... where you will find contextual analysis, reports, and also links to related sites. URGENT: NATIONAL PROTEST AGAINST PACIFICA CALL THEM, WRITE THEM, FAX THEM... MORNING 'TILL NIGHT ON TUESDAY, MAY 22, 2001 On Tuesday, May 22nd, say no to the vicious attacks on Democracy Now! Say no to the bannings, firings and censorship at WBAI and throughout the network. Say no to the outright destruction of Pacifica. Demand the resignation of the National Board and the return of democratic accountability now. Please take 5 minutes to protect radio not yet owned by a corporation. Here's five things you can do: 1. Call the WBAI tally room at (212) 209-2950 and call the KPFK tally room at (818) 985-5735. Say no to the censorship of Democracy Now! Keep calling until you feel you've been heard. 2. Write, call or fax WBAI interim manager Utrice Leid: (212) 209-2800; fax: (212) 747-1698; [EMAIL PROTECTED] 3. Call or write KPFK manager Mark Schubb: (818) 985-5735; [EMAIL PROTECTED] 4. Write or call Pacifica Executive Director Bessie Wash: (888) 770-4944 ext. 348; (202) 588-0999; [EMAIL PROTECTED] 5. Write, call or fax Board Chair David Acosta: (713) 926-4604, ext. 4; fax (713) 921-2780; [EMAIL PROTECTED] LET MAY 22nd STAND OUT AS THE DAY THOUSANDS FROM MAINE TO HAWAII SAID NO TO THE CORPORATE TAKE-OVER AND YES TO FREE MEDIA! Thursday, May 24th will also be a day of on-the-ground actions to protest both the attack on Democracy Now! and the erosion of free speech throughout Pacifica. Demonstrations will be held in both Los Angeles and New York. ------ Letter from Juan Gonzales May 20, 2001 Dear Friend, We have reached a critical point in our campaign to save the Pacifica network. Our movement is winning, but to achieve the quickest victory possible we need your help. Last week, we achieved our most stunning successes yet: On Monday, at a congressional forum in Washington, D.C., sponsored by Brooklyn Congressman Major Owens, community activists, listeners, dissident board members, and fired Pacifica employees testified about the growing crisis at the network. Pacifica managers refused Owens request to personally testify and explain their actions and policies, while the entire forum was reported in an extensive article in The Washington Post. That same afternoon, Pacifica board treasurer Michael Palmer resigned. His resignation followed months of protests at the offices of his employer, CB Richard Ellis. It came after two members of the Pacifica Campaign delivered a letter to the company�s CEO at corporate headquarters in Los Angeles and met with a top assistance of the CEO. At that meeting they warned of more protests to come if Palmer remained on the board. We believe his resignation was directly related to our peaceful but effective pressure. Then on Tuesday, as several Pacifica stations began their May fundraising drive, network management committed a major blunder by launching its most obvious attack yet on Amy Goodman and Democracy Now! Utrice Leid, the interim station manger at New York�s WBAI, and Steve Yasko, the national programming director, suddenly ordered that Democracy Now! would no longer use the main studio at WBAI to originate the show. Instead, Amy was shunted off to a smaller and technologically inferior alternate studio at the station. When the fund drive started the following day, Democracy Now! was pre-empted in New York without any warning to Amy and without any explanation to the listeners. The same thing happened at KPFK in Los Angeles, where management ran old tapes of the show but broadcast a short message falsely claiming that Amy had refused to fundraise. This was an obvious lie since her show continued to be broadcast at the three other Pacifica stations -- and at two of them, Berkeley�s KPFA and Washington�s WPFW, she did fundraise. In Houston, they played the regular Democracy Now! show but KPFT did its own fundraising. This attempt to silence Democracy Now! has sparked a furor among listeners. WBAI and KPFK have been flooded with thousands of telephone calls, while loud protests occured outside each station. The outrage and phone calls continued for the rest of the week virtually paralyzing phone lines and severely affecting fundraising. A full-scale listener rebellion is underway. On Friday, for example, a day when WBAI usually raises more than $75,000 commemorating Malcolm X, the station barely registered $15,000 in pledges. Show hosts at the station who backed the Christmas Coup were so stunned they repeatedly referred to the boycott on the air, as they launched into angry attacks against Amy and the Pacifica reform movement. Finally, on Friday our movement launched a daily evening news broadcast of Free Speech Radio News, the program of the striking free lancers of Pacifica. More than 20 Pacifica affiliates dropped the Pacifica Network News (PNN) and are replacing it with Free Speech Radio News as a way of registering affiliate opposition to Pacifica policies. We at the Pacifica Campaign have provided funding to keep Free Speech Radio News as daily program for at least the next month, and hopefully longer. And, in what is sure to be a major psychological blow to Pacifica, Verna Avery-Brown, the distinguised longtime anchor of PNN until she resigned in protest against the network�s policies more than a year ago, has now become the anchor of Free Speech Radio News. Yes, this was truly a historic week. The hijackers at Pacifica are shell-shocked, but they have not yet surrendered. This coming week will be critical. We have them on the ropes and we cannot let allow them to recover. In fact, we must turn up the heat even higher, and turn off the water even more completely. We need you to become actively involved in one or all of three ways: First, keep calling your local Pacifica station during fund drive to protest what is happening to Democracy Now! and the entire network. Call as often as you can and talk as long as you feel necessary to get your point across. Second, participate in one of the many daily pickets outside Pacifica stations in Los Angeles and New York. Daily pickets are happening in front of WBAI, 120 Wall Street, from 7:30-9:00 am and 4:30-6:00 pm. At KPFK, there is a daily picket 4:00-6:00 p.m. in front of the station at 3729 Cahuenga Blvd., North Hollywood. At both stations, there will be a super picket on Thursday afternoon in support of Democracy Now! Third, send a financial contribution today to our Pacifica Campaign. More than a thousand of you have sent donations since February. We thank-you. But maintaining this kind of boycott and pressure on the Pacifica board is expensive. We now have four full-time organizers on staff in New York and four part-time organizers on staff in Los Angeles. We have reached hundreds of thousands of people through our mailings, public meetings and protests. But we want to bring this campaign to a successful conclusion as quickly as possible. Please make your tax-deductible contributions payable to the Institute for Media Analysis/Pacifica Campaign. The check can be mailed to the Pacificia Campaign, 51 MacDougal Street, #80, New York, New York 10012. We are convinced that if we can keep the boycott strong throughout the next few weeks, Pacifica will realize it has lost the support of its listeners. At that point, I believe, Epstein, Becker & Green will advise the Pacifica Board that it is time negotiate an end to the conflict. Thanks for all your support and trust. We are within sight of victory, of reclaiming Pacifica for its listeners, staff and community. Keep the pressure on. Hasta La Victoria, Juan Gonzalez
