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Mike Novick KPFK candidate endorsements to end Pacifica Radio 'rule or ruin' agenda
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Source: Fall/Winter issue of Turning the Tide by Mike Novick.jpg)
The war of words in the Local Station Board (LSB) elections for KPFK and other Pacifica radio stations is heating up.
As in any election, decisive, exclusionary choices must be made, no matter how much we hate the in-fighting, name-calling, and finger-pointing that passes 'for debate when the left forms its circular firing squad. And in this election, the choice is clear.
One side, the side of current KPFK LSB member and acting Executive Director of Pacifica Grace Aaron, of Ian Masters and other staffers and hosts, is committed to purges, bannings and to 'rule or ruin' Pacifica as an adjunct of the Democratic Party under the mantle of'fiscal responsibility'. The other side, supporting a platform of a few key principles including loyalty to the Pacifica mission, has Sacked a list of grassroots activists from various communities around the KPFK listening area who nave signed on to the following points of unity:
* Implementing the core values of the Pacifica Mission: voices by and for people not commonly heard in the mainstream media
* Greater autonomy and local decision-making for our radio station
* Fiscal transparency and responsibility: people, not corporate underwriters, supporting people's radio
* Local, diverse, multilingual, and young voices from and for our communities
* Spanish language programming to bring progressive messages to Spanish language communities
* Effective, participatory governance accountable to listener-sponsors and responsive to the diverse needs and interests of the So. California listening community
I have endorsed these principles. I have worked - both in the context of KPFK and in the broader social and political movements of southern California - with a number of the candidates who have endorsed those principles as the basis of their commitment of accountability to the listeners.
At www. takebackkpfk.org, you can see the list with the "official" voting order.
I am making personal endorsements here, and giving my personal knowledge and experience of many of these candidates, because I think they will forestall the effort to neuter or destroy Pacifica as a voice of dissent and community activism against the Empire even headed by a Democrat.
Khallid Al-Alim. A current member of the LSB despite efforts to keep him off, is a parent-activist in the Coalition for Educational Justice. Khallid's name is' printed on the ballot - but you must vote for him as a write-in, because his nominating petition was ruled invalid. I urge you to vote for Khallid-(as a write-in on the bottom of your ballot) and ranked number one to insure him the strongest possibility of getting elected, since some people may waste a vote by marking the line by his name.
Lawrence Reyes of the Puerto Rican Alliance, a listener-member of many LSB committees, an ally in the Jericho Amnesty Coalition to Free All Political Prisoners, was singled out for vituperation by Ian Masters, probably because Lawrence has been one of the most outspoken and principled internationalist opponents of imperialism, war and colonialism. He is a parent, a social worker and union member, a cultural activist to educate the community about the Puerto Rican people's struggle.
Chuck Anderson is stalwart in die struggle for peace, civil liberties and justice. He retains a connection to younger people coming in to such struggles, and to his Mexican roots. Based in Orange Count)', he is tireless in outreach and organizing, to connect with the Palestinian and other Arab and Muslim communities.
John Parker is a leader of the International Anion Center, and has been involved for many years in struggles for social and economic justice, against racism and US wars of occupation and aggression, in the effort to free Mumia Abu-Jama! and other political prisoners, and in fighting for the interests of working people.
Ruby Medrano has a long history of activism and grassroots community work, particularly in East Los Angeles, going back to work with the United Farm Workers. She has many years experience with the United Food and Commercial Workers Union. An activist in the Democratic Party, she is willing to work in coalition with radicals.
Cuco (Refugio Ceballos) is a danzante with the Danza Azteca Cuautemoc, multi-generational cultural/political/spiritual workers whose commitment to resistance, internationalism, and healing inspires and amazes marchers and on-lookers alike at protests around die southland. Cuco is on die community board of Tia Chucha's.
Tej Grewall is an intellectually-curious young woman of Indian descent who does street level radio journalism as a volunteer, working with the "People Without Borders" collective at KPFK and also serving as a listener-member of the LSB's Outreach Committee helping build the audience among younger listeners like herself.
Luis Garcia is a former member of the Local Advisory Board. He's an advocate for Spanish-language community-based programming, a former probation officer and a "pragmatic prison abolitionist" and member of Families to Amend California's Three Strikes (FACTS) and of CURB, Californians United for a Responsible Budget.
Ian Johnston is a current member of the LSB and participant in LSB and PNB committees who has long roots in the Venice community and has been an activist against CIA criminality and the use of 9-11 to carry out war and repression. He is a former board operator and producer of "Another World View is Possible."Three other candidates have endorsed the same principles: Fred Klunder, Dutch Merrick, and Sandi Stiassni, but I have no first-hand knowledge or shared political practice with them aside from hearing them speak on-air or in person. I join in endorsing them based on their commitment because this election is so vital to keeping a spark of resistance alive at Pacifica against the forces of corporate liberalism, unprincipled compromise with the Empire, and unexamined privilege.
Michael Novick is the Publisher/editor of "Turning the Tide" the anti-racist action quarterly published by Anti-Racist Action/People Against Racist Terror (ARA/PART).
