On 17 Jul. 99, "mike" <mikepf at flash.net> wrote:
> . . . KPFA . . . this morning [rebroadcast] Alex
> Cockburn on his book on drugs and the CIA.
> * * * A good talk . . .. Made me think that
> however destructive their tactics and narrow
> their perspectives, the Pacifica board can still l
> . . . claim to b[e ]progressive . . .. * * * So once
> again the the left is fighting itself over a tiny piece
> of turf. Squabbling amongst itself and studiously
> avoiding any strategic thinking.
When the "destructive tactics" include such things as hiring armed "security guards" referred through one of the most notorious anti-union outfits retainable (for Big Dollar$$) at what PacMan itself describes as extraordinarily expensive dollar sums, not to dwell on other vast sums squandered on lawyers and investment advisors, etc., and at least one board member explicitly advocates selling the assets of Pacifica (for what permissible Pacifica much less "progressive" purpose?), including, sez that board member, N.Y.C.'s WBAI worth $20-million, how valid is the dismissive "squabbling" characterization?
And, yeah - one of the not always quaintly benigh quality displayed by Pacifica's station's staffers and supporting minyans in the past has been undue parochialism; but "studiously avoiding strategic thinking"? Puh-leeze! Yes, the "Free Pacifica" *internet* "mailing list" is repellantly replete with apparent whacko screamers; but that outlet is hardly representative of the KPFA staff and community supporters nor of most (granted, hardly all) at/with/re. WBAI. To the contrary, a fair listening of what community folk and KPFA staffers have been speaking and writing demonstrates a remarkable degree of clear-headed (including "strategic") thinking in the circumstances.
Apart from the sell-off-assets Thing -- that is, the elminate the *essence* of Pacifica Thing -- query how Ms. Berry's apparent ability so readily to have her friend, Ms. Reno (or one of Reno's top manager's at Reno's request) try to pressure the Berkley police department to crack down harder on KPFA staff and supporters, itself shocking (if not surprising given the nature of Ms. Reno and the Clinton Justice Dept.) meanwhile indicates a lack of strategic thinking on the part of PacMan either?
>The real issue is the domination of the public's airwaves by mindless,
>exploitative commercial shit and the perversion of the FCC's charter.
Does the lout who beats his wife escape condemnation or, more important, remediation on the ground that more worth of attention -- "the real issue" -- is aggression in the public at large, or war-making Over There (finger pointed Elsewhere accordingly), or that males in general are said to be too macho?
*OBVIOUSLY*, a key problem, a real issue, is domination of media by exploitative commercial shit, and commercial Shits; but isn't it possible that one validly can be more than a tad concerned about the Pacifica/KPFA doings as well? and non-trivially?
[Please don't mistake these comments as bickering or squabbling]