Posted By: jim dingeman (68.160.241.24) Date: Monday, 16 August 2004, at 1:35 p.m.
I am nearly finished watching the four hour "teachin" that the JUC held in July at Riverside Church. I hope that it can be up on the web as I feel that any of their various meetings in the boros and burbs can also be. It is worth serious deconstruction since the public personna of the JUC ideologues is their for anyone to judge for themselves.
In their speeches the issue of racism is raised as the motivation of the LIsdt Prog folks and others. I do noit speak for anybody but myself so I will share these brief opinions as mine only.
First, it was standard operating procedure at WBAI to accuse anybody who disagreed with Samori and his faction that you were racist, an agent or objectively both. This was always laid out in heated meetings at the Program Council many times. It was so consistently used as a tactiuc that one would get highly cynical in dealing with their protestations.
This was made particularly galring when allegations of financial misconduct arose concerning all of them. This regarded ripping off of book publishers, misuse of Pacifica funds, liens from companies on people's salaries partially a result of such rip-off practices, skimming money from cash cow community events,etc. Allegations of these kinds of practices continue into the present`.
This is why a forensic audit is necessary to clear up these issues completely.
During the long struggle against the PNB starting in the early nineties serious policy differences arose between the PNB and the activists in the local areas. The strategy to adopt a strip programming national strategy, to essentially eliminate the heart of community radio at the local level was what created the resistance. The furtther use down the road of union busting firms to knock out the UE locals at three of the stations was also extremely divisive. In NYC, this policy was implemented by the then GM, Valerie Van Issler.
These polices alienated and angered people of all racial,ethnic and class backgrounds as they developed. Different coalitions were formed, including in NYC the Save Our Station group. The battles over these policy issues pitted many people against a leadership that increasingly was composed of African-Americans.
During the KPFA crisis in NYC SOS and others in the station organized teachins on the mess that happened. At that time, Bernard White and some of his associates suggested that those attacking Mary Francis Berry were motivated by racial considerations. It should be remembered that this was at a time when he was beginning to compete with Utrice for the PD job. His actions at the time are quite rational if seen as purely self-interested comments not to burn bridges with the powers that be at the PNB level. Amy was also uncertain early in that crisis on the air for reasons probably similar to Bernards.
During the fall of 2000 when the organizing efforts were going on to add punch to Amty;s battles with Pacifica plans were made to mobolize listeners to "defend" tyhe station if VVI was forced to leave. Increasingly, since the PNB was directing it's energies to WBAI, for some who had previously hitched their wagons to the old PNB, they became the corporatizers of Pacifica, a new enemy.
The Saturday morning when Bernard was fired and they were locked out the entire nature of the opposition to the corporate PNB changed. It was then that the Pacifica Campaign was formed and the clique that had held power for years at the station truly joined the national movement against the PNB.
Any accusations of racism against the old PNB from the likes of Bernard and his cronies disappeared since they had lost their jobes from the same forces thgat they had previously done nothing to oppose them.
And now, when they are opposed by people they raise the issue of racism to silence their opponents.
During the heady days of the mass meetings to organize the efforts against the PNB various committees were formed. On one that I headed a African-American male was asked by one of the individuals in the now JUC caucus to publically attack me as a racist, He told me this over dinner one night as both of us laughed at the type of assholes we had to deal with. It also lead to his disillusionment and subsequent leaving the struggle. This was a loss because he is a competent,bright person with excelllent leadership skills.
The JUC acts like they are a left equivalent of the empire in Star Wars, and when opposition happens it is like Darth vader feeling a disturbance in the force. The force of course is their desire to equate their soapbox platform idea of radio programming as the true WBAI.....
There is no doubt that this is a strong component of WBAI and should remain so....but they simply want their version of what is going on to remain THE ONLY VERSION of what happens in the prime time.
The problem with their messianic fervor is that it disguises all the issues that they anybody who has been on the inside at WBAI knows are highly problematic. They raised the question of the mass mailing that went out last election by LIST-PROG and complain that they were asleep at the switch.
Such comments are nonsense.
What happened was Bernard consciouysly put every obstacle in the way for alternative views in the elction process from being heard. It was a constant battle with him since his forces used their air time to push their people over the airwaves. That was a violatiuon of the election rules but nevertheless that is what happened.
So when I hear them moan and bitch about that and then throw in the accusation of racism I am higly dubious of their motivation.
Instead, their motivation appears to exploit the sensitivity of all to the issue of racism for their own ends of maintaining their power.
This of course is truly insidious because we must never forget the wider nature of the society we live in. We are simply presented with a cynical manipulation for the purposes of holding power..
I should add that some of the points they raised at their teachin I personally agree with but my serious concerns are the duplicity they continually exhibit.
In particular, the speech Bob Lederer gave in July and his colleagues comments during the two meetings I attended tend to imply to the untutored that they, the JUC, were the great defenders of the democratic electiuon process. In fact, they relentlessly opposed it.
Those who DO NOT want the LSB dominated by the JUC need to get their act together.
I have not yet decided whether to run or not because of the great time demands it would make. But the semi-hystereical demagogic performances of the JUC work at me every day.
jim