>Actually, it is very hard *not* to take sides, and even if you do
>not do so consciously, you do so by default by dint of positions
>that you take. You have certainly taken sides by saying that you are
>iwth Sasha on this, while acknowledging that you have not studied
>the situation closely and without having even read the other staff
>letter.
>
>Clearly Pacifica has been lurching from one crisis to the next for
>years. I have been intimately involved since the early 90s with the
>group 'Take Back KPFA'. Sasha's perpective suffers from her being a
>relative newcomer to the scene and not having had firsthand
>experience of the history she references.
>
>Ironically, the people at WBAI that you talk about, those making
>spurious charges of 'racism' and so forth are people I have been
>doing battle with for years (and whose West Cost allies of the
>so-called 'Unity Caucus' are allied with Sasha & Co on the question
>of the role of the LSBs), and who are aligned with the Sasha Lilley
>faction here in their efforts to undermine the authority of the
>Pacifica bylaws. While on the KPFA LAB, I worked very intensely with
>dozens of thoughful and committed people at all four Pacifica
>stations to fashion these bylaws. The main people opposed to bylaws
>that empowered the listeners in a meaningful way are by and large
>the same people trying to undermine it now. Then their is the other
>group - the signers of the Lilley letter, who remained aloof from
>the process, never even showed up to a station board meeting ignored
>or took for granted our efforts to save the station (indeed the
>network) from the corporate raiders and now are coming forward
>essentially to say - thank you very much for your help, now go away.
>
>The fact that the Pacifica situation is complex, and that it is hard
>to find a dispassionate voice, does not make it unique, rather it is
>quite typical of any organizational or political situation. It is
>really a question of whether one cares enough to study the situation
>closely enough to gain an understanding, while being open minded
>enough to simultaneously consider other perspectives.
>
>Drink deep, or taste not, the waters of Pacifica.
Egads.
Well I've only been around WBAI for about 15 years. Is that drinking deeply? I haven't gotten involved with governance because I've got a million other things to do with my life and just don't have time for three hour meetings every other day.
I haven't studied the situation closely? Like I said, I've only had 15 years to study it, which apparently isn't enough. When we were in the Bay Area the other day, we spent a couple of hours talking things over with Sasha (whom I hold in the highest regard). What she said about the KPFA sitch certainly comported with what I've heard elsewhere. Saying she's young and doesn't have enough experience with KPFA's history isn't really very helpful, since that history is part of the problem. While we were in Calif, I asked a bunch of people if they listened to the station - not one said yes. I've had very similiar experiences with WBAI - people who should be listening aren't. Why? The answers typically run like this: "Too amateurish." "Ranting." "Uninformative." "Conspiratorial." Etc.
I think the whole model of electing local station boards is flawed. Few people can know the issues or the personnel to cast informed votes. And who constitutes the electorate? What about all the ex- and non-listeners who wouldn't tune to 94.1 or 99.5, much less cast a ballot? "Empowering the listeners" is empty claptrap. That's not the way to run a radio station, or a network of five stations. Pacifica needs more professionalism, not less.
This whole manichean story of the "saviors" vs. the "corporate raiders" is badly in need of a rewrite too. Listenership is dwindling, and something needs to be done. And Pacifica's finances are extremely murky - no one really knows where the money's going. The share of WBAI's budget going to salaries has doubled in the last decade or so - who's being hired, how, for what, why? Who knows?
Yeah, sure, complexity and interest are ubiquitous, but I feel like I can find out enough about most political issues to make informed judgments. That's just not possible with the Pacifica mess. And I've only been around WBAI for 15 years.
Doug