patty
Defending the elections committee
Tue Jul 17 14:51:19 2001

Never a moment to rest.....

VAJRA WRITES nuralanwar@yahoo.com on New Pacifica board:

> Perhaps the reason why I don't trust the elections
> committee very much is because its approach to elections has seemed
> precisely to be trying to control the elections in order to have
> power.

(if you want the whole long post say so and I will post it)

Thanks Vajra for this is a partially true statement and the ability to clarify.

The elections commitee has an agenda. It is to hold elections in as democratic a way as possible given the circumstances of no air (at this time-it could change if the board goes) and spending much of the time fending off all the attacks on the committee by people who "care". We have been working tirelessly to see what worked in Berkeley and what didn't so far as well as looking at other elements that could be added. We are listeners and best suited to insure listener interests.

To Quote the listener lawsuit:

"We seek to safeguard Pacifica from ever again being subverted from within by a small conspiratorial cabal, and to vest the listener-sponsors with voting rights and legal membership status in the Pacifica Foundation. We believe the listener-sponsors, who have cherished, built and supported Pacifica for more than 50 years, are best-suited to insuring the faithfulness of Pacifica to its founding purposes as Pacifica enters its second half-century and the new "digital broadcasting" age."

Who doesn't want that? Come forward now.

Are we looking for power? You bet we are. We are looking to do the best job possible in making sure the listeners and or listener/sponsors have power and a say in our radio station and Pacifica. Where's the crime? We are NOT interested in telling programmers what they can or cannot broadcast. That is a ruse. There will be a program council to work with management and the staff. It used to be like that and if we are lucky the community will through the LAB/local station board have input as to what kind of programming they would like to have. How about youth, women's, to name a few?

Waiting until the station is returned to people that didn't take very good care of it without guaranteed accountability and voting rights to it's listener sponsors is and should be unacceptable to every listener out there. Anyone that wants to slow down democratization until they can place themselves in a position of power to influence the outcome is suspect. Keep the listener sponsors in limbo until control can be retreived.

Remember this network is worth about a half billion dollars to some and there are employment opportunities as well, for those that may impose themselves into the democratic process to control the outcome.

Vajra early on posted to the lists and called the longtime listener group CdPNY (formerly SOS -serving the listeners since 1996) (We could have educated more peopole if only people at the station wouldn't have discredited us until they were in jeopardy) racist and whatever else she felt like. Now she claims that the elections committee sat on our butts while they (concerned friends action/outreach, fired and banned and the Pacifica Campaign i suppose) were out there working their butts off. This is laugable. Who looks like they want power here? By discrediting people? This is pricisely the crap we have had to go through.

Remember the above sentence. "this network is worth about a half billion dollars to some and there are employment opportunities as well, for those that may impose themselves into the democratic process to control the outcome".

Don't believe me. Gather your own information. come to an elections committee meeting and see for yourself. Read the proposal and get involved in your own radio station. Don't let Vajra (who I never even saw in the struggle before she started defacing CdPNY/SOS) or even me tell you anything. Make up your own mind. Look at people's connections and above all else. Look at thier actions. Think for yourself.

Some say I am anti-producer. Why have I spent 5+years on this if that was the case. Some say that I wanted airtime. Even the most talentless person could get on WBAI after such a long time if that is what I wanted. am I anti-producer? No. I am anti-bullshit. I actually learned something from listening to WBAI. I am an activist listener. So shoot me.

Patty
CdPNY
Elections committee

VAJRA WRITES: nuralanwar@yahoo.com
> I also don't think it's true that "only recently it has become
> apparent where the power can be had - trying to control the
> elections." It's been apparent all along, & it can't have escaped
> very many people's notice that so many members of a particular > faction have focused so much of their energy there, while so many
> of the rest of us were & are working our butts off trying to create
> a space in which elections that are as fair & inclusive as possible
> can be held - not to get a medal, but to have a radio station we
> can listen to. Perhaps the reason why I don't trust the elections
> committee very much >is because its approach to elections has seemed
> precisely to be trying >to control the elections in order to have
> power.