Justice & Unity Alert3

All Out for Lynne Stewart - Feb. 28-29

2012-02-26T10:15:38Z

**** PLEASE SPREAD FAR & WIDE *****

Please come out to these events to support Lynne Stewart in her appeal in the Second Circuit Federal Appeals Court. The following information was confirmed with Ralph Poynter, Lynne's husband and comrade. Note that some of these times represent corrections from what others have circulated.

See also attached flyer.

From http://www.lynnestewart.org:

Lynne will not be there but hopes for a massive turnout!

Lynne says: “A Large Outpouring of Support in Foley Square and Tom Paine Park and in the Courtroom will signal to these arbiters of “Justice” that attention must be paid, the 99% are watching them with suspicion and tallying up the roads not taken.”

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Tues., Feb. 28, from 6 PM to Wed., Feb. 29 at 5 PM at Tom Paine Park (Foley Square Park), just beside the Federal Courthouse at 500 Pearl Street in lower Manhattan: We will have a rally and OCCUPY the park. Come with your banners, drums, poems, prayers, songs, raps, shouts. Stay over night in the park to let the government know that we dissent from the use of incarceration as a tool of political terror. (Note: Around 7 PM on Tues., the "Stand with Occupy! Don’t Suppress the Occupy Movement!" march will arrive at Tom Paine Park after having rallied at Union Square at 5 PM. Details: http://www.dontsuppressows.org/ )

Wed., Feb. 29, at 8 AM at the Federal Courthouse, 500 Pearl Street (enter at Worth St.) in lower Manhattan: the beginning of Lynne's appeal (hearing scheduled for 9 AM, but arrive early to get into the courtroom). Come and RALLY in support of Lynne and ALL POLITICAL PRISONERS.

Subways: 4,5,6 to Brooklyn Bridge/City Hall; A,C,E to Chambers St.; 1, 2,3 to Chambers St.

Note: The "Artists and Poets Speak Out for Lynne Stewart" event originally set for Feb. 27 has been cancelled.

For background on the case and Lynne's current situation, including a slide show illustrating a recent interview with Lynne's husband Ralph Poynter by Mya Shone and Ralph Schoenman of the "Taking Aim" show at http://politube.org/show/3377.

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Date: Thu, 23 Feb 2012 01:05:32 -0500 (EST)
From: "Sara Flounders" <sara@peoplesmail.net>
Subject: All Out for Lynne Stewart Feb. 28 - 29

International Action Center urges All Out for Lynne Stewart!

P a c k t h e C o u r t !

Since Lynne’s arrest 10 years ago on April 9, 2002 she has fought false accusations and government frame-up. Lynne spent her life defending poor and unpopular defendants.

Originally sentenced to 28 months in prison, in a unprecedented move her bail was suddenly revoked and on July 10, 2010 Lynne Stewart was resentenced to 10 years in prison for showing a lack of remorse after her initial sentencing.

The jailing of Lynne Stewart is an obvious attempt by the U.S. government to silence dissent, curtail vigorous defense lawyers, and install fear in those who would fight against the U.S. government’s racism, seek to help Arabs and Muslims being prosecuted for free speech and defend the rights of all oppressed people.

Come and show your love and solidarity with our sister Lynne Stewart
at the Tuesday, Feb. 28 Vigil and Wed Feb 29 Hearing.

See: http://www.lynnestewart.org
International Action Center
http://www.iacenter.org

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From: http://lynnestewart.org/

Write Lynne

To send Lynne a letter, write:
Lynne Stewart #53504-054
Federal Medical Center, Carswell
PO Box 27137
Ft. Worth, TX 76127

For more information e-mail us at 1lawyerleft at gmail.com

Sat.,12/3 - Tim Wise Speaks - Stop Decline of Progressive Media

2011-12-01T05:01:32Z

***PLEASE DISTRIBUTE WIDELY***

Forwarded from Bernard White, former Program Director of WBAI.

Tim Wise On Housecleaning
http://timwise.from-ny.net/ <Video Link>

See him live and in full context

STOP the Decline of Progressive Media
Saturday, December 3, 2011 6:00 PM
Community Church of New York
40 E. 35th St. (Madison/Park), Manhattan

Come join hundreds of concerned members of our community for the launching of an Internet alternative that puts community issues, community voices and community people in the forefront of the struggle for peace with justice.

Tim Wise, Keynote Speaker
Antiracist author, educator and activist

Larry Hamm, Chair, People's Organization for Progress

Bernard White, Media Activist

Sponsored by: Action for Justice Committee of the Community Church of NY Unitarian Universalist and Community for Progressive Radio (CPR Metro)

Donation: $10 * No one will be turned away

Reception following the program

Contact information: bwhite60@optonline.net

******************************************

Dear Comrades and Friends,

In response to the steady decrease in the coverage of community issues we offer this important forum. We've identified a trend in so called progressive media that results in fewer informed community voices discussing community issues.

In the search for increased revenue, progressive, community media is in a rapid state of decline. Managers and local station boards have decided to abandon their commitment to serve all of its listeners in the narrow and often racist pursuit of a more “affluent” audience. Producers and hosts with organic links to community are being removed or pushed out of prime time locations to make way for well known celebrities, conspiracy theories and medical cure-alls. As a result, it is extremely difficult to find out what is happening around us. This failed policy has resulted in increased fund drives and a continued decline in revenue and audience.

Come...Join concerned members of our community for the launching of: Community for Progressive Radio (CPR Metro), an internet alternative that puts community issues, community voices and community people in the forefront of the struggle for peace with justice.

Bernard White

Fight For Democracy at WBAI

2011-03-07T05:25:05Z

**** Please forward widely ****

Fight For Democracy at WBAI
Wednesday, March 9th, 7:00 p.m.

Recent changes at WBAI have further undermined democratic process
and taken programming further from the mission.
This affects programs you hear, how the station is run, and local board activities.
You can help. Please attend the next Local Station Board (LSB) meeting
and voice your concerns. Justice & Unity members will push for the following:

--Reverse drastic program changes from November, 2010. No consultation with
producers and rules violations resulted in:

Poet/activist Louis Reyes Rivera purged from the air
Community-based shows moved to late night or early morning, leading several to resign.
Health businessman Gary Null given five days weekly for a commercial show.
--Interim Program Director Tony Bates, brought from Los Angeles,
responsible for arbitrary programming changes, should have been
evaluated 9 months ago, per by laws.

--Reorganize Management Search Committee (current committee chosen by
the Local Board), to conduct reasonable search for Program Director, and
allow staff to elect reps.

Please come for all or part of the meeting.
Your participation is vital. See you there.

WBAI Local Station Board Meeting
Wednesday, March 9th, 7:00 p.m.
The Commons
388 Atlantic Avenue - Ground floor
btw. Bond & Hoyt Streets
Brooklyn, NY 11217

Travel: 2,3,4,5,B,D,N,Q,R to Atlantic Avenue/Pacific Street; B 63, B 65 buses

All out to Wed. WBAI Board Meeting

2011-02-08T05:29:00Z

Please attend the next Local Station Board (LSB) meeting on Wednesday February 9, 2011, in downtown Brooklyn/Metrotech.

There is a lot a stake and you need to pay close attention. Additionally, there is a mandatory "Public Comment" period during which you may express your concerns.

WBAI Local Station Board
Wed., Feb. 9 - 7:00 PM
The Commons
388 Atlantic Avenue - 2nd fl (Elevator avail.) btw. Bond & Hoyt Streets
Brooklyn, NY 11217

Travel: 2,3,4,5,B,D,N,Q,R to Atlantic Avenue/Pacific Street; B 63, B 65 buses

BACKGROUND

We believe that WBAI must practice genuine openness and the due process it demands of the world's businesses and governments. WBAI and Pacifica's management has been hypocritical and retrograde.

Since 2009, across the Pacifica network, scores of staff have been fired and banned; listeners have been barred from stations they fed with their labor and dollars; and programs have been moved and removed -- most without consultation or direct notification and virtually all arbitrarily. None received due process.

About three months ago, massive program changes were shoved through without notice or discussion as required in the Pacifica Bylaws, staff contracts, common sense and decency.

Virtually all WBAI alternative and complementary health and health advocacy programs were slashed in half and shoved from midday slots to 11 pm. "Global Medicine Review" with Dr. Kamau Kokayi and Faybiene Miranda were in Kokayi's words "Browned-out and Nullified," both WBAI's economic analysis and its personal finance programs are gone, and the mostly-female produced "Tuesday Arts Magazine" has been removed.

During what is surely a watershed period for Haiti/Ayiti, "Haiti, the Struggle Continues" was reduced by 25%, a new program whose host likes her gospel singers "fat and Black only, please" was introduced in a brand-new old morning music line-up, and cultural icon, activist-poet Louis Reyes Rivera's "Perspective" was unceremoniously cut from the schedule in which blank spots remain.

Rivera's disappearance came after 2010 LSB election results named him 1st runner-up making him eligible to fill any local board staff seat vacated before the next LSB election (2012). His high placement came in spite of actions to undermine his candidacy by the "independent" national election supervisor who illegally and severely censored his candidate statement under direction of her "superiors" - Pacifica's Executive Director (ED) Arlene Engelhardt and Chief Financial Officer (CFO) LaVarn Williams.

A Steward of the Unpaid Staff union, Rivera had directly criticized the abuses of the local and national "coup" management since their takeover at WBAI and Pacifica in 2009. CFO Williams held the title of WBAI Interim General Manager from May 2009 to January 2010, and with the direction of her cohorts on the ACE-dominated board oversaw a purge, firing and banning without process former Program Director Bernard White, producers Don DeBar, the late Kamau Khalfani and several others.

After members had a look/listen at their operation, in spite of disfranchisement and other dirty election tricks, Williams' ACE associates barely managed to hang onto their majority in the 2010 local board.

Laid-off station staff have been replaced without union-required call-backs and positions have been created and/or filed without contractually-mandated job postings and search committees. ACE supporters hold the majority of paid staff positions.

The station's newly announced general manager, Berthold Reimers, was either candidate or endorser of the ACE slate in every election except this last when as Interim General Manager, he controlled the staff election list. On the ballot mail date, 40% of staff members whom he "approved" for voting were not sent ballots.

Reimers has little management and absolutely no media experience, and was hired after a process by an ACE-dominated LSB search committee which saw minority members excluded from notice of meetings and then dropped for absences. To date, among other things, its erstwhile chair cannot account for how a 12-person committee became a 13-member body but that didn't stop Pacifica ED Arlene Engelhardt from accepting their report.

According to the treasurer - a fellow ACEist - Reimers has not been available to meet with the local board committee established to review the station's deficit budget quarterly spending. There's been no monthly local finance meeting since October. He has managed to be on many tele-conferences of the Finance Committee of the Pacifica National Board where during his budget presentations he had to be repeatedly instructed on such elementary principles of compensation including the differences between calculations for an employee versus a contractor.

So although it was clear that pretty multi-colored graphs notwithstanding, there were no evidence of financial genius in this man who had served as an HMO number-cruncher, ED Engelhardt made his job permanent. Some may wonder whether the local or national board has seen his contract but few wonder whether the fix was in.

WHAT'S NEXT?

That same Management Search Committee whose composition violated, for more than a year, multiple aspects of the motion that created it is supposedly in the process of searching for a program director. Its meetings have not been publicly noticed and are held on station premises from which some boardmembers are barred and during the business day when most ordinary working people cannot attend. What good thing can come from such a corrupted process?

Having failed to block Bernard White as a candidate and with him receiving almost twice as many votes as any other candidate, the ACEist are now trying to get the national board to retroactively change the rules of membership and void White's. Anyone hired "for cause" which in ACE's Pacifica means just because...

On the boards, voting for officers and other positions is done by secret ballot. No one has to reveal their vote and conversely no one else has a right to ask. So after an 11-11 tie for both the pro tem and permanent Chair between John Brinkley of Plainfield and Mitchel Cohen who as 2008-2010 Chair became known for disappearing opposition items from the board's agenda between meetings, naming meeting attendees who the law specifically states may choose to remain anonymous, shouting encouragement to friends who heckle the opposition and other such examples of the presence of bias and the absence of discipline, it was quite something when James "Jamie" Ross was caught angrily demanding of two women whether one of them had voted for John Brinkley. (One expects that in the 2 months past the grilling has been varied and intensified and after hand-writing tests, the violator properly disciplined.)

The ACEists refused to draw straws or to share power by co-chairing for alternating periods, and so the drama will continue at this meeting. Remaining officers should also be elected.

In the meantime, Alex Steinberg has been trying to get the national board to end in-person WBAI LSB meetings. Outside of the watchful views of members, the kind of voting "error" described above will not be a problem. That the Bylaws clearly intend for in-person meetings by the use of language such as "Meetings will be held "in facilities of sufficient size to accommodate Members affiliated with that radio station and the public, preferably in the station" is apparently not a serious consideration.

All out to Wed. WBAI Board Meeting

2011-02-08T05:27:26Z

Please attend the next Local Station Board (LSB) meeting on Wednesday February 9, 2011, in downtown Brooklyn/Metrotech.

There is a lot a stake and you need to pay close attention. Additionally, there is a mandatory "Public Comment" period during which you may express your concerns.

WBAI Local Station Board
Wed., Feb. 9 - 7:00 PM
The Commons
388 Atlantic Avenue - 2nd fl (Elevator avail.) btw. Bond & Hoyt Streets
Brooklyn, NY 11217

Travel: 2,3,4,5,B,D,N,Q,R to Atlantic Avenue/Pacific Street; B 63, B 65 buses

BACKGROUND

We believe that WBAI must practice genuine openness and the due process it demands of the world's businesses and governments. WBAI and Pacifica's management has been hypocritical and retrograde.

About three months ago, massive program changes were shoved through without notice or discussion as required in the Pacifica Bylaws, staff contracts, common sense and decency.

WHAT'S NEXT?

The ACEists refused to draw straws or to share power by co-chairing for alternating periods, and so the drama will continue at this meeting. Remaining officers should also be elected.

Oppose Expulsion & Public Exclusion at WBAI/Pacifica

2011-01-19T20:57:59Z

*** Please forward widely *****

The "lame-duck" Pacifica National Board (PNB) will hold its next -- and supposedly last -- meeting via conference call on Fri., Jan. 21, at 8:30 PM, and the following motions are very likely to come up for a vote. (Earlier meetings did not get as far as these items.) One pair of motions -- both retroactive "bills of attainder" to punish someone without a trial -- would disenfranchise WBAI's voters by allowing the removal of former Program Director Bernard White from not only the board to which he was elected by the widest vote, but also from membership in WBAI/Pacifica. Another motion would require WBAI's Local Station Board (LSB) meetings to be held over the phone, thus restricting participation to a privileged few, and allowing the LSB to make decisions about our station without ever having to face those affected.

Please read on about why these proposals are grossly unethical, compromise the integrity of the Pacifica Foundation, and violate the Pacifica Bylaws - and what you can do to express your opposition (write the PNB at pnb@pacifica.org; and please copy us at info@justiceunity.org - see additional details below).

This email includes (at the end) a new statement by PNB member Nia Bediako explaining her opposition to the motion to mandate that LSB meetings be held by phone.

Note: You can hear the live webstream and later the recorded archive at www.kpftx.org .

**************************************************************************************************

Disfranchisement, Nullification and Bills of Attainder

Unhappy because top vote-getter former Program Director Bernard White bested their multi-millionaire leader by an almost 2-to-1 ratio in spite of their violations of election rules and the racist lies in their campaign materials, ACE (a.k.a. the "Independents") are attempting to invalidate the expressed will of the largest group of WBAI members who voted in the recent Local Station Board (LSB) election.

The ACE-ists, who supported the 2009 Spring Coup from the West Coast and engineered the disappearance of General Manager Anthony Riddle and the firing of Program Director Bernard White, are represented on the Pacifica National Board (PNB) by listeners Alex Steinberg and Jennifer Jaeger and WBAI Public Affairs Director Kathy Davis (not to be confused with Lisa Davis, a Justice & Unity member who served on the LSB for 6 years, and whose term recently ended).

At the PNB meeting on December 17, 2010, Kathy Davis brought a motion to retroactively revise the organization's rules to allow the expulsion of White from his seat on the Local Station Board (LSB) and from membership in the Pacifica Foundation. At the same meeting, a PNB member from the Houston station, Richard Uzzell, brought a motion with slightly different terms but the same effect. The conference call ended before either motion could be taken up.

As revised in 2003, the Pacifica Bylaws state that a listener becomes a member and is able to vote and run for the LSB by making a donation of $25 or volunteering 3 hours in an applicable year. However, Davis's motion would bar anyone fired "for cause" from sitting on a station's LSB or from holding a membership in Pacifica. Coming from the group on the LSB that removed General Manager Riddle so that their hand-picked replacement could fire Program Director White, it is clear that this motion is a continuance of the targeting of Bernard White.

Davis's motion is essentially a Bill of Attainder (legislation finding an individual guilty and punishing them without a trial - outlawed by the U.S. Constitution) that allows the ACE-ists to brand Bernard White guilty of the crime of being fired - unemployment and the trashing of his name not being sufficient harm done - and allowing them to revoke his membership as a consequence.

Making Public Meetings Available to a Privileged Few
(See below for text of motion and Nia Bediako's statement in opposition)

Another nefarious piece of business before the PNB is Alex Steinberg's motion to hold future WBAI LSB meetings by telephone, thereby excluding the station's members from participation. These meetings would be in lieu of live, in-person meetings, which the Bylaws state "shall be held within the local radio station area in facilities of sufficient size to accommodate Members affiliated with that radio station and the public, preferably in the station." The motion first refers to the immediate upcoming LSB meeting, and then goes on to state, "This directive shall remain in place for subsequent meetings of the WBAI LSB until such time as a further review by the PNB establishes that significant progress has been made towards establishing an atmosphere of mutual respect and comity that will allow the WBAI LSB to resume in person meetings."

Steinberg would have the meetings web-streamed, and provide a telephone number where the public can call in their comments. This makes the meetings available to those who can listen on the Internet for 3 hours and who have access to a phone. Is that what we fought and paid for?

Who's Who

The Actors:
Brought the attainder motions of disfranchisement and nullification: Kathy Davis, national boardmember from WBAI and Public Affairs Director, and Richard Uzzell, national boardmember from KPFT in Houston

Argued to push the nullification motion ahead of other business and proposing to shut the public out of LSB meetings: Alex Steinberg, national boardmember from WBAI

Argued to block White from running in the election: Former WBAI local boardmember and music programmer Delphine Blue and, following her, newly re-elected WBAI local boardmember Carolyn Birden.

YOUR ACTION:

Write to the Pacifica National Board - pnb@pacifica.org - and please copy us at info@justiceunity.org.

Demand that they STOP trying to thwart the voters' will, violating the Bylaws by changing membership rules retroactively and without allowing for a vote by those affected, while targeting those they oppose. This behavior is not only totally un-Pacifican - it is also contrary to common human decency and the most minimal sense of fairness.

************************************************

Nia Bediako Expresses Her Opposition to Motion Requiring WBAI LSB Telephonic Meetings

To: pnb@pacifica.org
From: Nia Bediako <nia.bediako@bnbcpa.com>
Delivered-To: mailing list WBAI-LSB-PUBLIC@yahoogroups.com
Date: Fri, 14 Jan 2011 15:31:07 -0500
Subject: [WBAI-LSB-PUBLIC] My Opposition to WBAI's Telephonic LSB Meetings

To my colleagues,

This "motion" to mandate phone meetings by the WBAI LSB, should have been immediately ruled out-of-order because it's a direct violation of the Pacifica by-laws. Since that did not happen, I want to emphasize two important points:

First, and again, the motion is a blatant violation of Article 7, Section 6 of the Pacifica Bylaws, which says in part: "LSB meetings shall be open to the public and to all Members..." and "Meetings shall be held within the local radio station area in facilities of sufficient size to accommodate Members affiliated with that radio station and the public, preferably in the station...." Resorting to phone meetings shuts out all those without home Internet access (contrary to Alex's point that people should simply get Internet access at their local library, most libraries in New York shut down for the evening long before LSB meetings have ended).

Second, I want to set the record straight about what really happened at the last LSB meeting on Dec. 8, which fundamentally contradicts Alex's stated premise for bringing this motion. It is simply untrue that that "the WBAI LSB failed to elect any officers at its December meeting or conduct any of the business of the LSB as a result of disruptive activity by members of the audience..."

The meeting was called to order at 7:27 (half an hour late due to late arrivals by board members). The agenda as adopted called for adjournment two hours later, at 9:30. The first six agenda items -- which included 45 minutes for each of the 24 members to introduce themselves and state their expectations for the year -- were allocated a total of 100 minutes, i.e., until 9:00 PM, which would have left a mere 30 minutes before adjournment -- which normally would have meant the immediate convening of 30 minutes of public comment. "My side" suggested interspersing Public Comment between ballot counts but of course that was rejected and all 6 of those items were completed. The last item of business completed at that point was the election of what outgoing Chair Mitch Cohen had listed in his draft agenda as a "Chair pro-tem to preside over election of officers."

The election for Chair pro tem went without incident -- board members from each "side" passed out and collected ballots and worked together on the ballot count, which resulted in an 11-11 tie between Mitch Cohen and John Brinkley (which no one contested was an accurate result). John then suggested, in the spirit of several board members' earlier statements that there should be an effort to cross lines and work together, that the two of them serve as co-chairs for this short period until the permanent officers were elected. After some hesitation, Mitch agreed to this. Jamie Ross's draft minutes say, "Both agreed to share chair pro-tem." The two men proceeded to run the next stage with relative comity.

The next item -- which began as the meeting rapidly approached its agreed-upon time limit -- was the election of officers. Mitch's approach to that changed drastically after the votes were counted in the election for permanent chair -- which followed the identical procedure as the Chair pro tem election. The outcome was also identical (11-11 tie), unsurprisingly. Yet Jamie Ross immediately claimed -- based on no evidence whatsoever -- that one of the board members who had collected some of the ballots in both elections had the second time somehow switched one of them to create the tie. Based on that unsupported allegation, Jamie moved to redo the election. At that point, I strongly protested, saying there was no basis to redo a finished election. I noted that the by-laws require that a tie in an IRV (that is, single-seat) election be resolved by "drawing lots" -- the equivalent of a coin flip, which has been done in past ties in Pacifica. But when I asked Mitch to follow the by-laws and do a coin flip, he refused. As an alternative, I then suggested that he follow the same practice as was just agreed to with a shared co-chairing arrangement, he refused that as well.

Just to rewind a bit. It was shortly before the results of the chair were announced, I happened to pass by (on my way back from the bathroom) the part of the table where Jamie Ross was seated and I saw him addressing two women elected with the support of his allies, loudly and aggressively questioning them, "Did you vote for John? Did you?". This type of blatant attempt at intimidation was shameful and was a perfect illustration of why a redo of the election would have been illegal -- it would have led to a clear effort to bully some member or members into changing their vote.

Meanwhile, John and Mitch were privately conferring about what to do. Other board members from both sides at times joined the conversation. Several members of the audience were, it is true, expressing their support "sharing power," some of them loudly. Clearly they were angry at this blatant attempt to subvert the democratically expressed will of the board. But these expressions from the audience did not prevent business from being done, as the board itself was deadlocked, unable to move forward. At times various board members spoke publicly with their opinions about what action to take. In the end, someone noted that it was 9:30, so the allotted time for the meeting had expired, but that there had to be the required 30 minutes of public comment. The board then voted to extend for 20 minutes to have that public comment, which left the officer election unfinished.

The 20 minutes of public comment then occurred in an orderly fashion, after which I made a motion to extend the meeting to finish the elections, but this did not get the 2/3 needed to pass.

That is in essence what happened. In other words, it was not "disruptive activity by members of the audience" that prevented further business from being done but rather: a) the refusal of the outgoing chair and his allies (by this point no longer representing a majority) to follow proper procedures, and b) the fact that even before the controversy, the late start of the meeting and the unrealistic amount of agenda items ensured that only a fraction of the agenda would be completed no matter what else had happened. Also, with two off-duty police officers working as security guards things certainly would not have been able to get out of control as Alex has untruthfully stated over and over.

In sum, Alex has premised his motion to mandate phone meetings on a false rendering of what happened at the last meeting. This is on top of the fact that it is a complete violation of the bylaws.

So the motion needs to be ruled out of order. But if it is not, I certainly hope that the board will exercise sound judgment and vote down this unjustified, exclusionary, and transparency-destroying motion which beyond violating Pacifica's bylaws also violates regulations of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting requiring open public meetings of grantees' boards.

Sincerely and Truthfully,
Nia

*************************************************

FOR REFERENCE:
Alex Steinberg's motion on WBAI LSB meetings is as follows:

Whereas the WBAI LSB failed to elect any officers at its December meeting or conduct any of the business of the LSB as a result of disruptive activity by members of the audience and whereas the Pacifica Foundation cannot afford to pay expenses for meeting places and security for an LSB that is not carrying out its bylaws mandated responsibilities, the Pacifica National Board, in an effort to bring the WBAI LSB into compliance with its responsibilities, directs the WBAI LSB to conduct its meetings via telephone conference.

This directive applies to the first meeting of the WBAI LSB/delegates assembly in January. That meeting is directed to elect officers of the LSB and Directors for the Pacifica Foundation as its first order of business. This directive shall remain in place for subsequent meetings of the WBAI LSB until such time as a further review by the PNB establishes that significant progress has been made towards establishing an atmosphere of mutual respect and comity that will allow the WBAI LSB to resume in person meetings.

All secret ballots at telephone conference meetings of the WBAI LSB shall be conducted by email to a neutral third party who will tabulate the votes and announce the results. The Pacifica legal counsel or his representative is hereby designated to be a neutral third party responsible for counting secret ballots. WBAI LSB telephone conference meetings will be streamed on the Internet - unless they are part of an executive session - so that the public may listen and a special telephone number will be made available for the public to phone in public comments.

Urgent: Oppose disfranchisement & public exclusion at WBAI/Pacifica

2011-01-02T15:21:58Z

The Pacifica National Board (PNB) will hold its next meeting via conference call TOMORROW, Mon., Jan. 3, at 8:30 PM, and the following motions are very likely to come up for a vote. Please read on about why these are grossly unethical and compromise the integrity of the Pacifica Foundation - and what you can do to express your opposition (see details on emailing the PNB at the bottom).

Note: You can hear the live webstream and later the recorded archive at www.kpftx.org .

Disfranchisement, Nullification and Bills of Attainder

Unhappy because top vote-getter former Program Director Bernard White bested their multi-millionaire leader by an almost 2-to-1 ratio in spite of their violations of election rules and the racist lies in their campaign materials, ACE (a.k.a. the "Independents") are attempting to invalidate the expressed will of the largest group of WBAI members who voted in the recent Local Station Board (LSB) election.

The ACE-ists, who supported the 2009 Spring Coup from the West Coast and engineered the disappearance of General Manager Anthony Riddle and the firing of Program Director Bernard White, are represented on the Pacifica National Board (PNB) by listeners Alex Steinberg and Jennifer Jaeger and WBAI Public Affairs Director Kathy Davis (not to be confused with Lisa Davis, a Justice & Unity member who served on the LSB for 6 years, and whose term recently ended).

At the PNB meeting on December 17, 2010, Kathy Davis brought a motion to retroactively revise the organization's rules to allow the expulsion of White from his seat on the Local Station Board (LSB) and from membership in the Pacifica Foundation. At the same meeting, a PNB member from the Houston station, Richard Uzzell, brought a motion with slightly different terms but the same effect. The conference call ended before either motion could be taken up.

As revised in 2003, the Pacifica Bylaws state that a listener becomes a member and is able to vote and run for the LSB by making a donation of $25 or volunteering 3 hours in an applicable year. However, Davis's motion would bar anyone fired “for cause” from sitting on a station's LSB or from holding a membership in Pacifica. Coming from the group on the LSB that removed General Manager Riddle so that their hand-picked replacement could fire Program Director White, it is clear that this motion is a continuance of the targeting of Bernard White.

Davis's motion is essentially a Bill of Attainder (legislation finding an individual guilty and punishing them without a trial - outlawed by the U.S. Constitution) that allows the ACE-ists to brand Bernard White guilty of the crime of being fired - unemployment and the trashing of his name not being sufficient harm done - and allowing them to revoke his membership as a consequence.

Making Public Meetings Available to a Privileged Few

Another nefarious piece of business before the PNB is Alex Steinberg's motion to hold the next WBAI LSB meeting by telephone, thereby excluding the station's members from participation. This meeting would be in lieu of a live, in-person meeting, which the Bylaws state “shall be held within the local radio station area in facilities of sufficient size to accommodate Members affiliated with that radio station and the public, preferably in the station.”

Steinberg would have the meeting web-streamed, and provide a telephone number where the public can call in their comments. This makes the meeting available to those who can listen on the Internet for 3 hours and who have access to a phone. Is that what we fought and paid for?

Who's Who

The Actors:
Brought the attainder motions of disfranchisement and nullification: Kathy Davis, national boardmember from WBAI and Public Affairs Director, and Richard Uzzell, national boardmember from KPFT in Houston

Argued to push the nullification motion ahead of other business and proposing to shut the public out of LSB meetings: Alex Steinberg, national boardmember from WBAI

Argued to block White from running in the election: Former WBAI local boardmember and music programmer Delphine Blue and, following her, newly re-elected WBAI local boardmember Carolyn Birden.

Your Action:

Write to the Pacifica National Board - pnb@pacifica.org - and please copy us at info@justiceunity.org.
Demand that they STOP trying to thwart the voters' will, violating the Bylaws by changing membership rules retroactively and without allowing for a vote by those affected, while targeting those they oppose. This behavior is not only totally un-Pacifican - it is also contrary to common human decency and the most minimal sense of fairness.

Wed. 12/8: All out to WBAI Board mtg - protest program changes

2010-12-06T15:24:17Z

***** Please forward widely ********

WBAI Local Station Board meeting
Wed., Dec. 8 - 7:00 p.m.
At The Commons, 388 Atlantic Avenue, bet. Bond & Nevins Streets in downtown Brooklyn.
Trains: A, C, G to Hoyt & Schmerhorn; F to Bergen Street; B, M, Q, R, 2, 3, 4, 5 to Atlantic / Pacific. Buses: B63 or B65.

Come speak out in mandated Public Comment. Let the Board majority know they must end the support for arbitrary program changes and destruction of the Unpaid Staff union. Tell them they will be held to account for what they do and what they allow.

Background Information:

The new WBAI Local Station Board (LSB) will be seated at a 7pm meeting on Wednesday, December 8, 2010.

Among those to be seated on Wednesday are Justice & Unity members Bernard White, Suzanne Adely, Fr. Lawrence Lucas, John Brinkley, and Ray Laforest (who collectively received 55% of the vote), as well as staff ally Bob Lederer. (They join continuing Justice & Unity listener board members Nia Bediako, Russell Dale, Sister Betty Dopson, and Nana Camille Yarbrough, as well as staff ally Daniel Vila.)

ACE members Carolyn Birden and staff allies Delphine Blue and Kathy Davis are still trying to retroactively change Pacifica's Bylaws and nullify members' votes for Bernard White who received more than 1.6 times the number of votes of the leading vote-getter on the ACE slate. (Attempts to steal an election and silence opponents is also happening at Pacifica's oldest station. For more on those maneuvers, see www.kpfaworker.org .)

About a month ago, as the October fund drive came to a close, producers began receiving telephone calls from interim management informing them that their programs were moved and/or slashed and in cases like Louis Reyes Rivera's "Perspective," eliminated altogether.

These changes were not discussed with the individuals affected or in the Program Council as required in staff contracts and the Pacifica Bylaws, however, at the previous LSB meeting, the ACE majority refused to approve a motion calling on management to freeze the suddenly-imposed program changes and properly consult with the staff. (More on this at www.wbaiworker.wordpress.com .)

At this time and in this place, it must be made clear to the Board that the practice of shutting down and disappearing those with whom they disagree will not be tolerated, and that the introduction of "Al Jazeera English" as a source of alternative information stands in stark contrast with the Pacifica network's attempts to silence dissent within its stations.

Arbitrary, partisan and punitive treatment of staff who speak up must end. Bannings must be undone, programs must be restored and contracts honored.

Come out and speak out on Wed., Dec. 8, 7:00 p.m., at The Commons, 388 Atlantic Avenue, between Bond & Nevins Streets in downtown Brooklyn. Trains: A, C, G to Hoyt & Schmerhorn; F to Bergen Street; B, M, Q, R, 2, 3, 4, 5 to Atlantic / Pacific. Buses: B63 or B65.

Tu., 12/7 - Next Take Back WBAI meeting

2010-12-04T15:02:43Z

From the Take Back WBAI Coalition:

From: Makemba X <makemba007@hotmail.com>
To: "takebackwbai@googlegroups.com" <takebackwbai@googlegroups.com>
Subject: 12/7 - NEXT TAKE BACK WBAI MEETING
Date: Fri, 3 Dec 2010 20:15:24 -0500

Come to Our Next Tuesday Meeting!

This week's meeting is going to be very important as we continue to work on plans to respond to the recent programming changes imposed on WBAI by its irresponsible interim management. With Updates and discussion of major issues.

                  TUESDAY -- DECEMBER 7, 2010

                          7:00 PM -- 9:30 PM

                   LOCATION:
                  111 LIVINGSTON STREET - 7th FLOOR
                                       BROOKLYN, NEW YORK

Take the 2, 3, 4, 5, M, R, A, C, or F train to Borough Hall.

Wheelchair-accessible.

Take Back WBAI Speakout - Tues., Nov. 30 - 7 PM

2010-11-24T19:50:13Z

*** Please forward widely *****

Date: Tue, 23 Nov 2010 11:03:03 -0500
Subject: TAKE BACK WBAI SPEAKOUT- Tues. Nov 30
From: ken nash <kennash102@gmail.com>

WBAI’s PROGRAMS DECIMATED

Speak up! Speak out!

Don’t sit quietly and watch the removal of progressive community voices at WBAI.
The destruction of WBAI is being carried out by its present management and the
ACE majority on the Local Station Board. There is a rapidly growing discontent
amongst the listenership and the producers as the callous evisceration of the
program grid continues. WBAI is in serious financial trouble and all of the wrong
moves are being made to save it.

Here are some very important questions that need to be answered:
. Why has WBAI’s interim management made such massive changes
to the program grid?
. Why have programs airing important voices of disenfranchised communities
been shortened, cancelled or exiled to inaccessible times?
. Why is WBAI turning its back on the long tradition of community programming
and local autonomy?
. Why have the Fund Drives become so boring and monotonous?
. Why are management and the LSB majority creating a false picture of WBAI’s
economic stability?
. Why is there a selectively enforced a Gag Rule?
. Why is WBAI violating its union contract with the unpaid workers?

Come out, Speak out &
Learn what you can do to save WBAI

Speakers include:
Dr. Kamau Kokayi, Louis Reyes Rivera, Bernard White and other important voices.

Join us: Tuesday, November 30, 2010 - 7pm
Local 802 American Federation of Musicians AFL-CIO
322 W. 48th Street, NYC
(bet. 8th & 9th Aves., Trains: A,C,E,1,2,3 to 50th St.)

Sponsored by The Coalition to Takeback WBAI: www.takebackwbai.org

For more information contact: info@takebackwbai.org

Speak out at WBAI Programming Comm. mtg - Mon., 7 PM

2010-11-14T18:32:13Z

Feel free to send this message broadly to listeners and staff.

WBAI Local Station Board Programming Committee public meeting
Mon., Nov. 15, 7:00 PM
WBAI, 120 Wall Street, 10th floor. (Take the 2,3,4, or 5 trains to Wall St., walk down the hill past Water St. to the corner of South St.)

Speak out about the drastic WBAI program changes arbitarily instituted by WBAI interim management, which go into effect Mon., Nov. 15. Besides cancelling several shows, this shakeup has already sparked the resignations of several longtime hosts whose times were suddenly shifted and/or cut back without any discussion. Many of these changes remove, shorten or move to inaccessible times some of the vital voices of disenfranchised communities that represent the heart of the Pacifica mission.

At this meeting of the Programming Committee, the topic will be the new round of program changes. The Interim Program Director who made the changes, Tony Bates, has been invited. Public comment is mandated. Come out and express your opinion!

All attending will need to have their names entered into the building's security system and must present photo ID at the lobby desk. If possible, call the station receptionist between the hours of 9:00 AM and 12:00 noon and 1:00-4:45 PM on Monday to register your name; the number is 212-209-2800.

Meanwhile, 40 WBAI producers (and counting) have signed a petition protesting interim management's adoption of these mass program changes without discussion with the station's Program Council, and without proper consultation with affected producers in violation of the Pacifica Foundation Bylaws, contractual agreements with both paid and unpaid staff, and long-established practice. (Full text below)

****************************************

From the Committee of Concerned WBAI Producers
Email: wbaiworker@gmail.com
Website: http://wbaiworker.wordpress.com/

Call or email with your opinions on the program changes to:
Interim Program Director Tony Bates - tony@wbai.org - (212) 209-2835
Interim General Manager Berthold Reimers - breimers62@earthlink.net, (212) 209-2820
Pacifica National Board and Executive Director Arlene Englehardt- pnb@pacifica.org, (510) 849-2590 x208

Please send a cc at wbaiworker@gmail.com

Check out our new website (and keep checking for updates) at wbaiworker.wordpress.com.

************************************************

P E T I T I O N
By WBAI Producers

As of November 14, 2010

To:       WBAI Interim General Manager, Berthold Reimers
            WBAI Interim Program Director, Tony Bates
cc:        WBAI Local Station Board, Pacifica National Board

Whereas mass program changes at WBAI recently announced to take effect on November 15, 2010, are being put forward by interim management without discussion with the station's Program Council, and without proper consultation with affected producers in violation of the Pacifica Foundation Bylaws, contractual agreements with both paid and unpaid staff, and long-established practice,

We, the undersigned, demand of interim management the following immediate actions:

1. A freeze on all programming changes until a full process of consultation with the Program Council and paid and unpaid staff has occurred.

2. A moratorium on the removal of any programs from the air.

3. The reinstatement of all programs removed from the air without process by the interim Program Director.

Signatories to date (list in formation):

Amna Akbar and Leyla Mei, for the Asia Pacific
     Forum Collective
Samar Al-Bulushi, Global Movements,
     Urban Struggles
Donald Anthonyson, Global Movements,
      Urban Struggles
Saadia T. Aslam, Radio Tahrir
Barbara Nimri Aziz, Radio Tahrir
Naomi Brussel, Out FM
William Camacaro, La Voz Latina
Adem Carroll, War on Immigrants Report /
      Global Movements, Urban Struggles
Dowoti Desir, AfroBeatRadio
Margaret Gilpin, Cuba in Focus
Ibrahim González, In The Moment/Radio Libre/
          Friday Wake Up Call
Mark Hannay, Health Action
William Heerwagen, Jazz and Things
Rosalie Hoffman, Wake Up Call former
    producer
Stephen Howard, Telling It Like It Is
Wuyi Jacobs, AfroBeatRadio
Vajra Kilgour, Housing Notebook
Dequi Kioni-Sadiki, Where We Live
Kamau Kokayi, Global Medicine Review
Bob Lederer, Health Action
Biju Mathew, Global Movements, Urban
    Struggles
Sol McCants III, Education at the Crossroads
Basir Mchawi, Education at the Crossroads
M'Saidia McLaughlin, Sports Qualified
Maryann Miller, Arts Magazine
Prairie Miller, Arts Magazine
Faybiene Miranda, Global Medicine Review
Ken Nash, Building Bridges
Fred Nguyen, WBAI Sunday News reporter
Sally O'Brien, Where We Live, Cuba in Focus
Edgardo Parada, AfroBeatRadio
Louis Reyes Rivera, Perspective
John Riley, Out FM
Cerene Roberts
Mimi Rosenberg, Building Bridges
Ralph Schoenman, Taking Aim
Mya Shone, Taking Aim
Brad Taylor, Out FM
Daniel Vila, La Voz Latina

If you are a WBAI producer, to sign on to this petition, email the Committee of Concerned WBAI Producers at wbaiworker@gmail.com . For more information, visit http://wbaiworker.wordpress.com .