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Written by admin
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Friday, 04 September 2009 01:47 |
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Gil Obler
Listener Candidate for the WBAI Local Station Board Statement
I was born and raised in NYC, first on 144th St and Broadway; later in the Mitchell-Lama housing complex on 97th and Amsterdam.
I am a member of the Take Back WBAI coalition [website http://takebackwbai.org] and running as an LSB candidate because I support:
* Local autonomy for the station
* Moving the station to a less expensive (and more community oriented) location
* Reinstatement of all recently dismissed workers
* Due process and dignity in all future personnel and programming decisions
* Freedom of speech for all on-air participants
* Full community representation with priority for the silenced and dispossessed
* Living (not just talking) a revolutionary agenda
It is essential that WBAI retain its vital connection to local NY activist organizing efforts. I am very concerned by the current direction of the National Pacifica Board (upon all sister stations, not just WBAI), which I fear will turn us into a mix of Clear-Channel (focus on celebrity over substance, enforcing a national conformity) and NPR (politically liberal rather than radical).
I favor moving away from strict majority rule towards a consensus-seeking super-majority system. Under consensus process, more respect is afforded to minority concerns. Under the present system, a simple majority can steamroll all decisions. This promotes an unhealthy disrespect between those who disagree on an issue but who could otherwise hold common cause.
In my other activist work, I am currently:
* Treasurer of the NY Power to the People Committee
* An active member of the Free Mumia Abu-Jamal Coalition/NYC organizing committee
* An active organizer for the NY Green Party
* A software engineer for a focused learning provider
Past activist accomplishments have included:
* Treasurer and Office Manager (2001-2002), Mystic River Greens (Somerville, MA)
* Fundraising Director (2001-2004), Green-Rainbow Party of Massachusetts
* Accreditation Committee Co-Chair (2004), Green Party of the United States
I am dedicated to uniting diverse groups to find common ground for progressive action. One example where I have succeeded in this was my work as co-chair of the merger committee helping the Green and Rainbow Coalition Parties of Massachusetts form a unified front. I helped develop a joint platform and bylaws, meet membership and leadership diversity goals, and fought for and attained full decision-making and leadership participation rights for youth, non-citizens, parolees and prisoners.
In 2002, as a community liaison with the students and activists who took over the Harvard Administration building for the Living Wage campaign, I helped make picket signs, set up a tent city, and assisted in organizing community support for the action.
Last year, former SNCC organizer Colia Clark and I founded the NY Power to the People Committee to assist in Cynthia McKinney’s historic Presidential campaign. It is now focused on local control issues: schools, transportation, housing, health, jobs, social and economic justice, and community media access (WBAI, MNN, etc.).
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