RadioPoetics.org

Hello all-

There is a new blogspot where you can read posts about what is happening at KPFA.
It was set up by a group of staff and listeners concerned about how the station is currently functioning.

Chandra

Check it out: http://mediajusticekpfa.blogspot.com/

Video from hardknock radio filming of Sawaya, apparently caught red handed, trying to block the filming of the police terror against Nadra Foster inside KPFA.

Arrest Of KPFA Programmer Nadra Foster by KPFA/Pacifica Management
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=44gp0BXCNpw

Coalition for a democratic Pacifica (CdP)
Statement on recent events at KPFA re. Nadra Foster & The Question of Banning

A proposed new policy has been announced concerning KPFA’s attitude toward its membership, its listeners and its staff. The policy doesn’t concern itself with declining listenership, declining membership or lack of outreach to the Northern California community. Rather it addresses what it defines as “workplace safety”. What is disturbing to many of us is that the policy essentially bans all listeners except those that management deems “authorized”.

Attached and below is the latest version of KPFA staff's statement of no confidence now containing 69 staff signatures.
Chandra

September 24, 2008

To: Pacifica National Board, Local Station Boards, All management and staff, Affiliate stations, collaborators, and stakeholders in Pacifica

Fr: Nicole Sawaya, executive director/CEO

On August 3rd I gave notice to the Pacifica National Board that I would be leaving. September 30th (end of our fiscal year) will be my last day. Concurrently, I had written myself out of the FY09 budget, as the Foundation is hard-pressed to support two well-paid executives. You lead from the top.

Hello all-

I'm planning to table for KPFA at the Progressive Festival, this Sunday in Petaluma. I see it as a great opportunity to talk about what is happening at KPFA, to sign people up to vote in the next KPFA election, and to have fun.

Wanna join me? I really need help. So far there are only 4 of us.

Chandra

The below is the first in a series of fundraisers being planned to help Nadra Foster pay for her attorney and her medical expenses.
Chandra

On Sunday, September 28th at 4pm, there will be a "Ujima" fundraiser for Nadra Foster. This will primarily be a cultural event where artists will perform and we will get donations to help Nadra pay off her legal and medical bills. Rappers East Bay Politix will perform, Traci Bartlow will be dancing, as well as Ray Ryda will be rapping. This event was organized to take advantage of the thousands of activists who will be converging on Oakland for CR10. This event will be hosted by the Block Report's Minister of Information JR, and members of the 1st Voice Apprenticeship Program.

Dear Berkeley Daily Planet Editor:

In response to the September 18, 2008 letter titled "Healing KPFA" signed by so-called "KPFA Staff." at
http://www.berkeleydailyplanet.com/issue/2008-09-18/article/31145?headli...).

First of all, we must confess we were a bit puzzled that the authors self-identified as "KPFA Staff," when nearly half the six signatories are actually KPFA Local Station Board members affiliated with the "Concerned Listeners" block, rather than staff members. Furthermore, of the 6 actual staff signers 5 are paid department heads, and not rank and file or unpaid employees. To say the least, a rather skewed sampling of "KPFA staff."

Bay View publisher Willie Ratcliff has just submitted this commentary to the Berkeley Daily Planet, www.berkeleydailyplanet.com .

Nadra Foster and the mission of KPFA

"My passion for KPFA has led me in the past to donate more than I could afford, but not during this fund drive – not until current management is democratically replaced. The current practice of ignoring, vilifying and brutalizing young Black programmers is intolerable.

Until new management reverses that practice and opens the station to all who will contribute to its mission, I ask those currently in charge to spare us the hypocrisy of using such great revolutionary Black heroes as Paul Robeson and the Black Panthers to raise money. Remember, the purpose of the Black Panther Party was to defend the Black community against police terrorism. "

Nine years have passed since Pacifica radio station KPFA, the seminal community radio outlet founded by pacifist Lew Hill in 1949, last had the police inside its doors to arrest its workers, but on August 20, 2008, the Berkeley police were again summoned to 1929 Martin Luther King Jr Way, and asked to eject programmer Nadra Foster, who had been allegedly banned for a disagreement involving usage of a copier.

Fifty six of the station's workers, paid and unpaid alike, have joined together to condemn what they describe as a growing atmosphere of intimidation, including increased security measures, restrictions on airing discussion of internal issues, the return of banning individuals from the premises, and the use of police force to address non-violent policy issues. Several prominent members of the progressive community the station serves have decried the use of force, including authors Michael Parenti and Norman Solomon, devorah major, former SF poet laureate, Jack Heyman of the ILWU, Mills College professor Julia Sudbury and advocacy groups Critical Resistance, Legal Services for Prisoners with Children and Copwatch.
Project Censored Executive Director Peter Phillips commented "KPFA should only use outside police in the station when a serious life-threatening circumstance is evident or major crime is in progress. A progressive self-managed system of mutual respect and communication must take priority over outside force".