A reply to the Nation Magazine

[Louis Proyect <lnp3@xxxxxxxxx>]

In an editorial on the Pacific crisis in the latest Nation magazine
(http://www.thenation.com), there is a call to restore "Democracy Now" to
the airwaves. There is also advice offered from "above the fray" for both
parties to step back from the abyss:

"At the rate things are going, there will soon be no Pacifica worth
fighting over (apart from its valuable real estate on the dial). It is time
for both sides to pull back from the brink. We continue to believe that
Democracy Now! and Goodman exemplify Pacifica's fifty-year tradition of
tough, radical reporting and that they represent an asset of immense worth.
We also believe that the only way out of the current downward spiral at
Pacifica is for dissidents as well as management to focus on positive steps
to move the enterprise forward. For the dissidents, it means an end to the
boycott, which is incompatible with a devotion to the spirit of community
radio, and a willingness to be open to change. For the Pacifica management
and board, set to hold a key meeting on September 12, it means a commitment
to respecting its employees and a restructuring of the organization to
grant more legal power to the staff and listeners, who have made Pacifica
what it is today."

This bit of Pecksniffian counsel is--if anything--more disgusting than the
statements made by the Pacifica board hijackers, for the truth is that the
Nation Magazine is tied in with this gang and has a lot riding on the
outcome. Specifically, the Pacifica outlet in Los Angeles is under the
control of a group of middle-class white liberals. A Nation Magazine editor
Marc Cooper, who runs a daily show "Radio Nation," is its most strident
voice. Comrades might remember him from his intervention here a couple of
months ago.

As soon as this gang took over KPFK, the first thing it did was fire all
the minority broadcasters. Things have reached such a state that Pacifica
Campaign director Juan Gonzalez has organized a conference in LA to address
the problem:

"Progressive activists from Spanish speaking communities across Southern
California will gather Saturday, August 25, to make plans to reclaim KPFK
90.7 FM Pacifica Radio. KPFK management has dismantled most of the
Spanish-language programming and almost all public affair's show hosts of
color have been fired or banned in the last five years. Critics say KPFK
management has been unwilling to tap into the resources and needs of the
more than three million Latinos in their listening area."

(http://www.pacificacampaign.org/kpfk818.asp)

The Nation Magazine of course is guilty of the same racist neglect. Of the
more than 50 editors, not a *single one* is Latino.

With the substantial material interest the Nation Magazine has in the
outcome of the struggle, it is no surprise that their proposal would leave
the Pacifica board hijackers in place:

"For the Pacifica management and board, set to hold a key meeting on
September 12, it means a commitment to respecting its employees and a
restructuring of the organization to grant more legal power to the staff
and listeners, who have made Pacifica what it is today."

Asking these thugs to respect its employees is like asking the Bush White
House to respect human rights and move toward economic justice. It fails to
account for the roots of the crisis, which is nothing less than the
unilateral assault on community radio organized by this very gang.

It began two years ago when the Pacifica board fired the popular station
manager of the Bay Area station in a move to "sanitize" the station of its
radical politics. This move resulted in the largest mass demonstration in
Berkeley in more than a decade.

It next manifested itself in the firing of WBAI's managers last Christmas
Eve and the subsequent banning or firing of at least 23 producers. The gang
around acting station manager Utrice Leid has conducted itself like a
military coup in a third world country, using the airwaves to make
incendiary racist attacks on the dissidents, many of whom are
African-American or other minorities.

Under mounting economic crisis, as the class lines are drawn sharper and
sharper over the next few years, it will be essential for the left to find
its own voices. Obviously we can not rely on the Nation Magazine, which has
shifted to the right over the past ten years or so, in sync with the
rightward drift of the Democratic Party. We will have to rely on media like
the Internet and on Pacifica Radio, whose fate will be determined through
uncompromising legal battles and mass action in the streets.


Louis Proyect
Marxism mailing list: http://www.marxmail.org