How would Planet Fred be run? --- In NewPacifica@yahoogroups.com, Fred Nguyen <siddharta5@y...> wrote: > Sisters and Brothers, > > My mom once told me not to get hung up on words and promises but to look at what the result of a system is. > In a country which invented propaganda - during WW1 - the US governement was able to develop a scientific method to quickly change public opinion from very opposed to strongly in favor of war - the idea that a word "democracy" is the savior of people's freedom seems to have captured a wide consensus. > Perhaps we should examine more soberly a nation which is ready to believe in "democracy" as a "liberating" ideology with just about the same eager consensus that Saddam Hussein was targeting them with weapons of mass destruction and that he was allied with those who hit the WTC. > My mom also told me that intelligent people are often very prone to act like fools and believe what they want to believe. > At a time when yet another movie star, make my day-Schwarzenegger, a man with racist, sexist, homophobic and nazi family background, is poised to be elected Governor of California, to tout democracy as a panacea for the liberation and advancement of peoples, seems very contradictory and not based in any basic level of critical thinking. > So what is it with "democracy" that makes people on the liberal left and the right teary eyed and ready to slay evil? > If you browsed the internet for an answer to the ideology of democracy, you would find that just like we found out that "free trade" was the nice facade of a very destructive economic system, "democracy" is now used as a propaganda tools for world domination. > It is for you, Pacificans, to go beyond the official starry- spangled-eyed ideological manipulations of the hegemonist ruling class and look at actual facts and debunk the propaganda. Words and images are our worst enemies, when we live in a segregated and un- just world dominated by media and governmental spin. The only democracy that is worth anything is one that results in the welfare of peoples. It is inclusive, participatory and grounded in social, racial and economic justice. It is not HOW rulers become rulers. It is what they do when they rule. With this definition, Cuba is a democracy and the US is not. > Following are a few links on the question of practical democracy: > > http://web.inter.nl.net/users/Paul.Treanor/democracy.html > > http://www.theatlantic.com/issues/97dec/democ.htm > > http://205.180.85.40/w/pc.cgi?mid=19310&sid=5857 > > http://www.libertocracy.com/Webessays/tyrannyodemocracy.htm > > http://directory.google.com/Top/Society/Philosophy/Philosophers/Plato/ Works/The_Republic/ > > http://directory.google.com/Top/Society/Politics/Democracy/ > > http://dmoz.org/Society/Politics/Democracy/Direct_Democracy/ > Fred Nguyen > WBAI Friends, NJ > PS. The message below was posted on a list, which is governed by 3 white males, who believe that they are "progressive" enough to decide what is correct democratic debate and what is not. See the moderator's warning at the end. 50% of my posts never get approved, despite the fact that I was on the "steering committee" of the NJ Concerned Friends, the NJ Concerned Friends representative to the Coordinating Council and the outlying areas representative to the WBAI general manager search committee. > They only post what they "feel" is democratic. There are no criteria. So when you are being assured that Pacifica listeners are progressive and democratic, as Ms. Spooner assures us, beware. The bylaws were passed by a judge over the decisions of the iPNB and the Local Advisory Boards. If that does not start you thinking, then I don't know what will. > > Steve Gotzler <Steve@G...> wrote: > Here is the article with the special characters fixed to be more readable... > > _________________________________________ > Radio that's representative > Listeners control vote for Pacifica boards > > Originally published in Current, Sept. 22, 2003 > By Mike Janssen > > Pacifica Radio is emerging from bitter years of factional struggle with new > bylaws that may make it the world's most democratic media organization. > > The bylaws, which escaped legal challenge and won approval by a California > judge Sept. 15, entrust listeners, volunteers and staff members to elect > boards at Pacifica's five stations. Those boards will oversee station > matters such as spending, programming and hiring top managers, as well as > appointing a national board of directors to run the network. > > About 90,000 of Pacifica's listeners and 700 of its volunteers and staffers > are eligible to vote in the first election under the bylaws, estimates Carol > Spooner, secretary of the network's interim national board. Elections are > scheduled to end by Jan. 30. > > The bylaws put in writing a commitment to democracy that Pacifica has > professed for years but never fully backed up in its governance, says > Matthew Lasar, who wrote a history of Pacifica. Programmers always said the > radio stations belonged to listeners, "but it never really was their radio > station," Lasar says. "And the listeners found that out with a vengeance > during the crisis of 1999." > > That was when Pacifica's previous board-intent on taking control of the > stations and building their audience-made itself self-appointing, ending the > longtime practice of letting station boards appoint most of the national > board. The move divided board members and ignited widespread protests among > Pacifica's fiercely protective and politically active listeners. Conflict > escalated and paralyzed the network until two years ago, when the previous > board majority, facing drawn-out legal battles, yielded control to their > challengers. > > Another shift of power now looms, but this time the board will surrender the > reins willingly. > > "It's a statement that we believe the supporters of Pacifica are progressive > people who can be trusted more than anything else to preserve the values of > Pacifica," Spooner says. > > Spooner and Lasar both say the bylaws make Pacifica more democratic than any > media organization they know of. > > Strong local boards > > The bylaws create 24-member local station boards at each of Pacifica's five > stations in Houston, New York, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., and Berkeley, > Calif. Anyone who has donated $25 to Pacifica or volunteered three hours at > a station within the past year can vote in elections for 18 of the 24 seats. > Station staffs elect the remaining six. > > Elections will use single transferable voting, a method which requires a > candidate for one of the 18 listener-elected seats to win approval from only > 1/18th of the electorate. Additional votes are reassigned to voters' > second-choice candidates, then third-choice, until all seats are filled. > > KPFA, Pacifica's Berkeley station, uses single transferable voting to elect > its local board. Spooner and others say it guarantees diverse leadership by > allowing a wide range of voters' interests to be represented. > > Each of the resulting station boards will elect four members to Pacifica's > national board. Pacifica's 53 affiliate stations will appoint two members. > > Supporters of the bylaws hope they will stabilize Pacifica after years of > infighting. Pacifica's previous generation of leaders, who wanted to make > the stations sound more professional and attract larger audiences, could > never have earned enough support from listeners to win elections under the > new bylaws, Spooner says. > > The document adds checks of power, allowing listeners to remove local board > members, local boards to prompt the ouster of a g.m., and members of > national and local boards to unseat each other. > > Struggles over diversity > > Station boards and Pacifica's interim national board have been working on > bylaws since early last year. A December 2001 legal settlement between > factions on the network's former board installed the temporary board > mandated to write new bylaws. > > But fighting among board members at national and local levels- common within > the highly politicized Pacifica community-prolonged the process. This time, > they backed plans that proposed different ways of making sure that > "historically underrepresented groups," such as ethnic minorities, would > have seats on local and national boards. > > One set of bylaws, "Draft A," set representation goals based on demographics > and provided for extended elections and the addition of extra board seats if > those goals were not met. > > "It would be legally reprehensible not to seek to enshrine a voice and > representation for those who have been discriminated against and > disenfranchised," says Mimi Rosenberg, a member of the local board at WBAI > in New York, which favored Draft A. > > But Draft A's opponents feared that the bylaws would jeopardize Pacifica's > funding and subject it to lawsuits, a concern some supporters dismissed. > > "Draft B," which became the new bylaws, equips boards with committees to > monitor diversity in elections, staffing and programming. Committees can > suggest steps to increase diversity but lack power to put them into effect. > The plan passed at the national board and two station boards this summer, > but lacked the necessary nod from a third station board to win final > approval-stranding the new bylaws on the threshold of completion. > > Boards tried negotiating with a mediator's help last month but made little > progress. Finally, Aug. 23, the board at Los Angeles station KPFK voted > again, approving Draft B of the bylaws by one vote. > > Draft A's supporters tried unsuccessfully to invalidate the bylaws, claiming > the Los Angeles revote came after a deadline set by the judge overseeing the > case. > > "It was a very bitter struggle to get these bylaws," Lasar says. "Like a lot > of people, I'm just relieved that something actually got into cement." > > The election schedule calls for nominations by Nov. 15 and election of local > boards by Jan. 7. The new local boards will elect national board members > three days later. Members of Pacifica's interim board are eligible for > offices. > > The network has hired Terry Bouricius as part-time elections supervisor. He > is a senior policy analyst for the Center for Voting and Democracy in > Washington, D.C. > > > > Posted Sept. 26, 2003 > Current: the newspaper about public TV and radio in the United States > Current Publishing Committee, Washington, D.C. > E-mail to webmaster > (202) 463-7055 > > > > Yahoo! Groups SponsorADVERTISEMENT > > This is a "moderated" list. All posts are subject to review by the moderators of the list (currently Steve Gotzler, Bob Newton and Gary Novosielski). To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: > WBAIFriendsNJ-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com > > > > > > > --------------------------------- > Do you Yahoo!? > The New Yahoo! 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