The enclosed statement was provided by Derek Rath, Betto Arcos and Yatrika Shah-Rais after their consecutive on-air resignations last week from KPFK.
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People are asking why I, Derek Rath, Beto Arcos and Yatrika have left “Global Village” at KPFK. This is our joint statement to the management which pretty much explains it. It was a very, very hard decision to make and uproots a significant part (both time-wise and in importance) of my life.
Dear Leslie and Alan,
We, Derek, Betto and Yatrika, are issuing this joint statement to give you notice that, as of today, September 30, 2015, we are effectively resigning from our respective Global Village programs.
This decision was not made lightly. As you well know, we are all three veteran programmers at KPFK. Betto founded the Global Village twenty years ago, Derek and Yatrika have programmed their respective shows for 18 years. During this time, we have weathered all the ups and downs of the station, the changing of the guards, the financial woes and the incessant fund drives, pulling our weight and working to deliver our best, while trying to remain optimistic and positive.
However, given the recent ever-growing poisonous factionalism at Pacifica and the station, the incessant fund drives, the non-fulfillment of premiums and non-responsiveness to member calls, the plummeting of listenership, the staff and salary cuts and the sorry morale of the station and staff, we can no longer in all good conscience continue to be on the air and raise money for the station. This joint decision has been the result of deep soul searching which has led to the conclusion that we have major ethical issues requesting money from listeners whose premiums do not get fulfilled and whose favorite programs get cut or are regularly interrupted or put on hiatus. Furthermore, we believe that Pacifica is no longer living up to its mission, and that power play and internal politics are wreaking havoc with the station and have undermined quality programming. Our first obligation is to the listeners who fund this station and unfortunately their interests are no longer being served.
It has been a privilege to serve the station and our southern California audience for so many years and we thank KPFK for giving us the opportunity to bring music rarely heard elsewhere to the airwaves. But given the current situation, time has come for us to move on.
Sincerely,
Derek Rath, Betto Arcos and Yatrika Shah-Rais
I have only just now read the resignation statement by 3 programmers at KPFK in Los Angeles. I understand the frustrations of these folks who resigned at KPFK but their statement is intentionally vague concerning current conditions at their station and thus it can, and most like will, be used in support of the internal coup aimed at imploding KPFK and then probably Pacifica after that. Their letter discusses dysfunction so generically as if it is just the same old disease we’ve seen for decades rather than a more specific planned attack from within that began only recently. That is exactly what those who appointed Radford to disrupt KPFK’s coherence want to hear–that the results of her actions are not due to her and them but are just that usual same old Pacifica factionalism and poor management. But, in fact, when you appoint an enforcer with no radio experience to carry out an operation and extirpation you get what you want, and that’s a whole lot more than same old, same old. The resignation letter does not specify in any way the role that Leslie Radford has assumed in attacking staff, station coherence and fundraising there. It gives her a free pass. Nor does it point out that she was placed at KPFK against the wishes of the entire staff, has little experience, was not vetted in any typical evaluation hiring process, but brought in as an enforcer representing the explicit intentions of those whose terms expired on the National Board 2 years ago, yet who somehow now have taken control of the National Board and the Pacifica Foundation Office, staff and executive. Even the most cursory evaluation of the decisions being rendered and implemented by that Board and the last two Acting EDs lead to the highly probable, if not certain, conclusion that dysfunction in every station except KPFA are being promoted intentionally to cause the early and imminent bankruptcy of the network and to enable the survival only of KPFA. If the many programmers, engineers and other paid and volunteer staff at KPFK (and at others of the 5 Pacifica stations as well) who already have some sense that this is a valid assessment, do not speak out in a way that arouses a broader public awareness and indignation over the specific misbehavior and violations of the responsibility and trust of listeners and staff, that they are themselves suffering, then individual or small group resignations are little more than self-serving (getting out of the line of fire). Surely it is natural for people to look for better positions, places to work or volunteer where they are better valued and treated. That’s happened many times before, and not only at Pacifica, and not only at non-profits. But no one should imagine that resigning without trying to blow a whistle is any form of protest or an effort to stop or oppose those who would willfully wreak havoc and seek Pacifica’s bankruptcy for their own purposes. Courage is unavoidably needed in principled politics. People like Snowden and Manning who take risks for the common good are needed, but not always forthcoming. Walking away without any meaningful explanation of the facts as you understand them or the beliefs that you hold dear is not nearly that. Though certainly not as bad as the behavior of cabalistas, walking away rather than protesting and exposing some truth in some way, has the impact of unintentionally supporting the logic of those who would confuse people with the claim that the Network is simply ungovernable and should declare bankruptcy and be broken up. I see no purpose to enabling that viewpoint, unless we give up the hope to develop a national media and political movement in resistance to corporate domination and disinformation.