Last week SaveKPFA took the MORNING MIX off prime time, replacing it with a show piped in from Los Angeles hosted by Sonali Kolhatkar. During that week we held three rallies at the KPFA station, carrying signs and banners reading: “Bring back the Morning Mix,” “Diversity or Monoculture?” and “Don’t nix the Mix you Dix.” Continue reading Seven Days and Three Rallies: A Quick Summary of Last Week at KPFA→
I was raised by several generations of labor organizers, and in every labor dispute my side is easily chosen. I don’t cross picket lines, and I always stand with the workers against their bosses. The current conflict inside KPFA is the first time I’ve ever seen my community divided on an issue concerning labor solidarity. Continue reading KPFA’s Working Majority Gets Screwed by CWA Job Trust→
The Gray Panthers recently celebrated May Day with a musical account of the history of the struggle for the eight hour day, the people who were at the core of that struggle, the demonstration on May first, the Haymarket massacre a few days later and the repression that followed.
One thing that was so impressive about the organizing for the eight hour day, as portrayed by the Rockin’ Solidarity Labor Heritage Chorus, was the breadth of the community effort. This struggle crossed racial lines. It was supported by native-born and immigrants from many countries. Organizers from primarily male unions honored and respected female workers who were seamstresses and maids. This kind of comradeship across social boundaries has been all too uncommon in many of our struggles, union and otherwise. Continue reading A Call for Solidarity at KPFA→
By Peter Phillips and Mickey Huff
Co-hosts of the Project Censored show on the Morning Mix at KPFA Berkeley
Late in the evening on Wednesday May 21 the volunteer hosts for the Morning Mix show (8:00-9:00 AM weekdays) were sent an e-mail stating that the program was being permanently replaced by a daily show from KPFK in LA. This was a total surprise to Mix producers as just the previous Friday the Interim General Manager of KPFA/KPFK told us in his office that program changes would be discussed and reviewed by the new KPFA manager to be hired in June and nothing would happen until a new manager was in place.
I appreciate and applaud your programs and support your efforts, having been a regular listener for the 7 am on KPFA as well as on-line via KPFK archives. Regarding the placement by fiat of Uprising 5 days/week 8-9 am, in lieu of the Morning Mix, I appeal for you to stand up, decline and refuse to allow your program to be used to supplant the Five great local Morning mix programs at KPFA. Continue reading An Open Letter to Sonali Kolhatkar from Peter Whittlesey – Mill Valley, CA→
In the 9th week of our occupation of the Pacifica HQ, on May 12th, the judge ruled against us, issuing a temporary restraining order against Executive Director Summer Reese’s continued presence at the national office. We’d already decided that in case of such an event, we’d evacuate, withdraw from the building. So about a dozen of us went to the Pacifica HQ and spent the rest of the afternoon and evening packing up, eating pizza, and discussing details of how we were going to move on. Continue reading Our Last Day at the Pacifica HQ→
For several years Attorney Dan Siegel has been championing the rights of victims of police violence in Oakland, both before and during the Occupy movement. Nobody can deny that Siegel has done good work. Nevertheless, his record at KPFA and other Pacifica stations including WBAI has been consistently bad and seems difficult to write off as “bad judgment.” Looking back at things Siegel did while General Counsel and interim Executive Director for the Pacifica Foundation, I strongly suspect that Siegel deliberately intended to harm the foundation. Continue reading Dan Siegel’s Not-So-Great Decade at Pacifica→
By Peter Phillips and Mickey Huff
Co-hosts of the Project Censored show on the Morning Mix at KPFA Berkeley
Late in the evening on Wednesday May 21 the volunteer hosts for the Morning Mix show (8:00-9:00 AM weekdays) were sent an e-mail stating that the program was being permanently replaced by a daily show from KPFK in LA. This was a total surprise to Mix producers as just the previous Friday the Interim General Manager of KPFA/KPFK told us in his office that program changes would be discussed and reviewed by the new KPFA manager to be hired in June and nothing would happen until a new manager was in place.