KPFA,
one of this nation's last remaining free speech radio
stations, has been under attack since February 1999.
After being shut down for almost a month by its own
Board of Directors at the Pacifica Foundation, KPFA is
back on the air. But, Pacifica still retains the
ability to control, even destroy, the station. The
future of KPFA is far from certain. When looking for
answers, let's not reinvent the wheel. Instead, let us
learn from our ancestors who worshipped the Goddess
and lived for millennia without hierarchy and
violence.
KPFA
was founded fifty years ago by pacifists who wished to
promote diverse cultural expression and to increase
understanding between nations and peoples. According
to Joan Marler, a volunteer programmer for 15 years at
KPFA, it was created to be a "free speech station, not
dominated by censorship or interests that would limit
the free flow of ideas." To protect this original
vision, KPFA has maintained an independent funding
base. It does not accept government or corporate money
and is funded by listener contributions.
The
founders wanted to create a true democratic structure,
asserts Marler, and KPFA is the "mother station of the
world in this experiment with free speech and
democracy." KPFA has been "crucial in circulating the
most innovative ideas and in creating an informed
population. It has been responsive to the local
community. It has cut through the lies and effects of
censorship so endemic to other media. Without free
media you cannot have democracy."
What
happened? How did KPFA come to be shut down? There
have been other attempts to shut down the station -
during the McCarthy era for example. But the greatest
threat posed so far has been the most recent attempt
by Pacifica, an entity that, according to Marler, was
"started as a handmaiden to serve KPFA and other
affiliates and now is sucking up their resources like
a cancer."
In
a nutshell, the crisis began in February 1999, when
Pacifica changed its internal structure, eliminating
representation from the local stations. Shortly after,
Pacifica fired KPFA's popular general manager, Nicole
Sawaya. A gag rule was instated, forbidding
programmers to discuss internal affairs on the air.
Veteran staffers Larry Bensky and Robbie Osman were
fired for violating this order. Another producer,
Dennis Bernstein, was yanked from the studio,
mid-broadcast. A lock-out began. Pacifica hired armed
guards to keep staffers out; peaceful protesters were
arrested. The station was shut down for 21 days.
Information was leaked that Mary Frances Berry,
chairwoman of the board, had seriously considered
selling KPFA, located in the commercial airwaves, for
millions of dollars.
Thousands
of protesters took to the streets. Widespread and
intensive organizing, civil disobedience, fundraising,
public outcry, even the intervention of certain
politicians sent the message to Pacifica, that KPFA
was a vital and loved resource which would not be
easily relinquished. KPFA returned to the air, as did
Bensky, Osman and Bernstein. The gag order was
eliminated.
Is
there cause for celebration, now that KPFA is back and
running? Not according to Mary Moore, long-time
activist and founder of the Sonoma County Free Press.
Moore, who has appeared on various KPFA shows
throughout the years and is well-acquainted with
several of the programmers, told me that the return to
the air of KPFA "creates the dangerous perception that
all is resolved when it is not." She told me that
problems didn't suddenly arise out of a vacuum this
February. At least as far back as 1992, there was
"tension between the paid and unpaid staff" with the
latter willing to take more risks against management.
In 1995, this tension came to a head when Pacifica
"purged" many of the people who had been more
outspoken.
Coinciding
with the firings was a mandate from Pacifica to
diversify the station. But, diversify how? In a letter
to Berry written in May 1999 and signed by 13 African
American programmers, the writers affirmed that "KPFA
staff remains one of the most diverse in public
radio." "KPFA has maintained its commitment to
diversity," stated Robin Birdfeather, a KPFA volunteer
with roots in the Feminist Radio Network of the early
1970's. Since 1985, through the station's
Apprenticeship Program, women and people of color have
been taught radio production and engineering in an
effort to remedy past discrimination and
under-representation in media.
Did
Pacifica want a more diverse listener base? "Yes,"
Moore agreed, "the listeners are mostly white and
middle class; when you rely on listener donations, you
are less likely to have working class supporters. But,
she stated that Pacifica is not interested in
diversity. "They played the race card as an excuse to
keep control. And they did it in a horrible,
mean-spirited way. The return of KPFA is not a
victory. Pacifica allowed the station back for six
months because of the public outcry, but there is no
local advisory board and KPFA has no control. The
takeover can happen again."
Birdfeather,
who is currently involved with media affinity groups
which watch the media portrayal of KPFA, concurs that
the situation is not resolved. "Pacifica is ruthless,
evil, power-mongering. They will do anything they
want." Marler agrees that the station is still in
crisis and that Berry is "spin-doctoring, telling
lies, manipulating, to further undermine KPFA.
Pacifica is from a corporate governmental culture, not
from our culture. They have no idea what the value of
listener sponsored radio is for people and for our
times. They don't know and they don't care. The people
who were supposed to safeguard free speech want to
control and close it off; they refer to KPFA as a
'unit.'" She sees the return as a limited victory. To
her, the loss of KPFA represents the "loss of the
extent to which we have free speech and democracy. But
even in its present state, there is depth, richness,
preciousness."
It
was while working as a KPFA programmer that Marler met
and began to work with foremost archeologist Marija
Gimbutas, renowned for her discovery of the existence
of pre-patriarchal, Goddess-worshipping peoples. From
the seventh to the third millennium B.C.E. and through
1450 B.C.E. in Crete, the people inhabiting what she
refers to as "Old Europe" were peaceful,
matrifocal,matrilineal and egalitarian. In her book,
Civilization of The Goddess, Gimbutas states that they
had "a rich and sophisticated artistic expression and
a complex symbolic system formulated around the
worship of the Goddess... as well as a balance of
powers between the sexes. " These Goddess-oriented
civilizations began to decline when they were invaded
by alien peoples, the Indo-Europeans, who were
warlike, hierarchical and patriarchal.
Gimbutas
believed that our awareness of this prehistory might
"affect our vision of the past as well as our sense of
potential for the present and future. We must refocus
our collective memory. The necessity for this has
never been greater as we discover that the path of
'progress' is extinguishing the very conditions for
life on earth."
During
my conversation with Marler, I saw certain parallels
between the KPFA crisis and the fate of
Goddess-worshipping peoples. KPFA (like the Old
Europeans) began with the clear intention of being
cooperative and nonhierarchical. Women have played an
important range of roles at KPFA.
Birdfeather
believes that the women have a "deep sense of
community and communication with each other."
According to Marler, there has been an attempt to have
a balance between female and male contributions at
least since the Second Wave of feminism. She mentioned
that KPFA was the only place where she could have
openly explored the discoveries of
Gimbutas.
In
contrast, the Pacifica Foundation is clearly operating
in a hierarchical, topdown, patriarchal, warlike mode,
motivated by greed and the desire to control.
Interestingly enough, no one I spoke to seems to know
what went wrong. How did this entity come to have the
power to destroy KPFA? In a similar vein, no one
really understands why exactly there were warlike
invaders at a time when people practiced peaceful
worship of the Goddess. We presume that the peaceful
people fell easily because, unaware of war, they had
no weapons and experience with defending themselves.
But what caused the Indo-Europeans to become
patriarchal and warlike? We can only guess.
Nevertheless,
there is much we can learn from our ancestors.
Gimbutas's work is so threatening that many people
want to bury it. Yet many of us believe that it was
our ignorance of the Goddess and those who had a good
quality of life worshipping her, that has led us to
our current, destructive era.
Knowledge
of the Goddess has been suppressed for millennia. It
is crucial that we examine these patterns of dismissal
and cover-up so we can begin to transform ourselves
and our world. Beginning with the crisis at
KPFA.
What
lessons have been learned? Marler stressed the
continued need for solidarity. "All of the programmers
remained in solidarity, refused to be censored and
didn't break to the powers that be." The latest crisis
has resulted in a tremendous awakening of activism.
Birdfeather stated that veterans of the Free Speech
Movement and an explosion of other activists have all
come out of the woodwork. People have been organizing
within the local community and with the 65 other
affiliates of Pacifica. Media affinity groups report
on KPFA and work toward freeing all of the U.S.
media.
Perhaps
the most important lesson is awareness and prevention.
When someone acts in an objectionable manner, respond
quickly. Moore's newspaper has critiqued Pacifica
since 1992. She wonders why the revolt is happening so
late. I echo this sentiment. Unlike the Old Europeans,
the creators of KPFA and their successors were not
strangers to a world of greed and evil. It would have
been far simpler to control Pacifica if KPFA had
reacted immediately to any signs of danger and
disrespect. Like the 1995 firings of outspoken staff.
Instead, signs were ignored and Pacifica got
stronger.
Fortunately,
people are awakened now. KPFA is alive and kicking
because of the thousands who took to the streets. I
hope it is not too late.