WBAI Justice and Unity Campaign Platform

Justice & Unity Platform

Justice & Unity:

* Supports activist programming, especially by and for communities of color and youth.
* Believes the board should be a model for anti-racism with firm opposition to racist speech and conduct.
* Embraces a strong affirmative-action program and anti-racist training.
* Advocates sufficient funding levels to maintain optimal station operations.
* Calls for full management disclosure of station finances to inform LSB budget decisions.
* Supports participation of paid & unpaid staff and their unions in station hiring and all decisions that affect them.

Note: The LSB approves WBAI's budget; recommends/reviews General Manager & Program Director; does community needs assessment; and elects reps to Pacifica National Board that governs the network.
 

VOTE for the WBAI

JUSTICE & UNITY SLATE 

OUR VISION:

* Make WBAI an organizing hub for the tri-state area. NY, NJ, CT, L.I., Westchester & Rockland peace and justice groups must build a powerful mass movement.

* Harness WBAI programming, the Internet and video to expand WBAI's global reach, with partners like the Independent Media Centers, and raise funds for a new WBAI space including a hi-tech multimedia community center.

* Include in programming and governance diverse peoples of color; Indigenous peoples; undocumented, immigrant, and rank-and-file workers; the unemployed; the poor; women; lesbians/gay men/bisexuals/transgendered people; people in prison; people with disabilities; youth and elders. These communities make up the vast majority of the listening area. To accomplish these goals, we stand for the following policies:

1. AFFIRMATIVE ACTION at every level of Pacifica through bylaws amendments and policies * Pacifica-wide training to overcome racism, sexism, homophobia and anti-disability discrimination * redress gender imbalance in programming and staffing* radio training courses and on-air placement prioritizing people from disenfranchised groups, especially youth * Full access for people with disabilities to all station events and meetings

2. PROGRAMMING * bring in listeners from diverse communities
* Listener surveys to evaluate shows & assess community needs * identify gaps in program diversity with regard to populations, issues and creative expression

3. DEMOCRACY, TRANSPARENCY & LOCAL DECISION-MAKING. * Full disclosure of station and network budgets and policies * Fair treatment of paid and unpaid staff * Network-wide recognition of unions * Local decision-making by stations that fulfill the Pacifica mission * No top-down processes, unjustified closed meetings, and small-group decision-making by Pacifica National Board * Full public participation in local and national board meetings. * Simplified democratic process for amending the bylaws * A national mechansim to review diversity, democracy and accountability.

4. FUNDRAISING. * Get broad community input to work with management and staff on innovative strategies for on- and off-air funding * No corporate underwriting * No on-air commercial promotion

(212) 591-2111 * www.justiceunity.org * email: info@justiceunity.org
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PLATFORM OF THE
WBAI JUSTICE AND UNITY CAMPAIGN

Excerpts from the Pacifica Mission Statement, Articles of Incorporation, 1946:
Purposes of the Pacifica Foundation include:

* to encourage and provide outlets for the creative skills and energies of the community
* to engage in any activity that shall contribute to a lasting understanding between nations and between the individuals of all nations, races, creeds and colors
* to promote the study of political and economic problems and of the causes of religious, philosophical and racial antagonisms
* to obtain access to sources of news not commonly brought together in the same medium.

We of the WBAI Justice and Unity Campaign are listeners and staff who believe that the urgent mission of WBAI and Pacifica must be to broadcast the facts, ideas, art, culture and dialogue that will inspire people to work for world peace and an end to worker exploitation, racism, sexism, homophobia, anti-disability discrimination, religious bigotry, age-ism, and other injustices.

We are organizers, workers, professionals, and students from the many constituencies reflected in the rich tapestry of the WBAI community. We work daily on a wide range of social justice issues and movements, both local and global. Many of us fought successfully, along with thousands of others, to take WBAI and Pacifica back from the corporatist forces that seized our precious media institution in the late 90’s. Now, we struggle to correct flaws resulting from misuse and manipulation of the new bylaws instituted in 2003.

We envision WBAI as a progressive educational and organizing hub for the entire tri-state area, including all five boroughs of New York City, New Jersey, Long Island, Westchester, Rockland and Connecticut. Particularly at this time of aggressive U.S. wars and assaults on civil liberties, there is an urgent need for peace and justice groups to build a powerful mass movement. We believe that the Local Station Board should influence and support the daily work of WBAI to fully reflect these issues in its programming. We also want to see the harnessing of computer technologies, the Internet and video to expand WBAI's global reach and eventually transform the station into an international media center in partnership with other progressive outlets such as Independent Media Centers.

The New York City area is bursting with talented thinkers, writers, journalists, laborers, teachers, organizers, musicians, poets, filmmakers, playwrights, actors, scientists, and healers from diverse communities who want to create a more just and peaceful society. We especially want to expand the access WBAI provides (including by producing, recording, and reporting) to people from historically and newly oppressed and disenfranchised communities–including, for example, diverse peoples of color, Indigenous peoples, undocumented workers and other immigrants, rank-and-file workers, the unemployed, the poor, women, lesbians/gay men/bisexuals/transgendered people, people in prison, people with disabilities, youth and older people. One way to grow our treasury is to build our listenership and membership by offering quality programming produced by and serving a large range of communities, neighborhoods and regions.

We believe that genuine participatory democracy at WBAI and Pacifica requires direct involvement in decision-making by members of these communities, which constitute the vast majority of the people in the tri-state listening area.
 

To accomplish these goals, we stand for the following policies:

1. Affirmative Action and Outreach. Effective affirmative action programs must be established at every level of Pacifica through bylaws amendments and policies covering board and committee compositions, staffing, training and programming, to provide for the broad inclusion of disenfranchised groups reflecting the signal area's demographics. We support Pacifica-wide training on overcoming racism, sexism, homophobia and anti-disability discrimination. One of several pressing priorities is redressing the gender imbalance in programming and staffing. The Local Station Board should help establish a comprehensive outreach strategy that complements WBAI's efforts to build bridges and partnerships with the listening area's many progressive institutions and movements. We advocate comprehensive radio training courses and on-air placement of graduates to bring in new energies and talents, prioritizing people from disenfranchised groups, especially youth. We support requiring full access for people with disabilities to all station events and meetings.

2. Programming. We support the development, in consultation with the WBAI staff, of changes in the programming decision-making structure that will increase involvement of listeners from diverse communities. We will carry out a thorough listener survey and broad community outreach to gather feedback and evaluations of WBAI's existing programming and to assess unmet needs. Based on analysis of this data, we will encourage the station to remedy gaps in programming for particular populations, issues and cultural expressions.

3. Democracy, Transparency and Local Decision-making. Democracy and transparency must be practiced at every level of the Pacifica Foundation. We support full disclosure of information on station and network budgets and policies. In addition, we call for fair treatment of paid and unpaid staff, network-wide recognition of unions, and respect for collective bargaining agreements. We believe that the national office has a legitimate role to provide administrative and fundraising support and to help develop national programming based on local needs and direction. But we oppose interference by that office in the local distinctiveness and decision-making of each Pacifica station that is fulfilling the network's mission. And we will fight against top-down processes, unjustified closed meetings, and small-group decision-making by the Pacifica National Board, which are unacceptable violations of the by-laws. We will insist on the right to active public participation in local and national board meetings. We support a simplified democratic process for amending the bylaws. We call for a national Pacifica mechanism to especially re-examine issues of diversity, democracy and accountability.

4. Fundraising. We believe that a primary part of the Local Station Board's mission is to assist WBAI in the hard work of fundraising — particularly during financial crises. We will seek broad community input to work with station management and staff on innovative strategies for both on-air and off-air funding. We will protect Pacifica's longstanding tradition of rejecting corporate underwriting and keeping our airwaves free of commercial promotion.

We are committed to an ongoing network-wide dialogue by the entire Pacifica community aimed at forging a common vision and a long-term plan of action on these and other issues.

JOIN THE WBAI JUSTICE & UNITY CAMPAIGN

For more information or to get involved, call (212) 591-2111 or email info@justiceunity.org
 

To join our email list for campaign updates (announcements only, no discussion, very low traffic), email info@justiceunity.org.
Website: www.justiceunity.org