So much is going on! It's very exciting to be here.
No sooner had we gotten off the plane when we heard that there had been a
fire at KPFT this morning, which is assumed to be arson because it began in
two places. The spin on this in the local news here is that these
California radicals were arriving, fresh from the "shots" which were fired
at KPFA in April, and now here we are and another station is experiencing
violence. It's those darned California radicals. Garland Ganter made a
statement on the 6:00 news here that the KPFT building which was set on fire
was a garage apartment, used to store equipment. He mentioned the "dozens
of protesters from California where shots were fired..." Reportedly, the
Doubletree Hotel, where the Board is meeting, is "beefing up" its security
for the remainder of the weekend to handle the perceived threat. Andrea
Buffa and Van Jones immediately started to counter the perception that
violence follows us around by stating that this attack is an attack on free
speech radio, and we condemn it. We're here to save Pacifica, not to
destroy it. There will be a press conference tomorrow at 11:00am at which
this subject will be thoroughly discussed.
This afternoon we had a preliminary meeting, introduced ourselves to each
other, and stated why we were here and what we hope to accomplish. Forming
a network around the country was a very popular statement. Democratization,
which several of us take to mean listener elections, were mentioned
frequently as well. Folks are still arriving; some won't get here until
tomorrow. Here's a partial list of names:
Peter Frank
Dan Siegle
Van Jones
Weyland Southon
Barbara Lubin
Barbara Russell
Lisa Rothman
Andrea Buffa
Father Bill
Tomas Moran
Liam Kirsher from Marin P & J Center
Sheila Harris, Shannon Smith, Rick Potthoff, Lee Loe (Houston Peace Press),
and Duane Bradley, former KPFT program director, all from Houston area
Arturo Griffiths and Acie Byrd from Washington DC
Bascam Guffin from New York, and someone else arriving tomorrow.
and numerous KPFA other staff.
We have formed into 4 committees for the weekend: Media, Lobbying, Action,
and Long-range Planning. Jeff and I have joined the planning committee,
along with Peter Frank, Dan Siegle, Arturo Griffiths, Duane Bradley, and
David Adelson from KPFK, who just arrived about 10 minutes ago. We will
have a major long-range strategy meeting with the entire delegation Saturday
afternoon. Mella, I'm trying to use your Steering-Committee-meeting format
as the format for this meeting.
Here's what's on tap tomorrow:
8:30 -- more committee meetings for us
11:00am -- press conference
noon -- demonstration at the Doubletree
2-4:30PM -- big strategy meeting
7:00pm -- teach in on KPFT and Pacifica organized by the Houston Committee
for People's Radio.
My big project here so far is to compile an email list of all participants for contacts after this is all over. Everyone wants to join forces to increase strength and power. I've got a very good list started.
More bulletins as events warrant, so watch this space!
Love to all!
Alice and Jeff Chan