Defeat Part Two of the Coup
The people behind the October shutdown of WBAI have a new strategy.
A minority rogue faction on the Pacifica National Board burst into the WBAI offices and shut down our station in defiance of the Pacifica bylaws and without any board authorization. We defeated that coup, which was timed to inflict the maximum damage to our station.
But the rogue faction hasn’t rested. Now they seek to change the Pacifica bylaws to make it easier for them to take control, eliminate listener democracy and ultimately sell WBAI.
On the same day they illegally shut down WBAI in October, they filed a lawsuit in California to force a listener election that, if it passes, would drastically change the Pacifica bylaws. Because a judge sided with their suit, ballots will be sent to members of all five Pacifica stations, including WBAI, asking if the bylaws should be changed. VOTE NO to save democracy at our station and network.
WBAI listeners mobilized as “WBAI Fightback” when we were shut down and we got our station back. Now we have to defeat the second part of the coup, the attempt to revise the bylaws. People across the network are mobilizing as well — all five local station boards have voted against the bylaw revisions. The WBAI Local Station Board voted unanimously against the changes.
Why are these bylaws proposed? To make it easier for the rogue minority faction to sell WBAI’s license, worth tens of millions of dollars.
If these bylaw changes are approved, all local station boards would be eliminated, ending local listener democracy. The current National Board would be replaced by an 11-person board in which a pre-selected group would have a guaranteed majority with no democratic checks on their decisions. Each Pacifica station would elect one member of the national board; collectively the elected five would be a minority. The rogue minority faction has already pre-selected the people who would fill the other six seats–who would be the majority and would be able to further change the bylaws as they see fit.
If the proposed bylaw changes are approved, the cost of becoming a listener sponsor would be doubled and the door would be opened to political censorship.
The rogue minority faction has for years agitated to sell WBAI and use the proceeds to benefit the California Pacifica stations. They have long used WBAI as a scapegoat for the financial difficulties of the entire network. If their proposed bylaws changes are approved, they will finally be able realize their goal of selling WBAI for their own benefit. In the recent past, some of the proponents behind this bylaws referendum have urged bankruptcy, been in favor of shutting down and selling WBAI or WPFW, and pushed for breaking up the network.
To stop the coup, keep our station and maintain democracy at Pacifica, vote no on the bylaws revision.
For further information go to wbaifightback.org write us at wbaifightback@gmail.com or call 917-781-0366.
Yours in struggle – WBAI Fightback