Mantra Plonsey for KPFA's LSB
Mantra Plonsey
candidate for KPFA's Local Station Board
Balloting will be from August 15 to October 15, 2019
candidate statement by Mantra Plonsey
My name is Mantra Plonsey. I'm a professional actress and comedian (radio, stage, film and voice-over), singer, former newspaper editor, and mother.
I believe in humor, free thought, uncensored speech and unfettered journalism.
I believe we need KPFA, now more than ever -- but a KPFA that questions and challenges the prevailing corporate perspectives, instead of echoing them.
Veteran-for-Peace and Local Station Board member Daniel Borgström says he would not have enlisted in the Marines as a youth had there been a Pacifica station in his hometown to counter the dominant pro-military line. For the Daniels of future generations, we need to ensure that KPFA and the other Pacifica stations endure as uncompromising voices against war and for justice.
I'm running for an open seat on the LSB, with team Rescue-Pacifica. Since first donating my time to the station in 2014, I've become convinced that KPFA desperately needs fresh leadership and ideas. I've often expressed my concern with the direction the station leadership has been taking: sanitizing KPFA to sound more like the weak, conciliatory narratives of corporate media.
I now make my opposition visible by running as an LSB candidate, to share my position with the whole listener community. I question the decisions which management has made, which could ultimately bring about KPFA's end as a meaningful alternative to commercial media.
Let's stand together to reinstate these historical missions of KPFA:
to strengthen KPFA's anti-war position, renew our commitment to representing all community viewpoints, (including LGBTQ people, elders and youth), and reverse the woeful shrinkage of art-and-literature programming.
As a lifetime alumna of the women's group Kitka, I support the continuation of diverse music programming at KPFA.
I vow to honor these goals by working to restore the Program Council. Both staff and listeners deserve transparency in their dealings with the station; we all have a right to understand and participate in the decisions made at KPFA. Upon hearing that several shows I consider essential (including Guns and Butter and Discreet Music) had been cancelled, I sought answers and received none. This is not democracy.
There's been much talk about the financial challenges to Pacifica's survival, and of course these challenges must be confronted. Less often spoken of is the danger that KPFA / Pacifica will continue to exist, but with such watered-down establishment-friendly programming that its existence will no longer matter. This too is an outcome we must not allow to happen.
As our own Ann Garrison reminds us here: Pacifica Is a Grassroots Radio Lifeline: Let's Keep It Together-- "The Pacifica Radio Network is a lifeline to grassroots stations across the US, including those in the Deep South with substantial Black audiences."
KPFA and its sister stations are unique: free speech radio for the people, by the people. If we lose Pacifica, we lose the last listener-supported non-corporate network in the country. Don't obey-resist! Join me in Rescuing Pacifica! Please cast your vote for me, and also for each of my Rescue-Pacifica running mates.
MANTRA PLONSEY
Summer of 2019
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for more info:
RESCUE PACIFICA rescuepacifica.net
PACIFICA IN EXILE pacificainexile.org
KPFA 94.1 FM is one of five stations of the Pacifica radio network located in major cities across the country. The other stations are WBAI 99.5 in New York, WPFW 89.3 in Washington, DC, KPFT 90.1 in Houston, and KPFK 90.7 in Los Angeles. There are also about 250 affiliate stations.
DISCLAIMER: This is not an official Pacifica Foundation website nor an official website of any of the five Pacifica Radio Stations (KPFA Radio, KPFK Radio, KPFT Radio, WBAI Radio, WPFW Radio). Opinions and facts alleged on this site belong to the author(s) of the website only and should NOT be assumed to be true or to reflect the editorial stance or policy of the Pacifica Foundation, or any of the five Pacifica Radio Stations (KPFA Radio, KPFK Radio, KPFT Radio, WBAI Radio, WPFW Radio), or the opinions of its management, Pacifica National Board, station staff or other listener members.
