rejecting replacement bylaws at Pacifica
Good news!
Pacifica replacement bylaws rejected by 66%
March 2020
Sometimes we win. And yes, this time we did, by a 2/3rds majority.
The results on the Pacifica bylaws referendum are in, totals from all five Pacifica network stations where voting took place:
66% listeners voted NO
65% staff voted NO
We all need to thank and congratulate each other, and everyone across the network, who in numerous ways, by endorsing, voting, spreading the word, and giving moral support, worked to defeat that destructive proposal.
This was a landslide victory for radio democracy, and as most of us know, democracy has not always worked well and smoothly at KPFA/Pacifica. Democracy is NOT easy, and some may be tired of it, nevertheless, a 2/3rds majority chose democracy, rejecting that bylaws proposal which would've put a handful of elite in charge. So democracy did not just "win," democracy won overwhelmingly. This is tremendously good news!
Nevertheless, the 2/3ds vote was not really an endorsement of the current bylaws. Many of us do want changes in the bylaws -- changes worked out in a transparent democratic manner, changes that will preserve and strengthen radio democracy at Pacifica.
This is easy enough to say; the basic problem is that from the very beginning of our radio democracy nearly two decades ago, there have been two very basically different views, or sides, and those two sides came out clearly in this election. One side is that of those favoring an authoritarian top-down rule of the few, by the few and for the few -- and the other is that of radio democracy. Those two views are not easy to reconcile.
Meanwhile, the network is deeply in debt, KPFA's property taxes are still not paid (the scheduled auction so far hasn't taken place, and the $ amount is being negotiated), and we're still saddled with the managers who failed to pay those taxes.
The really good news is that people from across the five-station Pacifica network came together to fight this issue, and we have an unprecedented network-wide unity with which to face the stormy weather ahead.
Daniel Borgström
for RESCUE PACIFICA
rescuepacifica.net
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for more info:
RESCUE PACIFICA rescuepacifica.net
PACIFICA IN EXILE pacificainexile.org
Pacifica Fightback for Democracy
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.
