Urban Unrest

31 December 2006 | Pacifica | Ernesto Aguilar

For those who love innovative radio and Pacifica, an article by Marc Fisher in the Dec. 4 edition of The New Yorker is must reading. Some may disagree with elements of Fisher’s analysis in the article, titled “Voice of the Cabal,” but his tribute to Bob Fass is nevertheless both inspiring and poignant. Unfortunately, the article is apparently not yet available online. But I was so struck by the portrait it paints — and so saddened by how far Pacifica has strayed from its roots — that I feel compelled to share some personal thoughts and excerpts.

Several months back I was privileged to be on Bob’s late-night WBAI show, and prior to that, shortly after becoming Pacifica’s Executive Director, I met Bob while visiting New York. I knew then that he was the veritable “father” of free-form radio, and had also heard rumors about the stacks of tapes he has held onto since launching the show back in 1962. Talk about a valuable and vulnerable treasure. As the article describes it:

“The tapes form teetering piles in the living room, down the halls, and into the bedrooms — boxes and boxes of them, thousands of hours of recordings featuring Bob Dylan and Abbie Hoffman, Allen Ginsberg and Kinky Friedman…”

It’s certainly an archive worth saving! But what are we doing about it? Nothing so far, at least from what I can tell.

*The article is engaging and sad, and unfortunately suggests to me just how little I’ve accomplished so far. That such an important part of Pacifica’s past — and present, for Fass’s “Radio Unnameable” is still aired weekly at midnight — has been so marginalized and largely forgotten is almost a crime. And why? Of course, this is where the story becomes difficult, for there is more than one version. * For example, Fisher writes:

“While much of the station’s white, liberal audience drifted away, managers and program hosts went at one another with lawsuits, personnel purges, and fights over race, ideology, and how to appeal to the city’s growing black, Latino, and Asian populations. Fass, the station’s last link to its role as a narrator and an organizer of New York’s nineteen-sixties protest movement, has been relegated to one night a week, Thursday.”

That’s one take. WBAI’s Program Director Bernard White, who has been both an ally and a critic of Fass over the years, sees it differently. Discussing Fass’s return to the station in 1982 after a five year exile –Fisher says the conflict grew from a 1977 “unilateral” management plan to dramatically change programming at the station — Bernard told Fisher:

“When he (Fass) came back, everyone had heard of these great programs, about his relationship with Bob Dylan and Allen Ginsberg…People were waiting for his greatness to manifest itself. And there were some magic moments, but, mostly, what was once magic became nostalgia. The old sixties crowd says the station is less intelligent now. And it is less dynamic, because it reflects the times we are in. There’s no real challenge to the government now, and the station reflects that.”

The article also briefly recounts more recent times, when, as Fisher puts it, “Pacifica took over WBAI, appointed a new general manager, changed the locks on the station’s door, placed guards outside the studios, fired White, and banned several employees and volunteers from the airwaves. The ‘Christmas coup’ sparked months of protests, lawsuits, and on-air battles.” Fisher notes that Fass sided with White during this time, and more than that, “made his show a forum for the exiled program director,” a fact Bernard readily acknowledges.

But since then there has been a falling out. Bernard explained it this way, according to the article:

“Bob’s actions since the coup have been in line with the aspirations of the racist elements that want to take the station back….Bob’s bitter because he’s seen his colleagues move on and make money and be secure.”

Speaking personally, I don’t agree with this characterization, particularly with the claim that there are “racist elements” at the station’s gates.

This is the type of rhetoric I had hoped to see the station and the network move beyond. If there were racists attempting to make inroads at Pacifica, I would be among the first to condemn them. There is racial division, of course, and institutional racism continues to be a serious problem — for this organization and virtually all others in the US. But Bob Fass isn’t the problem, and is not “in line” with any so-called “racist elements.” In my view, the real problem is the need of some to have their own truth be the main or only truth available on the air.

Fisher puts it this way:

“What listeners hear is a cacaphony of righteous voices, often turned inward against others at the station. Ibrahim Gonzalez, whose show follows Fass’s, said, ‘It became like the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, complete with endless debates over the right of return, over who held the rights to a time slot.’”

These may be controversial views, but that is precisely the question on the table — the right to be controversial. In Los Angeles recently, I was talking to the Local Station Board and noted that I felt that some aspects of the Pacifica mission may no longer be “that relevant.” My point was that it’s important, from time to time, to revisit the basic purposes of an organization — re-affirming those that remain appropriate, identifying new ones, and acknowledging that some may need to be revised. Apparently, some felt that my use of the word “relevant” was inappropriate — that I was perhaps even “trashing” the mission. Not at all. But the fact that there was such a focus on a single word points to a fundamental problem. Should an organization that says it is devoted to free speech — Pacifica has, after all, called itself “Free Speech Radio” at times — spend its time questioning, criticizing or sometimes even banning people for alleged infractions of “appropriate speech?”

On the issue of just how free speech ought to be at Pacifica, the mission seems silent. It talks about providing outlets for creative skills, contributing to a “lasting understanding between nations and between the individuals of all nations, races, creeds and colors,” promoting the full distribution of public information, and “the public presentation of accurate, objective, comprehensive news.” But what about the idea that the best way to promote understanding is to let the broadest possible dialogue occur? The key is not “objective, comprehensive news;” that’s part of a myth — perpetuated by corporate media — that long ago outlined its usefulness. What we need is more truly open and spirited debate.

When I first came on board, some people argued that Pacifica should be a vehicle or even a “tool” of certain movements. Which movements depends on who is talking. But that type of thinking has led to a struggle for ideological hegemony that, in my view, is currently keeping Pacifica from achieving a more noble and important purpose — creating connections between people in disparate communities.

Pacifica was founded by non-violent activists, among others, and it remains dedicated, I think, to the notion that violence does not solve problems. But opposition to violence doesn’t imply the complete rejection of conflict. Sometimes airing conflicting views is essential to clarify group values.

In the search for harmony, peace should not be confused with liberation. Peace can be imposed through repression; in many organizations and some societies it is implemented through forms of “group-think.” What I hope Pacifica will support going forward is full and free expression, since liberation is possible only when dissent and disagreement aren’t just tolerated but also encouraged.

*It has been almost a year since I came to this remarkable, tumultuous, troubled and yet also inspiring organization. My hope has been to stimulate a process of reconciliation and reconstruction. Given the evidence at hand, I’m not too impressed with my progress to date. Too many people still focus on keeping “enemies” out of stations or off the air, others accuse those on the “inside” of plots to rig elections, or to control programming for political purposes or financial gain. What I’ve described as a deficit of trust remains almost as large as it was when I arrived.

And this deficit, combined with an organizational structure created to prevent another “coup,” is instead preventing natural evolution, the emergence of new voices, and a full appreciation of the contributions of people like Bob Fass. * Writing something like this may lead to a further parsing of my words. When I was interviewed for my job, some said it was inappropriate to use the term “identity politics.” More recently, I was warned about the word “quota.” In my discussion of Pacifica’s mission, the word “relevant” is being cited. I hope, in considering these modest thoughts, readers will focus less on the individual words and more on the basic message I am trying to convey.

That message? Simply that people like Bob Fass, who come along so rarely, should be cherished and honored — even when they say things considered “incorrect” from time to time. When they are gone, after all, they are not apt to be replaced.

And this: Taking risks — and sometimes making mistakes — is one of the things that makes radio and other forms of communication exciting and creative. We need more, not less, such risk takers and system changers, people who can help to liberate society from repressive structures — including repressive structures of thought.

It remains to be seen whether Pacifica can rise to the challenges ahead. As Fisher sees it:

“If anyone is creating new communities through radio, it’s happening in broadcasts targeted at ethnic minorities, on podcasts and on music blogs on the Internet — all driven by people who, like Fass, feel compelled to reach out beyond their circle of friends in order to share their music and politics.”

If you want to hear Fisher talk about Fass and listen to clips from his show, “Radio Unnameable,” go to: http://www.newyorker.com/online/content/articles/061204on_onlineonly01?061204on_onlineonly01

For more on Fass’s contribution to Pacifica and community radio, visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Fass

– Greg Guma, 12/2/06

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