An Address to the Staff of WBAI by new General Manager Don Rojas
December 18, 2002
Sisters and Brothers of the WBAI family.
Many thanks for your warm welcome. I am humbled and honored
for having been chosen to lead WBAI as its next general manager.
To all who supported my candidacy I wish to express my heartfelt
gratitude.
The selection of a new GM was, indeed, a long and tedious
process but it was, nonetheless, a necessary exercise in participatory
democracy and institutional transparency, particularly in
the wake of the recent crises at WBAI and other Pacifica stations.
Those crises are now behind us and we are moving forward with
new energy, momentum and determination.
My first order of business today is to salute all of you
for your past and present contributions to this station and
for your commitment to the mission of the Pacifica Network.
I would be remiss if I did not also recognize the many years
of dedicated service to WBAI rendered by my predecessor Sister
Valerie Van Isler. She has kept this ship afloat through many
turbulent storms and we thank her for the steady hand. I want
to offer my best wishes to Valerie as she moves on to new
endeavors, new battles and new victories.
In order to facilitate understanding of each other, as well
as to solicit your ideas and suggestions, I would like to
schedule one-on-one meetings with each member of staff over
the next few weeks. I would also like to meet with the LAB,
with the Program Council, the union reps and with the various
station caucuses. Furthermore, I intend to schedule all-staff
meetings every two weeks and weekly ‘cabinet’
meetings; the ‘cabinet’ to be made up of supervisors,
heads of departments and senior staff. Structure, co-ordination
and strategic planning are key elements of efficient management.
In other words, the left hand must always know what the right
hand is doing. Communication mechanisms will also be established
to ensure regular and consistent information sharing with
volunteers and with the Local Advisory Board.
Today, I don’t intend to outline a detailed work program
or action agenda. I promise that will come early next year
after completing the process of bi-lateral meetings and consultations.
But I do want to share with you on this occasion some of
the priorities that I’d like us to work on collectively
over the next 6-12 months:
a. significantly expand BAI’s news and public affairs
capacity beginning with the introduction of news headlines
and guest commentaries at the top of each hour and with local
field reporters assigned to the afternoon drive-time programs
(3-6 pm). We will also seek to add a local sports report to
our daily newscast.
b. completely overhaul and enhance BAI’s Web site and
position the station as a pioneer in the new media of Internet
radio. Programs will be archived on the Internet for up to
seven days and each program will be given a page on the station’s
Web site.
c. explore the possibilities of having select WBAI programs
distributed across the country via satellite radio
d. establish a regular BAI newsletter in both printed and
electronic formats,
e. increase the amount of live remote broadcasts of important
events in the tri-state area,
f. better serve the peace, justice and labor movements with
expanded air time allocated to announcements of non-profit
community events,
g. expand the station’s outreach efforts into the multi-cultural
communities of the tri-state area with more BAI sponsored
forums,
h. establish BAI support groups on tri-state area campuses
and in local labor unions,
i. explore the feasibility of adding some Spanish-language
programming to the line-up,
j. institute a mandatory technical training program for all
staff and an apprentice training program for young radio journalists
and producers,
k. produce more programming that documents the histories of
the peace, justice, labor and national liberation movements
in the USA and around the world,
l. strengthen strategic partnerships with other alternative
and progressive media entities.
Sisters and Brothers, let me state unequivocally that under
my stewardship there will be no victimizations, no favoritism,
no vendettas and no hidden agendas. No one on the staff should
be fearful. I carry no brief for any faction or clique or
camp but I will run a tight, disciplined and organized ship.
My style of managing and leading will be democratic, consultative,
and open-minded. I will seek to build consensus whenever possible
but I will insist on the timely execution of decisions taken
and on respect for processes that are structured, democratic
and transparent. I will be flexible on tactics, firm on principle,
and uncompromising in the pursuit of excellence.
I fully intend to respect and honor the principle of fair
representation for the various branches of the larger WBAI
family on the station’s paid staff and also in the content
of its programming.
One of the great strengths of this radio station is the on-air
talent, a beautiful rainbow of voices representing a universe
of ideas and interests. Under my watch, WBAI will continue
to be a platform for the free expression of New York’s
rich diversity but in utilizing that sometimes intoxicating
tool we call a microphone, we must always be mindful of the
sanctity of the WBAI airtime. It’s an invaluable asset.
Let’s not squander it. Let’s not abuse or violate
this asset to wage personal battles against each other or
to posture and profile our egos. Apart from legitimate concerns
for FCC regulations, the trifling use of airtime to malign
people we don’t like or have disagreements with is not
the exercise of free speech but rather the irresponsible use
of the airwaves. Leave that to the trashy right-wing talk
shows. It is below the dignity of this institution. Besides,
our loyal listeners expect from us positive and consciousness-raising
radio. We disrespect them when we give them negativity, mediocrity
and egoism. Also, WBAI’s airtime should not be used
for promoting the commercial interests of producers or their
guests. After all, this is still non-commercial, listener-supported
radio.
By the same token, I hope we can improve our care and concern
for the physical plant here at the station, for the equipment
and the furniture. We should not treat the BAI property with
any less diligence than we treat our own private possessions.
Let us not forget also that each of us – staff members,
LAB members etc – is an ambassador for WBAI. We are
representatives of the station, of its mission, its ideals,
and our conduct both on and off the air reflects an image
to the world outside the station’s boundaries. Let us
therefore conduct ourselves with the dignity and integrity
of good ambassadors.
Sisters and Brothers, some 20 years ago I had the privilege
of working for the Grenada Revolution, which was led by the
late Prime Minister Maurice Bishop.
For 4 ½ years this popular Revolution succeeded in
improving the quality of life for the people of Grenada. This
“Big Revolution in a Small Country” (as one Caribbean
historian titled his book) was admired and respected around
the world because it had the temerity to stand up to the might
of the US government and to state boldly that it did not see
itself in the US’s backyard or in its private lake,
that it was going to follow its own independent path to development
and that it was not going to accept dictates from any foreign
power.
This revolutionary democratic process was led by a vanguard
party known as the New Jewel Movement, which for four years
maintained a semblance of unity until factional fights, cliquism,
and narrow sectarianism tore the party asunder, alienated
it from the Grenadian masses, led to a Stalinist coup d’etat
which brutally assassinated Bishop and other revolutionary
leaders and created the pretext for a military invasion by
the Ronald Reagan administration.
When the US marines landed in Grenada a week after Bishop’s
murder the Grenada revolution had already destroyed itself.
It had already imploded. The US invasion merely drove the
final nail into the Revolution’s coffin.
Twenty years later I, and many others, still ache and pain
over those tragic events, over the loss of friends and comrades
and the senseless loss of a social experiment that was full
of hope and promise for people throughout the Caribbean and
Latin American region and around the Third World.
WBAI is also a vanguard institution, a 21st century weapon
in the struggle for peace and justice, and two years ago BAI
itself almost imploded. But thanks to the courageous actions
of many of you in this room our beloved station was saved
from the jaws of defeat. I sincerely believe that progressives
in this country can learn much from the lessons of Grenada
and of other popular movements and processes that were destabilized
from within. And the most salient of all the lessons to be
pondered is that when we fight and destroy each other over
secondary contradictions we are simply doing the dirty work
for our adversaries and playing into the hands of reaction.
So let us pledge today that the events of December 2000 will
never be repeated at this station and let us also hope that
one day, the truths that were crushed to the earth in Grenada
shall rise again.
Today is as good a day as any other to celebrate WBAI’s
proud and rich history and to herald its many noteworthy achievements
spanning four decades. But I am convinced that the value and
relevance of BAI and Pacifica is not a thing of the past –
our best days are ahead of us, not behind us. The future is
bright for this institution.
You are a wonderful collection of racially and culturally
diverse individuals, talented and committed folk. There’s
nothing quite like this in New York or in the Pacifica Network,
for that matter. But the times now call for this marvelous
collection of people to gel as a collective, to be connected
to a common denominator without compromising our unique individualities.
But if we are to build a healthy, vibrant collective we must
embrace all that increases our solidarity and reject all that
attempts to divide us. We must not only work together as a
team but we must also make time to play together, socialize
with each other, applaud each other’s individual victories
and triumphs and empathize with each other’s individual
setbacks and difficulties. Sounds idealistic? Maybe so, but
at my age and with a few experiences under my belt I’m
not yet ready to succumb to cynicism. I’m not calling
for touchy, feely love-ins but as mature adults we can at
least begin to build a collective by being civil with each
other, by being humane towards each other.
Acting individually we are relatively powerless. Acting as
a collective we can be relatively powerful. But the operative
word here is relative. Let us not harbor any delusions about
our real power as distinct from our potential power. Compared
to the power of our adversaries we are like a singular ant
confronting an elephant in an utterly futile ‘rumble
in the jungle’. But a collective of ‘guerilla’
ants marching in unison up the elephant’s tail, far
away from his trunk and his crushing feet can, indeed, put
a serious hurting in his butt.
Both WBAI and the Pacifica Network are feisty ants with huge
potential power but that power will never be realized if we
spend inordinate time and energy hurting each other and not
fighting the stampeding elephants.
At the end of 2002, we are witnessing tens of thousands of
people of all ethnicities, religions and political affiliations,
cutting across the generations, organizing and mobilizing
around this country and the world against an impending war
in the Middle East.
Tens of thousands of youths continue to take to the streets
in cities around the world in anti-corporate globalization
and anti-racism protests.
Thousands of Americans, alarmed at what’s being done
to them in the name of fighting terrorism are beginning to
organize a fight back to Washington’s assaults on our
civil liberties.
In the months ahead, these forces will turn to BAI and Pacifica
for information, for inspiration, for analysis, for guidance.
It is therefore imperative that we prepare ourselves to more
effectively serve the needs of these growing social movements.
How do we do that?
Fundamentally, we must recognize the gravity of such a responsibility.
Secondly, we need to modify our programming model to meet
the organizational and mobilization requirements of the movements
and thirdly we must allocate resources to training the staff
in the skills and competencies that the times demand.
The super-power ideology emanating from Washington is an
ideology that seeks peace and global stability through coercion,
not through justice and fairness. It is an ideology of dominance,
control, aggression, acquisition at the expense of others,
disrespect for the sovereignty of whole peoples and nations,
subjugation of other cultures, the foisting of a Western value
system and way of life on others who have no interest or need
for it. Such an ideology is life destroying, not life affirming.
This post cold war ideology of the sole super-power is exemplified
in US foreign policy on two fronts: the doctrine of pre-emptive
strike and unrivaled supremacy and the bullying of the United
Nations. This pre-emptive doctrine is unprecedented in the
annals of imperial arrogance. It is Uncle Sam’s ego
writ large. It not only dismisses the basic tenets of international
law but, more ominously, it represents a dangerous threat
to world peace in our lifetime.
There is no countervailing force at the level of state power
to be found, no effective checks and balances originating
from the capitals of the world. The once mighty Russian bear
has been de-fanged. The Chinese star is rising in the East
but it will be years before it reaches its optimum strength
and Europe, while grumbling about Washington acting as an
overly aggressive cop, has no appetite for confronting this
type of global police brutality. Besides, the European elites
understand quite clearly that the doctrine of pre-emptive
strike is not directed at them but at those “unruly”
people of color, the vast majority of whom were once colonized
by Europe itself.
The corporate media, which is becoming less diverse each
day thanks to the free-market policies of the FCC, has been
cowed into genuflecting to this super-power ideology. Look
at how it deliberately under-reports and discredits the peace
movement or the actions of working people struggling for economic
justice.
But there is an emerging force coming from the streets in
cities and towns across the USA and the world, a populist
force that is justifiably alarmed and wants to do something
to reverse this perilous course.
In domestic policy, this ideology manifests itself in the
emphasis on homeland security and tax cuts for the wealthy.
Racism, sexism, chauvinism and uncritical patriotism are the
handmaidens of this ruling class agenda. It is precisely this
super-power arrogance that has bred so much hatred for the
US government around the world and which fuels the terrorism
that takes so many innocent lives in acts of mindless violence.
I submit that the first step in making the homeland more secure
is to make the homeland more compassionate. Giving the government
the right to spy on every American and to gather data on their
personal affairs is more than a blatant violation of privacy.
It is the beginning of high-tech fascism in America.
This ideology is in contradiction to all of our vital interests,
no matter if we’re Black or White or Latino or Asian,
straight or gay, believers or non-believers. The epic magnitude
of this struggle commands us all to rise above petty differences,
to sublimate our egos and personal agendas and instead to
work in collaboration with each other and with this rising
populism.
To not struggle against this menace would be irresponsible.
The stakes are too high. As serious progressives we have a
duty to both expose and oppose this madness in all aspects
of our radio programming from news and public affairs to arts
and culture as well as in our various community outreach activities.
To dissipate our energy in sandbox fights over secondary contradictions
is to render a disservice to the oppressed communities that
we come from and to short-change the growing peace and justice
movement that WBAI is part and parcel of.
In the weeks and months ahead, with unity and resolve, let
the collective voice of BAI say to the critics and the nay
-sayers—
No, the left does not eat its babies; No, the left will not
render itself impotent with divisive squabbles: No, the left
will no longer wallow in its own self-righteousness.
The Left will henceforth struggle mightily for life, liberty,
democracy and the pursuit of happiness for all, not just for
a few, that the Left is about building a future of peace and
justice for all and that we will steadfastly oppose the conservation
of a political and economic order that benefits a small minority
at the expense of a vast majority.
This, dear friends, is the unique historical task of progressive
institutions like WBAI. Our programming, therefore, must not
only reflect our principled protest to this hegemonic agenda
but also it must articulate an alternative vision for our
listeners, an uplifting, liberating and empowering vision.
In conclusion, let me reiterate that I bring one simple agenda
to this job – to work with all of you in a dynamic collective
that grows WBAI into the most influential and respected alternative
media institution in this country. I carry no water for any
political party or political orthodoxy. All I seek is your
support and co-operation and I pledge to you my best efforts.
In the months ahead let’s make an effort to be patient
with each other. Let us communicate regularly with each other.
Let us lift each other up as we all lift the station up. Remember,
we’re running a marathon, not a sprint. We’re
in the midst of a protracted struggle against a mighty foe.
We have to pace ourselves and conserve our energies for the
big battles that lie ahead. We may all be required to make
some sacrifices that are in the best interest of the station
and of our movement. Let us try to make them with grace and
without rancor.
A few days ago my father turned 80 years old. A long-time
radioman, trained by the BBC, he managed radio stations around
the Caribbean during his career. When I called him on his
birthday to congratulate him on reaching this milestone I
also asked him for a few words of advice from an old pro as
I undertake my new task.
He said to me: “Son, treat your staff fairly and respect
your listeners by giving them the highest quality programming
the station is capable of producing.” And then he added,
“when things get a little crazy, as they inevitably
will, take a moment to meditate and pray and remember the
words of the poet Rudyard Kipling in the poem ‘If’---keep
your head on when all about you are losing theirs and blaming
it on you.” And I said to him, “thanks Pops, you’re
the man”.
Sisters and Brothers, working in harmony, I am convinced
we can achieve our lofty objectives. Let us now link hands
and hearts and minds and let us march forward shoulder to
shoulder towards the noble goal of using radio and new media
to construct a better city, a better country and a better
world for our children, our families, our friends, and ultimately,
for all humanity.
Long Live WBAI
Long Live the Pacifica Network
Forward Ever, Backward Never
Venceremos
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