Errol Maitland's comments on democratization and LAB elections
By Steffie Brooks

The following is a transcript of Errol Maitland's comments on democratization and LAB elections given at the last WBAI LAB meeting, on November 7th I believe (correct me if I am mistaken), as part of the discussion on the resolution presented to the LAB by the exploratory committee on democratization.

--------------------------------------------------

I would, if it is appropriate at this point, I would like to raise some objection to the motion that is on the table and specifically the two points that I am going to raise some objection or some doubt to is the notion of democratization and the seated members on the board. And there are two members of the LAB that are elected. I don't know how many people in the listening, in the listenership understand that there are two people on this board that are elected: I am one of them and Mimi Rosenberg is one of them. And we are elected from a very narrowly defined and a very specific constituency.

We are elected from the staff. I am elected from the paid staff; I am the paid staff representative on this board with full voting privilege as a board member, something that Pacifica obects to. Mimi Rosenberg is elected by the unpaid staff at WBAI and she sits on this board. And there is a limitation for how long we can sit on the board but we get reelected back by the staff so we could be out of here if we are not representing our constituency. With the situation at the station in turmoil which it has been for a while now, we have been held over. To that I am not necessarily pleased.

Our board has a structure that calls for a balance, a balance of people who are seated from geographical areas and from, I would say … I want to say racial, but I have to say ethnic groups, that there will be a balance and that there will be a diversity.

As an African, I feel that everything that was ever done in the United States, incuding Dred Scott, which is back in the track, was done democratically. It was done through elections. And I believe that the people who structured Pacifica were aware of that, that the process of pacifica is not open to everyone and the (?) One of the national programmers and one of our local board members said to us at one point that the structure, and I think it is a little hard to hear someone speak against democracy because it is a word that we like to throw about but I am speaking against democracy and this is the first time that I am publicly speaking against democracy, so please allow me the time to develop that thought and to put it out there so my position is clear.

George Bush was elected by a majority of the Supreme Court. They voted and he became President. That is the system that we have. Pacifica, if you were to open Pacifica up to democracy in this country, and whether or not we should be sounding the drums for war, and supporting our troops going off to war, and saying God Bless America as they are doing in Washington, D.C., that you would find that 87 percent of the people or 90 percent would vote.

But Pacifica was created during World War II as an organization for pacifists, as an organization to speak for people who don't have a voice. So, therefore, from the body with which we must open up to democracy, must be narrow. And I don't know how you do that democratically, to limit the organization to people whose vision are visions that is coupled with the mandate of Pacifica, and that is something that we must be careful of. Our board, right now its selection process is not perfect. But it, both locally and nationally, (?) the fact that women must be represented on that board and that it should be balanced in terms of gender.

That there should be X number of people coming from the signal area who are people of color. That our board, that the committee, when it gets 20 applications and 18 of them are from teachers, that it has to say, you may all be qualified but we can't put 10 teachers on theboard that we must find somebody who comes from the Asian community that is growing and we must reach out to seat them on that board because they are part of our listenership and we need their input. That we must have people of color on our board, even though they may be a minority.

So I may want to substitute the word equity for the word democracy which we are putting around and that whatever we do at Pacifica we must be mindful that it must be a body that is representative of all the people who fits within the mandate and the confines of the mission of Pacifica which is to build a network for peace, which is to build a network that speaks to the issue of diversity and understanding amongst nations.

And in terms of the issue of the affiliates … in terms of the affiliates, there is talk on the national board to put at-large members on there. I think we need to have members of the board who come from places where we don't have Pacifica stations but their concerns are concerns of ours like in the South, a place that I have been going to and working in, and I hope that we would expand into the South beyond Washington, D.C., and that we would get people from maybe South Carolina, Mississippi or places like that … Certainly affiliates should be on the Board and I can see at least two, one from the east and one from the west, and on the Board having full rights to contribute and to say something because they are a vital part of the Pacifica mission.

Back to WBAI Menu
Photos & Reports
Statements by LAB Members
WBAI Message Board Add your opinion online
WBAI-FM in NYC is webcast on 2600.com

WbeeAeye Post  Goodlight/WBAI Home  Goodlight.net  ffitz images & design  Email