This is a KPFA candidate forum that I moderated between four candidates who are running to serve on KPFA’s local station board. This is the second round of forums out of the three rounds before the voter ballots are due September 30th.
To learn more about the more prominent slate during the debate, Independents for Community Radio, visit http://www.voteindyradio.org/
Get involved and support community radio!
MEDIA ROOTS- Oriana Saportas of KPFA radio conducts an interview with Abby Martin, creator of MediaRoots.org at Berkeley Community Media’s public access. Abby discusses the creation and evolution of Media Roots, a grassroots media project she created to help inform and connect the community.
Abby Martin and Oriana Saportas at BCM
OB RAG– They assembled in a downtown park at First and Island Avenue today, Mar. 22nd at roughly 2pm. As they waited for the word to move out to the “die-in” site, most had their white T-shirts stenciled with the number “15703″ representing the number of both American and Iraqi deaths divided by the estimated number of people involved in the protest. Finally, the word came and they moved in small groups and pairs several blocks north to be right in front of NBC’s downtown office on Broadway and 3rd Street.
Once they reached Broadway, they laid down on the cement – just a half dozen at first. But by time all had reached the site, the total was 92.
They were very peaceful in their silent protest. Mostly young people, they came from colleges and high schools in the area – with the average age of the protester about 22. Another 10 supporters hung around the edges, taking photos, drawing chalk outlines of the “dead.”
They laid there for at least a half hour, as tourists walked by and watched, intrigued with the scene. Several San Diego Police officers stood across the street observing. Security personnel of the building were not happy, but the cops were nonchalant when they complained.
Organized by local groups 911 Truth and Scene Diego, this demonstration culminated a week of antiwar protests commemorating the 5th anniversary of the invasion and occupation of Iraq by US forces.
From Friday, the 14th up to today, San Diego witnessed four different antiwar demonstrations within the City. It was either a sign of strength of the peace movement or a sign of weakness, but each protest event was held by different groups and people. Last Friday – Veterans for Peace did their thing, protesting the pro-war group which was kicking off an event aboard the Midway. Then Saturday, the 15th, there was of course the largest event – the march and rally in City Heights, sponsored by San Diego’s Coalition for Peace and Justice – which included the Vets naturally. Next was MoveOn’s candle-light vigil held in Balboa Park Wednesday night, the 19th, and then there was today’s protest, by far the most youthful.
The Vets were at the large rally but the main peace groups were not at the Vets’ thing. MoveOn had their 250 gray-hairs rally which the main peace coalition did not attend. And the youth held their offense this afternoon. Some of the youth at today’s event were at the large rally, but again, the main peace group folks did not show up for today’s die-in. (Apparently, Patty & I were the only ones who attended all four – well, we are journalist bloggers.)
Someday, perhaps the day when the number of American deaths reaches 4,000, we will all come together – again.
April 2010
nthWORD– According to a 2009 Pew Research Study,
63% of Americans polled no longer
trust the mainstream media to convey the truth about critical issues and
think
the delivery of the news is either inaccurate or biased due to powerful
corporate influences. As this skepticism grows, more people are turning
to the
Internet for their information. The Internet has served as the bastion
of free
speech since its inception and has provided a forum for common citizens
to
globally disseminate information.
If Sigmund Freud were alive today, he would probably say that
increasingly
popular social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter serve as
the
ultimate self projection of the ego, consisting of insignificant and
superficial status updates of Joe blogger’s mundane daily life.
However, the use of these sites has dramatically transformed the way our generation now communicates, most notably with Twitter’s invention of “microblogging,” a simple news feed confined to a 140 character limit. In the political arena, the utility of Twitter has undergone a complete metamorphosis from utter insignificance to explosive relevance in terms of maintaining free speech and addressing censorship and repression at home and abroad.
During the 2009 disputed presidential election in Iran, web savvy Iranians used Twitter to bring messages and photos from the streets of Tehran to the rest of the world. The Iranian government’s ban on embedded journalism from “unauthorized” demonstrations within the country resulted in limited foreign news coverage and virtually no access to information during the unrest. Dubbed the “Green Revolution” by the media, news organizations from across the board began reporting on “tweets” coming out of Iran, praising the citizens for their bravery to get the truth out despite the government’s attempts to censor the unfolding events.
Read more about the Twitter Revolution at nthWORD
Abby Martin is a freelance writer for nthWORD magazine, citizen journalist, activist and artist living in Oakland, CA. You can find more of her writing at www.MediaRoots.org and view her artwork at www.AbbyMartin.org
Read more of Abby’s views here.
