As I listen tonight to the broadcast of the Pacifica board meeting on KPFA it is to a sound I have not heard in years. Gone are the declarative lock step proclamations of an administration bent on rule by fiat and in its place is the voice of community. It is not a harmonious community, as the seeds of future contention are being planted even as I listen, but it is a community joined by a revived spirit of democracy.
Over the last fifty years the Pacifica community has gone through periods of peace and turmoil, sometimes as a result of internal strife and other times as a response to events in the greater world. Now another period of strife has passed and, as in times past, the community has gained insight into the nature of raw democracy. It is never a state of repose, but rather it is a process of flux and constant adjustment to contingencies of the moment.
Democracy is never pretty, but it is always beautiful, as it is also always preferable to the alternative of no democracy at all.
Happy Belated Birthday Pacifica!
And happy birthday to the rebirth of real community radio!
Chad Chadwick, poster-maker