Over 1,000 Gather in LA To Support

Democracy Now! in Exile's 'War and Peace Report'

Danny Glover Joins Award-Winning Journalist

Amy Goodman for a Fundraiser

Los Angeles, CA (Dec. 5) - More than a thousand enthusiastic free speech supporters, including actor Danny Glover, turned out last weekend to support award-winning journalist Amy Goodman and fired and banned producers from Pacifica station KPFK 90.7 FM at a benefit at the First Baptist Church in Los Angeles.

Event-goers donated some ,000, which will be used support the production of Democracy Now! in Exile's War and Peace Report-http://democracynow.org, a national progressive radio show that was banned from four out of the five Pacifica Radio stations including KPFK of Los Angeles.



The program has since been picked up by more than 100 radio and cable TV stations nationwide.

Democracy Now! was the flagship national program of the Pacifica Radio Network, and its host Amy Goodman has won numerous journalism awards. But, as part of the rightward shift by network, Goodman was forced off the airwaves at most Pacifica stations in mid-August and has now joined the ranks of dozens of journalists who have been censored or banned by embattled executives at the network.

Pacifica station KPFA in Berkeley has defied network executives in Washington, DC and continues to broadcast the 2-hour daily program.

In the past six in Los Angeles, KPFK management has banned or fired over 150 staff and volunteers at the station. Including, eliminating people of color from "drive time" public affairs programs and drastically cutting back Spanish-language programming. Several of the banned and fired programmers spoke at Saturday night's event. They

included, Ron Wilkins, Continent to Continent; Arturo Lemus,

Colectivo Latinoamericano; and Miya Iwataki, East Wind.

Blase Bonpane, banned and fired host of Focus on the Americas co-emceed along with KPFK's Fidel Rodriguez host of Seditious Beats. Also speaking was KPFK's Roy of Hollywood host of Something's Happening and Don Bustany of Middle East in Focus, who gave an update on that part of the world. Musicians Aztlan Underground and La Paz performed at the

event.

Dan Coughlin of the Pacifica Campaign and who was former Pacifica National News Director along with David Adelson, Chair KPFK's Local Advisory Board gave an update about on the crisis at Pacifica, including Campaign strategies

to keep the pressure up, current negotiations and status of the lawsuits against Pacifica's National Board. Farah Davari, of the Free Pacifica Neighborhood Groups and the Pacifica Campaign LA, spoke about the formation of neighborhood organizations throughout Southern California

forming in anticipation of upcoming local advisory board and national board elections.

The Los Angeles Independent Media Center (IMC) web-streamed the program live at http://la.indymedia.org along with WBIX in New York http://www.nyc.indymedia.org:8081/wbix.

Video highlights of Democracy Now! in Exile's War

and Peace Report were screened for the audience.

Bernard White, Fired/Banned Program Director of WBAI introduced,Danny Glover, who has long been a fan of Democracy Now! and was interviewed on the show with Jesse Jackson during the United Nations World Conference Against Racism.

"It's unconscionable that Pacifica would not broadcast Democracy Now! from these very important proceedings," said Glover, during the interview from South Africa. "The fact that Pacifica is not broadcasting Democracy Now! is appalling." Democracy Now! was the only radio program in the United States that devoted its daily hour-long broadcast to live radio coverage of the UN Conference Against Racism.

At the November 18 meeting of the embattled Pacifica Radio Network Foundation board of directors, the board voted to resign and reconstitute themselves. They also voted to restore Democracy Now! back on the air and have failed to follow through on either actions.

Pacifica management and board leaders and subsequently banned from four of the largest Pacifica Radio stations, including KPFK in LA. But rather than stop producing the show, Democracy Now! in Exile has expanded, and has begun broadcasting a daily national radio, cable

elevision show and Internet show "The War and Peace Report," through an unprecedented Multi media collaboration with Free Speech TV, Deep Dish TV, Downtown Community Television and WBIX.org.

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