The battles versus the war, and the various scenarios on how something like this plays out:
The main focus of the organizers of this page (the KDHX facebook page) is to get Kelly fired. That’s one battle in the war. You all want to meet with the people who have the power to fire her. There are other people in this group who want that, but only as it pertains to other changes at the station. They want to fight other battles. And at the first demo, not even a week ago, the demands were to get Tom reinstated and an apology, to engage the community, etc. The battles change as the war goes on.
Unless you have something that the Board wants or needs, there is no reason for them to include you in the process. They don’t have to meet with anyone to fire Kelly. And they don’t have to meet with anyone to make changes. The Board has been complicit, and since no one has any real authority, they do a clamshell, wait out the protests, and see if legal action is incurred.
Everyone wants the leverage to meet with the board and “do battle” – i.e., get these changes made. That leverage can come in myriad ways. This is why, no matter what battle you are fighting, you want to be part of the larger war, as much as possible. The war is against the way the station is being run. Each issue is a battle.
“We want Kelly fired for all of these reasons.” The misuse of funds, the disrespect to volunteers, the lack of diversity, etc. All of these are battles, and each of these battles will be fought by different soldiers. Not everyone cares about the same things. And some of these battles will be fought further down the line. Getting a meeting with the board to get Kelly fired- or for any other reason- is just the first step.
Your best leverage is to get control of as much of their funding as possible. The “war fund.” And demand a meeting with the Board and bring up all the battles. Firing Kelly will encompass a lot. But while you are there you want to lay the groundwork for the changes that need to be in place so that this never happens again.
If everyone does a little, no one has to do a lot. But all the battles should have a central person or group of people that coordinates all of the battles and keeps them together. This allows every issue to be addressed. There is an organic democracy to this approach as well- the most important issues will have the most backing.
What happens in stuff like this a lot is, at first everyone is focused on just one thing, and all of the passion and emotion that have driven people to alter their day to day lives and get involved burns out. That is why Boards and Directors will sit on things. They can count on fatigue. And if people aren’t withholding money or labour, it doesn’t affect their bottom line.
And the other thing that happens is that without clear leadership out there on the picket line, when it does come time to meet with someone the Board can cherry pick. Who has the easiest the demands? They make that change, see it as concession, and work to get back to business as usual as soon as possible.
There is no need to focus on just
one goal to the exclusion of all others- no need to fight just one battle, or
one battle at time, in sequential order. You are stronger if you look for all
the ways the individual issues overlap.
I've been a political activist for almost 42 years and I've led a lot of things like this. I can't do that right now, and I thought that this post would be helpful. But instead, the group leaders felt that I was "sowing division" and that inclusion of any other issues would create "too many voices at once". I was told to "toe the line" or leave, and I chose to leave because I don't have the time to organize and lead this right now, and I have enough ties to other parts of the KDHX community. My other posts remain, but they deleted this one.
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