1) KPFA ELECTIONS ORGANIZER SPEAKS IN NYC!!! JAN 5, 2002 2) Your support is requested for a very special delegation to Afghanistan
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David Greene, Election Coordinator at KPFA in Berkeley, will be talking on the election process in NYC. The details are below.
The Exploratory Committee of WBAI Local Advisory Board and the Elections Committee of Concerned Friends of WBAI
invite you to a
discussion of station board elections with David Greene, KPFA Election Coordinator
Saturday, January 5, 2002, 4 PM to 6:30 PM Seafarers & International House, 123 East 15th St at Irving Place, 2nd floor
o The WBAI community of staff and listener-supporters is going to elect a station board for the first time ever.
o The recent Pacifica settlement agreement requires station board elections within a year, based on the model used at KPFA in 2000 and 2001.
o David Greene will tell us how elections are conducted at KPFA. The information should aid us in electing the first station board at WBAI.
o As future voters, take advantage of this unique opportunity.
BE THERE AND START THE NEW YEAR RIGHT! =========================================================================
2)From: Leslie Cagan Subject: your support is requested... Date: Thu, 03 Jan 2002 19:04:01 -0800
Dear Friends,
I hope everyone had a good holiday and a happy New Year. I cant think of a better way to start this new year than to let you know about an important trip to Afghanistan and to ask for your financial support for this effort.
A friend of mine, Rita Lasar, lost her brother in the attack on the World Trade Center on Sept. 11th. You might have heard the story about the man who would not leave his friend in a wheelchairthat was Ritas brother, Abe Zelmanowitz. Now, Rita, along with a small delegation of others who lost loved ones on 9.11, is planning on traveling to Afghanistan to meet with the families and friends of people killed during the war. (More details about the trip and people participating are included below.)
I first met Rita in the fall of 2000 as I and others started to develop Concerned Friends of WBAI, the community based activist group that as been fighting to reclaim WBAI and is part of the national movement to return the Pacifica radio network to its mission. When I learned of her loss during the 9.11 attack I contacted Rita to see if she would speak at a demonstration I was helping to organize against the coming war in Afghanistan. Still grieving, Rita decided she had to speak out and delivered an eloquent statement at the October 7th Not In Our Name demonstration here in New York City.
The delegation to Afghanistan is being organized by Global Exchange; a San Francisco based organization I have worked with for many years. The group is scheduled to leave in a little more than a week, and as you might imagine there is a great deal of work still to do to put everything together. One critical piece is the need to raise upwards of $5,000 to make sure all of the costs of Rita and the others will be met. I am sending a donation today and hope you will do likewise!
If you can, please take a moment right now to send a donation: checks should be made out to: Global Exchange/Afghan trip and sent to 2017 Mission St. #303, San Francisco, CA 94110. They are tax deductible.
On their return I am sure the groups participants will share their experiences as a contribution to the work of the anti-war movement around the country. In addition, Global Exchange will be setting up a Fund for Afghan Victims of U.S. Bombing.
I hope this important trip to Afghanistan will be a sample of many good, strong, positive organizing efforts we can all participate in as this year unfolds. Thanks in advance for your financial support of this trip!
Peace, Leslie Cagan ------------------------------------------------- DRAFT ITINERARY FOR 2-WEEK TRIP TO AFGHANISTAN/PAKISTAN Based on 10 days in region, two days travel on each end
Day 1: Arrive in Islamabad, drive immediately to Peshawar (2 1/2 hours) Peshawar: stay in Green Hotel Evening meeting with Head of Pakistan Human Rights Commission on refugee crisis Day 2: meeting with victims families, arranged by Afghan Womens Network and International Human Rights Law Group Meet with HAWCA: Humanitarian Afghan Women and Children Association Dinner with family Day 3: 9am depart for Jalalabad 3 hour ride Visit refugee camp outside Jalalabad (Sir Shaliee camp) Visit hospital where many of the bomb victims were treated Meet with the Doctors Without Borders and the Red Cross Dinner with Mayor, stay at Mayors house Day 4: Visit Girls School - do a dedication for a sister school Visit nearby villages that were targets of air strikes Day 5: Travel to Kabul - six hour ride Intercontinental Hotel Dinner with several invitees: UN rep, Rep from Dept. of Womens Affairs Day 6: childrens hospital Home visits Orphanage Dinner with family/spend night Day 7: Meetings with victims families Meeting with World Food Program Widows Bakery project Dinner with advisors/potential people to run fund Day 8: Internally displaced peoples camp Street childrens center US Embassy and new government rep Press briefing Going away party Day 9: leave for Peshawar Day 10: travel to Islamabad; return home ------------------------------------------------------
BIOS OF THE PARTICIPANTS. David Potorti is a writer and radio/television producer residing in Cary, North Carolina. He lived and worked in New York City and Los Angeles for eighteen years, where he served as a trade journalist covering the television business, a writer/producer of network television promotion, and a print news reporter. He was a staff producer in the marketing and promotion department of the ABC television network and has worked as a freelance marketer and producer for NBC, HBO/Cinemax, Showtime/The Movie Channel, The Cartoon Network, UPN and The WB. Since moving to North Carolina, he has become a regular writer for The Independent Weekly newspaper in Durham, a writer/researcher for UNC-TV's "Folkways" series, a part-time host on WUNC-FM in Chapel Hill, and a correspondent for Pacifica Network News in Washington, DC. He also works with Democracy South, the North Carolina Center for Voter Education, and the Empowerment Project on issues of social justice. David's brother Jim was killed in the World Trade Center attack.
Colleen Kelly is a family nurse practitioner working in an urban high school. She has worked as a pediatric nurse in various hospitals as well at Covenant House, a residence for runaway adolescents. Along with two other nurse practitioners, she started a free clinic in 1997 serving the adult uninsured population of East Harlem. The clinic was recently renamed in memory of her brother William H, Kelly Jr. who was killed at the World Trade Center on Sept 11. She lives in New York City with her husband and three children, ages 5, 7 and 9.
Rita Lasar is 70 years old, the mother of 2 sons, Raphael and Matthew and the grandmother of Emma aged 7 and Jake aged 15. She and her husband, Ted owned a small electronics company which they ran until Ted had a stroke. She closed the business to stay home to care for him until he died. She then was a volunteer and then paid worker in the first Clinton campaign. After that she ran the office of a candidate for a seat for the New York City Council. Recently she was a volunteer in the New York City Schools program where she taught 1st and 2nd graders to read on a one to one basis. Rita's brother Abe Zelmanowitz was killed in the World Trade Center attack.
Barry Amundson is a graphic designer and computer system administrator living in Oakland California. Barry has worked as an art director, interactive designer and production artist for design, advertising, branding and internet companies in San Francisco for the past 6 years. He has a B.A. in Art from the University of Iowa with an emphasis in design and photography, 1995. His brother Craig was killed in the Pentagon attack.
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