Heroes of the Left are being cut down

Folks, if you've read even a fraction of my work you know I am an unapologetic leftist. I believe in peace, freedom and the American way of accepting when you're wrong and working to correct it.

Marc Maron, Sam Seder, and Mike Malloy have all been axed from the ranks of the Air America stable, and for what? Not making enough money for the shareholders? Making enemies of the Israeli government and their apologists in the American media? These men were the only ones willing to speak loudly and proudly about the inherent criminality of colonialism in our time. And for that, they've lost their jobs.

I love Thom Hartmann, but he's content to be a scholar/philosopher, calling for action but not standing up for those who are taken down by the powers that be. Thom wants a bigger piece of the pie, presumably for righteous reasons, but in instances like these, when he could use his clout to defend his brothers in radio, where is he?

One thing I've learned by fighting in the Labor Movement is that you never give up an opportunity to stand in solidarity with your brothers and sisters. Radio is a little different, to be sure, but when it's so obvious that contracts are being discarded without any real consideration for what the people may want, you have to ask yourself, why?

Why, when Mike Malloy, Sam Seder, and Marc Maron are making such an impact in their communities, would you set them loose without any discussion? It seems to me that this is nothing more than a clear indication that public figures can only go so far when it comes to upsetting the apple-cart.

Thom Hartmann does a great job at getting people active, inspiring them to get active in their communities. Amy Goodman as well does an incredible jnob at getting people to know what's happening around the world. But when it comes to the critical next step, of organizing through the radio, using the medium itself to connect activists with lawmakers, to use the power of radio to overturn the interests of global capital, that's where it all falls short.

It is my contention that these three men I just mentioned made the critical mistake of taking a hard-line stand against violent colonial intervention, in Iraq, in Israel, or in some other arena that threatens the hegemony of American investment. And because they work at the behest of a corporation that makes its money from investment in such industries (receiving advertising dollars from the US Government and other suspect agencies) their employers have no choice but to set them free, without a clear explanation.

Malloy has been unyielding in his criticism of Israel's ramapnt destruction of Lebanon. And, unlike Amy Goodman, whose audience is largely predisposed to such things and has been fairly well marginalized, Air America hosts have the power to agitate some fairly meaningful opposition to the policies of our government. Something about for-profit radio gives a host more power, and that power must be tightly controlled.

I hope that Maron, Seder, and Malloy will leave the confines of for-profit radio and join with the growing movement for independent popular media. This is the future, a media that has no gatekeepers because none will have the power to keep their voices from the people. A movement for honest media that comes from the people instead of from the forces of global capital.

I would invite these men to come to the Northwest, to see what we are preparing, with the Tahoma Progressive Media Conference, and to mirror our efforts in their hometowns, to use the power of the people to generate massive changes in the way we create the media that defines and informs our lives.

This October 7th, from 10 to 1 PM, we the People will have the chance to fight back, to send a message to the powers of the corporate media and corporate-controlled non-profit media that we refuse to be kept at bay from the truth. We will uncover the truth, and with it, we will change the world.

Categories: Alternative Media, Media Activism, Local Events