Wilkins vs. Cooper
Fri Feb 22 14:54:10 2002
209.178.154.63
In what I'd like to think of as Marc Cooper's "farewell" letter (Feb 19th, 2002) , he flatly stated:
>> The National Lawyers' Guild Show host Jim Lafferty "turned over" his program for one hour to Ron Wilkins, a well-known black anti-Semite, so that for the better part of 45 minutes Wilkins could fulminate as to why he should be given regular air time. <<
Again Mr. Cooper attacks Ron Wilkins with a bogus charge for which he offers not the slightest shred of evidence. He merely repeats his unfounded accusation... a slander that he knows will result in undermining, dividing, and injuring the Pacifica listening audience. To whom exactly is Ron Wilkins a "well-known black anti-Semite"? And where are the transcripts of Wilkins' broadcasts that can PROVE Cooper's malicious denunciations? We are offered not a single quote from Wilkins or his detractors that shore up Cooper's assertion.<<
At the close of his "farewell" message, Mr. Cooper offers this gem:
>> If I had it to do it all over again, I wouldn't change a thing. And yes, I would even have Robert McNamara and Pat Buchanan back on the show, despite the howls and squeals from the Flat-Earthers. <<
Note that Mr. Cooper does not refer to Pat Buchanan as a "well-known anti-Semite."
Unlike the truculent Cooper, who makes false charges that cannot be substantiated, let me offer the following quotes from Pat Buchanan's OWN writings. In Buchanan's book, A Republic, Not an Empire, he stated that the Nazis posed "no physical threat to the United States after 1940", an interesting supposition, especially in light of the fact that hundreds of thousands of Jews were being brutally exterminated in Death Camps during those years. In the New Republic of 10/22/90, Buchanan challenged the historical record that thousands of Jews at the Concentration Camp of Treblinka had been gassed to death by diesel exhaust, by writing: "Diesel engines do not emit enough carbon monoxide to kill anybody."
Writing for The Guardian (1-14-92), Buchanan said that Hitler was "an individual of great courage...Hitler's success was not based on his extraordinary gifts alone. His genius was an intuitive sense of the mushiness, the character flaws, the weakness masquerading as morality that was in the hearts of the statesmen who stood in his path." Of course Pat Buchanan was a speech writer for President Reagan, and Buchanan is known for having pushed Reagan to visit Germany's Bitburg Cemetery... where Nazi SS troops were buried. Buchanan was credited with having penned the famous line uttered by Reagan at Bitburg, that the SS troops buried there were "victims just as surely as the victims in the concentration camps." (New York Times, 5-16-85) There is ample evidence of Buchanan's anti-Semitism... and I needn't bother the reader with the long list of Buchanan's offenses. A wide range of Conservatives, including William Buckley, have publicly labeled Pat Buchanan as an anti-Semite.
Does any of this lead Marc Cooper to refer to the repugnant Pat Buchanan as a "well-known anti-Semite"? No... it does not. That is an accusation he reserves for the African American Activist, Ron Wilkins. Rather, Mr. Cooper is PROUD of his having brought Pat Buchanan onto KPFK's airwaves... and haughtily states that he would have the hate monger "back on the show." In other words... if Cooper brings a well-known anti-Semite on the air, it's just good journalism.
Many of you know Michael Novick and the organization he works with, People Against Racist Terror (PART). Those who have not had the pleasure of meeting the soft-spoken Novick will recognize his work through the publication "Turning The Tide: Journal of Anti-Racist Action, Research & Education." Novick has spent many a year exposing to the light of day the neo-Nazi and Klan groupings that operate in the U.S. You may not agree with Novick's politics... but it is impossible to say that he is anything less than a dedicated fighter against anti-Semitism and the neo-Nazi Right. Here's what Novic says about Ron Wilkins:
>> Cooper's outrageous racist slur against Ron -- which he apparently made on air on his show as well as in this email -- is grounds enough for booting him. Anyone who has anything to do with Ron knows that he opposes all oppression and that his show, Continent to Continent: An African Issues Magazine, was for years a beacon of well-reasoned, carefully researched, interestingly produced airtime. He was yanked off the air in midshow not for any alleged anti-Semitism, but for violating Pacifica's obnoxious :gag rule" by bringing on his show a number of the independent Black community based programmers who had been driven from Pacifica over the years, such as Kiilu Nyasha in the Bay Area. Had the local Pacifica listeners rallied around Ron at the time it might have saved us all years of assaults and destruction by the corporatist forces that took over. That we didn't is a manifestation of continuing racism within progressive forces, a potentially fatal weakness. <<
I might add that during the late 1980's, Wilkins' show was the ONLY one on KPFK that significantly focused on the Liberation struggles going on in Southern Africa and how those struggles were tied to the future of Americans. At a time when Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Angola, Namibia, and South Africa were suffering horrors brought about by the depredations of White Racist Colonial rule... Ron Wilkins focused our collective attention on the issues. He pointed out Western complicity in the atrocities of the day and helped us to see clearly the links between Corporate Power and the plunder of modern Africa. Wilkins' focus was not just on Africa... but on African People, and so through him we learned of the African population in Nicaragua, Panama, and everywhere else Blacks were struggling for self-determination.
You may not like what Wilkins has to say, or the manner in which he says it, but to silence him on the grounds of being "anti-Semitic" is purely ridiculous. During this time of increased tension all over the world, and the very real possibility of U.S. military attacks against various African nations, the views and opinions of Ron Wilkins have a place on KPFK's airwaves.
Until such time that Ron Wilkins is once again given airtime, I shall joyfully give money and support to our newly LIBERATED Community Radio Station... KPFK! The transformation of the station in recent days is truly remarkable and uplifting. We have our station back... and it's going to be better than ever!
Mark Vallen
www.art-for-a-change.com