Total Media Blackout

By Mark Lipman

It’s no surprise, trawling through the media on the 22^nd of May, to find that not a single mention was made about the passage of Proposition C on the Los Angeles ballot.  In fact, it was only after tracking it down on the County Registrar-Recorder’s website that I discovered that it had sweeping support with 76.52% of the vote – the highest margin of victory for anything on the ballot.  Yet, all we heard was silence.

In these sad and troubling days, when we see the Koch Brothers eyeing greedily the Los Angeles Times to be the next mouthpiece for their extremist right-wing corporate propaganda, it is no surprise that many right now do not even remember what Proposition C is … the declaration of Los Angeles that corporations are not people, and the demand for a constitutional amendment ending corporate personhood to be enacted.

This vote – like so many similar votes across this country – is a bold testament to the overwhelming consensus in the United States that the foundation of our modern economy – and with it so too our government – is contrary to the intent of our founding fathers and the well being of our nation.

With this let us also compound the effect our misguided economic system has on the rest of the world, in the form of the World Trade Organization, and the International Monetary Fund – run by the same corporations and banking executives that this vote confronts.  Think of how trade agreements like NAFTA and CAFTA – enacted to lift all trade restrictions to these same corporations, while destroying local economies throughout the hemisphere – are implicitly balked at in this vote – a vote that decries the infamy of injustice that is embodied in corporate personhood against real life, living, breathing human beings.

Pulling the rug from underneath corporate personhood is a deep blow at the root and causes of all the suffering and poverty that we see today.

Returning to the original law of this country – 150 years ago – when only human beings were considered as people – when corporations were chartered and legislated by law to serve a specific function for the benefit of society, under the supervision of the government and strictly regulated, would essentially overturn capitalism as we know it.

The idea is so powerful, so profound, that it is revolutionary in nature.  That is what Los Angeles just voted for in a landslide election.  This story is so big that it has the potential to change our entire world.  It is so big in fact that the only story bigger is the total media blackout around it.

Chain Envelops Independent Newspaper

No it’s not an April Fools Day joke. The 40-year-old independent newspaper, the Marina del Rey Argonaut, has been sold to a newspaper chain, Southland Publishing, Incorporated.

The Argonaut was founded by David Asper Johnson, who was its owner-publisher until his death in 2006. He willed the paper to Argonaut employee Carol Hector, who ran it until her death in 2010.

Hector willed the paper to her spouse and long-time partner Arlene Ruiz.

According to a Sept. 8, 2010 article in the Argonaut, “Johnson, who founded The Argonaut in November 1971, said he wanted to assure the public that The Argonaut would continue to be locally owned as an independent local newspaper, and new publisher Ruiz says it was Hector’s wish to continue Johnson’s legacy. Hector had left instructions concerning the future of the paper that would assure its continuing as a locally-owned and -operated independent community newspaper, Ruiz added.”

What happened?

Whatever it was, Southland Publishing, Inc. is now in control. The corporation seems to specialize in L.A. Weekly-type tabloids. Its most popular newspaper was L.A. CityBeat, which went out of business in 2006. It continues to publish Pasadena Weekly, San Diego CityBeat, and Inland Empire Weekly, among others.

Whether the Argonaut is facing a make-over or changes in its appearance or editorial policy is unknown at this time. However, it is noteworthy that Southland has appointed its vice president of operations rather than a journalist as its new Argonaut publisher.

The Beachhead Hits 43

By Jim Smith

One of the many distinctions Venice holds is that of being the only city in North America with a progressive newspaper run by an all-volunteer collective. Even back in the heyday of alternative newspapers – the Sixties – most were owned by one person, usually a man.

In Southern California, there was the venerable Los Angeles Free Press, owned by Art Kunkin, and the OB Rag, which now has a website <OBRag.org>, was initiated in Ocean Beach in 1970 by Publisher Frank Gormlie. Countless other papers started up, published an issue or two, and disappeared.

Meanwhile, mainstream newspapers, some of which have been around for more than 100 years, are ceasing publication. Most have been bought up by newspaper chains which are beholden to Wall Street. The Los Angeles Times, long the plaything of the Chandler family of Pasadena, is now in the clutches of the Chicago Tribune (which might explain all those articles about Chicago). The Tribune Corporation was run out of New York City by a victorious strike at the Daily News before it turned its attention to the L.A. Times.

Thanks to a compliant Federal Communications Commission (FCC), the ban was lifted in 2007 on any media company owning both a TV Station and a newspaper in the same city. The Tribune, which owned Gene Autry’s old station, Channel 5, was free to also buy the Times. Channels 13 and 11 both became the property of Fox, neatly ending “independent” television. Like other greedy corporations, Tribune ate too much and had to declare bankruptcy. Earlier this year, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals reinstated the ban. Now, the new FCC Chairperson, Obama-appointee Julius Genachowski, wants to re-overturn it to the applause of the media corporations.

In the olden days, big wheels in small and large towns would own a newspaper for prestige, not for profit. That all changed as Gannett, Knight-Ridder, Thompson, the New York Times Inc. and other big corporations bought up papers by the bushel full and changed them into bland purveyors of the Truth as seen by Corporate America.

Here in Venice, the Beachhead continues to chug along blissfully unaffected by the ups and downs of the stock market. All the other Alternative newspapers are gone, or have morphed into advertising vehicles like the L.A. Weekly, which is now owned by the New Times Corporation.

While most other newspapers are feeding their readers pabulum, the Beachhead has been informing the community about the issues that affect their lives. In the past year, we have advocated for the homeless, including those in vehicles, since they have no one else to speak up for them, and because it is the right thing to do.

We sounded the alarm on the plans of the city of Los Angeles to take the Vera Davis Center away from the community. Today, it remains a social service center serving the Oakwood section of Venice. We blew the whistle of the stealthy plans to erect a giant Ferris Wheel on the beach. The plan is still moving ahead, but most people know about it now.

We have enthusiastically supported the Occupy Movement. What other newspaper has devoted its entire front page to Occupy as we did last month?

And since April, we have been fighting, along with the rest of Venice, to save our historic post office on the Circle. The Beachhead has reached out to bring in all segments of the community (some of them kicking and screaming) in a wall-to-wall coalition that has the power to take on the U.S. Postal Service’s ill considered sale of our Post Office.

The Beachhead’s record in past years – going back to 1968 – is just as noteworthy. We believe it deserves support from the community. In fact, our support is all from the community. It is from local Sustainers who contribute $100 a year (or $8.33 a month) that allows us to publish, and from local merchants who take advantage of our low advertising rates to let the community know of their existence.

Here in the midst of a Depression that is driving much bigger newspapers out of business, we need your support more than ever. We have no high salaries to pay. In fact, we have no salaries at all, only volunteers. But we do have to pay our printer, who does a great job in turning our articles, photos, letters, poetry and cartoons into thousands of copies that are snatched up by Venetians at more than 100 locations. Let’s keep the presses rolling.

 

Please join us at our annual celebration on Dec. 17 at Beyond Baroque. See details on back page.   

L.A. Times Distorts Homeless/RV Issues – Again

By Peggy Lee Kennedy

The Los Angeles Times ran a story dated May 27 by Martha Groves with a picture of a group of RVs parked on 7th Street in Venice. Except the RVs were cleared off 7th on Memorial Day, May 25, by LAPD Officers Theresa Skinner and Peggy Thusing along with the tow trucks from the Valley.

The next evening after Memorial Day, a vigilante broke out the back window of an RV belonging to a disabled woman, who happens to be the widow of a recently deceased veteran. She claims that she is the victim of a hate crime.

The LA Times keeps quoting people who are calling the RVs a nuisance and telling nasty stories about people like this woman. This, along with anti-vagrant laws such as the OPD law, and law enforcement may be helping to inspire the hate behind this kind of vigilante activity. (see Southern Poverty Law Center: Hating The Homeless <http://tinyurl.com/mt88tk&gt;.

According to the May 27 L.A. Times article, Rosendahl is “studying programs in Santa Barbara and Eugene, Ore., that have designated overnight parking lots for RV dwellers.” It looks more like the city is busy relocating homeless people in RVs via tow trucks and police impound, which is a costly road that can lead many people straight to the sidewalk. The so-called proposed solutions for RV dwellers are a ruse if there is nowhere reasonable for them to park and their dwellings are getting towed away – especially if they cannot come up with the impound ransom to get their homes back.

Venice still has progressive people that oppose criminalization and Venice still has low-income people living here that will be disproportionally affected by the pending OPD permit parking being heard at the Coastal Commission meeting June 11. Too bad the mainstream press or the local government does not represent them/us. It is not only homeless people living in vehicles that will get hurt by the OPDs. But they will be hurt. We are home to the Venice Family (Free) Clinic, which is one of the largest free clinics in the country and 16 percent of their clients are local homeless people. We have food providers every day of the week such as St Joseph’s, our Peace with Justice Pantry, the Mildred Cursh Foundation, and others. There are critical, life essential reasons poor and homeless people are in Venice.

The L.A. Times and Martha Groves are only helping the pro-OPD people who are working to remove poor people and socially-economically cleanse our beach town. See the Free Venice Beachhead May article “What’s Behind The Push For OPDs for some history on the people and the OPDs. Furthermore, by continually quoting the people who say nasty things about homeless people in her articles, Groves may be helping to inspire and spread more hate, which is known to lead to hate activity. Hate is not what the world needs now.

March 2008 – The Fellowship Of The Beachhead – Or How I Got To Be In Charge For A Change

By Lynne Bronstein

For the last 30 years or so, women have been learning to assert themselves and how to delegate authority without aping the worst traits of authoritative males. Does assertiveness training work? Well, it still helps if people are able to abandon their double standards. Regardless of what one thinks of Hillary Clinton’s politics, one has to agree that she comes in for some bashing for her take-charge attitude.

As for poor little old me, I’ve been trying for years to overcome a plethora of fears in order to get what I need. I’ve always been more of a loner than either a follower or a leader. But I have to thank the Venice Beachhead for helping me to see that I did have it in me to be a leader.

The Beachhead has always been run as a Collective and nobody is the editor. Editorial decisions are made by the entire group. Of course, since somebody has to lead meetings and organize production, every month one person volunteers to be the Coordinator, which would otherwise be called the Managing Editor. Back when I was on the Collective-late 1970s and early 1980s – each month’s meeting would begin with the last month’s Coordinator asking who wanted to take over for the new month-and somebody would volunteer.

For the first few months, I didn’t volunteer because I was new and wanted to learn more about the functioning of the paper. Then, I didn’t volunteer because it seemed as though all the others were so accustomed to speaking up that I wasn’t able to jump in fast enough.

And then it got to the point where many Collective members were growing weary of the task of coordinating. The question would come up and there would be a moment of silence and then someone would sigh and say “okay, I’ll do it, just this once more.”

Finally came a month when the question was posed. I had been thinking about how I had a golden opportunity to finally “jump in” and say that I would coordinate. There was the silence. Nobody spoke. So I nudged myself and said “I’ll do it.”

Remember that moment in The Fellowship of the Ring when the various elves, dwarves, and humans are discussing who should travel to Mordor to destroy the ring, and everyone has excuses, and finally, little Frodo speaks up and says he’ll take the Ring to Mordor? And the others are abashed and they pledge to help Frodo on his journey?

I felt tears in my eyes when I saw that part of the movie because it reminded me of the time I first volunteered to be Coordinator of the Venice Beachhead.

Nobody knelt at my feet but nobody said “No, Lynne, you aren’t assertive enough to manage things.” It wasn’t Beachhead policy to second-guess somebody else’s abilities. I was entitled to have my turn as all the others did.

That being said, I soon realized that my first task would be to establish a sense of order, for my co-workers were gossiping and I needed to quiet them down. So, when my gestures and murmurs of “Quiet” were not heeded, I took out my police whistle that I carried for self-defense and I blew the whistle! Everyone hushed up at the sound.

Then we laughed and someone said “I like the way Lynne takes charge!”

I coordinated that issue and at least two other issues. There were no fights or ego struggles. I didn’t have to stretch myself into a dictator to get my instructions across.

I don’t know if the whole world could be run by the collective process but I do know that it was and is a system that allows the formerly powerless to taste what power is like-without abusing power.

And over the years, the Venice Beachhead has been the home of a large number of assertive, smart, creative women who contribute to the paper in every possible way.

I’m glad I got to be one of them.