<html><head><style type="text/css"><!-- DIV {margin:0px;} --></style></head><body><div style="font-family:times new roman, new york, times, serif;font-size:12pt"><DIV>Rachel,</DIV>
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<DIV>Based on what you've described here, your work at the WRC largely falls within the standard, elitist definitions of "worthy victims," that is victims that we can talk about in the U.S. without having to implicate our own government in their victimization. This is especially true, for example, for Burundi and Bosnia.</DIV>
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<DIV>Personally, I don't see "women and war" as a worthy topic apart from war itself. And of course your agenda studiously avoids Israel and Palestine, while institutions on our campus and in our community ignore that daily violence that is done to all Palestinians, including women and children.</DIV>
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<DIV>And it's interesting how you wish to draw boundaries and take this out of the public space into which you initiated your original message. That's consistent with the limitations of your form of advocacy--let's not disagree in public.</DIV>
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<DIV>I guarantee to personally give you $100 if WRC lifts a finger to seriously address the issue of Israel and Palestine, and the involvement of local perpetrators, including faculty members.</DIV>
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<DIV>David<BR></DIV>
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<B><SPAN style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">From:</SPAN></B> Rachel Storm <rachelstrm@gmail.com><BR><B><SPAN style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">To:</SPAN></B> Teresa Ramos <tramosuiuc@gmail.com><BR><B><SPAN style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">Cc:</SPAN></B> David Green <davegreen84@yahoo.com><BR><B><SPAN style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">Sent:</SPAN></B> Wed, October 13, 2010 4:57:45 PM<BR><B><SPAN style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">Subject:</SPAN></B> Re: [Peace] Fwd: Does the "War on Terror" Still Exist. Controversial Speaker at 7pm TONIGHT in Follinger Auditorium!!! PLEASE ATTEND!!!<BR></FONT><BR>
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<DIV><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: arial, helvetica, sans-serif">Thank you, Teresa. </SPAN></DIV>
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<DIV><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: arial, helvetica, sans-serif">David,</SPAN></DIV>
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<DIV><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: arial, helvetica, sans-serif">I appreciate and share your concerns. When you jump to the conclusion that the WRC hasn't--in its 1 and 1/2 years of existence--hosted any programs and events that challenged students to examine war, to look at the impact of war on women, or given students the platform to speak-out against war, then you clearly aren't familiar with our programming enough to be passing judgment. </SPAN></DIV>
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<DIV><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: arial, helvetica, sans-serif">Just less than two weeks ago, the WRC's Writ n' Rhymed Poetry hosted an "<I>Anti-War Poetry Open Mic Night</I>"--ironically the day after Obama's declaration---which many noted and critiqued. One of the very first programs I did in the semester was a film showing of the documentary <I><A style="COLOR: rgb(17,65,112)" href="http://www.peacexpeace.org/media/our-media/video/" rel=nofollow target=_blank>Peace x Peace: Women on the Frontlines</A>, </I>which is a project documenting not simply the ways in which women are victimized by war, but what women peace activists in the US, Burundi, Afghanistan, Burma, and Bosnia are doing to create peace in the context of war. We also have had articles up in our center for students to read about war and the normalization of sexual assault. As part of our Global Grrls in Focus Series, we'll also showing <A style="COLOR: rgb(17,65,112)"
href="http://tv.nytimes.com/show/39244/Afghanistan-Captives-of-the-Warlords/overview" rel=nofollow target=_blank>"Afghanistan: Captives of the Warlords"</A>--and that's just naming a few. I just showed the film <A style="COLOR: rgb(17,65,112)" href="http://www.theresponsemovie.com/" rel=nofollow target=_blank>"The Response"</A> on torture based entirely on the US Military tribunals. We have done numerous programs and had numerous conversations at our center on women and war, among other issues. And just to contextualize things---I was hired less than 14 months ago and this is only my third semester. Since being hired, I've single-handedly designed the majority of our programs and events (we've averaged 35 events a month), created our library and other resources, and tried my best to bring lots of important issues to the table.</SPAN></DIV>
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<DIV><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: arial, helvetica, sans-serif">That being said, I would agree that there can be never enough discussion on these issues. I plan to continue to bring various issues to the WRC and work with students to create connections between issues embedded in and presented by things like war known. If you'd like to make some more suggestions for programs and events for the Women's Resources Center, I ask that you do it constructively and contact me at my university e-mail: <A style="COLOR: rgb(17,65,112)" href="mailto:rstorm2@illinois.edu" rel=nofollow target=_blank ymailto="mailto:rstorm2@illinois.edu">rstorm2@illinois.edu</A>.</SPAN></DIV>
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<DIV><FONT class=Apple-style-span face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif">Rachel</FONT></DIV></SPAN></FONT><BR>
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