[Peace-discuss] UFPJ Membership and Conference

[Randall Cotton]

Here are more details on the UFPJ Chicago conference I'm attending June 6-8,
and membership in UFPJ:

To review, UFPJ ( www.unitedforpeace.org) is the organization that put
together the biggest US anti-war demonstrations against the invasion of
Iraq. They were the primary US coordinators of the massive 10-million strong
worldwide anti-war marches back on Feb. 15, bringing out 500,000 in New York
(where they are based) and 250,000 in San Francisco. Unlike International
A.N.S.W.E.R (whose Jan 18. DC demonstration AWARE attended en masse), UFPJ
came together as a result of the impending war (back in October of last
year) and focused on it exclusively. Also unlike the much more insular
International A.N.S.W.E.R., UFPJ is primarily a coalition, initially of 70
organizations that came together under the following "consensus statement":

"The demand placed on us by world events is to deal with the Iraq crisis and
to work to stop the war that is being planned. This is unfolding in a global
context where other crises can and will erupt in connection to the Iraq
crisis and they too will demand our action. In addition, we will oppose new
repressive measures at home. We can and will work together now, focused on
stopping this war, and as we go forward we will discuss other issues and the
larger context. Unite for Peace & Justice and say NO! to war."

To me, this seems to closely parallel AWARE's aims. Since UFPJ's inception,
hundreds more international, national and local anti-war organizations have
joined as members. To see a recent listing, go to:

http://www.unitedforpeace.org/article.php?list=type&type=16

A few weeks ago, leading up to the conference, UFPJ started a push to
contact local organizations and encourage them to join as members and attend
the Chicago conference and that's how I learned about all this. Full details
on the conference itself are at:

http://www.unitedforpeace.org/article.php?list=type&type=25

Unless there is objection on the list here or at the next meeting (I'll put
in an agenda item), I was going to add AWARE to the list of member
organizations. This does not obligate us to anything tangible, really.
Quoting from their web site (specifically,
http://www.unitedforpeace.org/article.php?list=type&type=16 )

"United for Peace & Justice welcomes the participation of any and all
national, regional and local groups who share our goal and wish to work with
others."

And, quoting from a recent e-mail from UFPJ:

"UFPJ has always been open to any local group or national organization that
wants to participate. We only ask for a willingness to work cooperatively
and an agreement with our consensus statement."

The "consensus statement" is the one I've quoted above. The statement is a
little out of date, clearly predating the war, but one of the agenda items
in the upcoming Chicago conference is to revise it.

Now, being a member organization of UFPJ would allow us to send up to 2
"organizational delegates" (I'm assuming I could be one of these two). These
"delegates" are given priority as follows (quoting from the main UFPJ
conference web page at
http://www.unitedforpeace.org/article.php?list=type&type=25 )

"Because this is a working conference of organizations, UFPJ is giving
priority to delegates officially representing peace and justice
organizations. Delegates will be able to speak and vote on all proposals
(e.g. campaigns, structure, etc.) We encourage your organization to join
UFPJ in order to be able to send delegates to the conference."

In addition, delegates get a special rate ($59) at the conference hotel
itself. There is also a "sliding scale" registration fee that starts at
$25/person (regardless of whether you attend as a delegate or not). I intend
to cover all costs since this is pretty much my own initiative.

Now, there is an additional benefit in sending "delegates" of member
organizations. If delegates bunk 2 to a room, UFPJ covers the cost of the
room. The upshot of this is that if someone wants to come along and room
with me, they can do it for a grand total of $25, the registration fee (and
it would save me at least $120). Meals other than breakfast are paid for by
UFPJ, BTW. Please let me know as soon as possible if you're interested.

I think that strong, massive nationwide networking of the anti-war movement
is the single best way to inoculate us against another debacle like Iraq in,
say, Iran, Syria, North Korea, Cuba, etc. This is probably the main reason
I'm interested in going. I'm also interested in what kind of ideas I might
get for the possible "internal" anti-war/progressive conference we might
have this fall.

So there you have it. Whaddya think?

And by the way, I'm not asking AWARE to cover any costs (though I wouldn't
complain if someone else proposed AWARE cover some of the cost, however
little).

R