[Peace-discuss] Last night's meeting

[Linda Evans]

Karen, thank you for you thoughtful email.  Al, I am
so sorry that you don't see a need for conflict
resolution in AWARE.  I was so upset (not for the same
reasons) after last night's meeting myself that I
drafted a "resignation" letter as Treasurer and
thankfully did not send it.  Today, I am ready to work
on things instead of throwing in the towel.  

I know many people (most whom I would call my friends)
in AWARE who have been disruptive and rude from time
to time...I include myself.    We are dealing with big
issues and we all feel strongly.  In every activist
group I've been involved in there have been problems
like this from time to time.  We will disagree with
how things should be worded, we will disagree with how
things should be handled, we will disagree...this is
unavoidable and I believe shouldn't be avoided.  I
would be very worried if we all agreed 100% of the
time.

AWARE, as long as I've been involved, has always had
working groups so if people disagreed with one project
they don't work on it and focus their energy on
something else.  It was hard to get used to "anarchy"
for me at first, but now I feel very protective of it.
 I don't think AWARE will be the organization I am
happy to be a part of if we start to get bogged down
in rules and etiquette.  

During the heated protests on N. Prospect when the
anti-peace people were there I did not agree with
every sign.  I felt some signs and some actions
probably turned people away from AWARE and our
message.  I was happy that we didn't censor anyone
because people will listen to different things,
different actions strike a cord with different
people..what turns one person off will be the one
thing that touches another's heart.

I am not worried at all about AWARE being divided.  I
would hope we are never all together on much besides
being anti-war and anti-racism.   We won't grow if we
all agree or never debate.

The reason I'm calling for conflict resolution is
because of the personal attacks.  Carl could be banned
and we would still have conflict in AWARE.  I amazed
by the people using him as a scape goat.  All along we
should have been discussing how to handle situations
like the Obama meeting in an more effective way next
time instead of slapping individual members on the
wrist.  Please!  Where does that get us?  Where we are
now.  I was not at the Obama event or the meeting
where people apparently jumped from their chairs and
ran across the room in a menacing gesture or where
people interrupted the facilitator who apparently felt
very strongly about the discussion and was maybe not
extremely neutral.  I wasn't there, but I respect and
care about all the people involved in these actions. 
I think they are all important to AWARE and did the
best they could at the time.  Am I disappointed that
AWARE was mentioned in the N-G in such a way?  Sure. 
I'm pretty sure that AWARE's reputation will be okay
and I hope yours will too.  I am more scared of AWARE
censoring our members than what Carl might write next.

Al, what do you want?  I am in no hurry to rehash
personal attacks against Carl or against you.  I trust
that we are all adults and can get past that and if we
can't them I think we need mediation.  Do you want to
discuss new ways we can address members of our
government when they come to town?  I am all ears.  Do
you want to discuss how we can be more sensitive to
others in the anti-war community?  I am all ears.  Do
you want to discuss how we can work on our anti-racism
effort?  I am all ears.  

Linda
--- Alfred Kagan <akagan at uiuc.edu> wrote:

> I want to say that I was very disappointed and
> frustrated at last 
> night’s meeting.  AWARE has now gone two weeks since
> one of our 
> influential members not only disrupted our meeting,
> but was 
> extraordinarily rude and disrespectful to the
> facilitator, and 
> continually interrupted several members of the group
> who voiced 
> critical opinions. He then went on to publish
> divisive comments in the 
> N-G which misrepresented and distorted my views and
> brought disrepute 
> on the group.  Since these kinds of interactions are
> nothing new, and 
> have occurred every few months (with somewhat less
> intensity), I am 
> mystified by this lack of action.
> 
> It appears that some members of AWARE are not taking
> this seriously 
> enough.  Some are calling for “conflict resolution”
> rather than 
> addressing the need for respectful interactions and
> personal 
> accountability.  Some are ready to put this in the
> past, or put it off 
> as long as possible.  Some are afraid of “dividing”
> the group.
> 
> In case anyone is not aware, the group is already
> divided.  A 
> principled discussion is not going to further divide
> us.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Al Kagan
> African Studies Bibliographer and Professor of
> Library Administration
> University of Illinois Library
> 1408 W. Gregory Drive
> Urbana, IL 61801
> 
> tel. 217-333-6519
> fax 217-333-2214
> akagan at uiuc.edu>
_______________________________________________
> Peace-discuss mailing list
> Peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net
>
http://lists.chambana.net/cgi-bin/listinfo/peace-discuss
>