[Peace-discuss] What, then...

[Robert Naiman]

Another historical note: when the first iraq war started, there was a march
from then rep terry bruce's office in downtown champaign to the quad, which
involved about 1000 people. we could march from the quad to johnson's office
or the reverse -- the trip down florida/kirby would be fairly high
visibility, especially around kirby/neil.

check in with other groups: excellent idea. I can check in with IDF/PRC.

perhaps we could do a joint statement to tim johnson now, like the one
organized by the friends meeting on iraq.

handout: i would be happy to work on this. i nominate ricky to assist me.

letters: let's get started on this right away.

commondreams has "attack iran? no" stickers for $5, cheaper in bulk.
www.commondreams.org.

On 4/21/06, Ricky Baldwin <baldwinricky at yahoo.com> wrote:
>
> Thanks for thinking of this, Carl-
>
> One historical note first :-)  When AWARE planned and
> held its "evening-the-attack-begins" protest at the
> start of the Iraq war, it was at the corner of
> University and State in Champaign (West Side Park).
> The idea was visibility, which would normally be
> excellent there at the time it was planned.
>
> However, what occurred was that a Champaign policeman,
> apparently on his own, blocked off University Ave from
> Lynn to State (its one-way there) and told protestors
> as well as reporters who arrived, "It's over.  You
> missed it."  There was a storm gathering (yes, yes,
> but I mean a meteorological one), and he claimed the
> event had been called off.  No amount of reasoning
> with him would convince him that the protest was still
> on or that there was no need to block off the road
> (espcially if the protest was, allegedly, off),
> including when (I) made a show of running down the
> sidewalk to the gathering protest to double-check with
> the main organizer Jeff Sowers and running back to
> report to the cop car.
>
> The cop just grinned at (me) and repeated, "I'm
> telling you, we're with you guys."  In the end Jeff
> had to complain to his supervisor, parked across the
> street from our protest in a plain car, and the cop
> then promptly unblocked the road.  We will never know
> how many people or how much press we missed during the
> hour or so this took, let alone how many passersby.
>
> Of course the highest traffic-count area in town
> overall, is Prospect around I-74.  It's not as
> accessible as downtown, of course, nor as kid-friendly
> or generally conducive to rallying.  It would
> certainly irk Thompson, tho :-)
>
> The other spot that has something to recommend it is
> One Main, of course.  Wasn't a possibility last time,
> easy, open, folks are used to going there and some
> might just show up in desperation even if they don't
> get the word of any plans we might make.  I'm not sure
> what traffic is like there at 5-6 pm???
>
> Of course the Courthouse is good, too, and it does
> have some symbolic value.  And everybody knows where
> it is, even if they've never been to a protest, which
> is not true of One Main.  Vine is heavily trafficked
> during the rush-minute, and the area is open and
> denuded enough that visibility is good to Vine.  Good
> rallying possibilities there.
>
> I think we should check in with PRC, CU Citizens, etc.
> on this.  Presumably there is time, and the checking
> is good organizing in itself.  Let this be a
> joint-ownership thing.  AWARE began its life as a call
> for coalition; let's go there again.  I volunteer for
> this.
>
> I also think we should have a short handout ready on
> why attacking Iran is illegal, immoral and stupid.
> Who can do it?
>
> I can do press if folks want.
>
> In the meantime we should also be making new signs,
> writing letters to the editor, probably a public
> square piece ... should we investigate whether anyone
> is doing  "Don't Attack Iran" yard signs like before?
> What else?
>
> Ricky
>
> --- Robert Naiman  <naiman.uiuc at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > Maybe the federal courthouse in Urbana deserves a
> > second look.
> >
> > - it's centrally located, at least in terms of
> > urbana
> > - everybody knows where it is
> > - it's easy to get to by bus or bicycle
> > - mobbing it, perhaps even shutting it down for a
> > while, wouldn't
> > inconvenience the broad public
> > - it symbolizes "justice"
> > - but also suggests "prison"
> > - we'd get to deal with the urbana police, which i
> > personally prefer to
> > dealing with the champaign police. such a protest in
> > urbana might well
> > involve e.g. former council members, so the urbana
> > police might think twice
> > about manhandling people.
> >
> >
> > On 4/21/06, C. G. Estabrook <galliher at uiuc.edu>
> > wrote:
> > >
> > > Contemplating the remarkable complacency with
> > which people
> > > seem to be regarding the plans of the madmen
> > running our
> > > government for an attack on Iran -- an attack
> > contrary to the
> > > US Constitution (even the War Powers Resolution
> > doesn't
> > > justify it), the UN Charter (Article 51), and the
> > Nuremberg
> > > principles (on the grounds of which we hanged
> > Germans leaders
> > > after WWII) -- I began to think, Suppose an attack
> > is
> > > announced: where do we assemble in this town to
> > protest?
> > >
> > > We have no obvious public square.  (Our democracy
> > is so
> > > eviscerated that here the phrase refers to a radio
> > program.)
> > > The places that symbolize the federal government
> > are in the
> > > federal city, Washington, or in its neighborhood
> > (the
> > > Pentagon), so perhaps the thing to do is to flood
> > that city.
> > > There seems little sense in demonstrating locally
> > at places
> > > associated with state or local government.
> > >
> > > I could think of four places that might represent
> > the federal
> > > government in Champaign-Urbana:
> > >        --the joint military recruiting office at
> > 1615 W.
> > >        Springfield Ave. Champaign;
> > >        --the federal court house at 201 S. Vine
> > Urbana;
> > >        --the FBI office at 116 N. Chestnut
> > Champaign; and
> > >        --our Congressional representative's office
> > at 2004
> > >        Fox Drive Champaign.
> > >
> > > Of the four, only Johnson's office seems a
> > reasonable
> > > possibility, and it's (no doubt purposely) out of
> > the way.
> > > Downtown [sic] Champaign or Urbana (perhaps by the
> > IMC) seem
> > > fairly pointless.  Maybe the UI quad is the best
> > place to
> > > exercise our "right ... peaceably to assemble, and
> > to petition
> > > the Government for a redress of grievances" in
> > such an event.
> > > But it seems a bit silly.  Thoughts?   --CGE
> > > _______________________________________________
> > > Peace-discuss mailing list
> > > Peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net
> > >
> >
> http://lists.chambana.net/cgi-bin/listinfo/peace-discuss
> > >
> >
> >
> >
> > --
> > RN
> > > _______________________________________________
> > Peace-discuss mailing list
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> >
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> >
>
>
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--
RN
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