[Peace-discuss] AWARE Minutes, February 26, 2005

[David Green]

AWARE Minutes, February 26, 2006

Facilitator: Ricky Baldwin
Minutes: David Green
Time: Durl Kruse

Additions, clarifications, and corrections requested:

1. News of the Week: Discussion of possible
perpetrators of Samarra mosque bombing, including the
U.S.

2. Introductions: 15 present

3. New Ideas:

Randall Cotton encouraged WEFT Associates and other
interested parties to attend the WEFT Associates
meeting this Thursday at Illinois Terminal, 7 p.m. He
will be attempting to regain a seat on the WEFT Board,
in order to create a more open atmosphere that will
help WEFT to be utilized better as a community
resource, as well as to prevent future banishments.

Mort Brussel suggested that AWARE support the effort
of endtheoccupation.org to oppose HR 4681, which takes
punitive measures against the Palestinian people for
electing Hamas. This motion was supported with
unanimous consent.

Individuals are encouraged to write letters to the
News-Gazette in response to John Foreman’s virulent
anti-Muslim column of today, Sunday.

The United for Peace and Justice ad campaign to place
calls for withdrawal in local newspapers was raised by
Mort Brussel. We have a small working group, but there
are some reservations about using any significant
amount of AWARE money for such an ad. It was suggested
by Jamie Storm that we might look into billboards,
which are not necessarily expensive. Support from
other local groups needs to be gauged before
proceeding with this effort.

Illinois Coalition for Peace and Justice (ICPJ) will
be holding a one-day conference at McKinley on April
1st. Mort and Jan Kruse will be attending on behalf of
AWARE. Conference organizers are looking for
suggestions for break-out session topics. The deadline
is March 1st, this Wednesday.

Co-sponsorship of the IDF human rights film series was
approved.

4. Working Groups:

Finances: About $2,500.

AWARE Presents: Anthony Shadid will be having a full
schedule for his visit here on March 7th and 8th,
including a talk at the Presbyterian Church, and
interview on WILL, and a visit to Uni High. His visit
is being well supported on campus by Muslim Women’s
Outreach and by SORF (Steve Hartnett).

Church Presence: a meeting will be planned in
mid-March for possible actions on April 2nd and 9th,
the two weeks before Easter Sunday.

Urbana City Council Resolution: Subsequent to the
successful town hall meeting, pressure needs to be
applied to bring the resolution to a vote. Four votes
are needed, with Chynoweth, Smythe, and Bowersox (??)
on board, with a fourth needed, which should be Dennis
Roberts, although he has not committed and needs to
hear from his constitutents (or so he claims). Robert
Lewis is also undecided. It is hoped that the
resolution will be proposed on March 13th and voted on
on March 20th. Thanks to the Kruse’s and Storm’s for
committing so much time to the contacting and
strategizing regarding this resolution, beyond the
town hall itself, which included Gary Storm, Mort
Brussel, Danielle Chynoweth, Mohammed al-Heeti, and
Bushra Radeef.

Karen Median suggested that we begin a library of
AWARE events on tape, starting with the town hall
meeting.

Counter-recruitment: Mort reports that a Navy
recruiter will be visiting Central on March 6th; we
don’t know yet whether we’ll be allowed to table at
that time. Centennial will allow counter-recruitment,
but no specific arrangement has been made yet.

5. Past Week’s Events

Ricky Baldwin reported a successful Jobs with Justice
organizing meeting, attended by about 30 at the
Champaign County Healthcare Consumers office.

Tuesday: Urbana City Council antiwar resolution town
hall meeting

Wednesday: Simon Deng (Darfur) and cartoon controversy
meetings

6. Upcoming Events:

Coalition for Social Change, a new organization to
bring together students and others, will be meeting at
the Red Herring (Channing-Murray) on Wednesday night
at 7:30, organized by Andrea Brandon.

Thursday at 7 at Illinois Terminal, WEFT Associates
meeting to vote on Randall Cotton for board member.

Friday at 8 a.m., demonstrate in front of Hilton site
(Kirby & Neil) to support union labor.

Saturday, 4 p.m., Patrick Thompson defense group at
IMC in library; a fundraiser is being planned,
including a viewing of Citizens’ Watch video.




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