[Peace-discuss] to go where no demonstration has gone before

[Morton K. Brussel]

Put this on the AWARE agenda.

--mkb


On Sep 14, 2007, at 9:29 AM, Robert Naiman wrote:

>
> Dear Karen et al.
>
> I am a huge fan of this idea.
>
> I totally agree that there is plenty to do "here." But, I would  
> argue that our notion of "here" ought to extend outside the city  
> limits of Champaign-Urbana, because "here" includes our  
> responsibility to try to pressure Tim Johnson. I think a key aspect  
> of pressuring Tim Johnson is demonstrating that opposition to the  
> war and U.S. policy generally is not confined to Champaign-Urbana,  
> or to C-U and Bloomington-Normal. Obviously, our capacity to do  
> this is not infinite, but the choice before us is not zero vs.  
> infinity, but zero vs. something.
>
> I strongly doubt that we would be arrested for a legal  
> demonstration in e.g. Mahomet. The First Amendment also works  
> there. Of course, people who are genuinely afraid should not be  
> pressed to go, regardless of whether their fears are rational.  
> There are no guarantees - sometimes people are arrested for First  
> Amendment activity, as we all know, even in our nation's capital -  
> but it's very rare. Again I wouldn't push anyone to do anything  
> that they wouldn't feel safe doing. But I doubt that if this were  
> the only concern, we couldn't find people to go.
>
> As we all know from our own experience, there are people who hate  
> war everywhere, even in "conservative small towns." As Karen  
> suggests, if someone were to organize such a thing, it might  
> encourage folks in the town who feel isolated.
>
> I think that choosing an appropriate context would be important.  
> Like, if Tim Johnson or his staff are holding a public event in the  
> place. Then we could say, we're here to protest Tim Johnson, that's  
> where he is, so that's where we are.
>
> Let's try it once, and see what happens...
>
> On 9/13/07, Karen Medina <kmedina at uiuc.edu> wrote:
> Dear Peace Discuss,
>
> It has been suggested that AWARE demonstrations (in the future)  
> extend to small towns around Champaign-Urbana (i.e. we go and  
> demonstrate in other towns).
>
> My immediate thought was that we have enough to do here.
>
> Others' reactions included "we would be arrested in small towns".
>
> My second thought was "surely there are people in the smaller towns  
> that are against this 'war' that are afraid to say anything until  
> someone else stands up first."
>
> So, rather than continue this discussion in my head only, I open it  
> for discussion here.
>
> -karen medina
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>
>
> -- 
> Robert Naiman
> Just Foreign Policy
> http://www.justforeignpolicy.org
>
> Just Foreign Policy's current estimate of Iraqi deaths due to  
> violence since the U.S. invasion - now more than a million:
> http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/iraq/iraqdeaths.html
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