[Peace-discuss] What AWARE calls on Obama & Congress to do... (new
working group)
Randall Cotton
recotton at earthlink.net
Thu Dec 4 17:03:19 CST 2008
: From: "C. G. Estabrook" <galliher at uiuc.edu>
: To: "Stuart Levy" <slevy at ncsa.uiuc.edu>
: Cc: <peace-discuss at anti-war.net>
: Sent: Thursday, December 04, 2008 3:31 PM
: Subject: Re: [Peace-discuss] What AWARE calls on Obama & Congress to
do...
:
: This is a great place to start.
Indeed, wonderful work. Thank you, Stuart.
And let me now revisit the suggestion I first put forward at last Sunday's
AWARE meeting.
I pointed out that for some months now, we have steadily put forth the
work necessary to get out a message (sometimes more than one) in the form
of a flyer that we distribute at the Main Event. I think it would behoove
our cause to leverage that work and radiate this message(s) using other
channels available to us. Letters to the editor, Public Square
commentaries on WILL, AWARE on the Air and any other ways we can think of
(such as Carl's suggestions). So I propose a new working group, call it
the "Monthly Message" working group (or whatever those involved wish to
call themselves). The idea is that this group of folks would take the Main
Event message, whatever it might be, and take advantage of the work that
went into it to derivatively create one or more letters to the editor (and
we don't have to limit ourselves just to the DI or the NG - how about
papers in Springfield, Bloomington, Normal and Peoria?). With only
marginally more work we could also propose a Public Square commentary for
WILL-AM (which reaches most parts of the state, mind you). We could make
as brief or as extended a piece for Aware on the Air as we wish or have
time for. And certainly, if there's interest in a dedicated public
presentation at a library or other public place, by all means let's go
forth with that.
I want to carefully note that participation in such a working group need
not be restricted to folks that attend AWARE meetings. Certainly, there
are non-attending folks reading this list who could take our monthly
message material and distill it down to a 250-word letter to the editor, 3
minute audio commentary for a Public Square piece, etc.
I want to also point out that I'm not proposing that the monthly message
material originate within the group. I think we should stick to the model
that is already working well for that, which is that absolutely anyone can
come forward with a proposal for the Main Event flyer "monthly message"
content and AWARE as a group decides on which we actually wind up putting
into the flyer (just as we have been doing for some time). The MMWG would
just take the resulting message and spread it 8-)
At meetings, when a working group is proposed, we pass around a sheet for
folks to sign up with name, phone and e-mail. I'll do that this Sunday as
well, but I'm also requesting right here and now that folks who are or
might be interested in being part of such a working group to reply to me
with their contact info (even if you've never attended an AWARE meeting,
even if you've never even posted to this list). Being part of the working
group doesn't mean you'll be required to do anything. So even if you just
wind up listening to the internal working group discussion and maybe
commenting every once in a while, I'd still urge you to express your
interest and volunteer to be part of the working group if you feel so
inclined.
Thanks,
R
----- Original Message -----
From: "C. G. Estabrook" <galliher at uiuc.edu>
To: "Stuart Levy" <slevy at ncsa.uiuc.edu>
Cc: <peace-discuss at anti-war.net>
Sent: Thursday, December 04, 2008 3:31 PM
Subject: Re: [Peace-discuss] What AWARE calls on Obama & Congress to do...
: This is a great place to start. Perhaps we should arrange a public
meeting, say
: at one of the libraries, with press coverage, on what we're calling on
the new
: administration to do.
:
: We could "kick it old-style" -- i.e., like a teach-in. Use this
document as a
: basis -- copies to all who attend -- with comments by a group of
speakers from
: political groups, religious groups, even academics...
:
: We shouldn't let this work go to waste in the miasma of
bamism... --CGE
:
:
: Stuart Levy wrote:
: > Here's another draft, following input from lots of you.
: > It's a little long (77 lines where I wanted 66), and of course
: > leaves a lot out, but I did want some sort of introduction explaining
: > why on earth we even bother to say all this now.
: >
: > You might cringe at the heading; if you see a better one,
: > please let me know. I do think it's important to appeal to all those
: > (many, many!) people who see the new Administration as representing
: > a chance for improvement, so using Obama's own rhetoric seemed
appropriate.
: >
: > =============================================================
: > AWARE calls on the Obama administration
: > to live up to the promise of change
: >
: > Do we need to do this? Shouldn't we just wait and see what he does?
No!
: > There's a great deal of power and trillions of dollars of money at
stake in
: > keeping things as they are, from the military industry, the new
"security"
: > industry, the media industry, the oil industry, the banking industry,
from many
: > sorts of powerful constituencies. They speak with confidence, calling
Obama's
: > Bush- and Clinton-era appointments "pragmatic" and "non-ideological".
: >
: > Beware of such labels: "pragmatism" implies not questioning
assumptions, such as the
: > assumption that the US has an inalienable right to use military force
anywhere in
: > the world, that major changes to the way we use energy or provide
health care are
: > just not feasible, that "free market" practices serve our people well,
that erosion
: > of civil liberties and use of torture are regrettable but necessary.
That's why...
: >
: > Obama Needs a Protest Movement [*]
: >
: > Obama is being compared with Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who brought in
the New Deal,
: > the fruits of which (Social Security, labor protections,
infrastructure creation, ...)
: > we still depend on. But as Frances Fox Piven[*] and others argue, FDR
didn't and
: > wouldn't have done it alone: "mass protests [...] forced him to make
choices he
: > would otherwise have avoided [...] the rise of protest movements
forced the new
: > president and the Democratic Congress to become bold reformers."
: >
: > Obama and the Congress need our pressure now to resist pressure from
our opponents,
: > who are not waiting. We must call on the Administration to carry out
the best of
: > Obama's promises, and to do other things which he has not promised.
Join us [**],
: > join other groups, act on your own, but act. Write letters to the
editor, to the new
: > Administration, to Congress. Make signs and demonstrate. Talk with
your neighbors.
: >
: > Some things AWARE [**] calls on the new Administration and Congress to
do:
: >
: > - Withdraw from Iraq *all* US troops, *and* all military
contractors.
: > The Iraqi Parliament agreed to a 2011 deadline, but don't wait.
: > Make it plain that the US will keep no military bases there.
: >
: > - End the war in Afghanistan. As in Iraq, our invasion violates
international law;
: > and as in Iraq, our violent presence there only strengthens our
opponents. Even
: > our own military have acknowledged that military means will not
suffice in
: > Afghanistan. Encourage the Afghan government's efforts to
negotiate with the
: > Taliban, including all who are willing to talk.
: >
: > - Cease illegal and counterproductive incursions into Pakistan,
Syria, Somalia, ...
: >
: > - Renew US efforts to resolve Israeli-Palestinian conflict,
including dismantling
: > West Bank settlements. Support the 2002 Arab League offer for
peace in exchange
: > for a return to the 1967 borders and agreement on refugee status.
Negotiate with
: > Hamas (as 64% of Israelis support doing) -- they won free and fair
elections.
: >
: > - Put our vast military spending, including our own weapons of mass
destruction,
: > on the table for cuts.
: >
: > - Close Guantanamo Bay, and end use of torture, as promised, and
promptly.
: >
: > - Whether by prosecution of those who created and justified the
policies, or by a
: > Truth Commission, ensure that the world and the US people know we
understand that
: > wars of aggression, torture and arbitrary imprisonment are never
acceptable.
: >
: > - Talk with Iran, as promised, without preconditions. Reestablish
US diplomatic
: > representation. Make clear that the US will accept a peaceful
Iranian nuclear power
: > program under international supervision. Seek Iran's help in
resolving Middle East
: > conflicts, including in Iraq, Afghanistan, Israel/Palestine, and
Lebanon.
: >
: > - Rethink our policies toward Central America and Latin America.
End our
: > long-running, counterproductive embargo against Cuba, and open a
dialog
: > with the Cuban government. Repair relations with Venezuela and
Bolivia,
: > including restoring Bolivia's preferential access to US markets.
: >
: > - Repudiate the Bush Administration's signing statements, and the
whole notion
: > that a President can override laws by fiat. Stop this terrible
precedent now.
: >
: > [*] http://www.thenation.com/doc/20081201/piven
: > Article by Frances Fox Piven's in the Dec. 1, 2008 issue of The
Nation
: >
: > [**] http://www.anti-war.net/ AWARE meets every Sunday at 5PM in the
basement
: > of the Independent Media Center, Broadway & Elm, Urbana.
: > _______________________________________________
: > Peace-discuss mailing list
: > Peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net
: > http://lists.chambana.net/cgi-bin/listinfo/peace-discuss
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