[Peace-discuss] Re: [Peace] Public Square advert for 4/30 Panel with Paul Street

[C. G. Estabrook]

I'm afraid this panel will be regarded as observing and attempting to enforce 
the limits of allowable debate. There are no AWARE members; fifty percent of it 
are academic political scientists, a group thoroughly vetted for conventional 
opinions.

Much more seriously, it excludes anti-war opinion from both the right and the 
left.  On the one side, the position of Chomsky, Cockburn, and the Black Agenda 
Report is unrepresented.  On the other, that of Ron Paul, Bill Kauffman, and 
Antiwar.com is absent.

One may argue that Paul Street's position is that of the first group, but the 
panel is certainly a timorous corrective to that.  The advertising even promotes 
a sanitizing time barrier between Street's talk and that of the panel.

One shouldn't be surprised. "AWARE Presents" ran a panel on Israel two years ago 
that was equally subservient to the narrow limits of received academic opinion 
(with one lone outsider as an example of what we used to call "repressive 
tolerance"). AWARE members with dissenting views weren't included.

Perhaps the Anti-War Anti-Racism Effort should put together a program critical 
in principle -- and not just "pragmatically" -- of the administration's efforts 
to kill people in the Middle East and restore the fortunes of the American elite.


Morton K. Brussel wrote:
> This has been submitted, in haste,  to WILL's /Public Square. /It may be 
> modified in the presentation. 
> 
> Hello, I’m Morton Brussel, speaking for AWARE. We are sponsoring a 
> significant event, namely an appraisal of the first 100 days of the 
> Obama presidency. This will take place at 7pm on Thursday, April 30, at 
> the Urbana City Council Chambers, and will be televised on UPTV local 
> cable channel 6.
>  
> The review will be discussed first by historian, journalist, activist 
> Paul Street, author of a recent book about Obama, followed by a panel of 
> varying viewpoints, consisting of Champaign County board member Carrol 
> Ammons, UIUC Professor of Political Science Paul Diehl, UIUC Professor 
> Brian Gaines, and Just Foreign Policy coordinator and activist Robert 
> Naiman.
>  
> Paul Street will speak for 45 minutes. Each panelist will give ten 
> minute presentations, and then there will be time for questions and 
> comments, interchanges between the panelists and the audience.
>  
> We expect that this will be an important discussion serving to 
> illuminate how successful the present administration has been in these 
> first 100 days in dealing with the serious questions confronting it, on 
> foreign and domestic policies, how the actions of the administration and 
> President Obama have been received by the American public, by allies of 
> the United States and by those with whom we confront in the wider world.
>  
> Clearly on the list of pressing topics that might be discussed are the 
> policies of the administration concerning 1) the wars and occupations in 
> Iraq in which we are engaged, 2) policies with regard to our relations 
> with other countries [e.g., Iran, Israel/Palestine, North Korea, 
> Pakistan, Venezuela, Cuba, Russia, China, India, Somalia, etc.] 3)  the 
> economic situation at home and administrations actions to deal with it, 
> 4) Civil rights at home and for our prisoners—habeas corpus and the 
> issue of torture, environmental policy, including how climate change is 
> considered, energy,
>  
> The list of issues that can be addressed will certainly be greater than 
> time will permit, but we expect an informative, stimulating appraisal of 
> what has been accomplished, what needs to be accomplished, what is most 
> important to accomplish, and what are the chances for success based on 
> what we now know of Obama’s actions and statements.
>  
> Please come and listen or watch: 7pm on Thursday April 30 at the U. City 
> Council Chambers on vine Street U. 
> 
> 
> 
> --mkb
> 
> 
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
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