[Peace-discuss] [sf-core] couple things

Sat Mar 13 11:57:58 CST 2010

Absolutely! The issue isn't whether to protest, but getting the info to those who oppose Rove's past-present-future agenda and would happily join peace activists in this -- Democrats, Friends, misc others... I'm guessing this is in the works?? Strength in numbers. --Jenifer

--- On Sat, 3/13/10, Robert Naiman <naiman.uiuc at gmail.com> wrote:

From: Robert Naiman <naiman.uiuc at gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [Peace-discuss] [sf-core] couple things
To: "Stuart Levy" <slevy at ncsa.uiuc.edu>
Cc: "C. G. ESTABROOK" <cge at shout.net>, "Socialist Forum" <sf-core at yahoogroups.com>, "Peace-discuss List" <peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net>
Date: Saturday, March 13, 2010, 11:12 AM

In addition to what Stuart said, Karl Rove is a contemporary political
player. It isn't merely a question of protesting someone who helped
organize crimes against humanity in the past. He is a prominent
advocate - big media perch - of crimes against humanity in the
present. If you think of the Obama Administration as including the
media, Karl Rove is part of the Obama Administration.

But more importantly, as Jim Duffett of CBHC and I envisioned this
protest, at least, the goal isn't so much to project the message "we
hate Karl Rove" or "Karl Rove is evil"; rather, we see Karl Rove's
presence in Champaign as a hook on which to hang: end the wars, bring
the troops home, put America back to work, health care for all... In
media terms, Karl Rove's presence is a big deal; Jim D. believes there
will be out of town media there.

So, as a crude, practical matter, for me the question boils down to
this: in what contexts is it most strategic to hold your sign? When
you are at a peace demonstration on a city sidewalk, typically, all
other things being equal, if you can you stand on the street with the
most traffic, because more people will see you. Here the question is a
bit more of a probability calculation, because we can't know exactly
what the media play will be. But I would note that a few days ago
there was a national day of mobilization for higher education, and it
got significant media coverage, and when I was watching the coverage
on CNN, there were anti-war signs (e.g. "money for schools, not for
war.")

If the mountain will not come to Muhammad, Muhammad must go to the mountain...

Here's what Jim D sent around...

FAMILY VALUES
NOT
CORPORATE GREED
RALLY
LIVING WAGE JOBS
HEALTH CARE    PEACE
STOP BUDGET CUTS

March 20th (Saturday)
10:30am - Noon
I Hotel & Conference Center

      (1900 South First Street, Champaign – directly

       South of the Illini Assembly Hall/parking)

On March 20th, Karl Rove will join Illinois political figures
attending the Lincolin Day Luncheon for the Champaign County GOP.  For
the past 14 months opponents of fairness have been waging a
mean-spirited, divisive and right out lying campaign on how pro-family
health care reforms, jobs and other measures would affect our county.
Saying NO and defending the financial interests of the  insurance
industry, Wall Street and other corporate interests are NOT family
values.

On Sat, Mar 13, 2010 at 10:26 AM, Stuart Levy <slevy at ncsa.uiuc.edu> wrote:
> On Fri, Mar 12, 2010 at 08:51:24PM -0600, C. G. ESTABROOK wrote:
>> It is certainly "a bit perverse" to assert that the present administration
>> represents any improvement over that last in, say, the matter of killing
>> people.
>
> I don't think we need to claim that to find Rove thoroughly worthy
> of demonstrating against.
>
> Rove is one of the principal political architects of support for the
> wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.  And he has not changed his tune.
> The Obama administration has not shown that kind of grand initiative --
> they owe a heavy debt to the previous admin.
>
> For some fun, check out recent Doonesbury strips (doonesbury.com),
> which involve helicopters, the CIA, and an Afghan wedding party, but
> not in the usual tragic way.  It also includes Trudeau's favorite
> quotes from recent news, and here's the current one:
>
>    "I'm proud that we used techniques that broke the will of these
>    terrorists... I'm proud that we kept the world safer than it was,
>    by use of these techniques." -- Karl Rove on waterboarding
>
> If John Yoo came to town, would we refrain from demonstrating about
> his presence on the grounds that he wasn't part of the current administration?
> How short are our memories supposed to get?
>
> During the Bush administration I didn't see AWARE, at least, as
> a specifically anti-Republican action group, and I don't see us as a
> specifically anti-Democratic one now.  We're a peace group.
>
>   Stuart
>
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-- 
Robert Naiman
Policy Director
Just Foreign Policy
www.justforeignpolicy.org
naiman at justforeignpolicy.org

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