[Peace-discuss] [Peace] 4th of July - AWARE float (or signs, anyway...)

Tue Jun 25 17:54:23 UTC 2013

Friends
This is Merlin Taber  (slacktivist/pacifist). I feel compelled to write about FLOAT THEME.
   My hobby horse is US GOVERNMENT SURVEILLANCE OF US CITIZENS.  This issue wraps up all our problems with our administration”s  attack on the US constitution.    Please read NYTimes for today - extensive coverage on White House obsession to  jail Edward Snowden and also Julius Assange.
    One reason for us to highlight this issue is PUBLIC INDIGNATION at this invasion of our privacy - it is widespread and also lasting.  A second reason is that this surveillance is being legalized and institutionalized with NEW LAWS and a BUDGET IN BILLIONS of dollars while we can’t afford food stamps for unemployed.  The administration has made it a priority for DOJ and FBI etc. to find a way to criminalize the actions of Snowden and Assange and jail them in the US -- at a cost of more millions of dollars.
    COULD WE PUT A FACE ON THIS OBSCENITY by honoring Snowden and Assange as heroes defending our right to know??  We could then also honor public servants (pictures of firemen & of classroom teachers as heroes defending our right to live in safety and community??
     My favorite spot in Washington DC is under the Jefferson Memorial circled with Jefferson’s words;  “I have sworn on the altar of God eternal hostility toward all forms of control over the mind of man.”   WE DID NOT KNOW that Obama and the Chief Justice added a sentence to Obama’s oath of office.
  I HAVE SWORN ETERNAL DEDICATION TO ALL FORMS OF CONTROL OVER THE MINDS OF US CITIZENS.
   To those who read this,  have a good week !!
      Merlin Taber
________________________________
From: Peace [peace-bounces at lists.chambana.net] on behalf of Stuart Levy [stuartnlevy at gmail.com]
Sent: Saturday, June 22, 2013 10:46 AM
To: Peace Discuss
Cc: occupycu
Subject: Re: [Peace] 4th of July - AWARE float (or signs, anyway...)

Rohn Koester wrote:
Who on the listserv plans to walk in the parade? Help make signs, a banner, and/or a float? I plan to walk and help make.
Yes!

Can we talk more about ideas for this at this Sunday's AWARE meeting (in person or by e-mail)?

Especially: is there a unifying line we could put on a banner?  (Ours from last year: "For everyone's children / a world without war".)

We're invited to join CUCPJ in a sign-making party on June 29th (next Saturday) if we like.  They'll be in the IMC working on their no-new-jail

For reference, here's what I ended up sending to the parade committee as to how our entry reflects their theme ("United we stand, proudly we serve"), based on suggestions from Merlin, Carle, Chris E and others...
We honor the constitutional rights and legal protections our predecessors have fought to establish.

We honor the school teachers, the librarians, the workers who serve the public to educate and improve the lives of future generations.

We stand united to oppose giving up our freedoms, and take those of others abroad, in the name of a false security.
Of course we don't have to follow this.   Still it could cover a lot of ground...  War, imprisonment, universal surveillance, and other deprivations of freedom.

I do like the Zomba/Obomba-Shaver signs and would happily carry a drone-shaped line from one of them.

Theresa, talking about the recent Urbana library meeting, mentioned the story of the Iraqi librarian - remember that?  She knew the invasion was coming and - as wars do - was liable to destroy her library with all its books, so as Theresa writes:
There is a wonderful children's book that shares the story of a librarian in Iraq who knew what was coming down in her country and so every night took home some of the books so as to save the collection.  She saved 30,000 books on her own and with the help of others who allowed her to store the books in their homes.  Even children understand that this woman was a hero.
How can we make a sign about that??

There's a recent article about her, on the 10th anniversary of the saving of the best of that library --
    http://english.alarabiya.net/en/life-style/2013/03/17/Basra-librarian-saved-30-000-books-during-2003-invasion.html
and here's one of the books: "The Librarian of Basra" by Jeanette Winter
     http://www.amazon.com/The-Librarian-Basra-True-Story/dp/B0013L8B7E

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