[Peace-discuss] Distribute anti-war flyers at the Art Theatre/AWARE's February flyer

Tue May 2 19:37:31 UTC 2017

Either Carl or I can be a “point person.” I will plan to be there, red hair and green jacket, should be easy to spot. I hope Carl has the flyers referred to below. I will make copies of one I have which I think is also relevant.

On May 2, 2017, at 12:30, Niloofar Shambayati <niloofar.peace at gmail.com<mailto:niloofar.peace at gmail.com>> wrote:

Hello all,

I'm not at all vested in the flyer I've made in the absence of any alternatives. Since this flyering was not to be  "my project", rather a suggestion to Karen Aram, I'm perfectly fine with AWARE and allies to turn the above article into the content of a flyer for this evening. If you designate a point person, I'll tell the two friends who'd said they could help to get in touch with that person. Hope to see some of you at the screening this evening.

Niloofar
P.S.: I'm not going to make copies of the flyer for this evening-have no other use for it. If for any reason, though, your flyer couldn't be ready for this evening, I'm attaching the last version I made for copying and handing out.

On Tue, May 2, 2017 at 9:20 AM, Carl G. Estabrook <galliher at illinois.edu<mailto:galliher at illinois.edu>> wrote:
NO MUSLIM BAN!  NO CHINA WAR!
President Trump must break with the policies of his predecessors.

“I and the public know / What all schoolchildren learn,
Those to whom evil is done / Do evil in return.” --W. H. Auden

[1] NO MUSLIM BAN. President Trump’s restrictions on entry to the US - designed to lessen the chance of terrorist attacks on Americans - are approved by a majority of Americans, but he is going about it in the wrong way. In “War against terrorism or expansion of the American Empire?” (2002), William Blum, former State Department employee and historian of US interventions, puts it as follows:

“If I were the president, I could stop terrorist attacks against the United States in a few days. Permanently. I would first apologize - very publicly and very sincerely - to all the widows and the orphans, the impoverished and the tortured, and all the many millions of other victims of American imperialism. I would then announce that America's global interventions - including the awful bombings - have come to an end. And I would inform Israel that it is no longer the 51st state of the union but – oddly enough – a foreign country. I would then reduce the military budget by at least 90% and use the savings to pay reparations to the victims and repair the damage from the many American bombings and invasions...”

[2] NO CHINA WAR. A war between the greatest military power and the world's second largest economy is no longer unthinkable. The media are beating the drums of war as the world is being primed to regard China as a new enemy. The disputed islands in the South China Sea have become a flashpoint for war between China and America. American bases form a giant noose encircling China with missiles, bombers, and warships all the way from Australia through the Pacific to Asia and beyond.
A stereotype of communist dictatorship is widely spread by the US, preventing us from understanding China as it is. The Chinese government is not trying to run the world. They want to keep America from dominating the region.
The massive US military build-up is known in Washington as the ‘pivot to Asia’. The target is China. President  Obama in 2011 said that creating an American presence in the Asia Pacific was his "top priority.” For America's unchallenged arms industry, the annual prize is huge profits from almost $600 billion of military spending - but the smartest weapons need enemies. With the current situation in the South China Sea, the danger of confrontation grows by the day.

[3] ANTI-WAR GROUPS HERE & ABROAD CALL ON PRESIDENT TRUMP TO
~ (1) establish a foreign policy based on diplomacy, international law, human rights, and respect for the sovereignty of other nations; end war provocations in Europe and Asia;
~ (2) end the wars (in the Mideast and elsewhere) and stop US drone assassinations;
~ (3) cut military spending by at least 50% and close the more than 700 foreign military bases (neither Russia nor China has more than twelve); bring US troops (and weapons) home; and withdraw the US ‘special forces’ - death squads - sent into 70% of the world’s countries;
~ (4) stop US support for human rights abusers, notably Israel and Saudi Arabia; and
~ (5) lead on global nuclear disarmament.

ANTI-WAR ANTI-RACISM EFFORT - on Facebook at “AWARE of Champaign Urbana Illinois”

On May 2, 2017, at 9:11 AM, Karen Aram <karenaram at hotmail.com<mailto:karenaram at hotmail.com>> wrote:

The article in Counterpunch is perfect for “Egypt”

Harsh and true.

On May 2, 2017, at 05:30, Carl G. Estabrook <galliher at illinois.edu<mailto:galliher at illinois.edu>> wrote:

If AWARE wants to leaflet the film about Egypt at the art Theatre tonight, here’s a recent article that could be handed out:

http://www.counterpunch.org/2016/06/10/egypt-a-breeding-ground-for-terrorism/

And I’ll append a flyer AWARE distributed in February, on the 'Muslim ban.’

Regards, Carl

On Apr 30, 2017, at 3:29 PM, Karen Aram <karenaram at hotmail.com<mailto:karenaram at hotmail.com>> wrote:

This is a message from Niloofar, if anyone has a copy of the flyers we have currently she would like to see one.  For future she suggests:

Speak up for the humanity and against the Muslim and refugee bans and military escalation

I think the message of speaking out against Muslim & refugee bans and warmongering should be accompanied by action recommendations. You can decide which is better:

1.   The message be the same for all three flyers: fear and hatred against Muslims have brought out the worst in some people and we need to counter the propaganda. These misplaced sentiments have diverted the attention from real domestic problems and have allowed the elite to assert their dominance through use of direct and indirect military force.

The result? Death, destruction, chaos, famine, refugee crisis, and hopelessness in the region and diversion of resources away from economic development and the essential needs of the American people to build up of the already bloated military machine.

Please write letters to the editor, sign petitions (the links) call the congress, & engage relatives and friends on these issues."

Or specifically written in the context of each film:

2.   Egypt: Against the U.S. laws, military aid has been flowing to the post-coup Egypt,...[background: propping up the military since 1970's have helped the continuation of authoritarian rule and prevented the formation of political parties and civil society to carry the revolution to its fruition].

Targeting Iran (the only stable country in the region with a limited democracy) as the main supporter of terrorism is catering to the pressures of regional allies (Israel and Saudi Arabia) is against the long-term interests of the U.S.

The invasion and occupation of Afghanistan have been disastrous for the people and has forced many to seek refuge in neighboring countries (shown in the Iranian film) and try mostly unsuccessfully to get to the West. [The wrong-headed U.S. policy toward Afghanistan in 1980's inadvertently helped Taliban to take over and al Qaeda to create terrorist cells…]

Yemen's dictatorship, supported by the U.S., was finally overthrown by the people's peaceful demonstrations (shown in the film) but the power struggle between two tribal factions led to temporary and cynical alliances and allowed Saudi Arabia to invade and bomb the country with the acquiescence of the U.S. The situation is getting worse by day and has led to a famine that can be eradicated by the intervention of the U.S.

*Please write letters to the editor, sign petitions (the links) call the congress, & engage relatives and friends on these issues."

On Sun, Apr 30, 2017 at 7:11 AM, Karen Aram <karenaram at hotmail.com<mailto:karenaram at hotmail.com>> wrote:
Dear Anti-war demonstrators et al

Niloofar has suggested distributing flyers at the Art Theatre for their showing of films related to Iran, Yemen, and one other Middle Eastern nation, she has more information related to the films.

They are showing on May 2nd., May 9th, and May 16th. at 7:00pm.

I think we should assist her in this endeavor. We can discuss at our meeting flyers that maybe utilized. For this Tuesday’s film we could use the current flyers on hand, those that I recently returned to Carl and Stuart.

<flyer-201702.rtfd.zip>

<Speak Up.docx>

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