[Peace-discuss] Join us to leaflet the Art Theatre tonight 6-7pm

Thu May 11 06:09:45 UTC 2017

A dozen years ago AWARE split - and was practically destroyed - over racism. A majority (probably) of the then rather large group insisted that presidential aspirant Barack Obama was an anti-war figure whom AWARE should support.

A minority argued that he was a conventional politician who would duplicitously support the war. At least one prominent member of AWARE took the position that one couldn’t treat black politicians the same way one treated white politicians. He and most of the majority eventually left the group.

I wrote about the matter at the time: <http://www.counterpunch.org/2005/09/29/illinois-anti-warriors-and-the-attractive-senator/ <http://www.counterpunch.org/2005/09/29/illinois-anti-warriors-and-the-attractive-senator/>>.

—CGE

> On May 10, 2017, at 10:54 PM, Stuart Levy via Peace-discuss <peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net> wrote:
> 
> Well - I was happy to be among the supportive people when the Black United Front bravely spoke to the Board of Trustees to put forward their demands.   And though I wasn't able to be there when the faculty senate considered the #Project1000 proposal, I did spread the word on facebook that it was happening, and hope others who wouldn't otherwise have known about it might have attended that.   And I consider myself part of AWARE.
> 
> That said, yes, AWARE has generally not tried to live up to the Anti-Racism in its name, which is there thanks to the words chosen by Mark Enslin long ago.
> 
> On 5/10/17 6:26 PM, Harry Mickalide via Peace-discuss wrote:
>> Like, we in AWARE want to distribute power more evenly across the world, but we are unwilling to support the students trying to seize power and democratize our own university.
>> 
>> On Wed, May 10, 2017 at 6:22 PM, Harry Mickalide <mickalideh at gmail.com <mailto:mickalideh at gmail.com>> wrote:
>> It still seems weird to me that AWARE is willing to engage in the long-term work of education, but will not support Black Students for Revolution or Project1000 doing concrete anti-racist anti-capitalist work on campus.
>> 
>> On Tue, May 9, 2017 at 11:17 AM, C. G. Estabrook via Peace <peace at lists.chambana.net <mailto:peace at lists.chambana.net>> wrote:
>> AWARE will distribute the following flyer at the Champaign Art Theatre Tuesday, May 9, before the 7pm showing of the film "Sonita," part of THE SEVENTH ART STAND, the Theater's film series against Islamophobia & the #MuslimBan. […]
>> 
>> ==================================
>> The U.S. is Illegally Making War in the Mideast
>> Pres. Trump: Bring U.S. Troops and Weapons Home
>> 
>> The U.S. military is today killing people in seven Mideast and African countries - Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Libya, Yemen, Somalia, and Pakistan. Thousands of U.S. troops are fighting in these countries, although most Americans don’t know that. In addition, the 70,000-member U.S. ‘Special Operations Command’ - American death squads - are active in three-quarters of the countries of the world. Their activities include kidnapping (‘rendition’), torture, and murder.
>> 
>> [Map of Iran, surrounded by US military bases]
>> 
>> The U.S. government says that we’re fighting terrorism, but we are in fact creating terrorists - in response particularly to the drone assassinations, “the most extreme terrorist campaign of modern times” - which have killed more than 5,000 people, including U.S. citizens and hundreds of children.
>> 
>> Since World War II ended in 1945, the U.S. has attempted to exercise military control over the Mideast and its energy resources. The U.S. doesn’t need oil from the Mideast, but Mideast gas and oil are needed by America’s economic competitors in Europe and Asia, and so control over them gives the U.S. a major advantage over China, Germany, and other countries - a chokehold which benefits only the American economic elite, the one percent. In 2003 the US illegally invaded Iraq - and killed perhaps a million people for that purpose - and now has thousands of troops and mercenaries throughout the Mideast.
>> 
>> Those of us in AWARE, like other anti-war groups in the United States and around the world, call upon President Trump to
>> ~ (1) establish a foreign policy based on diplomacy, international law, and human rights;
>> ~ (2) end U.S. wars in the Mideast and war provocations against Russia (in Eastern Europe) and China (in the South China Sea), and stop the 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 U.S. troops (and weapons) home;
>> ~ (4) stop U.S. 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>:
>> ~ U.S. troops & weapons out of the Mideast ~ Medicare for all ~ Universal basic income ~
>> ==================================
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