[Peace] 9-11-02 action

[Rob Scott]

Hello AWARE people,
Below is the response I just sent to the PRC regarding their specific
questions about the 9-11-02 event. The plan is still to meet
at the quad around lunchtime, then march to the FBI protesting the war
and the erosion of civil liberties. For those of you who were not at the
last AWARE meeting, there have been some language changes in how we're
describing this event, see below...

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Tue, 13 Aug 2002 14:48:11 -0500 (CDT)
From: Rob Scott <rob at anacroatan.org>
Subject: 9-11-02 action

<snip>

We took your questions seriously, thus the delay in responding to
you. Here is what we came up with in the aware group. (Forgive any small
typos, I'm using a rickety old keyboard today)

Time, Location, Route:
People will gather at the quad between 11am and 1pm.
The plan is to march to the FBI office at the old train station, but the
route will not be finalized until next week. Since we plan to walk on the
sidewalk no permit is required.

Goals, Purpose, Demands:
Our aim is to protest:
  the escalating "war on terrorism" especially the plan to invade Iraq, 
  the erosion of Civil Liberties by the current administration,
  the deliberate misinformation on these topics produced by mainstream
media.
We're aiming to create a moving group that tastefully invites others to
join us by raising their voices in opposition to violence.

Speakers and/or topics:
The UofI announced an open mic set-up from noon-1pm so we will not be
formally announcing speakers. We hope that some people will prepare
statements regarding the above topics (the things we are protesting) so
that it will not be an hour of patriotic only. The open-mic was the UofI's
idea, not ours.

What other organizations will be involved?
So far the campus peace action group and aware are the only two
commited groups.
We plan on inviting all the local groups which have supported aware in the
past to a sign-making/preparation session on August 24th, 4-8pm, either at
the IMC or the School for Designing a Society. There will be a separate 
email announcing and inviting people to this event. PRC will be welcomed
to forward the email to appropriate organizations.

What is asked of other organizations signing on?
Other organizations will be invited to prepare signs, fact sheets, perhaps
even small booths for the quad, as well as prepare statements for the
open mic. The invitation is to protest the war and erosion of civil
liberties WITHOUT INSULTING PEOPLE WHO ARE MOURNING 9-11-01. For this
reason we will not be calling the event a "peace parade and
picnic" but rather will simply bill the event as a gathering on the quad
(between 11 am and 1pm) followed by a protest march (1pm).

Anything else you think people should know?
Popular titles for the event currently include "March for a Peaceful
Tomorrow" and "Another World is Possible".
Posters annoncing the event should be ready next week.
It has been suggested that perhaps only the campus peace action group
appear as sponsor on the poster if that will simplify organizing efforts
and allow us to focus our efforts on organizing the actual event.

Rob