[Peace] anti-war activities in C-U area

[Danielle Chynoweth]

Hi Kate -

I just read your article "Anti-war Vigil Held in Springfield" dated
Wednesday, December 11, 2002 where you said of a Champaign resident:
"...he hoped the petition and events around the country Tuesday would
raise awareness and perhaps prompt some future anti-war demonstrations in
the C-U area..."  You also note that the PRC had no actions planned for
this coordinated day of action.  The article shocked me because it seemed
to imply that ant-war activities are not happening in C-U.  Much to the
contrary. Anti-war demonstrations have been staged nearly every weekend
since October of 2001.  This past Thursday, 25 peace activists sang
Christmas carols with altered lyrics - such as "Twelve Days of Bombing"
and "Poindexter Claus" - during a downtown holiday festival.  And today,
dozens of protestors demonstrated once again, on North Prospect, bringing
a message of peace to holiday shoppers.

Theses activities have been initiated by AWARE - the Anti-War, Anti-Racism
Effort - a coalition that formed shortly after the 9-11 attacks in
response to calls for war against Afghanistan.  An active UI group in
AWARE is the Student Peace Action group.

I am surprised that neither of these groups found its way to your radar
when you wrote the piece.  And I thought I might introduce you to them
for future pieces.

A contact for the AWARE group is Ricky Baldwin:
baldwinricky at hotmail.com

In addition, a great web source for progerssive activities in C-U is:
www.ucimc.org.  The second and third pages of the features column have
several articles about anti-war activities locally.

happy holidays,

Danielle Chynoweth