[Peace] AWARE minutes May 19, 2002

[Karen Kohn]

Topics of this meeting were:

- Upcoming events
- Past events
- News
- Where is AWARE going?
- **New meeting time** 5 pm next week, at the IMC.

PAST EVENTS:
# Doug spoke at the First Presbyterian Church in Decatur about how the 
military harms the environment.  He was very pleased with the church's 
receptiveness.  They even have a letter-writing table.  David Green spoke 
there last week, and Carl will be next.
# Sharon and Wilhemine were on Prospect St. as Ladies Against War this 
Saturday.  They got 7 thumbs up, and 2 negative responses.
# Clint did street theatre with others at the Farmer's Market and were told 
you can't discuss anything political at the Farmer's Market.  This is odd 
since the Illinois Student Environmental Network is there every week.  Clint 
says that, according to the woman who runs the FM, the difference is that 
ISEN is inside a booth and people can choose to approach them or not.  Lois 
suggests people go support them next week, around 11.
# Wilhemine got a letter from the president of Parkland in response to her 
letter about Greg Whitlock (Whitlock was appointed, or is being considered, 
as head of the religion department at Parkland, which is a matter of concern 
due to two letters he wrote to the News-Gazette arguing that Islam is 
inherently a religion of violence.)  We were not sure how to interpret the 
president's letter.  Anyone wishing to write can send a letter to :
     Zelema Harris, President
     Parkland College
     2400 W. Bradley Ave
     Champaign, IL  61821-1899
Ricky has scanned Whitlock's letters and can e-mail people copies.
# a meeting about our 4th of July float occured just before tonight's 
meeting.  We brainstormed ideas for a float in response to the parade's 
theme "A Free Press, A Free People:  150 Years of the News-Gazette."  We 
will probably hand out fliers in response to the parade's hypocritical rule 
against doing so.  We will register separately from the IMC but march behind 
or in front of them.  The float committee will be meeting next week at 7 
(after the regular meeting).  Come with ideas!  We'd like to move past 
brainstorming to really visualizing the float.

UPCOMING EVENTS:
# Ram Rahat-Goodman, an Israeli reservist who has refused to serve in the 
Occupied Territories, will be speaking on Saturday, May 25 in two places.  
He will be at Caffe Paradiso at 1 pm and at the Illinois Disciples 
Foundation at 7 pm.  Spread the word!  We would like someone to videotape.  
He will also be on WILL the following Wednesday (May 29) with David Inge.  I 
don't know the time.
# Rob Lipton, who has served as a human shield in the Middle East, an IMC 
representative currently in the ME, and someone from Voices in the 
Wilderness will all be speaking on June 4, 7 pm at the Channing-Murray 
Foundation.  That is a Tuesday.  There will be dinner, music, a slide show, 
and talks.
# A week from Monday and a week from that at 5:30 WEFT will be broadcasting 
Danielle and Meridith's accounts of the April 20th protests in DC.
# Rally for Carl Estabrooks Congressional campaign: Wednesday, May 22, 
6:30-9:30 at the IMC.  There will be "food and conviviality."
# We are considering making fliering more systematic.  Clint can provide 
copies of the IMC's routes.  Also, we can leave fliers on the table in the 
front, and the IMC will distribute.
# Vicki rented the Large Pavilion in Crystal Lake Park for July 4th, 5-9 pm. 
  It will be a fundraiser barbeque with musicians!

I did not take notes on the NEWS.

DISCUSSION:
I'll make this section as brief as possible.  This is a summary of what I 
saw as the major issues discussed.

We don't know if Bush knew about the Sept. 11 attacks beforehand, but this 
may be the wrong question to ask anyway.  Several people listed the "right" 
questions, such as:  What is the real threat? (Doug) When are we being 
manipulated? (Wilhemine) What is a better vision of globalization? (Susan) 
What language is obsolete? (Susan) Along these lines, Susan suggested 
finding new words to name the system we see in place and help people 
correctly identify problems with the world.

Another major topic was how we need to talk to people who disagree and also 
to find points of agreement or connection.  People may have the same goals 
as we do but for different reasons, or they may disagree with us on one 
issue but be with us on others.  We had a guest who challenged us to explain 
why we were "against business," but as the question was too large for the 
time we had, we missed our chance to talk to someone who disagrees with us.

Again, next week's meeting will be at 5 and will go until 7.  This is so we 
can avoid being drowned out by rock musicians in the back room,  who did at 
least make a nice soundtrack to Carl's statement that the administration is 
"beating the drum" of war.



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