[Peace] meeting minutes Jan 19

[Ricky Baldwin]

AWARE meeting minutes 1/19/03

Carol Inskeep facilitated.  Attendance: 20 (1 new
person).

1. Introductions.

2. Presentation: U-C Progressives (Ken Urban,
candidate for Champaign City Council).
Local progressive groups meet monthly to work on a
common agenda.  Issues at the last meeting include… 
Champaign City Council will vote Tuesday at 7pm on
whether to commission a study on a Living Wage
resolution – folks should attend if possible.
Illinois needs a progressive tax structure, but it
will be necessary to change the state constitution.
Roe v. Wade anniversary celebration on the Quad at
noon January 22.
Abolishing the death penalty is the next step.

3. Events of the week: Anti-war demonstrations in San
Francisco and DC were big and beautiful, by all
accounts.  We look forward to a full report when our
friends are back from DC next week.

4. Co-sponsorships:
- Guatemala event (Illinois Disciples Foundation) –
discuss next week, as per new wait-a-week policy.
- Kashmir speaker (Muslim Student Assoc.) – Carol and
Ricky researched speaker and found connections to
anti-Semitic groups.  He was apparently chairman of
the Populist Party, founded by the Liberty Lobby,
which published “The Spotlight,” a neo-Nazi paper. 
The Populist Party ran David Duke for president and
promoted Holocaust denial, Jewish conspiracy theories,
etc.  After discussion of the evidence, we decided not
to endorse and to share our findings with MSA (Ricky
will). 

5. Working Groups:
- 85 protested against Gulf War II this Saturday,
2-3:30 pm, on N. Prospect and Marketview, including
over 30 new faces.  Many refused to leave at 3:30 and
stayed until 4 pm.  Too much fun.  We now have
permission to leaflet in the street, which we did,
thanks to Jan and Durl Kruse’s leaflet.  
- Al Kagan reported on meetings with the police and
City Legal Dept leading to this permission.  We did
not get all we wanted, but we did get what we need. 
We decided to accept the terms for now, while looking
into a challenge.
- “Day Of” event – “Day of Peace in Response to War”
flyers available.  In the event of a full-scale attack
on Iraq, gather at University Ave and State St at 5 pm
on that day, or if the attack begins after 7 pm gather
at 5 pm the next day.
- Martin Luther King Holiday events – Peter Rohloff
and others distributed 250 pamphlets at Friday’s
event, 500 at tonight’s event, and anticipate 1000
total by the end.  They are well received so far, but
officials were going to kick them out at tonight’s
Krannert event until Al showed them University regs on
handbilling.
- City Council resolutions against the war on Iraq and
the USA PATRIOT Act have been revised and are ready to
go.
- INS targeting Muslim men – donate to “International
Legal Defense Fund” at University of Illinois
Foundation, Harker Hall, 1305 West Green St, Urbana,
61801, Attn: Christy Devocelle (Donations should
include this note: “For deposit in the International
Legal Defense Fund”.)

6. No financial report.

7. Announcements:
- Cartoonist of “Boondocks” speaking at Foellinger
Hall, Wed. at 5 pm (Teachers for Peace and Justice
will leaflet at 4 pm).
- Teachers for Peace and Justice will have a second
panel discussion on the war Thursday, Jan. 30, 7 pm at
the Levis Faculty Center.
- Susan Parenti will be on WILL-TV that night, too.
- Students for World Improvement from Urbana High
School will hold a public event on Conscientious
Objector status and tax resistance at the Champaign
Public Library, Feb. 2.
- MoveOn meeting with Tim Johnson believed to be full,
but more people welcome to hold signs outside.
- “Walk for Democracy” - Jeanette Wallis is walking
across country, from Seattle to DC, passing through
U-C this week.  She needs a forum Tuesday or Wednesday
to show a film or just collect grievances, which she
is taking to the White House from all across the
country.  She also needs a van, as her car is about to
give up the ghost.  Contact her at 206-755-9705 or
grievancegirl at riseup.net, see also
www.thewalkfordemocracy.org.

Corrections welcome.






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