[Peace] Minutes of AWARE mtg 9-21-03

[Ricky Baldwin]

Minutes of AWARE meeting Sept. 21, 2003

Gabe Stanton facilitating.

The meeting began a little late, following a special
discussion on race and the whiteness of the anti-war
movement (see below).

INTRODUCTIONS:  Everyone said their name (approx. 25,
not counting several who left after the discussion on
race).

NEWS OF THE WEEK: Carl Estabrook (to be posted
separately).

One addition: (Mort Brussel and Carl) Sen. Ted Kennedy
(D-MA) has suggested an audit of how the
Administration is spending $166 billion -- possibly
bribing other nations to go along with US foreign
policy in Iraq?

Another: (Carol Inskeep and Durl Kruse) An Army
captain, who fought in Gulf War I and later converted
to Islam before being asked to serve as chaplain at
the Guantanamo Bay prison camp, has been arrested on
suspicion of espionage.  No one knows what the
information was that he was supposedly conveying –
possibly the identities of some of the 600 prisoners
held there incommunicado?

FARMERS’ MARKET: (Linda Evans) Peter Rohloff
(rohloff at uiuc.edu) needs volunteers to staff AWARE’s
table 8 am -10 am, 10 am-12 pm, or anytime just to
give him a break, as he wound up sitting there the
whole day by himself a couple of times.  

(Carol) Peace calendars are in, selling for $12-13. 
Get ‘em while they last.

PROSPECT FOR PEACE: (Gabe) Next protest against wars
of occupation is Sat. Oct. 4, from 2-4 pm, on North
Prospect near Marketview in Champaign.  Will we have
these demos every week?  We will take that up again
after Oct. 4.  

(Ricky) There will be a national day of action against
the occupation of Iraq in Washington DC on Sat. Oct.
25.  Discussion: We will demonstrate on Prospect at
least that day in addition to the first Saturday of
every month.  Next meeting we will discuss the
possibility of sending buses to DC, possibly with
Student Peace Action.

 FINANCES: (Linda) We have $2,480.09 in the bank.  We
have been renting meeting space from the IMC for $10 a
month for many months, although their usual rate is
$10 an hour.  Discussion: We will begin paying $20 a
week, and Linda will do some calculations on paying
back-rent, to present at the next meeting.

(Randall Cotton) AWARE now sponsors Democracy Now on
Wednesdays, starting last week.  (Lisa) We will
revisit the idea of underwriting WILL soon.

ANTI-RACISM: (Lisa) Good discussion, well-attended.
Discussion:  The working group on racism will meet to
discuss follow-up (akagan at uiuc.edu). 
Coalition-building is something we should focus on,
for example: speakers’ bureau, inviting speakers from
other groups to AWARE, other forms of networking.

UPDATE ON LORI SERB’S CASE: (Jan Kruse) Lori was found
guilty of resisting arrest, fined $175, although the
judge stated that the evidence would not have been
sufficient to convict on a state charge, only a
municipal charge.  He also said AWARE’s witnesses were
not credible and their story defied the laws of
physics.  Jan and Durl will have a potluck/fundraiser
for Lori this Sat. at their house at 6pm (also posted
separately).  The potluck will also be a chance to say
good-bye to Meridith Kruse, who is leaving for
Guatemala next week.

(Ken Urban) On a related note, the Coalition for a
Citizen Police Review will be ready soon to begin the
push for a police review board.  Ken will keep us up
to date.

(Jan) The meeting with Congressman Tim Johnson
(R-IL)’s aide has been changed again, for the third
time, to Tuesday Sept. 23 at 3:30 pm at the Courier
Café.  Hopefully it will not change again.

EVENTS OF THE PAST WEEK: 

(Ken) The Living Wage Committee met again and will
approach the Champaign School Board soon.  

(Sorry- I didn’t catch who raised this) Candidate
Barack Obama visited the AWARE table this Saturday and
left literature.

(Ken) U-C Progressives will meet this Sat. Sept. 27 at
1 pm at the IEA.

 (Karis) The Diversity Commission met and celebrated
crime prevention, featuring Judge Ford of Lori’s case.

(Carl) Tim Johnson as on WILL AM 580.  Please write
letters to the editor & ask TJ why he voted for war. 
He had first said he didn’t have enough information,
then voted for war claiming he had seen secret
information.  We think it may have been the forged
Nigerian documents on Iraqi nukes.

UPCOMING EVENTS: 

(Ricky) A letter-writing party will be this Tuesday,
Sept. 23 at 8:15 pm at Ricky’s house – 801 E.
California in Urbana, corner of Webber – to generate
letters to the editor.

Kathy Kelly of Voices in the Wilderness will be in
town Sept. 29-30.  Flyers distributed.  Schedule
posted separately.

The Immigrant Workers Freedom Ride will also be in
town Sept. 29.  There will be a protest outside the
Urbana courthouse at 7 pm.

A newcomer asked for comments on his website:
www.ice.provosting.com/~unmediat.

Meeting adjourned for working groups.

--------------------
Please send all additions, corrections, complaints,
denunciations and general-principle insults to
baldwinricky at yahoo.com.
--------------------

__________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
Yahoo! SiteBuilder - Free, easy-to-use web site design software
http://sitebuilder.yahoo.com