[Peace] minutes of 5/16/04 AWARE meeting

[Randall Cotton]

minutes of 5/16/04 AWARE meeting

facilitator: Ricky
attendance: about 20
minutes: Randall

1. News of the week (already posted separately to peace-discuss - thanks,
Carl =8-)

2. Working Group Reports

  A. Prospect for Peace (P4P)
  Next P4P is on June 5th, same place, same time (see http://anti-war.net
for full details)
  There was some discussion about possibly moving or supplementing P4P with
a presence elsewhere. Suggestions included downtown Champaign or outside
churches on Sunday. There appeared to be little support for moving P4P at
this time.

  B. Legal Support
  No progress because Ellyn Bullock, identified as a possible source of
legal help for AWARE, was busy with a case. However, that case recently
wrapped up, so there may be progress soon.

  C. Finances
  Current AWARE balance: $1556.75

  D. July 4th
  Jen received application for July 4th in the mail, passed off to Ricky who
will submit it. This year's July 4th theme is "America: Be All You Can Be"
[ed. note - I'm not making this up =8-P ]. Some thoughts on float ideas were
tossed about and later expanded on by Ricky in a recent note to
peace-discuss.

  E. Farmer's Market
  The first Farmer's Market of the year went rather well, especially
considering the cruddy weather. Another sign-up sheet was passed around for
volunteering to staff our table.

  F. Balata Refugee Camp Installation
  Successful exhibition showing children's art, photography, film, and
stories from Balata. The presenters spoke of the time they spent actually
staying in Balata. The video footage of everyday life in Balata was
particularly compelling. Computer-only DVD copies were available. Randall
will try to get this video broadcast on AWARE TV.

  G. expanding Democracy Now! coverage in Champaign/Urbana
  Randall reported that all systems are go for getting DN! available on UPTV
(cable channel 6) every weekday at 7AM. This would complement the 4:00PM
broadcast of DN! on community radio station WEFT, 90.1 FM. The video feed on
UPTV would be *live*, broadcast instantaneously from the source (usually
DN!'s New York firehouse studio). Though the video portion of the broadcast
mostly consists of Amy Goodman herself and any guests she has in the studio,
the video portion of  documentary excerpts, white house briefings, cable
news network interviews and the like are typically shown. The most important
benefit, though, is making DN! more easily available to an audience of tens
of thousands of basic cable subscribers. Randall estimated two weeks until
the broadcasts start [ed. note - that may be a bit optimistic in
retrospect - Randall ]. AWARE agreed without objection to fund the entire
cost of this project (which will be in the neighborhood of $350, but not
over that).

  It was also suggested that an attempt be made to get WILL to broadcast DN!
(as is being done on at least one other PBS station). Some folks stepped
forward to work on this.

3. New Ideas
Matt mentioned that he saw and talked with Congressman Tim Johnson in
Lincoln Square Mall. Discussion ensued on what we could do to engage Johnson
on the war in Iraq, stressing how Johnson had explicitly given assurances
that he was given intelligence information that justified his vote for the
war, but has never revealed what that intelligence was (we now know, of
course, that much of the pre-war intelligence was fraudulent). Matt agreed
to write a letter to Johnson asking for an open meeting with AWARE folks or
a town meeting on the war.

4. Upcoming events [ed. note - of course, the Monday events are over - sorry
I didn't get this out in time]

Monday noon - Same-sex couples will apply for marriage licenses at the
Brookens Center as a possible first step toward legal action demanding the
right of marriage between all genders.

Monday 6PM on WILL: A documentary by local Franklin Middle School students -
"Our Journey: Stories of School Desegregation and Community in
Champaign-Urbana".

Tuesday 7PM at Champaign Public Library - panel discussion on censorship
including very interesting guests: John Foreman (editor, News-Gazette),
Leigh Estabrook (UofI Professor specializing in the Patriot Act's effect on
Libraries and, of course, wife of Carl), Jenny Southlynn (from "The Paper"),
Judge Robert Steigmann and Bill Thompson (Christian Coalition). [ed. note -
Bob McChesney was also originally on the panel, but late word is that he
won't be able to make it.]