[Peace] AWARE Minutes - April 2, 2006

Sun Apr 9 16:04:03 CDT 2006

	AWARE Minutes
	April 2, 2006
	Facilitator: Durl Kruse
	Minutes: Carl Estabrook

1. NEWS OF THE WEEK.  The week saw USG propaganda campaigns about its
ongoing imperialist war in the Middle East, including the preparation of a
possible air (even nuclear) attack on Iran; the media deplore the wretched
tendency of people in the region to fight back. "News notes" for the week
were posted to the peace listserv (and sent to those requesting them).

2. INTRODUCTIONS. Attendance was about equal to that of the Last Supper.

3. NEW IDEAS

--Progressive Quad Day on Tuesday, April 18, 11am-3pm, sponsored by a
coalition of progressive campus groups (contact: Andrea Brandon).  It will
include an AWARE table, for which Karen Medina will arrange the schedule.
A suggestion from Ricky Baldwin for the purchase of frisbees with an
anti-war logo (250 @ $1.19/ea. + $35 + S.H.) was considered; treasurer Jan
Kruse will consult with Ricky on ordering.  She also points out that we
have blue peace bracelets ($1/ea.) as yet unsold.

--National Call-In Day on Wednesday April 5 sponsored by UFPJ.  Call
Congress to force action of Iraq.  Call your representatives at
202.224.3121 or 888.355.3588.

--Taste of Champaign June 23.  A table costs $25, and the relevant
authorities have stiffed us in the past: the treasurer will test their
bona fides once again.

--Advisory referenda for the November election may be placed on the ballot
at the annual township meeting on April 11. (The suggestion is from Rich
Whitney, Green candidate for governor, at the foundation meeting of the
Illinois Coalition for Peace and Justice , on April 1.)  Durl Kruse will
inquire about arrangement from the local Township Supervisors.

4. WORKING GROUPS

--Finances: Jan Kruse reported the treasury's holdings at $2430, after
disbursements for program ads at the MLK and CCHCC dinners.

--Illinois Coalition for Peace and Justice (ICPJ).  Mort Brussel and Jan
Kruse, the AWARE delegates, reported on the founding convention, held at
the McKinley Presbyterian Church in Champaign on April 1.  About 140
people, many from the Chicago area, attended.  Actions proposed by groups
around the state: those preferred in order were
	[1] ballot initiatives;
	[2] a march across the state (proposed by Kathy Kelly's Center for
Creative Non-violence);
	[3] demands that congressional representatives represent the
actually-existing anti-war majority.
	Models of organization were discussed and it was agreed that a
Coordinating Committee would be just a facilitating group. Local members
include Germaine Lighet Vanderport and Carol Ammons.  The meeting was not
covered by the News-Gazette: remonstrances will be sent.

--Main Event. Ricky Baldwin noted the almost universal positive response
to our usual monthly demonstration at Main and Neil streets in Champaign
on Saturday, April 1.

--Church Presence. The planned Presence at the Windsor Christian Church in
Urbana on April 2 was canceled, owing to inclement weather. The next will
be April 9th, the last Sunday before Easter, at St. Johns and the Newman
Center, on campus. The theme of these Presences is Give Up War for Lent.

--Champaign (sic) City Council Resolution. We will attempt to place
advisory referenda on impeachment and withdrawal on the November ballot at
the annual Township meeting on April 11.  It is *vital* that Champaign
residents against the war attend that meeting, in the city council
chambers at 6:30pm.

--Counter-recruitment.  A group of students from Uni High want to make a
video of a discussion of counter-recruitment work.  They will be invited
for 4:30pm next Sunday, April 9.  AWAREists are encouraged to attend.

--Anti-racism. Bob Illyes reports that there will be a Court Watch
demonstration on Wednesday 5 April.  Meet at the IMC at 1pm.

--Immigration.  Ricky Baldwin reports that there will be a march sponsored
by La Casa Latina on Monday 10 April at 11am from Green and Neil to the
UIUC quad, where there will be a rally at noon.  A planning meeting will
occur Tuesday 4 April at 7pm at La Casa.  Letters to Rep. Tim Johnson on
pending legislation were distributed fro signatures.

--AWARE Presents. A planning meeting will occur Monday 3 April, 7pm at
2-007 George Huff Dr., Urbana.  Anna Pillar will be in town to speak May
11 & 12. "What I Heard About Iraq" by Eliot Weinberger will be presented
by the AWARE Radio Players on WEFT 90.1 FM, on Wednesday 5 April 8-10pm;
it will be considered for a later staged reading.

--Jobs with Justice. Ricky Baldwin reports that further information will
be available at the next AWARE meeting.

--Urbana City Council Resolution. Jan Kruse reports that no approved text
is yet available from the Urbana authorities.  They will be prodded.

5. EVENTS OF THE LAST WEEK.  Reports were omitted for time.

6. UPCOMING EVENTS

--"The Agronomist," Jonathan Demme's ("The Silence of the Lambs") film on
Haiti, will be shown under AWARE sponsorship at GSLIS, 501 E. Daniel, Room
126 on Friday 7 April at 7pm.

--The Illinois Program for Research in the Humanities presents an exhibit
opening and artist reception for Aaron Hughes (School of Art + Design,
UIUC) on the occasion of his show "Dust Memories"  (remarks by Stephen
Hartnett Department of Speech Communication, UIUC) Tuesday 4 April 7-9pm,
Humanities Lecture Hall IPRH, 805 West Pennsylvania Avenue.  "Aaron
Hughes' 'Dust Memories' is a series of drawings, paintings, and collages
attempting to communicate the ambiguous and anxious moments of a
deployment with the 1244th Transportation Company in support of Operation
Iraqi Freedom. In contrast to the nostalgic war epic conjured by the mass
media, this series of personal war images conveys the simultaneous chaos
and monotony of a personal war experience." For more information: IPRH --
244.3344 or <www.iprh.uiuc.edu>.

--Stanley Hauerwas will give the Annual Marjorie Hall Thulin Lecture on
Religion and Contemporary Culture at Spurlock Museum Auditorium, 600 S.
Gregory, Urbana, on Thursday 6 April at 8pm.  His talk, "Sacrificing the
Sacrifices of War," is free and open to the public.  "Stanley Hauerwas is
a United Methodist theologian and ethicist who is currently the Gilbert T.
Rowe Professor of Theological Ethics at Duke Divinity School in Durham,
NC. He was named 'America's Best Theologian' by TIME Magazine in 2001.
That same year Hauerwas gave the prestigious Gifford Lectures in Scotland.
His book A Community of Character: Toward a Constructive Christian Social
Ethic was selected as one of the 100 most important books on religion of
the 20th century.  Professor Hauerwas has sought in his work to understand
the nature of the Christian life. This search has led him to emphasize the
importance of the church, as well as the importance of narrative, for
understanding Christian existence.  He has been a promoter of nonviolence,
and is perhaps the best-known defender of Christian pacifism alive today.
The various movements (e.g., post liberalism, narrative theology, virtue
ethics) associated with Hauerwas share his larger aim of opposing the
corrosive effects of modernity on Christian theology.  His work cuts
across disciplinary lines as he is in conversation with systematic
theology, philosophical theology, ethics, political theory, as well as the
philosophy of social science and medical ethics.  His books include: A
Community of Character: Toward a Constructive Christian Social Ethic; The
Peaceable Kingdom: A Primer in Christian Ethics; With the Grain of the
Universe: The Church's Witness and Natural Theology Against the Nations:
War and Survival in a Liberal Society; After Christendom: How the Church
Is to Behave If Freedom, Justice, and a Christian Nation Are Bad Ideas;
Unleashing the Scripture: Freeing the Bible from Captivity to America; and
Performing the Faith: Bonhoeffer and the Practice of Nonviolence."

--Matthew Rothschild, editor, The Progressive Magazine, will speak on
"Grounds for Impeachment: A Critical Analysis of the Bush Record and What
it Means for U.S. Politics," with an introduction by Prof. Robert
McChesney, on Friday 7 April at 4pm in 319 Gregory Hall on the UIUC quad.

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