[Peace] minutes of weekly AWARE meeting 2008-04-13

[Randall Cotton]

Minutes of 4/13/08 AWARE meeting are below, but first, the Upcoming
Events Calendar:

April 14 (Monday) 1PM, UPTV (inside Urbana City Council Chambers), 400 S.
Vine St.
"AWARE on the Air" recording.

April 14 (Monday) 7PM Urbana City Council Chambers, 400 S. Vine St.
(also televised live on UPTV (cable channel 6))
Urbana City Council Committee of the Whole meeting.
One agenda item will address new UPTV guidelines and procedures for
submitting materials and videos for UPTV. Many may press for hate speech
ordinance limiting speech, but others are needed to illustrate how the
best response to offensive speech is not censorship, but rather more
speech countering it.

April 14 (Monday) 7PM, 103 Mumford Hall on campus
(Mumford is across from the Morrow Plots. 1301 West Gregory Drive, Urbana)
Documentary: "Al Nakba: The Palestinian Catastrophe 1948". AWARE member
David Green will speak before and after the film. This event is part of
Palestine Awareness Week, co-sponsored by AWARE.

April 14 (Monday) 10PM, UPTV (cable channel 6) (might be pre-empted by
Urbana City Council meeting).
"AWARE on the Air" broadcast

April 15 (Tuesday) 7PM 103 Mumford Hall on campus
(Mumford is across from the Morrow Plots. 1301 West Gregory Drive, Urbana)
Panel discussion: "An Occupation, A Reality: Personal Experiences from
Palestine": Panel members: Professor Stephen Gasteyer, Nagham Awadallah,
Dana Al-Qadi. This event is part of Palestine Awareness Week, co-sponsored
by AWARE.

April 15 (Tuesday) 7PM, 112 Chem Annex on campus.
Green Party presents Cliff Thornton on casualties of the "drug war".
Thornton is co-chair of the Green Party of the United States and with drug
reform group Efficacy. This is an AWARE co-sponsored event.

April 16 (Wednesday) 7PM, 134 Temple Hoyne Buell Hall on campus
(611 Loredo Taft Drive; Champaign)
Dabke dance Peformance and Workshop + Palestinian Crafts Exhibit. This
event is part of Palestine Awareness Week, co-sponsored by AWARE

April 16 (Wednesday) 7PM, 2007 S. George Huff Dr., Citizens for IRV
meeting.

April 17 (Thursday) 7PM, 23 Psychology Building on campus
(603 E. Daniel Street; Champaign)
"60 years of Occupation, Where Do We Stand Now?": Lecture by ISU Professor
Issam Nassar. This event is part of Palestine Awareness Week, co-sponsored
by AWARE.

April 24 (Thursday) 7:30PM Channing-Murray (1209 W. Oregon, Urbana)
"Awakening from our Trance: Reversing Global Climate Change" w/Carolyn
Treadway. This event is co-sponsored by AWARE.

April 24 (Thursday) 7:30PM Spurlock Museum on campus
(600 S. Gregory, Urbana)
"Mayhem in Mesopotamia - the Protection of Iraq's Cultural Heritage"
Dr. Donny George Youkhanna, former director of the Iraq Museum in Baghdad

May 9 (Friday) 9AM, Courtroom E, Champaign County Courthouse (101 E. Main,
Urbana).
Brian Chesley court date - anticipated filing for new trial.

May 12 (Monday) 1:30PM, Courtroom A, Champaign County Courthouse (101 E.
Main, Urbana)
First session of Patrick Thompson's third trial.

****
Minutes of 4/13/08 AWARE meeting:

About 20 in attendance

News of the week was heard, courtesy of Carl Estabrook

Finance Report
Checks written for co-sponsorship of Cafe Intifada and Palestine Awareness
Week
balance: 2170.72

Main Event monthly street demonstration - Flyer we used last time,
composed from IVAW material, suggested again since it was well-received.

Noted: Bob Naiman and "Just Foreign Policy" group are involved with a
survey of people's reactions to war in Iraq. A Thursday, April 24th noon
press conference is scheduled.

Working group reports:
*****************

Library Resources Working Group - aim is to generate a list of good
readings that support our causes which we might check are in local library
collections (and recommend to libraries as necessary). Also may perhaps
post the good reads on one of AWARE's websites. Not just books, but videos
too.

Anti-Racism:
=========
Brian Chesley case: next scheduled court date is May 9 at 9:00 a.m. in
Courtroom E (motion for new trial expected).

Patrick Thompson's third trial is approaching. First court date of the
trial is May 12, 1:30 PM, Courtroom A

Recent CUCPJ (Champaign-Urbana Citizens for Peace and Justice)
demonstration this past Wednesday in front of Champaign County Courthouse
was well-attended and focused on Brian Chesley case, racial profiling.

Within CUCPJ there is discussion on how SROs (School Resource Officers)
are gaining increasing power which results in criminal charges for matters
that used to be resolved internally within the school system. In the
context of the Brian Chesley case, the question was raised whether
students may be targeted, roughed up, pepper sprayed, charged and
convicted for merely walking away from a police officer *in a school
hallway* when no crime was committed or even alleged (as with Chesley's
case, which happened on the street). A new pipeline from our schools to
our prisons is perceived.

Student Groups:
===========
Palestine Awareness Week scheduled *this week* - see all 4 items in the
upcoming events calendar above.

Eric pointed out upcoming lecture by former director of the Iraq Museum in
Baghdad (see April 14th event at Spurlock Museum above in the upcoming
events calendar).

Iran Working Group:
=============
Ahmedinijad may not win the upcoming election, within in the next month or
so. Also, there is wind of a move to exclude girls from schools from the
extreme right.

Bob Naiman's letter to the editor in the NG was noted, which thanks
Congressman Tim Johnson for his vote supporting dialogue and diplomacy
w/Iran.

Blackwater Working Group:
====================
ICPJ (Illinois Coalition for Peace and Justice) conference attendance
report from Barbara (who attended Blackwater sessions with Roger).
Barbara has anti-blackwater buttons, half-hour video titled "Blackwater
Invades Illinois". One thing mentioned on the video - Blackwater training
for police in schools (!). Suggestion of putting the video on UPTV and
talking about it on AWARE on the Air. Portions of the video are available
on youtube (search on blackwater illinois). Roger and Barbara invited to
Springfield talks on April 29 between state police and blackwater
opponents regarding legislation. Dave H. may also attend. Clearwater
conference call next week on this meeting. Barbara passed out materials
from the conference.

There was a vote for future ICPJ actions - Barbara voted for a huge May
Day demonstration in Chicago focusing on rights of immigrants and all
workers.

ICPJ attendance was kind of low - 57.

AWARE on the Air:
Recording is tomorrow at 1PM, broadcast 10PM. Suggestions made on
scheduling the broadcast to reach the widest audience.

Old Business:
***********
Farmer's Market:
This was discussed last week:
Proposal put forward by Durl:
Default setup/teardown should be user-friendly, car-friendly (not
requiring a truck). 2 card tables and 2 storage tubs. Use three 1 hour, 20
minute slots instead of 4 one hour slots for sitting at the booth.
Umbrella optional and can be obtained for any given week from the Kruses.
Reserve a booth spot for the whole season, pay for 12 weeks to start off
(taking advantage of 10% volume discount). Re-evaluate after the 12 weeks.
Durl's proposal approved by consensus without objection.

Iraq panel:
AWARE Presents suggested as coordinator for possible Iraq panel discussion
involving Mort, Carl, Dave H., perhaps others, but the principals
themselves may organize something.

New Ideas:
*********
Winter solider on UPTV - quality video of the event being pursued.

Billboard - American Friends Service Committee is working with Adams
Outdoor Advertising nationally on a  "cost of war" billboard project.
Barbara consulted with local Quakers. In Lansing, Michigan 5 billboards
for one month was obtained for $1500, an exceptionally low price. Local
Quakers may push this forward - Barbara will keep tabs on this.

Karen volunteers to investigate Quad day registration for an AWARE table.