[Peace] minutes of weekly AWARE meeting 2008-12-07

[Randall Cotton]

Minutes of 12/07/08 AWARE meeting are below, but first, AWARE Volunteer
Opportunities and the Upcoming Events Calendar:

AWARE Volunteer Opportunities
-----------------------------------
(various ways to volunteer in AWARE's work)

AWARE is helping search for locations to set up a portable electronic LED
display that reports (in a loop) various statistics on the wars in Iraq
and Afghanistan (casualties, financial cost, etc.). Here's a video of the
sign going through a typical loop:
http://dart.ncsa.uiuc.edu/stuffed/slevy/costofwar-sign.mp4
Dimensions of the sign are: 50.3" L x 6.3" H x 1.7" W and it weighs 12
pounds. Full specifications are at:
http://www.bigbrite.com/product.aspx?id=78
The display could be set up anywhere indoors - home, business, event -
where it will be seen by many, for as long or as little as you like. If
you can volunteer to display the sign somewhere or have any ideas where it
could be set up, contact Barbara Kessel, barkes at gmail.com, 365-9473 or
Randall Cotton, recotton at earthlink.net, 351-8644/722-8470.

Help is needed with content creation and maintenance for AWARE's website,
anti-war.net. Technical experience (UNIX/HTML/CSS) required for
maintenance work (but not content creation) Contact: Stuart Levy,
slevy at ncsa.uiuc.edu, 351-9264/244-1543 or Randall Cotton,
recotton at earthlink.net, 351-8644/722-8470.

Meeting minutes: Someone is needed to share or take over meeting minutes
duty (preparing these notes each week). Help will be provided (as much as
necessary). Contact: Randall Cotton, recotton at earthlink.net,
351-8644/722-8470

AWARE publicity: Someone is needed to maintain AWARE publicity documents
(and arrange for copies, as needed). This includes our business card,
intro sheet for new meeting attendees and our general information sheet
for tabling events). All reproduction costs reimbursed, Help provided as
needed. Contact: recotton at earthlink.net, 351-8644/722-8470

Upcoming Events Calendar
----------------------------
Dec 9 (Tuesday) 1PM, Urbana City Council Chambers, 400 S. Vine St.
Taping of "AWARE on the Air" for UPTV to be broadcast later the same day
(see below)

Dec 9 (Tuesday) 7PM 2007 S. George Huff  Dr., Urbana (home of Jan & Durl
Kruse)
AWARE Presents Working Group meeting to discuss new efforts, possibly
along lines of a panel of local speakers on the current state of
progressive issues or what should be pressed for from an Obama
administration. Discussion also expected on upcoming event with  Juan Cole
(see below in working group reports for more detail)

Dec 9 (Tuesday) 10PM, UPTV (cable channel 6)
Broadcast of "AWARE on the Air", taped earlier in the day (see above)

Dec 12-14 (Friday-Sunday) United for Peace and Justice 4th National
Assembly
3 AWARE folks attending
Wyndham O'Hare Hotel - near Chicago O'Hare Airport
6810 North Mannheim Road, Rosemont

**NEW** Dec 16 (Tuesday) 1PM, Urbana City Council Chambers, 400 S. Vine
St.
Taping of "AWARE on the Air" for UPTV to be broadcast later the same day
(see below)

**NEW** Dec 16 (Tuesday) 10PM, UPTV (cable channel 6)
Broadcast of "AWARE on the Air", taped earlier in the day (see above)

**NEW** Jan 5 (Saturday) 2-4PM Main St. & Neil St., Champaign
The Main Event - AWARE's monthly (first Saturday of each month) street
demonstration event. Largely focuses on opposing U.S. occupations of Iraq
and Afghanistan, but is open for anyone to join us either using one of our
signs or one of their own. We try to have a topical flyer to distribute to
motorists and passers-by each month.

**NEW** Mar 8 (Sunday) (time, place to be announced) Proposed date for
community-oriented presentation from Juan Cole: University of Michigan
Professor of History, author of Informed Comment blog at www.juancole.com,
and remarkably astute expert observer on Middle East affairs. Proposed
lecture topic: "Withdrawal from Iraq and the future of American security".

**NEW** Mar 9 (Monday) (time, place to be announced) Proposed date for
university-oriented presentation from Juan Cole. Proposed lecture topic:
"Iraq's provincial elections and what they mean for relations with the
United States".

*****
Minutes of 12/7/08 AWARE meeting:

About 20 in attendance

News of the week was reviewed jointly.

Finance Report: Balance is $2330.07
Finance report passed around

Working group reports:
*****************
Main Event:
========
(AWARE's monthly street protest held at the intersection of Main & Neil
2-4PM on the first Saturday of each month).

The next Main Event is January 5 (see details above in Upcoming Events
Calendar).

At last Saturday's Main Event, due to the festival of lights parade, all
traffic was shut down at Main & Neil when we arrived, so we moved to State
& University. Since the usual traffic was being funneled through that
intersection, it turned out to be quite successful. Over 300 flyers
distributed in record time - all were gone around 3:15PM. There was
discussion at the time as to whether State & University might even be a
good candidate for a permanent move. Karen and Steve volunteered to scout
this as a possible new location for monthly demonstrations during our next
Main Event on January 5.

Details still forthcoming (from David H) on Champaign/Urbana's busiest
intersections.

Library Resources:
=============
(Compilation of valuable reference materials w/strategies to make them
available in the community through various channels including local
libraries).

Good sized crowd at the showing of Naomi Wolf's "The End of America" at
Champaign Public Library this past week. Great discussion afterward as
well. Unclear how many non-AWARE
non-Libertarian folks were there.

AWARE Presents:
=============
(Organization of AWARE-sponsored events in the community)

Working group meeting scheduled Dec. 9th (see above in upcoming events
calendar for details).

Current AWARE Presents event lineup:

1. Proposal is now coming together for Juan Cole event. AWARE Presents now
has dates - March 8th and 9th - Sunday and Monday - see details above in
the upcoming events calendar. More info as it becomes available. Initial
University contacts at UIUC were: Center for South Asian and Middle
Eastern Studies and Center for Global Studies.

2. Jeremy Scahill event still being pursued. Contact made, currently in a
"wait and see" pattern.

Anti-Racism:
=========
(AWARE's efforts to keep apprised of and provide support for
anti-racism/anti-discrimination efforts, including efforts of CUCPJ -
Champaign-Urbana Citizens for Peace and Justice)

Jesse reported on the 5th and Hill toxic site demonstration organized by
Champaign County Health Care Consumers. Well-organized: maps and packets
distributed, postcards signed. Article appeared in News Gazette prior to
demonstration. Photo appeared in today's NG of the actual event.

(there has been no CUCPJ meeting the last two weeks, due to Thanksgiving
holiday and an all-day conference last Saturday)

Holiday Market
============
(AWARE's presence at the indoor version of Urbana's "Market on the Square"
each Saturday from 8AM to noon where we offer progressive and anti-war
materials, generally at or below cost).

Sign-up sheet passed around for staffing the table.

AWARE on the Air:
==============
(AWARE's weekly television show on public access cable channel 6 - UPTV,
Urbana Public Television)

Discussion on who can make it this week. Some volunteered, more always
welcome.

Taping typically occurs each Tuesday at 1PM and is broadcast later the
same day at 10PM. AWARE members (and friends) invited to participate - the
more the merrier (see details above in upcoming events calendar). Program
quality is always better with more participants.

There is always room for more participation in AWARE on the Air - prepared
statements OK. Arriving late/leaving early is OK.

Blackwater
========
(Activism regarding notorious domestic policing and international
mercenary contractor Blackwater, including coordination with
Illinois-based activist group Clearwater: see:
http://www.noprivatearmies.org )

Mention made of indictments and impending charges for 5 Blackwater
employees in the Nisour Square massacre case. Speculation that defense
attorneys will use "unfair scapegoating" or "shameful accusation of noble
veterans" claims.

For more info, see:

Incident details:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7033332.stm

Recent stories:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/06/AR2008120601180.html?hpid=moreheadlines
http://www.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/12/07/iraq.blackwater.indictment/?iref=mpstoryview

Breaking AP story on the just-unsealed charges (manslaughter times 14 and
others):
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jtLfZVVNZF72Pzftxt21yza9lVwAD94UL6S80

Student Groups
===========
(AWARE's efforts to keep apprised of and provide support for local
chapters of student-affiliated anti-war groups such as Campus Anti-Network
and Iraq Veterans Against the War).

Mention made that students are still tabling on the quad.

Mention made of talk last Tuesday by Peter R on public surveillance.

Old Business
**********
(new developments regarding ongoing issues)

UFPJ National Assembly, Dec 12-14 in Chicago (Rosemont). AWARE is a member
group and can have 2 voting delegates if we attend. Mort, Conrad and
Stuart plan to attend.

Proposal for up to $650 to reimburse for conference registrations, hotel
and gas for up to 3 people passed by consensus without objection.

Randall offers on-call home-base support during the conference (e.g.
FAXing of documents).

New Ideas
*********
New working group, tentatively named Monthly Message working group, formed
to take our monthly Main Event flyer content and propagate it through
other channels such as letters to the editor, AWARE on the Air, WILL
Public Square and/or other methods. Sign up sheet passed around.

Events of the past week
******************
(comments/reviews of recent events since the last AWARE meeting)

Mention made of News Gazette commentary section article (front page, high
profile) on suicides among the military  (by McClatchy Newspapers, what
used to be Knight-Ridder)

Mention made of David Green's recent letter to the editor for the DI and
that it was indeed printed.

Other Upcoming Events
******************
(events of note which aren't listed in the upcoming events calendar above)

Neil asks for help with a food bank drive competition in Rantoul between
the city school (where he works), the local private school and the high
school. Request folks to bring in food at the next AWARE meeting.

The IMC video production of the memorial event for Grandpa Walhfeldt held
earlier this year will be broadcast on UPTV (cable channel 6) at the
following dates and times:

12/9 (Tues) - 7pm
12/13 (Sat) - 3pm
12/14 (Sun) - 4pm
12/20 (Sat) - 7pm