[Peace] minutes of weekly AWARE meeting 2008-06-15

[Randall Cotton]

Minutes of 6/15/08 AWARE meeting are below, but first, the Upcoming
Events Calendar:

**************** URGENT CALL FOR TURNOUT **************
June 16 (TODAY, MONDAY) 7PM, Urbana City Council Chambers, 400 S. Vine St.
Township meeting where Township Board members (AKA Urbana City Council
members) will vote on a measure(s) that would squash a previously
scheduled June 30 Township meeting intended for a citizen's vote on
possible ballot referendums this fall. The measure proposed will preempt
the prospective citizen's referendums planned for discussion and vote on
June 30 by putting 3 other referendums in place beforehand (squeezing out
all other referendums since there is a limit of three). See:
http://lists.chambana.net/mailman/archive/peace/2008-June/021379.html
and
http://www.news-gazette.com/news/politics/2008/06/14/ballot_moves_could_preempt_town_meeting

Also note there is an outstanding call for turnout by Danielle Chynoweth
for the Urbana City Council meeting (which will immediately follow the
Township meeting). That action call is regarding the Mayor's proposed
budget which provides no public money for public arts despite the previous
City Council vote to establish "a dedicated revenue stream for public
art." Danielle will motion budget modification to re-establish funding for
public arts. See:
http://lists.chambana.net/mailman/archive/peace/2008-June/021376.html
and
http://www.news-gazette.com/news/politics/2008/06/14/arts_funding_is_back_in_urbana_spotlight

City Council Agenda for today is at:
http://www.ci.urbana.il.us/Scripts/Council/Agendas.asp?a=06-16-2008&s=
Danielle's motion is at agenda item VI.(A)(10)
***********************************************************

June 17 (Tuesday) 1PM, inside Urbana City Council Chambers, 400 S. Vine
St.
Recording for this week's "AWARE on the Air" at UPTV

June 17 (Tuesday) 10PM, UPTV (cable channel 6)
"AWARE on the Air" broadcast

June 19 (Thursday) 7PM, Brookens Center, 1776 E. Washington, Ave, Urbana
Champaign County Board meeting. There is a fight going on to save the
Champaign County Nursing Home from being turned over to private interests
instead of being publicly funded (almost certainly resulting in exclusion
of poor, Medicare and Medicaid folks, deterioration of worker compensation
including loss of living wage levels, etc.) Those on the County Board
fighting to save the Nursing Home need turnout and moral support of their
efforts. County Board Agenda for this meeting is at:
http://www.co.champaign.il.us/COUNTYBD/CB/080619agenda.pdf
Full agenda with all related material (large file) is at:
http://www.co.champaign.il.us/COUNTYBD/CB/080619AGENDAFULL.pdf
There is a public comment period. Key agenda item is XI.(C)(5).

June 19 (Thursday) 7PM, 2007 S. George Huff Dr., Urbana
(home of Jan & Durl Kruse)
Second meeting of working group for AWARE's July 4th parade float. This
year's theme is "Honoring our military heroes". Many possible individuals
to honor have been brought forth. All welcome and encouraged to attend.

June 19-22 (Thursday-Sunday) "Socialism 2008" conference in Chicago -
impressive list of speakers. See: http://www.socialismconference.org/

June 21-22 (Saturday-Sunday) (details TBA): Jeffrey St. Clair will be in
town. He is editor of Counterpunch. See counterpunch.org . His new book
is: "Born Under a Bad Sky: Notes from the Dark Side of the Earth." Also
recent as co-editor: "Red State Rebels: Tales of Grassroots Resistance in
the Heartland". Dinner event possible on evening of the 21st. Illini Union
Bookstore signing event expected the afternoon of the 22nd at 2PM. He is a
speaker at the Socialism 2008 conference as well - see immediately above.

June 24 (Tuesday) 9:30AM, Courtroom D, Champaign County Courthouse (101
E.Main, Urbana)
Final ruling expected on Patrick Thompson's small claims case against
Harvey Welch for return of legal fees due to ineffective representation of
Patrick during his 2nd trial.

June 25 (Wednesday) 7PM Urbana-Champaign Friends Meetinghouse, 1904 E.
Main Street, Urbana
Florence Ntakarutimana from Burundi: "Healing from Civil War: Bringing the
enemy sides together in Burundi"
Details at:
http://lists.chambana.net/mailman/archive/peace/2008-June/021353.html

June 28-29 (Saturday-Sunday), Cleveland, Ohio
"National Assembly to End the Iraq War and Occupation" Conference see
www.natassembly.org . Proposal brought forth for AWARE to send up to 4
people to this conference (details below in minutes).

June 30  (Monday) 6PM Urbana City Council Chambers, 400 S. Vine St.
Special Cunningham (Urbana) Township meeting - sole agenda items are
the addition of 2 advisory referendums - instant runoff voting
and financial transparency. Under threat of being rendered moot by June 16
township meeting (see URGENT CALL FOR TURNOUT above).

July 18 (Friday) 7:30PM, Independent Media Center, 202 S. Broadway, Urbana
1st performance of "Marx in Soho", a one-man Howard Zinn play performed by
Jerry Levy.
$5 suggested donation. See: www.levyarts.com

July 19 (Saturday) 7:30PM, Channing-Murray Foundation, 1209 W. Oregon St.,
Urbana
2nd (final) performance of "Marx in Soho", a one-man Howard Zinn play
performed by Jerry Levy.
$5 suggested donation. See: www.levyarts.com

July 19 (Saturday) (time TBA) proposed one-time "Main Event"-style street
demonstration at high-traffic intersection of Springfield and Mattis.

*****
Minutes of 6/15/08 AWARE meeting:

About 20 in attendance

News of the week was heard courtesy of Carl Estabrook

Finance Report: $2363.20
Finance report sheet passed around:
IMC rent for AWARE storage space may change
(currently $110 every 3 months)

Main Event:
========
(AWARE's monthly street protest held at the intersection of Main & Neil
2-4PM on the first Saturday of each month). Next Main Event is July 5th.
Some Yanar Mohammed flyers left, some IVAW flyers left, some "Cost of War"
flyers left, but any other proposed flyer can be distributed together with
these or instead of them.

More discussion of a future demonstration regarding SAIC sometime in the
fall.

More discussion of an additional future overpass demonstration as was held
for Memorial Day.

Additional demonstration proposed for July 19th at Springfield and Mattis.
(see under New Ideas).

Working group reports:
*****************
Library Resource Group:
=================
(Compilation of valuable reference materials w/appeal to Libraries to
carry them). Preliminary list of desirable library materials passed around
for feedback/input.

AWARE Presents:
=============
(Organization of AWARE-sponsored events in the community)
Meeting took place June 12. About half a dozen in attendance. Four ideas
assigned highest priority are:

1. Public forum with attendees of recent National Conference on Media
Reform in Minneapolis/St. Paul (Ann, Stuart, Bob, Danielle, etc.)

2. Jeremy Scahill events coinciding with his anticipated visit to town
this fall on a book tour. NOTE: Jeremy Scahill is a featured speaker at
the Socialism 2008 conference - see upcoming events above. He is scheduled
to be on a panel event on Friday the 20th at 4PM called "Torture: From
Guantanamo to Chicago Interrogation Rooms". And he will have his own
session on the same day at 7:30PM called "Blackwater: Iraq's Mercenary
Army Today". Barbara plans to attend and invites others to join her. See:
http://www.socialismconference.org/schedule/index.php

3. Film festival at Urbana Free Library. Under consideration: "Body of
War". "Winter Soldier" footage, "War Made Easy" "Redacted", "Blood and
Oil: The Middle East in World War I". Rights to show these need to be
pursued. Stuart mentions he has "Reel Bad Arabs" and also "War Made Easy",
both with rights to show. Stuart also suggests contacting Boardman's Art
Theater to suggest some of these be screened there.. "Iraq for Sale" also
mentioned as having a
powerful unique perspective, told by the people that work for the
contractors in Iraq.

4. PTSD panel - 4 local individuals have been identified that work with
veterans affected by PTSD.

Related note: Ron Szoke announces 2 performances of  "Marx in Soho", a
one-man play by Howard Zinn. Details above in upcoming events calendar.
Requests volunteers to help set up for these performances.

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)

Mention made of News Gazette story covering the recent  9 1/2 year
sentence for a first time offense of possession with intent to deliver.
See:
http://www.news-gazette.com/news/courts_crime_fire/2008/06/14/46-year-old_gets_9_12_years_for_drug_conviction
(News-Gazette articles are online free of charge for one week from
publication)

Mention also made of Mary Schenk article covering success of Champaign
County Drug Court program run by Judge Jeff Ford. See:
http://www.news-gazette.com/news/courts_crime_fire/2008/06/14/drug_court_class_thrills_judge
With the success and cost savings of the program, wonder is expressed as
to why there were only 18 participants.

New Copwatch project under CUCPJ is set to start, following the example of
Martel Miller and Patrick Thompson's "Citizen Watch" of 2004. Plans are
for Champaign City Police to be notified this week, and for the first
copwatch work to begin this coming Saturday.

Farmer's Market:
============
(AWARE's presence at the Urbana "Market on the Square" each Saturday from
8AM to noon).

Sign-up grid passed around for future Saturdays. Coexist
stickers till very popular. Request fielded for "blue peace flag", we sold
something similar years ago. Suggestion made that we keep Northern Sun and
Syracuse Cultural Workers catalogs handy at the booth.

Canopy research: 6 foot canopies are scarce - cheap ones are 8/10/12 feet.
A 5x5 canopy could be had for 170 or 190, steel or aluminum. Nothing else
found seems better than the umbrella that's available for use from the
Kruses. A solution is now available for carrying the heavy umbrella stand,
courtesy of Karen.

Ann mentions a friend who has a tent she used at Farmer's Market and says
she would sell it. However, it would require 2 people to set up.

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

Taping occurs each Tuesdays 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.

Blackwater:
========
(Activism regarding notorious domestic policing and international
mercenary contractor Blackwater, including coordination with
Illinois-based activist group Clearwater)

Jeremy Scahill featured on Bob McChesney's Media Matters today, Roger
called in to contribute. Mention made of how the Army rushes to get
wounded soldiers home and how they are not counted as a combat casualty if
they die after they arrive in the US. Mention made of a reported 1200
families of Iraq contract-workers that have applied for assistance as a
result of a casualty, providing an indicator of contractor casualties
(official statistics on this are scarce).

Related note (re: military contractors): Mention made of Caterpillar's
plans to spend $1,000,000,000 to expand their factory capacity.
Caterpillar is notorious for supplying Israel with armored equipment to
bulldoze/destroy Palestinian land, trees and structures including homes.

4th of July:
=======
(AWARE's entry in this year's 4th of July parade)
Working group meeting rescheduled for Thursday the 19th (see upcoming
events calendar above). Float concept: a very large wood-construction box
frame sitting on a hay wagon, paneled all the way around with large
portraits of AWARE's military heroes with names and quotes. For example,
Maj. General Smedley Butler, Staff Sergeant Camilo Mejia and Intel
Specialist Diedra Cobb. Also planned: signs to be carried by parade
participants, in pairs, highlighting various truths about the Iraq war
"the truth about casualties/costs/injuries/etc."

Old Business:
**********
"National Assembly to End the Iraq War and Occupation"
A conference in Cleveland, Ohio, June 28-29
=======================================
This is an effort to create nationwide unity among anti-war groups toward
the purpose of effecting mass, unified national demonstrations (the first
of which is tentatively slated for next Spring) with an uncompromising
demand for *immediate and complete* withdrawal and an explicit,
categorical independence from all political parties. It is meant to be
all-encompassing and includes support from United for Peace and Justice
and International Answer, but it is much more grassroots-oriented.

See http://natassembly.org.

And in particular, see:
http://natassembly.org/uploads/docs/NatAssemb_flyer.pdf
http://natassembly.org/uploads/resources/1211603546.doc
http://natassembly.org/uploads/resources/1211603647.doc
http://natassembly.org/uploads/resources/1211603438.doc

Randall stressed the potential importance of this new approach toward
grassroots mobilization of the anti-war movement nationwide, but noted
that it requires direct engagement and participation precisely by groups
like AWARE (plus networking with other anti-war groups in our corner of
the Midwest - contact already made with Carbondale, Bloomington/Normal and
Peoria anti-war groups). Democratic participation in the formation of the
foundational structure and action proposals of this nascent movement is an
important component of that, compelling our personal attendance at this
conference. Randall committed to spearheading the ongoing organization
work needed into the future to support this movement on AWARE's end (along
with anyone else who wishes to join in), but reiterated that he felt it
was important for other folks in AWARE to actually attend the conference.
David H. stepped forward saying he may be able to attend. Others have
expressed interest, but have as yet been unable to clear their schedules
for this.

Randall proposed expenditure of $500 to send up to 4 individuals to this
conference (up to 4 may sleep in one room at the conference hotel itself).
According to AWARE policy, this will be up for ratification next week.
Randall will search out possible attendees and provide more concrete
details on who will go and what the expenses will be.

Suggestions were made that whoever steps forward to attend the conference
should have a genuine commitment to its goal and should be willing to
participate in the ongoing organizing efforts within AWARE to help bring
it about.

New Ideas
********
New single-event demonstration proposed at Mattis & Springfield on July
19th in addition to our regular monthly "Main Event" demonstrations.
Several folks immediately indicate they would attend. More discussion next
week or via e-mail.

Mention made of Jay Mittenthal's forwarded suggestion regarding writing
letters to one's college/university where they studied in support of
counter-recruitment efforts. See:
http://lists.chambana.net/mailman/archive/peace/2008-June/021378.html