[Peace] minutes of weekly AWARE meeting 2008-05-18

[Randall Cotton]

Minutes of 5/18/08 AWARE meeting are below, but first, the Upcoming
Events Calendar:

May 19 (Monday) (TONIGHT) 7:30PM, Urbana Free Library, 210 W. Green St.
Biofuels, the Carbon Cycle, and Midwest Agriculture, Professor Evan
DeLucia. See
http://lists.chambana.net/mailman/archive/peace/2008-May/021324.html

May 20 (Tuesday) 1PM, inside Urbana City Council Chambers, 400 S. Vine St.
Recording for this week's "AWARE on the Air" at UPTV

May 20 (Tuesday) 10PM, UPTV (cable channel 6)
"AWARE on the Air" broadcast

May 22 (Thursday) 7PM, Urbana Free Library, 210 W. Green St.
Follow-up meeting to further discussion from May 8 event "Enhancing
Democracy in Champaign County: Where Do We Go from Here?".

June 6-8 (Friday-Sunday) National Conference for Media Reform
Minneapolis/St. Paul
See: http://www.freepress.net/conference/

June 7 (Saturday) 2-4PM Main & Neil Streets, Champaign
Monthly "Main Event" demonstration, bring your own signs or use ours.
Help us distribute flyers to motorists if you like.

June 15 (Sunday) 2-4PM at the IMC (Independent Media Center) 202 S.
Broadway, Urbana
IMC celebration of Bob Wahlfeldt and dedication of the Family Room in
Bob's name.

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

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.

*****
Minutes of 5/18/08 AWARE meeting:

About 20 in attendance

Two local TV news cameras in attendance recording portions of the meeting
(for reasons not entirely clear, though they were welcomed nonetheless).
One post-meeting interview by WAND Channel 17 was conducted on what AWARE
is and what we do, which did not make it  to the 10PM newscast (no
surprise).

News of the week was heard, courtesy of Carl Estabrook

Finance Report: $2189.47
IMC rent for AWARE storage space may change
(currently $110 every 3 months)

Main Event:
Next demonstration is June 7. Consideration of flyer continues. Mort
Brussel suggested a flyer recently produced by Wisconsin Peace and Justice
Network based on an NPR interview of Iraqi activist Yanar Mohammad. Flyer
is at: http://www.wnpj.org/Flyers/Yanar%20Mohammed.pdf

Working group reports:
*****************
Library Resource Group:
=================
(Compilation of valuable reference materials w/appeal to Libraries to
carry them). Among the 3 libraries (Champaign, Urbana, UofI) - contacts
obtained for Champaign & Urbana. Another meeting planned for this evening.
First contact with libraries is pending.

proposal for expenditure: $75 for 3 copies of Blackwater DVD from
Clearwater, two for libraries, one for AWARE for presentations, UPTV, etc.
As per AWARE practice, this proposal to be pondered for a week and
considered for ratification at the next meeting.

Anti-Racism:
=========
Focus, this week, of course, was on Patrick Thompson trial. Good
attendance and reporting throughout the week. Celebration and relief of
course, with the not guilty verdict, but tempered with long-standing
outrage that almost 4 years, many thousands of dollars, incalculable time
and energy of activist advocates and heroic pro bono legal efforts of
attorneys Kirchner & Wyman were required to save a black activist from
going to prison for at least 6 years solely on the inconsistent word of
one white woman.

CU Citizens is brainstorming on future projects and internal process,
taking stock after the success of Patrick Thompson's defense.

Iran:
====
The drumbeat for war continues to get louder, with repeated claims as if
Iran is the source of all evil.

Anti-Torture:
==========
Mention is made of an upcoming Anti-Torture religious conference at Mercer
University in Georgia this coming September.
http://www.evangelicalsforhumanrights.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=72&Itemid=106
NRCAT is involved (National Religious Campaign Against Torture). Some
supporting groups even tend conservative.

Mention also made of weekend protest demonstrations held at Berkeley
regarding John Yoo (he is a law professor there). See
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2008/05/17/18499942.php .

Blackwater:
========
Two conference calls w/Clearwater recently - one this afternoon. Barbara
preparing a report for AWARE next week on status of state legislation
regarding Blackwater and other military contractors. It was noted that
Clearwater plans to contact and establish relationship with journalist
Jeremy Scahill, prominent independent journalist investigating Blackwater.

AWARE on the Air:
==============
Expanding to one hour from half an hour. 5 people last week. Taping now
occurs Tuesdays at 1PM, and broadcasts have been moved to Tuesdays at 10PM
to avoid conflicts with Urbana City Council meetings that run long.
Suggestion was made that individual statements could be spotlighted
on the show. AWARE members (and friends) invited to participate -
the more the merrier (see details above in upcoming events calendar).

Farmer's Market:
============
Sign up grid passed around again. Ideas thrown around for new material.
Popular items reported.

T-shirt idea: quote attributed to Martin Niemoller:

"In Germany, they came first for the Communists, And I didn't speak up
because I wasn't a Communist;
And then they came for the trade unionists, And I didn't speak up because
I wasn't a trade unionist;
And then they came for the Jews, And I didn't speak up because I wasn't a
Jew;
And then . . . they came for me . . . And by that time there was no one
left to speak up."

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_they_came... The text cannot be
definitively sourced, but one of the many variations could be used.

Another t-shirt idea - play up Bush's "sacrifice" of giving up golf.

4th of July:
=======
Some local veterans have said they would like to join us in the parade,
including the local IVAW chapter.

Mention is made of Alf Razzell, one of the longest surviving veterans of
WWI who once reportedly said "At the end of any war, everyone sits around
a table and comes to some agreement. Why don't they do that before the war
instead?"

Mention made of suicides outnumbering combat deaths, as reported on
recently by Aaron Glantz. See
http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/05/10/8868/

Old Business:
**********
"Cost of War" billboard
================
Half hour program w/snapshots of the "Cost of War" billboard now being
broadcast on UPTV. Already broadcast twice. Upcoming broadcasts are
Wednesday, May 21, 2008 - 7:00 PM and Thursday, May 22, 2008 - 7:00 PM.
Public Square spot on WILL-AM ran successfully and can be reviewed at:
http://will.uiuc.edu/community/publicsquare/default.htm .

The UFPJ (United for Peace and Justice) contact that is coordinating these
billboards around the country is turning out to be a remarkable
impediment. Possible workarounds are being pursued.

New Ideas:
*********
Card of appreciation passed around and signed for Ruth Wyman & Bob
Kirchner for their work on the Patrick Thompson case.

An idea originally from Code Pink: Overpass banner drop for Memorial Day.
There is a call nationwide for groups to stand on overpasses with impeach
bush/cheney banners. Clearance for this already sought and approved by
Champaign and Urbana Police. Suggestion that protestors wear the "Impeach"
shirts we've been selling. Some concern cited about problems if it's
windy.

Events of the past week
*******************
Via Mennonite Peace and Justice Committee - May 15th was International
Conscientious Objector day. This day is used to promote awareness of how
to establish a paper trail record of one's conscientious objector status.
Perhaps AWARE could use this day to do so in the future.

Jan and Durl report on a visit earlier the same day to Trinity United
Church of Christ in Chicago (Rev. Jeremiah Wright's Church). The service
was dramatic, enthusiastic, even overwhelming. Wonderful people, but they
feel they're under siege and are digging in for a fight. They have many
social justice and peace initiatives. Race is a focus - primarily a black
message to a black community, raising issues of resistance to racism in
society -  a center for black liberation theology.

New "Winter Soldier" event. Extremely powerful testimony. DVD available
and will be pursued by AWARE.

Interfaith Alliance meets at the Mosque (CIMIC) 2nd Monday night of every
month. This past meeting there was excellent conversation with the local
Muslim Student Association (by chance, they were having a cookout there at
the time).

Upcoming events not in the calendar above
*********************************
June 3-5 - "Steward workshop" on the ways Christianity intersects with
stewardship of the earth. Conrad will attend.