[Peace] minutes of weekly AWARE meeting 2008-11-09

[E. Wayne Johnson]

Randall,
One point of Clarification...

The Naomi Wolf film "End of America" will be shown on
December 1, 7PM at the Champaign Public Library.

(not at Allen Hall)

*
I regret not being able to attend the Winter Soldier event,
as I will at that time be accompanying a small group of family and 
friends to
take a soldier friend Miguel (Mike) Guzmán de Leon to his final resting 
place at the Veteran's Cemetery
in Danville.  

Randall Cotton wrote:
> Apologies again for the late minutes. I hope to be back in my usual groove
> next week (and a reminder, I encourage others to get involved with or take
> over producing these minutes - I'm happy to facilitate this). Thanks to
> Stuart, Karen, Barbara and others who have kept this list apprised of
> upcoming events despite the lack of timely minutes.
>
> Minutes of 11/09/08 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)
>
> Nov 13 (Thursday) 10-11AM and 4-5PM Volunteers needed for setup/teardown
> of the "Eyes Wide Open Illinois" exhibit. Contact Karen medina at
> kmedina at illinois.edu or (217) 766-3341.
> For more details see:
> http://lists.chambana.net/mailman/archive/peace/2008-November/021785.html
>
> 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.
>
> AWARE is looking for an attorney or law student who would be interested in
> volunteering to help craft Illinois legislation to regulate military
> contractors such as Blackwater within the state as part of the AWARE
> Blackwater Working Group. This would be in conjunction with a statewide
> effort involving Clearwater (see www.noprivatearmies.org) and would be a
> continuation of last year's effort (HB 5700) to pass legislation. See:
> http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/BillStatus.asp?DocNum=5700&GAID=9&DocTypeID=HB&LegId=37316&SessionID=51&GA=95 .
> 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 and arrange for copies, as
> needed, of AWARE publicity materials (our business card, intro sheet for
> new meeting attendees, 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
> ----------------------------
> Nov 10 (PAST EVENT, Monday) 1PM, Urbana City Council Chambers, 400 S. Vine
> St.
> Taping of this week's "AWARE on the Air" for UPTV. Taping is on Monday
> because of the Veteran's day holiday on Tuesday, when Aware on the Air is
> usually taped.
>
> Nov 11 (PAST EVENT, Tuesday) 7PM, UPTV (cable channel 6)
> Broadcast of AWARE's event with Dan Kenney from Clearwater:  "Outsourcing
> of our Sovereignty: Privatization of War, Emergencies and Everyday Life",
> which took place at the Urbana City Council Chambers on October 10, 2008.
>
> Nov 11 (PAST EVENT, Tuesday) 10PM, UPTV (cable channel 6)
> Broadcast of "AWARE on the Air", taped the day before (see above)
>
> Nov 12 (PAST EVENT, Wednesday) 7:15PM, Channing-Murray Foundation, 1209 W.
> Oregon St.
> Life and Work in Palestine: Rev. John Setterlund. Pastor Setterlund served
> at St. Andrew's Church on campus 1991-2006.  He has recently returned from
> two years as a volunteer at a Lutheran congregation in Palestine. This
> event is co-sponsored by AWARE.
>
> Nov 13 (Thursday) 11AM - 4PM, UofI campus quad, northwest corner, near the
> English building.
> "Eyes Wide Open Illinois" exhibit. AFSC (Quakers) "boots" exhibit.
> Background at:
> http://www.afsc.org/eyes/ht/d/sp/i/38782
> Details on the local event at:
> http://lists.chambana.net/mailman/archive/peace/2008-November/021785.html
> *** VOLUNTEERS NEEDED FOR SETUP/TEARDOWN ***
> *** SEE ABOVE IN AWARE VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES ***
>
> Nov 13 (Thursday) noon, UofI campus quad
> Anti-War rally w/Iraq Veterans Against the War, a Winter Soldier event
>
> Nov 13 (Thursday) 6-8:30PM, 103 Mumford Hall on campus, 1301 West Gregory
> Drive, Urbana
> Winter Soldier: Champaign/Urbana
> Testimony by Iraq veterans from throughout the Great Lakes region. Also
> scheduled to speak: Camilo Mejia, who spent nine months in jail for
> refusing to redeploy to Iraq.  This event is co-sponsored by AWARE
> 6:00-6:45pm The Legacy of GI Resistance
>   Joe Allen, author of Vietnam: The (Last) War the U.S. Lost
>    Joe Miller, UIUC lecturer, Vietnam Veterans Against the War
>   Richard Stacewicz, historian, author of Winter Soldiers: An Oral History
> of the Vietnam Veterans Against the War
> 7:00-8:30pm Testimony by Iraqis and Veterans of the Global War on Terror
>   Camilo Mejia, US Army, served in Iraq from April through October 2003;
> first
> soldier to be jailed for publicly refusing to return to Iraq
>   Patty McCann, Illinois Army National Guard, served in Iraq from May
> 2003-2004
>   Jacob Crawford, US Navy, Central Illinois Iraq Veterans Against the War
> Chapter President
>   Mike Mlekowski, US Marines, participated in the initial invasion of Iraq
> in 2003
>    Duane Linton, US Army, served in Iraq for ten months from 2007 to 2008
>   Tanya R. Austin, US Army, former Arabic Linguist, Military Intelligence
>    Jason Wallace, Illinois Air National Guard, deployed to Kuwait in
> support of Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2005
>   Raad Ismail and Raed Jarrar will share the perspective of Iraqis
>
> Nov 13 (Thursday) 7PM, 269 Everitt Laboratory on campus, 1406 W. Green
> St., Urbana
> Documentary Screening: "Control Room". Jehane Noujaim's timely documentary
> explores the nature of truth and ethics  in the popular media, with
> particular focus on the primary satellite news  network to the Arab world,
> Al-Jazeera. Open discussion following the screening, with Professor
> Althaus  from the Department of Communication.
>
> Nov 14 (Friday) 7PM, 407 Illini Union on campus, 1401 W. Green St., Urbana
> Short Movies from the Arab World. "Driving an Arab Street" follows
> Egyptian taxi drivers as they navigate the streets of Cairo and share
> their diverse perspectives. "Forces of Change: Artists of the Arab World"
> introduces the viewer to the contemporary art  movements of the Arab world
> through interviews with twenty artists who discuss their work. "Lebanon
> through Dabke" shows different aspects of Lebanese culture, depicting the
> folkloric Lebanese dance "dabke".
>
> Nov 15 (Saturday) 8:30PM, UPTV (cable channel 6)
> Broadcast of AWARE's event with Dan Kenney from Clearwater:  "Outsourcing
> of our Sovereignty: Privatization of War, Emergencies and Everyday Life",
> which took place at the Urbana City Council Chambers on October 10, 2008.
>
> Nov 16 (Sunday) 4PM, UPTV (cable channel 6)
> Broadcast of AWARE's event with Dan Kenney from Clearwater:  "Outsourcing
> of our Sovereignty: Privatization of War, Emergencies and Everyday Life",
> which took place at the Urbana City Council Chambers on October 10, 2008.
>
> Nov 18 (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)
>
> Nov 18 (Tuesday) 10PM, UPTV (cable channel 6)
> Broadcast of "AWARE on the Air", taped earlier in the day (see above)
>
> Nov 30 (Sunday) 5-10PM Urbana Civic Center, 108 E Water St.
> The People's Potluck Thanksgiving - a food-sharing communal gathering to
> be thankful for all of the good, caring, and active people and
> organizations in our community, and an occasion to discuss the launching
> of a Central Illinois Social Forum next Spring (in the vein of the World
> Social Forum and U.S. Social Forum). All are welcome, but are asked to
> RSVP (to hworthen at illinois.edu or a-fields at uiuc.edu) and to bring a dish
> to share.
>
> Dec 1 (Monday) 7PM, mail lounge, Allen Hall on campus, 1005 W. Gregory
> Dr, Urbana
> Screening of Naomi Wolf's "The End of America" by AWARE Library Resources
> Working Group. See: http://www.endofamericamovie.com .
>
> Dec 6 (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.
>
> *****
> Minutes of 11/09/08 AWARE meeting:
>
> About 20 in attendance
>
> News of the week was postponed until after working group reports to ensure
> AWARE business could be completed before folks had to leave for the Prince
> Myshkins event at Allen Hall.
>
> Finance Report: Balance is $2201. No income from Farmer's Market - cold
> weather cancellation.
>
> 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 December 6 (see details above in Upcoming Events
> Calendar)
>
> Mention made of discussion last week regarding the possibility of calling
> Champaign to discover the busiest intersections. David H. volunteers
> to call both Champaign and Urbana to discover busiest intersections.
>
> Library Resources:
> =============
> (Compilation of valuable reference materials w/strategies to make them
> available in the community through various channels including local
> libraries).
>
> Current planned event: A showing of Naomi Wolf's "The End of America",
> based on her 2007 book. Monday, December 1st at Allen Hall  (details above
> in the Upcoming Events Calendar).
>
> AWARE Presents:
> =============
> (Organization of AWARE-sponsored events in the community)
>
> Current AWARE Presents event lineup:
>
> 1. Jeremy Scahill event still being pursued (he is on a book tour this
> Fall). Contact made, currently in a "wait and see" pattern.
>
> 2. Proposal under development: Invite Juan Cole to speak (University
> of Michigan Professor of History, middle-east expert, author of Informed
> Comment blog, see: www.juancole.com ). Initial contacts to promote
> interest in this at UIUC: Center for South Asian and Middle Eastern
> Studies and Center for Global Studies.
>
> 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)
>
> CUCPJ co-founder Carol Ammons elected to Champaign County Board district 5
> (as top vote-getter) along with Democratic running-mate Lloyd Carter.
>
> City of Champaign Township poverty referendum failed 67% no to 33% yes.
> Randall reports he has all but concluded that such a referendum (property
> tax increase) is essentially impossible to pass primarily due to the legal
> restriction that forbids explaining the purpose of the tax increase in the
> wording of the referendum. Multiple reports from AWARE members of efforts
> by election officials to suppress flyering that was conducted at polling
> places. The suppression is apparently against state law. New working group
> formed to follow up on referendum wording and flyering suppression with
> County Clerk.
>
> 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).
>
> Next Saturday will be the first indoor event. We should have more space
> overall, so more literature could be made available.
>
> 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)
>
> 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.
>
> Taping is 1PM Monday this week (THIS HAS ALREADY PASSED) instead of
> Tuesday due to the Veteran's Day holiday.
>
> Carl will not be in town next week, so someone is needed to convene and
> host the show that will be taped/broadcast on Nov 18th.
>
> 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 )
>
> New county board member in Carroll County may be sympathetic to
> Clearwater's cause. Carroll County is just south of Jo Daviess county
> (where Blackwater has their facility).
>
> Barbara headed to Evanston to meet with others (including state rep Julie
> Hamos) on November 10. Clearwater will renew legislative efforts this
> year.
>
> Dan Kenney event being rebroadcast on UPTV (see details in upcoming events
> calendar).
>
> 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).
>
> AWARE requested for support with Nov. 13 IVAW Winter Soldier event:
>
> 1. Cosponsorship
> 2. Veteran support - gathering mental health professionals to assist
> testifying veterans as needed.
> 3. Housing for out-of-town vets coming to participate
> 4. Water bottle supply for all speakers - donation already received for
> this.
>
> Mention made of the Media Matters interview with Aaron Glantz on the
> occasion of his new book, "The War Comes Home: Washington's Battle against
> America's Veterans". Audio of the interview is archived at:
> http://www.will.illinois.edu/mediamatters/
>
> Old Business
> **********
> (new developments on ongoing issues)
>
> Electronic anti-war billboard is set to be installed as an art exhibit in
> the IMC front lobby near the Post Office.
>
> Events of the past week
> ******************
> (comments/reviews of recent events since the last AWARE meeting)
>
> Mention made of Howard Zehr appearances regarding "restorative justice"
> and the performances of "The Night Thoreau Spent in Jail".
>
> Upcoming Events
> *************
> (events of note which aren't listed in the upcoming events calendar above)
>
> Nov 12 (PAST EVENT, Wednesday)
> National Religious Coalition Against Torture - A National Day of Witness
> for a Presidential Order to Ban Torture
> A coordinated event - people from all different faiths will visit
> congressmen and white house about torture. Barbara is committed to visit
> Tim Johnson for the Quakers. See
> http://www.nrcat.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=229&Itemid=173
>
> Dec 12-14 (Friday-Sunday) United for Peace and Justice 4th National
> Assembly
> Wyndham O'Hare Hotel - near Chicago O'Hare Airport
> 6810 North Mannheim Road
> Rosemont, IL   60018
>
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