[Peace] minutes of weekly AWARE meeting 2008-10-12

[Randall Cotton]

Minutes of 10/12/08 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.). The display could be
set up anywhere indoors - home, business, event - where it will be seen by
many. See photo at: http://costofwar.com/mainstreet.html . 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 required for maintenance work
(UNIX/HTML/CSS). 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
----------------------------
Oct 14 (TODAY, Tuesday) 1PM, Urbana City Council Chambers, 400 S. Vine St.
Taping of this week's "AWARE on the Air" for UPTV.

Oct 14 (TODAY, Tuesday) 10PM, UPTV (cable channel 6)
Broadcast of "AWARE on the Air", taped earlier in the day (see above)

Oct 16 (Thursday) 7PM, Champaign Public Library, 200 W. Green St.
"Freedom to Vote: Protecting the Ballot", presented by The Champaign
County ACLU. Watch the half hour film "Voting Rights," which takes you to
communities where people's electoral power is diluted through intimidation
at polls, unfair laws, and the manipulation of political districts.  Learn
the story of everyday heroes who are doing their part for true democracy
by defending equal access to the ballot. After the film, join the
discussion with the Illinois ACLU Executive Director and Constitutional
lawyer, Colleen Connell, who will speak and answer questions.

Oct 18 (Saturday), 8PM, UPTV (cable channel 6)
Broadcast of ""PTSD: Our Troops, Our Community" panel presentation
sponsored by AWARE and IVAW that took place at the Urbana Free Library on
September 7, 2008

Oct 19 (Sunday) 9:30PM, UPTV (cable channel 6)
Broadcast of ""PTSD: Our Troops, Our Community" panel presentation
sponsored by AWARE and IVAW that took place at the Urbana Free Library on
September 7, 2008

Oct 20 (Monday), 7PM, Champaign City Council Chambers
Candidate Forum presented by The League of Women Voters. Scheduled to
appear: Candidates for Champaign County coroner, Champaign County
recorder, Champaign County circuit clerk and Champaign County auditor.

Oct 21 (Tuesday) 1PM, Urbana City Council Chambers, 400 S. Vine St.
Taping of next week's "AWARE on the Air" for UPTV.

Oct 21 (Tuesday) 10PM, UPTV (cable channel 6)
Broadcast of "AWARE on the Air", taped earlier in the day (see above)

Oct 26 (Sunday) 4PM, UPTV (cable channel 6)
Broadcast of ""PTSD: Our Troops, Our Community" panel presentation
sponsored by AWARE and IVAW that took place at the Urbana Free Library on
September 7, 2008

Oct 28 (Tuesday) 7PM, mail lounge, Allen Hall on campus, 1005 W. Gregory
Dr, Urbana
Screening of Michael Moore's "Slacker Uprising" by AWARE Library Resources
Working Group. See: http://slackeruprising.com .

Oct 29 (Wednesday) 7:30PM, Auditorium, Smith Memorial Hall, 805 South
Mathews Ave., Urbana
Naomi Klein: "Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism in Latin
America" (hosted by the UofI Center for Latin American and Caribbean
Studies as part of the CAS/MillerComm Lecture Series). See:
http://www.cas.uiuc.edu/casmillercomm.php#oct29

Nov 1 (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.

Oct 26 (Sunday) 4PM, UPTV (cable channel 6)
Broadcast of ""PTSD: Our Troops, Our Community" panel presentation
sponsored by AWARE and IVAW that took place at the Urbana Free Library on
September 7, 2008

Nov 6 (Thursday) 9:30PM, 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.

(tentative) Nov 7 (Friday) (time TBA) Channing-Murray Foundation, 1209 W.
Oregon St, Urbana
First performance of "The Night Thoreau Spent in Jail", by Jerome Lawrence
and Robert E. Lee, Directed by Matthew DeMarco. A minimalist
interpretation of the play, which focuses on the life of Henry David
Thoreau, in particular the night spent in a Concord jail for tax
resistance, which inspired his "Civil Disobedience."  A call for activism
over withdrawal. This event is co-sponsored by AWARE.

(tentative) Nov 8 (Saturday) (time TBA) Channing-Murray Foundation, 1209
W. Oregon St, Urbana
Second performance of "The Night Thoreau Spent in Jail" (see details
immediately above)

Nov 8 (Saturday) 7PM, UPTV (cable channel 6)
Broadcast of ""PTSD: Our Troops, Our Community" panel presentation
sponsored by AWARE and IVAW that took place at the Urbana Free Library on
September 7, 2008

Nov 11 (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 12 (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) (time, venue TBA)  IVAW (Iraq Veterans Against the War)
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.

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.

*****
Minutes of 10/12/08 AWARE meeting:

About 12 in attendance

News of the week was reviewed jointly

Finance Report: No Finance report this week (treasurer absent)

Janet remembered to collect meeting contributions

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 November 1 (see details above in Upcoming Events
Calendar)

Standing flyer suggestion is the "Peace Voter '08" guide from Peace
Action. See: http://www.peace-action.org/PV08/prezvoterguide.pdf

Some pro and con discussion was had about the guide's content. It was
suggested to replace the back side with different content (mention was
made of some work Karen had started for last month's flyer).

During the next Main Event, Stuart has volunteered to scout a new location
nearby - University & Neil - to compare traffic counts, explore flyer
distribution issues, etc.

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 Michael Moore's "Slacker Uprising" on
Monday, October 28th at Allen Hall (Tuesday) 7PM (details above in the
Upcoming Events Calendar).

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

Working group meeting to be scheduled soon.

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 efforts are currently centered on promoting passage of the Township
(Poverty) Referendum on the November ballot. The new Public I is out and
contains an article about the referendum issue. Copies were passed around.

Farmer's Market:
============
(AWARE's presence at the Urbana "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 not available for booth staffing (keepers of the list are
absent).

Stuart is holding on to the proceeds ($65) from yesterday's Farmer's
Market for the Treasurer.

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

Taping 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.

August 12th and September 16th editions are present on AWARE's website
(anti-war.net). More future editions planned.

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 )

Working group meeting may be scheduled soon. Barb headed to Evanston to
meet with others (including state rep Julie Hamos) on November 10.
Clearwater will renew legislative efforts this year. Suggestion made to
invite involvement of a local lawyer or law student to help with crafting
legislation.

Dan Kenney event will be rebroadcast on UPTV 4 times (see details in
upcoming events calendar).

Student Groups
===========
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

Local CAN (Campus Anti-War Network) members plan on attending this year's
CAN national conference at DePaul University October 10-12th, perhaps
conducting an anti-torture workshop.

Old Business
**********
Electronic sign availability spotlighted (see details above in AWARE
Volunteer Opportunities).

SAIC working group and demonstration efforts are still being considered.
SAIC is spotlighted in the cover article in this month's Public I (just
released). Demonstrations were originally being pondered for Oct 19th
and/or Oct 26th home football days. Stuart posted Vanity Fair's detailed
expose on SAIC. See:
http://lists.chambana.net/mailman/archive/peace-discuss/2008-October/018646.html .

New Ideas
*********
Stuart describes the "Beehive Collective", a group that explains
complicated issues through performance in an accessible way that many can
easily understand. Carl vouches for their work - remarkable, interesting,
compelling. There is an idea of inviting them to town. Proposal moved for
AWARE to contribute $50 toward the effort (to be ratified at the next
AWARE meeting according to standing rules). Many more details in a recent
"peace" list posting from Stuart at
http://lists.chambana.net/mailman/archive/peace/2008-October/021678.html .

Mention made of last in the News-Gazette's series "US in a Global Context"
that appeared in Sunday's edition (Commentary section). Described as a
particularly insipid and stupid piece positing that the US is not making
friends the right way in the world. Call made to counter this.

Mention made that AWARE has not done much counter-recruitment, yet it is
increasingly needed.

Events of the Past Week
*******************
Dan Kenney events reviewed, discussed and appreciated.