[Peace] minutes of weekly AWARE meeting 2008-10-19

[Randall Cotton]

Minutes of 10/19/08 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 21 (TODAY, Tuesday) 1PM, Urbana City Council Chambers, 400 S. Vine St.
Taping of this week's "AWARE on the Air" for UPTV.

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

Oct 21 (TODAY, Tuesday) 7PM, Champaign City Council Chambers, 102 N. Neil
St.
Champaign City Council meeting - speakers and audience needed to urge City
Council members to speak in favor of passing the City of Champaign
Township poverty referendum. Full details at:
http://lists.chambana.net/mailman/archive/peace/2008-October/021704.html

Oct 21 (TODAY, Tuesday) 7PM, 163 Noyes Lab on campus, 505 South Mathews
Avenue, Urbana
Eric Heim of CAN (Campus Anti-War Network) will speak on Afghanistan.

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

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

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.

Nov 3 (Monday) 7:30PM, Central Illinois Mosque and Islamic Center, 106 S.
lincoln, Urbana
"Reflections on Interfaith Dialogue: A Muslim Pakistani perspective", Dr.
Muhammad Modassir Ali, Department of Comparative Religion at the
International Islamic University, Islamabad, Pakistan. Fulbright visitor
to the Department of Religious Studies at UofI. Sponsored by Interfaith
Alliance and Intercultural Friendship Foundation on campus.

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.

Nov 8 (Saturday) 7:30PM 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.

Nov 6 (Thursday) 4PM, Knight Auditorium, Spurlock museum on campus, 606 S.
Gregory St., Urbana
"Restorative Justice:What it is, Why it works, and what it can mean for
us" by Howard Zehr, professor at Eastern Mennonite University, author,
photojournalist, co-director of Center for Justice and Peacebuilding.
(see also the Nov 8 event with Howard Zehr)

Nov 8 (Saturday) 1-4:30PM, First Mennonite Church, 902 W. Springfield
Ave., Urbana
"Restorative Justice as a Way of Life: An All-Faith Workshop" with Howard
Zehr (see also the Nov 6 event with Howard Zehr).

Nov 9 (Sunday) 2:30PM 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) 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

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 30 (Sunday) (time TBA) Urbana Civic Center, 108 E Water St.
People's Thanksgiving, with emphasis on discussing the idea of planning a
Central Illinois Social Forum along the lines of the World and US Social
Forums.

*****
Minutes of 10/19/08 AWARE meeting:

About 15 in attendance

By consent without objection, we heard from Mike Lehman, mainly on his
candidacy for County Board district 9. Also mentioned, on a different
note, was a suggestion that AWARE help out in terms of paying a small fee
per meeting to help the IMC cover increasing overhead costs (especially
utilities). This was discussed later under New Ideas (see below).

News of the week was reviewed jointly

Finance Report: Balance is 1672.25. Financial 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 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

Mention made once again of work that Karen may have started for last
month's flyer, which could replace the back of the "Peace Voter '08"
flyer.

Suggestion: Use the front of the current Champaign Township poverty
referendum flyer as the other side of the Main Event flyer, which was
OK'ed by the author.

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).

Working group met Friday night - under consideration for future event:
showing the new movie based on Naomi Wolf's book "The End of America". See
http://www.endofamericamovie.com .

DVD's of AWARE's PTSD panel event and the Dan Kenney event are now
available.

Mention made of many progressive/radical DVD's available in AWARE's
meeting room that were received by Wayne.

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 focused on promoting passage of the Township poverty
referendum on the November ballot (and campaigning for Carol Ammons run
for County Board district 5).

New referendum flyer suitable for passing out to the public is now
available. Copies handed out. Latest revision is online at:
http://imsahp.chambana.net/~randall/champaign_township/povref.pdf

Call made for speakers and audience at the Champaign City Council meeting
to raise awareness and pressure City Council members regarding the poverty
referendum (see details in upcoming events calendar above and at:
http://lists.chambana.net/mailman/archive/peace/2008-October/021704.html

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).

Very high sales this week - new button order was very popular. Large
crowd.

Sign-up sheet passed around

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 )

Wayne now helping in Blackwater working group.

There was one bite so far on the volunteer opportunity for law
student/attorney to help with crafting legislation.

Some positive new organizing possibilities discussed regarding opposition
to Blackwater's presence in Jo Daviess county.

Working group meeting may be scheduled soon.

Barbara headed to Evanston to meet with others (including state rep Julie
Hamos) on November 10. Others welcome to join her. Clearwater will renew
legislative efforts this year.

Dan Kenney event to 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

Eric reported on CAN national conference at DePaul University October
10-12th. Very productive event. A resolution was passed condemning war in
Afghanistan war. Working groups were formed on torture, Iraq, economic
crisis and many others. CAN has about doubled since last year - 45
campuses represented from 25 last year. About 250 were in attendance.
.
Mention made of student/campus workers rally a little before the Naomi
Klein event on October 29th (see details in upcoming events calendar
above).

Old Business
**********
Positive news relayed regarding possibility of Wesley United Methodist
Church employing the Cost of War billboard. Church leadership has emerged
as very anti-war.

Electronic sign availability spotlighted (see details above in AWARE
Volunteer Opportunities). Efforts underway to promote and publicize.

New Ideas
*********
Proposal made to pay $15 rent per meeting to IMC for use of the meeting
room. Demand for space is increasing, IMC's overhead costs are increasing,
and AWARE's meeting space, the Grandpa Wahlfeldt Family Room, has been
requested in the past by at least one prospective paying organization.
Proposal will be considered for ratification at next week's meeting.