[Peace] minutes of weekly AWARE meeting 2008-09-28

[Randall Cotton]

Minutes of 9/28/08 AWARE meeting are below, but first, AWARE Volunteer
Opportunities and the Upcoming Events Calendar:

AWARE Volunteer Opportunities
-----------------------------------
(A new initiative starting this week, this section of the minutes will
announce various opportunities to volunteer in AWARE's work)

1. Due to a prior commitment, we need a second person to staff
the AWARE Farmer's Market table next Saturday, from 10:40AM to noon.
Contact: Durl Kruse, jandurl at comcast.net, 328-2789

2. Someone is needed to create content for AWARE's "Main Event" flyer.
One side of the flyer will contain publicity for AWARE's upcoming Dan
Kenney events, but though there were suggestions for content for the
flipside (see below in the minutes, under "Main Event"), no one has come
forward yet to put this together.
Contact: Randall Cotton, recotton at earthlink.net, 351-8644/722-8470

Upcoming Events Calendar
----------------------------
Sep 30 (TODAY, Tuesday) 1PM, Urbana City Council Chambers, 400 S. Vine St.
Taping of this week's "AWARE on the Air" for UPTV.

Sep 30 (TODAY, Tuesday) 10PM, UPTV (cable channel 6)
Broadcast of "AWARE on the Air", taped earlier in the day (see above)

Oct 4 (Saturday) 11AM, Corner of Randolph and Green Streets, Champaign.
Unity March - an annual event uniting many groups and communities
throughout Champaign/Urbana that focuses on issues and injustices faced by
minorities and/or the poor. This year's theme will focus on supporting the
November ballot referendum asking for a small property tax increase (2
cents per $100 assessed value) to help fund a partial restoration of
Champaign Township "General Assistance" financial support for the city's
poorest residents. This year's Unity March will begin at the Champaign
Township Supervisor's office (where the "General Assistance" service is
administered) and will wind up at Douglass Park. AWARE is a co-sponsor of
this event.

Oct 4 (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 6 (Monday) 7PM, Room 317 Gregory Hall on campus, 810 South Wright
Street, Urbana
Dave Zirin: A People's History of Sports in the United States: 250 Years
of Politics, Protest, People, and Play

Oct 7 (Tuesday) 1PM, Urbana City Council Chambers, 400 S. Vine St.
Taping of next week's "AWARE on the Air" for UPTV.

Oct 7 (Tuesday) 10PM, UPTV (cable channel 6)
Broadcast of "AWARE on the Air", taped earlier in the day (see above)

Oct 8 (Wednesday) 7:15PM, Channing-Murray Foundation, 1209 W. Oregon St
Documentary:  "The End of Suburbia:  Oil Depletion and the Collapse of the
American Dream". This film explores the American Way of Life and its
prospects as the planet approaches a critical era, as global demand for
fossil fuels begins to outstrip supply.  Discussion follows the film. This
event is co-sponsored by AWARE.

Oct 10 (Friday) noon-2PM, 123 English Building on campus
Dan Kenney of Clearwater: "Outsourcing of our Sovereignty: Privatization
of War, Emergencies and Everyday Life". Brown bag lunch and informal
discussion sponsored by History Discussion Group.

Oct 10 (Friday) 5:30PM, Tang Dynasty Restaurant, Lincoln Square Mall, 300
S Broadway Ave
Dinner w/Dan Kenney of Clearwater. Reservation required. $12/plate.
Contact Barb Kessel at barkes at gmail.com or call 365-9473 to reserve a
seat by Oct. 8.

Oct 10 (Friday) 7PM-9PM Urbana City Council Chambers (400 S. Vine St.,
Urbana)
Dan Kenney of Clearwater: "Outsourcing our Sovereignty - Blackwater and
the privatization of War". To be recorded for broadcast on UPTV. ** NOTE
** Some flyers had a start time of 7:30PM, but 7PM is, indeed, the
confirmed start time.

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 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 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 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.

Nov 8 (Friday) (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 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.

*****
Minutes of 9/28/08 AWARE meeting:

About 15 in attendance

News of the week was reviewed jointly, handouts included Carl's
abbreviated news summary for the week (which was read aloud verbatim) as
well as a selection of headlines from Democracy Now! in recent days

Finance Report:  Current balance is $1681

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 next Saturday (see details above in Upcoming Events
Calendar)

Flyer page 1 will be advertisement for Dan Kenney events
Suggestions for the other side of the flyer:
Something on the economy
Something on local armed forces leaving this week to go to Afghanistan
Something including the statistics that we disseminate via the anti-war
electronic billboard

Volunteer needed to assemble a second side for the flyer

Karen volunteers to send out an announcement to the "peace" list

Stuart volunteers to bring signs and banners to the Main Event and return
them as well.

Library Resources:
=============
(Compilation of valuable reference materials w/strategies to make them
available in the community through various channels including local
libraries).

Meeting scheduled for Monday night for film series planning 9PMish at the
Courier Cafe (this meeting has now already occurred)

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

DVD of PTSD event is now available - several people would like copies and
this will be arranged through the IMC.

Current AWARE Presents event lineup:

1. Dan Kenney of Clearwater on the privatization of war, including
Blackwater, in an event for the community (to be recorded as well) on
October 10 (see above in upcoming events calendar for date/venue details).

Public Square spot is scheduled for this Friday

Signup sheet passed around for Dan Kenney dinner at Tang Dynasty (see
details in upcoming events calendar above)

2. Jeremy Scahill event still being pursued (he is on a book tour this
Fall). Contact made, currently in a "wait and see" pattern.

3. 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's Unity March organizing continues. Details on the March are above
in the upcoming events calendar.

Mention made of last Tuesday's roundtable discussion sponsored by Eastern
Illinois Food Bank at the Champaign Public Library, where a substantial
increase in local poverty was reported.

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 passed around

Suggestion to have DVD's of Winter Soldier and PTSD events available at
the Farmer's Market table.

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 now 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 )

(no new information)

Student Groups
==========
Karen reported on last Tuesday's CAN/IVAW joint coalition planning meeting
for their Winter Soldier event November 13th. AWARE was asked for
assistance with:

1. Veteran support - gathering mental health professionals to assist
testifying veterans as needed.
2. Housing for out-of-town vets coming to participate
3. Water bottle supply for all speakers - donation already received for
this
4. Co-sponsorship

Mention made that 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
**********
SAIC working group and demonstrations still urged by Paul. Request made
for more information on SAIC misdeeds.

Motion to co-sponsor the Nov 7,8 performances of "The Night Thoreau Spent
in Jail" passed by consensus without objection (see details in upcoming
events calendar".

Wesley foundation may install the "Cost of War" billboard.

Mention made of Mohammad Al-Heeti's recent award, Champaign/Urbana
Humanitarian of the Year in trade and business.

Upcoming events (not mentioned in upcoming events calendar above)
****************************************************
Oct 1 (Wednesday) 7PM, Channing-Murray Foundation, 1209 W. Oregon St.,
Urbana
New Sanctuary Movement meeting

Sep 30 (TODAY, Tuesday) noon, Latzer Hall, University YMCA, 1001 S. Wright
St. Champaign
Are Universities Losing Their Way? Cary Nelson, Jubilee Professor of
Liberal Arts and Sciences, UIUC. The values that have held universities
together for nearly half a century are under assault - by commercialism,
by
expediency, by impatience with shared governance and academic freedom. Is
resistance futile? What can we do? (Cary Nelson has recently been
outspoken in opposition to the recent UofI ethics memo restricting
political activities by faculty). Part of the Know Your University lecture
series.

Oct 3 (Friday) noon, University YMCA, 1001 S. Wright St. Champaign
Views about the U.S. in the Arab World: What, Why, and Possibilities for
Change
Mark Tessler, Samuel J. Eldersveld Collegiate Professor, Department of
Political Science, University of Michigan
Tessler discusses the nuanced and relatively well-informed views of Arab
and Muslim people about the U.S. He argues these views relate to the
political and economic conditions of their society and are shaped much
less by Islam than many American appear to believe. Part of the Friday
Forum lecture series.