[Peace] How to locate AWARE table - turning the facts on their
heads
C. G. Estabrook
galliher at illinois.edu
Mon Aug 31 15:47:56 CDT 2009
The "publication" was a flyer to be distributed outside a talk by Ted Koppell,
which was accurately labeled as produced by members of AWARE, who distributed
it. There had been an AWARE meeting beforehand at which some members had said
that we shouldn't be criticizing PBS because it was the best media we had.
The "behavior [that was] widely questioned" at the Obama rally was again the
distribution of a flyer.
I "became belligerent" in the sense that I insisted on answering accounts of the
Obama rally when the chair of the meeting insisted that I must not, because only
"factual" accounts of the event would be entertained.
Ricky's not clear here about what was called "'racist' (Carl's term)" but the
only application of it I can recall is described in my 2005 article:
"In spite of [his] record, there seemed to be a notable hesitation on the
part of some members of AWARE to call Obama on his support for the war. Prompted
by the complaints of one black Democrat after the town meeting, several members
decided that leafleting Obama's rally had been 'rude' and that the leaflet
'demonized' him. They took the uncomfortable position that AWARE needed to treat
black politicians differently from white politicians.
"With respect for my colleagues in AWARE, that's nonsense -- it's patronizing
or hypocritical, if not racist. A senator in favor of continuing the war, as
Obama is, has blood on his hands, whether he's black or white, from voting for
continued appropriations and confirmation of the executives who make war.
Anti-warriors who fail to say so because of the senator's race find themselves
covertly supporting the war."
<http://www.counterpunch.org/estabrook09292005.html>
Ricky Baldwin wrote:
> I'm sorry, but once again, this is not the whole story. There was a
> publication that the group decided not to endorse, then labeled by Carl
> as a product of "members of AWARE" with clear intent to mislead the
> public and antagonize the majority in AWARE who disagreed with him.
>
> There followed a disagreement about the tactics employed at one event
> with Candidate Obama - several people being "rude" (including me) but
> only Carl's behavior being widely questioned in the group and in the
> wider activist community. There was also some disagreement about the
> leaflet Carl handed out, and this became compliocated becaue some people
> like me had no problem with the leaflet or necessarily with the behavior
> at the event but with what followed in AWARE meetings.
>
> Finally during an attempt to discuss these questions, Carl became
> belligerent toward a couple of people but mostly notably toward Carol
> who was trying to facilitate a very difficult meeting and let everyone
> have a chance to speak. Repeated attempts to mediate by a few members
> were then lumped together with those who disagreed with the leaflet,
> behavior at the event or behavior at the meeting, sometimes labelled as
> "corecive harmony" or even "racist" (Carl's term).
>
> In the longer term quite a few people have one after another given up
> the attempt to get along, at least well enough to focus on AWARE's very
> important mission and found the climate too hostile and no longer worth
> their time.
>
> To refer to this situation as an example of the much-whined about
> "coercive harmony" is either ironic or a very bad joke. The shoe has
> mostly been on the other foot in my opinion.
>
> Ricky
>
> "Speak your mind even if your voice shakes." - Maggie Kuhn
>
> --- On *Mon, 8/31/09, C. G. Estabrook /<galliher at illinois.edu>/* wrote:
>
>
> From: C. G. Estabrook <galliher at illinois.edu>
> Subject: Re: [Peace] How to locate AWARE table at Sweetcorn Festival
> To: "Robert Dunn" <prorobert8 at hotmail.com>
> Cc: peace at anti-war.net
> Date: Monday, August 31, 2009, 2:43 PM
>
> Ah, rudeness! The sin against the holy spirit of American politics,
> viz. Coercive Harmony!*
>
> The Great AWARE Schism of 2005, in which a number of important
> AWAREists left the organization and walked no more with us, was
> occasioned by their conviction that some members of the group had
> been "rude" to the new junior senator from Illinois when he held a
> rally in town by suggesting that he was not really opposed to the war.
>
> (For my account of the G.A.S., see "Illinois Anti-Warriors and the
> Attractive Senator"
> <http://www.counterpunch.org/estabrook09292005.html>; note that the
> newly-appointed SC justice John Roberts is unaccountably referred to
> there as "Rogers": perhaps the soon-to-be chief justice was confused
> with TV's Mr. Rogers, owing to the resemblance of the person who
> appointed him to King Friday XIII.)
>
> --CGE (who was thoroughly instructed as a lad that a gentleman is
> never unintentionally rude -- though he proved a poor student, and
> no gentleman)
>
> _______________
> * Nader, Laura. 1995: "Coercive harmony - the political economy of
> legal models," Department of Anthropology, U. of California,
> Berkeley; 25 pp. Nader, professor of anthropology at UC Berkeley,
> describes "basically a movement against the contentious in anything,
> and it has very strange bedfellows, from people with various
> psychiatric therapy movements, Christian fundamentalists,
> corporations sick of paying lawyers, activists who believe we should
> love each other. We are talking about coercive harmony -- an
> ideology that says if you disagree, you should really keep your
> mouth shut."
>
>
> Robert Dunn wrote:
> > my favorite moment of AWAREs table was when Wayne Johnson rather
> loudly talked about his desire to make bombs in his home! Sorry
> Wayne, the local GOP did not find that too funny, plus your being
> extremely rude to our 103rd State Rep candidate. AWARE, please be
> aware, ( no pun intented that Wayne Johnson is not to be trusted. He
> has been banned from IlliniPundit, the local GOP banned him! Maybe
> for AWAREs reputation, you guys should follow suite!
> >
> > Robert Dunn
> >
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> > Date: Sat, 29 Aug 2009 08:19:32 -0700
> > From: jencart13 at yahoo.com </mc/compose?to=jencart13 at yahoo.com>
> > To: peace at anti-war.net </mc/compose?to=peace at anti-war.net>
> > Subject: [Peace] How to locate AWARE table at Sweetcorn Festival
> >
> > Easiest way for me to locate the table was to find the ticket
> booth with the pointy purple and white top (taller than everything
> else), and then walk East a scant half block on Main while looking
> to my Right... and seeing the flapping shirts and AWARE awning,
> etc. --Jenifer
> >
> >
> >
> >
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> >
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