[Peace] How to locate AWARE table - turning the facts on their
heads
C. G. Estabrook
galliher at illinois.edu
Mon Aug 31 16:37:52 CDT 2009
"Ted Koppel," indeed! I meant Jim Lehrer. How could I possibly confuse them?!
Maybe I was hoping for Tom Lehrer. --CGE
C. G. Estabrook wrote:
> The "publication" was a flyer to be distributed outside a talk by Ted
> Koppel, 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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