[Peace] How to locate AWARE table - turning the facts on their
heads
Morton K. Brussel
brussel at illinois.edu
Mon Aug 31 18:10:53 CDT 2009
I was not present during this very unfortunate episode, but returned
afterwards. At an AWARE meeting shortly afterwards, I remember that
some members, those who subsequently left AWARE, were demanding that
Carl apologize for what he had been writing and/or saying (of a
personal nature). Carl did not respond. Any efforts I attempted to
prevent people from walking out, i.e. to soften their positions, and
to have a rapprochement, were unsuccessful. There seemed to be a
rigidity of positions on both sides of the issue.
For what it's worth… mkb
On Aug 31, 2009, at 3:47 PM, C. G. Estabrook wrote:
> 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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