[Peace] minutes of weekly AWARE meeting 2009-02-15

[Randall Cotton]

Minutes of 02/15/09 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)

Wanted: Treasurer for AWARE. Do you enjoy the world of high
finance and handling large sums of money? (AWARE bank account usually
ranges between $1,000 - $2,000 MAX.) Being the AWARE Treasurer may be just
the volunteer opportunity for you. No experience needed.  Training done at
your convenience. It will take about 10 minutes to learn the job! Contact:
Jan Kruse, jandurl at comcast.net, 328-2789.

AWARE is considering moving our monthly demonstration venue from
Main & Neil in Champaign to a higher-traffic site. It would be helpful
for us to discover which intersections in Champaign/Urbana have the most
traffic to help us in that decision. A volunteer is needed to contact the
appropriate city department/official in both Champaign and Urbana to
obtain a list of and available statistics on, say, the 10 busiest
intersections in each city. It's probably a fair assumption that this is
tracked by both cities and that it's public information. For assistance,
contact Randall Cotton, recotton at earthlink.net, 351-8644/722-8470.

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.). Here's a video of the
sign going through a typical loop:
http://dart.ncsa.uiuc.edu/stuffed/slevy/costofwar-sign.mp4
Dimensions of the sign are: 50.3" L x 6.3" H x 1.7" W and it weighs 12
pounds. Full specifications are at:
http://www.bigbrite.com/product.aspx?id=78
The display could be set up anywhere indoors - home, business, event -
where it will be seen by many, for as long or as little as you like. 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.

Help is needed with content creation and maintenance for AWARE's website,
anti-war.net. Technical experience (UNIX/HTML/CSS) required for
maintenance work (but not content creation) 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 AWARE publicity documents
(and arrange for copies, as needed). This includes our business card,
intro sheet for new meeting attendees and our 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
----------------------------
Feb 17 (TODAY, Tuesday) 1PM, Urbana City Council Chambers, 400 S Vine St
Taping of "AWARE on the Air" for UPTV to be broadcast later the same day
(see below)

Feb 17 (TODAY, Tuesday) 10PM, UPTV (cable channel 6)
Broadcast of "AWARE on the Air", taped earlier in the day (see above)

Feb 18 (Wednesday) 7:15pm, Channing-Murray
Foundation, 1209 W. Oregon, Urbana  (corner of Oregon & Matthews)
"Beyond Killing Us Softly: The Strength to Resist", a 33 minute
documentary about the image of women in advertising and how these images
affect women & girls in our society.  The film will be followed by a panel
discussion featuring local activists and academics speaking about these
issues, and what we can do to counteract these negative images. Panelists
include:
- Esther Patt, former President of Champaign County NOW and local women's
movement activist.
- Aimee Rickman, Graduate student in Human & Community Development,
activist, & former coordinator of GirlZone.
- Cindy Ingold, Women & Gender Resources Librarian, UIUC
Free and open to the public.  Refreshments will be served. This event is
co-sponsored by AWARE.

Feb 22 (Sunday) 2-4PM, Champaign Public Library, 200 W Green St, Champaign
AWARE Films Working Groups showing of "Blood and Oil". The notion that oil
motivates America's military engagements in the Middle East has long been
dismissed as nonsense or mere conspiracy theory. Blood and Oil, a new
documentary based on the critically-acclaimed work of Nation magazine
defense correspondent Michael T. Klare, challenges this conventional
wisdom to correct the historical record. See:
http://www.bloodandoilmovie.com .

**NEW** Feb 24 (Tuesday) 1PM, Urbana City Council Chambers, 400 S Vine St
Taping of "AWARE on the Air" for UPTV to be broadcast later the same day
(see below)

**NEW** Feb 24 (Tuesday) 10PM, UPTV (cable channel 6)
Broadcast of "AWARE on the Air", taped earlier in the day (see above)

Mar 1 (Sunday) 1PM, WILL AM-580
Juan Cole as guest on Media Matters with Bob McChesney. There has been a
change of date. The originally announced date of Mar 8 was changed due to
a scheduling conflict. This radio appearance will be pre-recorded.

Mar 1, (Sunday) 6:30PM Urbana-Champaign Independent Media Center (UCIMC),
202 S. Broadway, Urbana
Follow-up event to the "People's Thanksgiving" potluck. This is also a
potluck and may be the first in a series of potlucks on the first Sunday
of each month.

Mar 4 (Wednesday) 7PM, Greg  Hall (room TBA), 810 S Wright St, Urbana
Group discussion hosted by Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW) and Campus
Anti-War Network (CAN) about the book they are collectively reading and
reviewing: "War without end: The Iraq War in Context", by Michael
Schwartz.

Mar 6 (Friday) 11AM, WILL AM-580
Juan Cole as guest on Focus 580 with David Inge
This event is **NOT** on Mar 9 as originally announced in prior minutes.

Mar 7 (Saturday) 2-4PM University Ave & State 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.

Mar 8 (Sunday) 2PM, Urbana Civic Center, 108 E Water St.
Community-oriented presentation from Juan Cole: University of Michigan
Professor of History, author of Informed Comment blog at www.juancole.com,
and remarkably astute expert observer on Middle East affairs. Proposed
lecture topic: "Withdrawal from Iraq and the future of American security".

Mar 8 (Sunday) 5PM, WILL AM-580
Juan Cole as guest on "Keepin' the Faith" with Steve Shoemaker.

Mar 9 (Monday) 4PM, Levis Faculty Center, 2nd Floor.
University-oriented presentation from Juan Cole: University of Michigan
Professor of History, author of Informed Comment blog at www.juancole.com,
and remarkably astute expert observer on Middle East affairs. Proposed
lecture topic: "Iraq's provincial elections and what they mean for
relations with the United States"

Mar 21 (Saturday) - March on the Pentagon, sponsored by the ANSWER
coalition. See pentagonmarch.org

Apr 15 (Wednesday) 7:15pm, Channing-Murray Foundation, 1209 W. Oregon,
Urbana  (corner of Oregon & Matthews)
"Kilowatt Ours: A Plan to Re-Energize America", award-winning documentary.
A timely, solutions-oriented look at one of America's most pressing
environmental challenges: energy.   Viewers will discover how they can
save hundreds of dollars annually on energy bills, and use a portion of
the savings to purchase renewable energy.  The film also explores mountain
top removal and other harmful by-products of coal & nuclear power.  The
film will be followed by discussion. Free and open to the public.
Refreshments will be served. This event is co-sponsored by AWARE.

Apr 18-19 (Saturday-Sunday), University of Illinois at Chicago
Tentative date and venue for the annual statewide conference of Illinois
Coalition for Justice, Peace and the Environment. See www.icjpe.org .
AWARE has attended in the past (when the conference was held in
Champaign).

**KATHY KELLY ADDED** Apr 24-27 (Friday-Monday), Stockton Unitarian
Universalist Church, Stockton, IL
Midwest Catholic Workers Resistance Retreat and Conference. Focus: is
Blackwater. Civil Disobedience at Blackwater's Jo Daviess County, IL site
being organized by Catholic Workers and Clearwater. Speakers include
both Jeremy Scahill and Kathy Kelly.

*****
Minutes of 02/15/09 AWARE meeting:

About 12 in attendance

News of the week was reviewed jointly

Finance report: AWARE balance is: $1611.36
Rent recently paid through May
Finance report passed around for inspection

Contribution jar passed around

**NEW** Jan Kruse resigns as Treasurer, as previously announced, thus
AWARE has no Treasurer. After no one steps forward to take over, Randall
volunteers to take over as Treasurer, but only if someone else volunteers
to take minutes every week. Carl suggests that if no one else steps
forward to be Treasurer or take minutes, he will volunteer to do the
minutes so that Randall can volunteer as Treasurer. Issue left unresolved
for the time being, given the possibility that someone else could step
forward. Presumably to be resolved at next week's meeting.

The IMC will need AWARE to sign a year lease on rental of our
meeting space. An individual person will need to sign on behalf of AWARE
(making them technically liable financially for the full amount - $780).
No one has stepped up yet, but this is a requirement that must be met.

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 March 7. See details above in the Upcoming Events
Calendar.

**NEW** Neil St. is now finally open to traffic, so AWARE could return to
its usual demonstration location at Main & Neil on March 7.

**NEW** Carl planning work on Afghanistan/Pakistan flyer

No new information yet on Champaign/Urbana's busiest intersections.
Volunteer opportunity posted for this.

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

(nothing new this week)

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

**NEW** AWARE Presents Working Group meeting is close at hand - date being
worked out

Karen has volunteered to write/record a Public Square spot (on WILL-AM
580) for Juan Cole events.

Current AWARE Presents event lineup:

1. Juan Cole events. March 1st, 8th and 9th - Monday, Sunday and Monday.
See details above in the upcoming events calendar. More info as it becomes
available. Urbana Civic Center has been reserved for 1-5PM for Sunday,
March 8th.

2. Phil Wilayto (author of new book "IN DEFENSE OF IRAN: Notes
from a U.S. Peace Delegation's Journey through the Islamic Republic" - see
http://www.defendersfje.org/dpi ). Phil is on a book tour and AWARE
members discovered him in December at the UFPJ National Assembly
Conference in Chicago, where he had a table. Phil requests only
reimbursement for gas money and a place to sleep. At the event, his book
will be available to AWARE folks at a much-reduced price, around $15 for
others. Date being worked out - anticipate sometime in 2nd or 3rd week of
March.

3. A panel on the occasion of the first 100 days of Obama
Administration (April 30) at Urbana City Hall (already reserved). UPTV
recording/broadcast planned.

Additional ideas under consideration:

- Invitation to Paul Street (suggestion: invite him for the 100 days panel
since he has researched and written on Obama extensively).

- Invitation to Stephen Kinzer to appear again.

- Invitation to William Blum

- Jeremy Scahill event still being pursued. Contact made, currently in a
"wait and see" pattern.

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)

**NEW** Citizens Advisory Committee on Jury Selection, assembled by the
Champaign County Board's Justice and Social Services Committee, is
scheduled to be appointed this Thursday at the regular meeting of the
Champaign County Board. This committee will examine minority
underrepresentation on Champaign County juries. Proposed members of this
committee are:

C. Pius Weibel
Matthew Gladney
Thomas Difanis
Roger Holland
Julia Rietz
Randall Rosenbaum
Aaron Ammons
Patricia Avery
William Brown
Lorraine Cowart
Brian Dolinar
Deloris Henry
Barbara Kessel
Joan Miller
Jenifer Putman
Patrick Thompson

Additional non-voting members (chosen because they serve on the Justice
and Social Services Committee):
Janet Anderson
Lloyd Carter
Kevin Hunt
Stan James
Alan Nudo
Giraldo Rosales
Lawrence Sapp
Samuel Smucker

Above information obtained from agenda packet of this Thursday's regular
Champaign County Board meeting at:
http://www.co.champaign.il.us/COUNTYBD/CB/090219agendafull.pdf

**NEW** The County Board committee that has just put together the above
Citizens Advisory Committee on Jury Selection (the Justice and Social
Services Committee) is now under attack. Champaign County Board member
Steve Beckett is proposing to eliminate the entire committee. "Justice" is
a standing committee of the Board (one of six) that has been in place for
at least 15 years, has historically been responsible for the oversight of
the Champaign County Nursing Home and has focused attention on issues
regarding the court system (including the court house, the State's
Attorney, public defenders and the coroner) and a variety of social
services such as the Mental Health Board, Head Start, senior services,
Children's Advocacy Center and more. For information on opposing this
attack, see:
http://lists.chambana.net/mailman/archive/peace/2009-February/022029.html
.

AWARE on the Air
==============
(AWARE's weekly television show on public access cable channel 6 - UPTV,
Urbana Public Television)

Discussion on who can make it this week. Some volunteered, more always
welcome.

Many "Aware on the Air" recordings are now available on-line. See the
AWARE home page at anti-war.net .

Taping typically 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.

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 )

Mention made of Blackwater's name change to "Xe". For instance, see:
http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/Blackwater/Story?id=6873331&page=1

Student Groups
===========
(AWARE's efforts to keep apprised of and provide support for local
chapters of student-affiliated progressive and anti-war groups such as
Campus Anti-Network, International Socialist Organization, and Iraq
Veterans Against the War).

CAN (Campus Anti-War Network) may charter a bus for the March 21st
march on the Pentagon organized by ANSWER. A couple AWARE folks
expressed interest in making the trip. AWARE has also provided funds for
others to make such trips in the past.

Monthly Message
============
(Efforts to propagate the content of the Main Event monthly flyer through
various media channels)

News-Gazette to be contacted for details on submitting a Guest Commentary

**NEW** Efforts to be made to enlarge the working group by inviting others
to join.

AWARE Films:
===========
(Organization of film and video showings in the community)

Michael T. Klare/Media Education Foundation production of "Blood
and Oil" to be shown Feb 22 (see details above in Upcoming Events
Calendar).

Possible future showings being considered include:

1. Another showing of Naomi Wolf's "The End of America".

2. "The Take". See: http://www.thetake.org/

3. "Soldiers of Conscience", documentary about soldiers already
serving that want to become COs (Conscientious Objectors). About 1:20
long. See http://www.soldiers-themovie.com/AboutFilm.html .
Channing-Murray has agreed to provide venue and the Quakers want to
sponsor. However,  rights to show it cost money - $80 ($250 if it wasn't
being shown by a religious organization). Some thought has been given to
splitting up the cost between groups. No formal request for AWARE funds
for the time being.

Outstanding proposal pending, yet to be ratified: AWARE spend $40 for
rights to show "Soldiers of Conscience".

Outstanding proposal pending, yet to be ratified: AWARE spend $75 for
rights to show "The Take".

Old Business
**********
(new developments regarding ongoing issues)

Pursuit of meeting with Senator Durbin regarding his letter in support of
Israel during Gaza attack:

**NEW** Follow up attempts are planned to contact Durbin after initial
non-response.

New Ideas
*********
(never before discussed ideas brought up during this meeting)

AWARE has proposed advisory ballot referenda in recent years at Annual
Township Meetings, (the 2nd Tuesday in April). In apparent reaction to
that, state law has been amended so that agenda items can no longer be
added at the Township Meeting. They must instead be submitted and approved
ahead of time. Submission requires 15 signatures and identification of the
agenda item, to be submitted to the Township clerk by March 1. Suggestion
is made to consider possible referenda for this year.

Events of the past week
******************
(comments/reviews of recent events since the last AWARE meeting)

(nothing mentioned this week)

Other Upcoming Events
******************
(events of note which aren't listed in the upcoming events calendar above)

Feb 17 (Tuesday) noon, Lucy Ellis Lounge (room 1080), Foreign
Languages Building, 707 S. Mathews Avenue, Urbana
Nuclear Reactor Acquisition in the Middle East and West Africa
Cliff Singer, Prof. of Nuclear Plasma & Radiological Engineering
Sponsor: Center for South Asian and Middle Eastern Studies

Feb 24 (Tuesday) noon, Lucy Ellis Lounge (room 1080), Foreign
Languages Building, 707 S. Mathews Avenue, Urbana
The Ethnic Composition of Iranian Society: State and Minorities
Relationships
Shahyar Daneshgar, Senior Lecturer, Central Eurasian Studies, Indiana
University
Sponsor: Center for South Asian and Middle Eastern Studies

**NEW** Mar 2 (Monday) 7PM, Allen Hall, 1005 W Gregory Dr., Urbana
Israeli-Arab journalist Khaled Abu Toameh, who has reported on the West
Bang and Gaza Strip for more than 20 years, will be speaking on the
current situation in the Middle East.
Sponsors: Hillel, JCRC/Hillel Israel Initiative, Hasbara Fellowships,
Center for South Asian and Middle Eastern Studies

**NEW** Mar 4 (Wednesday) 4PM, 3rd floor, Levis Faculty Center, 919 W.
Illinois Street, Urbana
Dr. Wilma King, Arvarh E. Strickland Distinguished Professor, University
of Missouri-Columbia
Black Women and the Pursuit of Freedom: Reconsidering Lincoln
Sponsor: Office of the Chancellor and Dr. Ruth Nicole Brown
Dr. Wilma King is author of Stolen Childhood: Slave Youth in 19th Century
America (1998), African American Childhoods: Historical Perspectives from
Slavery to Civil Rights (2005), The Essence of Liberty: Free African
American Women in the Slave Era (2006), and completed graduate degrees in
American history at Indiana University.

**NEW** Mar 5 (Thursday) noon-1PM, 356 Armory Building, 505 E Armory Ave,
Champaign
Jonathan Ebel, Assistant Professor of Religious Studies, UIUC
Safety, Soldier, Scapegoat: The Battle to Interpret the Death of Pat
Tillman
Sponsor: Program in Arms Control, Disarmament and Int'l Security (ACDIS)

**NEW** Mar 5 (Thursday) 4PM, 213 Gregory Hall, 810 S Wright St, Urbana
Valerie Hoffman, Department of Religious Studies, University of Illinois
at Urbana-Champaign
Islam, Human Rights and Interfaith Relations: Some Contemporary Egyptian
Perspectives
Sponsor: Center for Global Studies, Center for South Asian and Middle
Eastern Studies
Many Egyptians express support for making Islamic law the basis of all
legislation in Egypt today. At the same time, many endorse international
human rights norms and long for a more genuine application of democracy in
their country. Are these seemingly contradictory desires compatible? This
lecture presents current discussions and debates on Islam, human rights
and interfaith relations in Egypt through an analysis of public school
textbooks, interviews with senior religious officials, and the teachings
of some Islamic non-governmental organizations.

**NEW** Mar 10 (Tuesday) noon, room 1080 (Lucy Ellis Lounge), Foreign
Languages Building, 707 S. Mathews Avenue, Urbana
Aisha Lamb Sobh, Department of History
All in the American Muslim Family: the Ways and Means of Retaining
Religious Identity in Muslim Children in the U.S.
Sponsor: Center for South Asian and Middle Eastern Studies