[Peace] minutes of weekly AWARE meeting 2009-01-04

Thu Jan 8 19:31:13 CST 2009

My apologies for the delay in getting these out (especially to the Aware
on the Air crew). Total brain-cramp flub on my part 8-P

R

Minutes of 01/04/09 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)

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
----------------------------
Jan 1 (Thursday) -19 (Monday, day before inauguration) Chicago
"Camp Hope, Countdown to Change"
A nearly 3-week series of events coordinated by 40 Illinois activist
organizations, including a daily presence in Hyde Park. The focus is to
"build popular momentum behind the progressive goals of President Obama's
campaign". See http://camphope2009.org .

**NEW** Jan 7 (Wednesday, already occurred) 7PM, 2007 S. George Huff Dr,
Urbana (home of Jan & Durl Kruse)
AWARE Presents Working Group meeting. Future projects to be
reviewed/planned including already scheduled Juan Cole events in early
March (see below).

**NEW** Jan 10 (Saturday) 12-2PM Champaign County Courthouse, 101 E. Main
St, Urbana
Rally to stop aggression against Gaza. See full details at:
http://lists.chambana.net/mailman/archive/peace/2009-January/021910.html

**NEW** Jan 13 (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** Jan 13 (Tuesday) 10PM, UPTV (cable channel 6)
Broadcast of "AWARE on the Air", taped earlier in the day (see above)

**NEW** Jan 17 (Saturday) evening (time to be announced), IMC (Independent
Media Center), 202 S. Broadway, Urbana
Bash Bush Bash!
Bring your old shoes to chuck at a likeness of Bush in sympathy with his
Arab victims around the world especially in Iraq and Gaza. Donate those
old shoes to local charities (if you can). Also contribute financially to
direct aid for Gaza or Iraqi victims of war. More details to come.

**NEW** Jan 18 (Sunday) 2-4PM Champaign Public Library (Robeson Pavilion
Room A), 200 W. Green St
AWARE Showing of Martin Luther King's profound "Beyond Vietnam" anti-war
speech given at New York's Riverside Church.

Feb 1 (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.

Mar 8 (Sunday) (time, place to be announced) Proposed date for
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) 1PM, WILL AM-580
Juan Cole appearance on Media Matters with Bob McChesney

Mar 9 (Monday) 10AM or 11AM (TBA), WILL AM-580
Juan Cole appearance on Focus 580 with David Inge

Mar 9 (Monday) (time, place to be announced) Proposed date for
university-oriented presentation from Juan Cole. Proposed lecture topic:
"Iraq's provincial elections and what they mean for relations with the
United States".

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).

*****
Minutes of 01/04/09 AWARE meeting:

About 25 in attendance

News of the week was reviewed jointly

Finance report: AWARE balance is $2067.36
Finance report passed around for inspection.
Contribution jar passed around.

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 February 1 (see details above in Upcoming
Events Calendar).

** NEW ** Mention made of front page (though smallish) Sunday News-Gazette
photo of Saturday's demonstration just above the article on Gaza.
Compliments expressed on excellent flyers.

** NEW ** Opposition expressed to moving demonstrations in the middle of
the event (as happened on Saturday). Flyering opportunities are lost and
late arrivals may not be able to find us.

** NEW ** Many extra flyers remain.

Details still forthcoming (from David H) on Champaign/Urbana's busiest
intersections.

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 meeting scheduled for Wednesday 7PM (see details
above in upcoming events calendar).

** NEW ** Mention made again of inviting Phil Wilayto (author of "IN
DEFENSE OF IRAN: Notes from a U.S. Peace Delegation's Journey through the
Islamic Republic" - see http://www.defendersfje.org/dpi ). Robert Naiman
may be interested in getting involved with this.

Current AWARE Presents event lineup:

1. Juan Cole events. March 8th and 9th - Sunday and Monday. See details
above in the upcoming events calendar. More info as it becomes available.
In addition to already-scheduled appearances on Media Matters and Focus
580, an appearance on "Keepin' the Faith" w/Steve Shoemaker is also a
possibility (5PM Sunday, March 8th, WILL AM-580). Urbana Civic Center has
been reserved for 1-5PM for Sunday, March 8th. Up to $300 AWARE
expenditures proposed toward honorarium and other expenses (to be ratified
at a future AWARE meeting as per standing rule).

2. 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 ** Primary topic of yesterday's CUCPJ meeting was preferential
treatment
given to Champaign Officer Lisa Staples regarding her DUI. Factual
investigation in progress, statement being drafted. [Note: Staples has
since resigned from the Champaign Police - REC ]

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 .

** NEW ** Suggestion - have someone talk about Gaza,  perhaps someone who
was at the demonstration? Perhaps someone from the Mosque? A local
Palestinian?

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 )

(nothing new this week)

>From last week: Mention made that Dan Kenney handed AWARE folks a DVD
during the UFPJ conference in Chicago, to be relayed to Barbara. The title
on the cover says "Blackwater invades Illinois - A Raising Kane
Production". It may be a DVD that we already have, or it could be a Part
II.

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).

** NEW ** Many ISO and CAN students are back in town and active again -
much concern about Gaza.

There is a CAN (Campus Area Network) rally in Chicago being planned for
January 17 to address Obama and make demands of him.

Monthly Message
============
(Efforts to propagate the content of the monthly flyer we put together for
each month's Main Event street demonstration)

Tasks have been prioritized and divided up. Help requested for specific
tasks:

 a. find out what the word limit, submission procedure and any other rules
(including deadline) are for NG Guest Commentaries (in the Sunday
Commentary section)

 b. modify/distill the monthly message into a piece that fits the rules

 c. submit the piece, following up with the NG if necessary

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

** NEW ** Neil volunteers to forward a list he came across in the past of
contact information for submitting letters to the editor for various
Illinois newspapers.

** NEW ** Randall volunteers to distill a "demands from Obama" letter to
the editor or guest commentary.

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

Possible future showings being considered include:

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

2. "Blood and Oil". See: http://www.bloodandoilmovie.com/

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

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

I. Obama's "Presidential Inauguration Committee" is encouraging folks to
honor MLK (his holiday is January 19th, the day before the inauguration).
See: http://www.pic2009.org/page/s/whatisservice . Suggestion made that
AWARE have an event along these lines. Perhaps a showing of MLK's
Riverside Church speech - about an hour long. Champaign Public Library
suggested as venue. Care suggested in scheduling so as not to conflict
with other events. Details on this suggestion are in the peace and
peace-discuss lists at:

http://lists.chambana.net/mailman/archive/peace/2008-December/021881.html

and

http://lists.chambana.net/mailman/archive/peace-discuss/2008-December/020193.html

Working group formed 12/27, Stuart is coordinating.

** NEW ** Event is to show or present MLK's Riverside Church speech on Jan
18 from
2-4PM at the Champaign Public Library. This does not conflict with the big
annual Krannert Center MLK event that begins at 5PM.

** NEW ** $100 proposed to cover expenses for this event as well. also to
be
ratified at next week's AWARE meeting as per standing rules.

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

Bash Bush Bash
===========
Lori presents an idea that's coming together to show or
throw shoes at an artist's rendition of Bush. Use it as an opportunity to
donate shoes to local charities that need them. Also raise money to be
donated as directly as possible through charities to those suffering in
Gaza (or if that's not possible, in Iraq). Possibly have a speaker who can
provide first-hand account of what it happening in Gaza or Iraq.

Date and Venue: Saturday evening, January 17 at the IMC

Much discussion ensued.

Objection registered regarding the prospect of chucking shoes at
likenesses of a person is hardly non-violent (regardless of how much
contempt one might feel for the person in question). Mitigating factor
raised in that it is an expression of solidarity with victimized Iraqis
and the larger outraged Arab world.

View expressed that Obama may be just as deserving of shoe-chucking
contempt as there is every reason to believe the killing of those in
US-occupied countries may actually even increase under his watch.
Counterpoint raised that though some may agree with this premise, not
every event has to be about everything and this particular event can focus
on Gaza and the Bush administration.

$100 proposed as AWARE's contribution toward expenses of this event
(including IMC venue deposit and rental), this amount to be ratified at
next week's AWARE meeting as per standing rules.

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)

Jan 17 (Saturday) CAN (Campus Anti-War Network) event addressing Obama in
Chicago.