[Peace] minutes of weekly AWARE meeting 2009-05-10

[Randall Cotton]

Minutes of 05/10/2009 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 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. As of March 2009, the
sign is installed in the lobby of the Urbana/Champaign Independent Media
Center, right next to the Post Office there in the building (202 S.
Broadway, Urbana).

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
----------------------------
May 12 (Tuesday, TODAY) 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** May 12 (Tuesday, TODAY) 7PM, Champaign City Council Chambers, 102
N. Neil St
Champaign City Council turnout call for action regarding the effective
eviction of (very low-income) residents at Gateway Studios apartment
complex (1505 N. Neil St - the old Holiday Inn complex), with only four
days notice before power is cut (scheduled to happen later today). Turn
out is requested in solidarity with and to advocate for affected
residents, some of whom will be or are already rendered homeless, and to
call for changes to ensure this never happens again.

May 12 (Tuesday, TODAY) 10PM, UPTV (cable channel 6)
Broadcast of "AWARE on the Air", taped earlier in the day (see above)

**NEW** May 13-14 (Wednesday-Thursday) Designated days to call Governor
Quinn regarding the state-wide campaign to reform or eliminate the Tamms
supermax prison. The call is to "Reform Tamms Supermax or cut its funding"
. See: www.yearten.org

May 16 (Saturday) 8AM-noon, AWARE's weekly presence at Farmer's Market
(Urbana Market at the Square), providing literature, expression (bumper
stickers, buttons, etc) and conversation to further AWARE's mission.

May 19 (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)

May 19 (Tuesday) 10PM, UPTV (cable channel 6)
Broadcast of "AWARE on the Air", taped earlier in the day (see above)

June 6 (Saturday) 2-4PM Main St & Neil St, Champaign
The Main Event - AWARE's monthly 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.

*****
Minutes of 05/10/09 AWARE meeting:

About 12 in attendance

News of the week was reviewed jointly
-----------------
No Finance report:

NOTE: AWARE funds are substantially lower than in the past ($2000 has been
typical for years, we're now under $1000).

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).

**NEW** Yesterday's event: about a dozen in attendance - flyering was
excellent in part because the traffic was backed up due to a closed lane
on Neil St. between Church Street and University Avenue.

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

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

An AWARE Presents meeting is anticipated soon.

Ideas under consideration for the future:

- Invitation to Stephen Kinzer to appear again.

- Invitation to William Blum

- Jeremy Scahill event: previously contacted, 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** "Toto" Kaiyewu killing: Illinois State Police investigation report
given to Vermillion County State's Attorney, who says they will study it
and decide a course of action.

**NEW** Some ACLU members are showing interest in pursuing the local
problem of racial profiling in traffic stops.

**NEW** Gateway Studios issue. Residents of low-income apartment complex
Gateway Studios were notified in a meeting on Friday that they must move
out because power will be cut on Tuesday. The incredibly short notice for
what is essentially an eviction is seen as grossly unfair and a violation
of what should be a basic human right for renters. Activists have
organized to visit the site and talk with residents and there is a call
for concerned citizens to attend the Champaign city Council meeting on
Tuesday (see above in Upcoming Events Calendar).

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.

Farmer's Market
===========
(AWARE's weekly seasonal presence at the Urbana "Market at the Square" AKA
"Farmer's Market")

**NEW** Second Farmers Market of the season had light attendance. Many
vendors are not set up yet for the season.

AWARE's space is much nearer the entrance this year, right next to
the City of Urbana tent.

**NEW** Wayne has volunteered to store Farmer's Market materials at his
lab. Unclear whether the materials would be readily accessible (Wayne not
present)

**NEW** volunteers may be needed to staff the table next Saturday.

**NEW** growing concern that items for sale need to be being replenished.
It's unclear whether Janet W. will be doing that this year.

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)

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).

(nothing new this week)

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

**NEW** Glen Ford-inspired flyer used for the Main Event yesterday to be
converted to a guest commentary or letter to the editor by Carl - though
there may be possible objection to the content.

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

Possible future showings:

1. "On White Privilege" (see
http://www.mediaed.org/cgi-bin/commerce.cgi?preadd=action&key=137 )

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

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

Pursuit of meeting with Senator Durbin regarding his letter in support of
Israel during Gaza attack: Follow up attempts are planned to contact
Durbin after initial non-response. 3/1/09 update: Written response
received from Durbin, but making no reference to the meeting request.

Sweet Corn Festival application has been received. Some folks wonder
whether early submission will help us get a choice booth.

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

**NEW** Question raised as to whether Stuart would be reporting back on
the ILCJPE conference. Mention made that this was his intention (he wasn't
present at the time).

**NEW** mention made that calls could be made to our congressional
representatives to oppose the emergency war funding bill.

**NEW** Mention made of the Tamms Supermax call-in days Wednesday and
Thursday (see above in Upcoming Events Calendar). Mention also made of the
online petition for this issue at
http://salsa.wiredforchange.com/o/5596/t/4115/petition.jsp?petition_KEY=514 .
All are urged to sign on if they haven't already.

**NEW** Naomi Klein DVD suggested for showing at next AWARE meeting

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

**NEW** Mention made of Students for Justice in Palestine meeting this
past week.

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

May 12 (Tuesday, TODAY)  6-7:30PM Free Community Veterans Clinic at
Urbana-Champaign Friends Meetinghouse, 1904 E Main St, Urbana
As an outcome of AWARE's panel on PTSD in 2008, this free acupuncture
clinic was started in February 2009 and is held the 2nd and 4th Tuesdays
of each month. Credentialed professionals insert acupuncture needles into
both ears while recipients remain seated for 20-40 minutes. Much research
has shown the effectiveness of this treatment for stress reduction. This
free clinic is open to U.S. military veterans, current members of the
Armed Forces, or their immediate support network. Sponsored by
Acupuncturists Without Borders, www.acuwithoutborders.org .

May 26 (Tuesday)  6-7:30PM Free Community Veterans Clinic at
Urbana-Champaign Friends Meetinghouse, 1904 E Main St, Urbana
As an outcome of AWARE's panel on PTSD in 2008, this free acupuncture
clinic was started in February 2009 and is held the 2nd and 4th Tuesdays
of each month. Credentialed professionals insert acupuncture needles into
both ears while recipients remain seated for 20-40 minutes. Much research
has shown the effectiveness of this treatment for stress reduction. This
free clinic is open to U.S. military veterans, current members of the
Armed Forces, or their immediate support network. Sponsored by
Acupuncturists Without Borders, www.acuwithoutborders.org .