No subject

"What will be the repercussions from this seismic event? As the victor, how
will the United States reshape the Middle East? Will Americans be greeted as
liberators or conquerors? We examine this not through the opinions of the
U.S. media or beltway pundits, but through the lens of 15 Middle Eastern
television networks-from Iran to Abu Dhabi, Syria to Egypt."

This program proved to be less compelling than I anticipated (I saw it only
after I had announced I would show it - my bad - lesson learned). Footage
from only about 5 networks was shown and the program consisted mostly of
"talking heads" with very similar Pro-Arab points of view. I showed two of
the more interesting topics w/footage (Arab TV coverage vs. US TV coverage
of a specific Iraq war event (the fall of Al-Hillah, south of Baghdad around
April 2) and a discussion w/footage showing how some Arab media explicitly
portrayed the war as a conquest for oil.)

About Worldlink TV: This is the first national network offering a global
perspective on news, current events and culture, presenting viewpoints
seldom covered in the U.S. media. It's non-commercial and funded by grants,
large donors and individual viewer contributions. Worldlink TV is available
in ALL programming packages on Dish Network and DirecTV digital satellite
systems.Worldlink TV is channel 9410 on Dish Network and channel 375 on
DirecTV. For more information on Worldlink TV, see:

   http://www.worldlinktv.org/

---------------------------------------------
news of the week (Carl)

among topics mentioned:

- The US administration is at it again, claiming without evidence that now
Iran is hiding high-ranking Al-Qaeda people responsible for the recent
attack against westerners in Saudi Arabia. The US administration is
apparently now
cutting what little relations we had with Iran.

(ed. note: the pertinent Washington Post article on this is at:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A35772-2003May24.html

for updates, also see:

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/05/26/international/middleeast/26IRAN.html

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A42425-2003May26.html

- Maureen Dowd, columnist for the NY Times had an Sunday column talking
about how the "hawks are hawking the next regime change" in Iran.

(ed. note. The article is at:

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/05/25/opinion/25DOWD.html

- Resistance against the "Road Map" is growing within the Israeli
government, despite Sharon's recent statements in support of it and despite
the Knesset's reluctant and qualified approval.

(ed. note: NY Times article from yesterday summarizing and updating the
situation:

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/05/27/international/middleeast/27MIDE.html

- Condoleezza Rice has recently said that security of Israel is "the key to
the security of the world" in an interview with the liberal Israeli
newspaper Yediot Aharonot.

(ed. note: Yediot Aharonot does not have an English language web site. There
is a reference to Rice's comment in a translated article from Yediot
Aharonot that appears at:

http://www.electronicintifada.net/v2/article1485.shtml

In addition, a variety of equally pro-Israel remarks are also attributed to
Rice in that Yediot Aharonot interview (which apparently took place sometime
before May 14) in a report by The Jewish Press at:

http://www.thejewishpress.com/news_article.asp?article=2380

- The tax cut was passed by the Senate 51-50 (ed. note and has now been
signed into law by Bush)

- Paul Bremer in Iraq issues an edict to disarm all Iraqi militias except
the Kurds

(ed. note: a pertinent article is at:

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/05/24/international/worldspecial/24IRAQ.html

- Paul Bremer also cancels US plans to put together an interim
representative Iraqi administration and instead says a conference may occur
in July, but any resulting authority will be subservient to US control.

(ed. note here is an article that analyzes some of the fallout of this
switch:

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/05/26/international/worldspecial/26IRAQ.html

- 20,000 additional troops are apparently on their way to Iraq to help
stabilize

- Christian Science Monitor article says that the actual number of civilians
killed in the war is between 5000 and 10000.

(ed. note: the article is at:

http://www.christiansciencemonitor.com/2003/0522/p01s02-woiq.html

- Bush and Blair have actually been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize

(ed. note: Guardian article on this is at:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,645075,00.html

In ensuing discussion of news events, it was suggested that Jeffrey St.
Clair (co-editor of Counterpunch) might be invited to speak at whatever fall
conference materializes.
--------------------------------
Events of the past week:

Web page updates (Randall): The two main AWARE web pages were updated with
the most urgent needed changes. The revised versions were passed around for
father comments and suggestions.

Graduations (Robert): Congratulations are in order for Adrienne (and
another - sorry, didn't get the name) who recently graduated high school
(woohoo!).
--------------------------------
Working Groups:

Farmer's Market (David): All went well. $100 raised. David really needs at
least one person to help him set things up at 8AM - he can't do it all
himself.

CO (Conscientious Objector) (Mike): Also tabled at Farmer's Market this
week. All went well. The display created for Urbana High School tabling was
used and proved to be a conversation piece.

Taste of Champaign (Linda): Bad news is that tabling slots are gone -
they're all full. We still may be able to do something, though, because John
has a UN table spot that we might be able to do something with. On that
note, we need to start thinking now about taking action for upcoming summer
tabling events like the Champaign County Fair (July 18 through July 26,
2003) and the Urbana Sweet Corn Festival (late August).

P4P (Prospect for Peace) (Ricky): A "hearty handful" was present. One
intermittent counter-protestor with an American flag (way up the sidewalk).
Anti-war supporters seem to be restrained now that the counter-protestors
are gone.

Town Meeting (John): Met with Kim at WILL and this helped a lot. David Inge
has said OK to a broadcast event July 1 from 5-7PM, 1 hour of it live. WILL
looks to be taking up the idea and running with it.

  In ensuing discussion, it was mentioned that in some places, town meetings
are a regular occurrence. We might keep that in mind and periodically
suggest
these.

Literature (Ricky): No revisions since last week.

Speaker's Bureau: Information on available speakers is going out to local
organizations

Finance: 1683.95 balance (w/o deposits for this week)

July 4th: Meeting happened at Ricky's place and more discussion occurred at
lunch on Friday. Our biggest need is a truck and flatbed trailer. Can anyone
out there help? The three main ideas seemed to be:

- A float consisting of a tank aimed at a schoolhouse with a very obvious
slogan of "MILITARY $ = EDUCATION CUTS" or something along those lines to
get across the point that every dollar spent on the military is one that
can't be spent on education.

- A presentation to emphasize what is *not* being taught in our schools that
people should know about, especially about our own history (for instance,
the lesser known radical views of Paine or Jefferson that for some reason
are "unpalatable" and ignored).

- A presentation focusing on the power of questioning what's around you -
"What is more powerful than a question?". Encouraging folks to question
everything.

Another  July 4th meeting on Monday (ed. note - this has since occurred and
all 3 ideas above are still incorporated)
---------------------------------------------
Announcements/Upcoming Events:

United for Peace and Justice National Conference (Randall): Will be
attending this conference in Chicago June 6-8. UFPJ is the nationwide
coalition of hundreds of anti-war organizations that organized the US
component of the huge worldwide anti-war protests back on Feb. 15 (500,000
in NY, 250,000 in SF, 10 million worldwide). Will attend in hopes of
supporting UFPJ's effort to band anti-war groups together nationwide,
creating ties between AWARE and other anti-war groups and also to perhaps
get ideas for the possible local anti-war/progressive conference this fall.

---------------------------------------------
New proposals:

Collective underwriting of NPR (Lisa): Lisa referred to a recent posting to
peace-discuss (thanks to Jay Mittenthal) which promoted the idea of
individual listeners banding together to collectively underwrite NPR member
stations. This way individual contributors can have a greater impact on
NPR's direction (which has sadly become less and less critical of
corporations and government, among other things). Lisa proposed that AWARE
look into this. There was much agreement and Lisa said she would follow up.
David also mentioned that we might collectively and publicly "man the
phones" during pledge drives to magnify the effort (and get ourselves some
publicity in the process).

Election 2004 proposal (Carl): Pursuant to a discussion at Friday lunch, an
idea emerged that AWARE folks volunteer to each do a little research and
then do a 5-minute or so presentation on one of the Democratic presidential
candidates sometime in the fairly near future. Carl, John and Randall
expressed interest in volunteering (ed. note - Ricky has also done so since
then). The idea was left in the air for people to digest and consider.

RSO status (Mike): Action is underway to renew RSO status. There may be a
(possibly temporary) change in "officers" on record as part of the renewal
process.

Legal Assistance Committee proposal by Mutual Aid Pact Committee (MAP) (Al):
Al explained the proposal that the MAP committee came up with, as follows:

1. The Mutual Aid Pact Committee will serve as a Legal Support Committee.

2. The Legal Support Committee will review each case, including talking with
the people charged.  The Committee's recommendations will be discussed at
the next AWARE meeting.  The AWARE meeting will make the final decisions on
what is to be done.

3. General AWARE funds should not be used for legal cases.  Aid should be
given through special fundraising efforts.  General AWARE funds may be used
for immediate expenses, but these should be reimbursed as soon as possible.
People charged will normally be expected to help with fundraising.

4.  The following points will be considered in granting full or partial
legal funding:
        o  Level of active participation in AWARE
       o  Financial need
       o  The merits of the case, including:
           * Activity in accordance with AWARE event structure
             * Confrontational activity not approved by organizers
           * Illegal activity not approved by organizers
           * Unjust charges

  Ensuing discussion:

Randall: Uncomfortable with the general idea of such bureaucracy, which
AWARE traditionally eschews.

Carl: Similar sentiments, but believed actual events would outrun such
guidelines and policies anyhow, in practice.

Carol: The proposal is intended, in part, to gracefully handle the possibly
sensitive deliberations that might occur when determining if/how AWARE
should fund legal fights/bail, etc.

<someone>: Suggested that when the case is discussed in the general AWARE
meeting, the concerned individual should leave the room. There was support
without objection for this idea.

Ricky: Indicated he was uncomfortable with the "Level of active
participation in AWARE" criteria. There was support without objection for
removing this criteria.

In the end, it was not entirely clear whether AWARE approved of the revised
MAP proposal as a whole or not. (ed. note: based on subsequent lively
discussion in the peace-discuss list, this whole issue may be revisited
later, perhaps after the current legal fight is resolved).

(end)