[Iowa-dx] University of Iowa Anti-war Committee Meeting of 8/21
IowaGreen Libris
iowagreenlibris@mail.org
Fri, 22 Aug 2008 15:43:22 -0500
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As Johnson County Green Party liaison to the University of Iowa
Anti-war Committee as well as a general member of UIAC for about
two and a half years, on Thursday evening, August 21 at 6:30 p.m.
Daylight Stupid Time, I attended the last post-summer meeting of
University of Iowa Anti-war Committee at the Iowa City Public
Library, room E. The next series of meetings will be for the
regular Fall Semester UIAC meetings.
1) UIAC MEETING FACILITY: UIAC is still trying to figure out a
suitable replacement meeting place for its regular meetings.
This is important to we Greens in case any of us wish to attend
their open meetings, which all interested public visitors are
regularly invited to attend almost every Thursday at 6:30 p.m.
standard time.
Locations for meetings under consideration are:
a) in the middle room of Uptown Bill's Small Mall, located at the
southwest corner of South Gilbert and Court Streets, undesireable
in a few ways although a fun place to meet
b) on the lower floor of Old Brick in their Peace Center room,
located at the northwest corner of Market and Clinton Street,
which has a large meeting area with a kitchen and bathrooms
c) the Iowa City Public Library, which has generously allowed UIAC
to violate the repetitive-use rule for several consecutive weeks
probably in consideration for the flood problems caused to the
university infrastructure and operations. But the public library
has a nice meeting room upstairs in Room E and the use of Room A
for larger meetings and video presentations.
d) still "up in the air" is Uof I McBride Hall, for which UIAC is
on a waiting list as the university tries to figure out class
space.
2) PRESENTATION BY LIST PROJECT: a very emotional issuewas presented by
Matt Walleser, of The List Project: Project toResettle Iraqi Allies.=20
Matt is an undergraduate student in History andInternational Studies
right here in our University of Iowa. He gavehis presentation and a
short video on his notebook computer that camefrom YouTube which was
shocking. The project was started by Kirk W. Johnson when he realized
thatour nation did not care at all about the middle-class Iraqi people
whoassisted him in his capacity with US AID and our military operatonsas
English-Arabic-Kurdish-Turkish-Aramaic-Armedian interpretors. The
anti-USA elements regarded the interpretors to be collaborators,resulting
in kidnappings, murders, tortures, and other retaliation againstthe
interpretors as well as against their families. There were thousandsof
Iraqi interpretors helping our nation, but USA's policy was to leavethem
and their families in Iraq to suffer harm and fearful mental distress,even
when they were originally assured by our nation that the Iraqiinterpretors =
would
be fully protected from harm. 4-million Iraqis have been displaced.=20
Sweden has allowed moreIraqi refugees to settle in their country than has
our USA because ourUSA deems letting them into our country to being
tantamount as anadmission that we have lost the war. Only 1,000
applications to enter our nation by our Iraqi interpretershas been
granted, even though death threats for "collaborators" toabandon their
homes and flee are commonly carried out with theirbeing kidnapped and
executions. Kirk has been able to obtain theassistance of pro-bono legal
firms in this, but the progress is slowand costly. Matt suggests to write
op-eds to local newspapers about this viletravesty to our most vulnerable
allies, write to our congresspersons,it costs $4,000 to settle a refugee
who can make it to our USA withno guarantee for a job! So far, the
only FEDERAL assistance forthese threatened brave Iraqis comes to them
indirectly from ourfederal government sources THROUGH the IOWA DEPARTMENTOF
HUMAN SERVICES -- IOWA BUREAU OF REFUGEESERVICES !!!!!!! In other words,
IBRS is diverting federal fundsto help these people! You can also send
cheques directly to:The List ProjectPost Office Box 502New York City, New
York 10101 Matt concluded his presentation with a quote from Mother
Teresa:"The opposite of love is not hate - - - but indifference." 3)=20
STUDENT ACTIVITIES FAIR: Although this is an internal UofIprogram for
student organizations, there will be a fair of studentorganizations to be
held next wednesday on August 27 from 11 a.m.to 2 p.m. at Hubbard Park,
just south of the Iowa Memorial Unionbuilding, and I volunteered to help
staff their table there. Would benice if we could resurrect a campus
Green Party student organizationthat no longer exists on Uof I !! 4)
SEPTEMBER 11th COMMEMORATION: Uof I wants to havea presentation to
coincide with the fascist presentations that will beinundating our nation
on September 11th. I respect how this is to bea counterpoint with regard
to the horrible tragedy our nation sufferedas a result of our nation's
international indifference to the people of theworld, and Uof I shows its
respect for that aspect as well by theirconsidering a presentation in a
"Uof I War On Terror 101" class.They discussed poster-publicity to
advertise the event in a way thatbehooves us in Green Party to take note
in our own activities:a poster needs to have nothing more than
Date-Time-Place-Website address-and a theme to catch attention.=20
Electronic messagepublicity needs to be much more specific and detailed.
The issues considered are War on Terror: what it is about, what itentails,
how it effects domestic policies on the Global War OnTerror since "9-11",
and how it abuses human rights and civil rightspursuing "persons of
interest", suspension of the Writ of HabeasCorpus, use of "rendition" and
so on. 5) REPUBLICAN NATIONAL CONVENTION - SAINT PAUL:Vague mention was
made about information that I am not able toobtain since the demise of
the Iowans For Economic Human RightsOrganization. I was able to get
further information from Ajax of theWild Rose Rebellion to add to my
knowledge as former delegate tothe PPEHRC conference that I attended in
Minneapolis at thebeginning of this year: the student predecessor
organization to Iowans For EconomicHuman Rights Organization Uof I is
running two buses on a one dayround-trip on September 2nd to Saint Paul,
for the Poor People'sEconomic Human Rights Committee's march "March For
Our Lives"for a $10 fee or donation. This will not work for me because I
wantto get in several events including the main march on mondaySeptember
1st. If you want this one-day round trip on Tuesday,you should contact
Renee McClain at renee-mcclain@uiowa.eduThere was also unconfirmed
information that Women For Peace maybe offering some sort of ride
arrangement from Cedar Rapids, butmaybe Wendy Barth can give us some
information on that. I will attend the Wild Rose Rebellion meeting this
saturday, in Room Dof Iowa City Public Library on August 23 at 5 p.m. to
find out moreinformation from them. Green Party members do attend their
meetingsso any of us are welcome to attend. 7) COMMITTEE RESTRUCTURING:=20
Although the rest of theUof I Anti-war Committee meeting was generally
internal business, Iwill comment on one aspect of their agenda item on
SubcommitteesAnd Tasks, because I think it is enlightening to our lack of
infrastructureformality in Iowa Green Party, at least, I've never seen
indications of itfunctioning officially beyond the basics in our state
party. The Uof I AC is reforming its infrastructure, and so a discussion
onwhat is desired and how to do it (I remember my political scienceinstruct=
or
teaching us about his I.G.P.O.D.E. analyisis system). They were figuring
out how to determine functions that are neededas committees and then of
how to merge them into consolidatedfewer numbers of committees. They
started with the following committee considerations:PublicityLiterature
and EducationEvents (planning)Budget and FundraisingPublic OutreachOffice
of Student Life (the official Uof I administrative function) /Student
Government LiaisonEvent Securtiy (such as for marches, rallies and the
like)Public AffairsLogistics They boiled this down initially to combining
Publicity + Lit andEducation + Outreach, and combining Events +
Budget/Fundraising+ OSL/Student Government. Then they reorganized their
considerations and resulted in thefollowing committee structure:MediaPublic=
ityStudent
Group/public liaisonBudget/Fundraising/OSL-Student GovernmentEvent
Preparations/Set-up/LogisticsCommittees Coordinator This was interesting
to me because they are finally taking a veryactive interest in making
their organization work. I do hope we inIowa Green Party can get
somethig actively going like this. 8) ANNOUNCEMENTS: Many of these
announcements havealready been mentioned in my previous postings here,
some of theinformation was unclear previously and in error. Here is the
latestannouncement schedule of events relating to Uof I Anti-WarCommittee:
a) Tuesday 8-26: Iron Wall will be shown at 7 p.m. at Iowa CityPublic
Library (ICPL) in Room A (the big audio-visual meeting room) b)=20
Thursday 8-28: Scarred Land will be shown at 7 p.m. at ICPLRoom A c)=20
Sunday 8-31: David Rovics will present his music at 1 p.m. atOld Brick,
probably upstairs in the main hall, and I think there is arequested
donation but I do not recall the details. It will not be much. d)=20
Wednesday 9-10: A Bomb Survivors (from Japan) will be heldat 7 p.m. at
ICPL Room A, and I believe there will be possibly threeactual survivors
who may speak there. e) October 10 to 12 at the De Paul University in
Chicago, CAN(Campus Anti-war Network) will hold a national conference.
The meeting was adjourned at 8:05 p.m. Daylight Stupid Time.
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<DIV>
<DIV>
<DIV>
<DIV><BR>As Johnson County Green Party liaison to the University of Iowa <B=
R>Anti-war Committee as well as a general member of UIAC for about <BR>two =
and a half years, on Thursday evening, August 21 at 6:30 p.m. <BR>Dayl=
ight Stupid Time, I attended the last post-summer meeting of <BR>=
University of Iowa Anti-war Committee at the Iowa City Public <BR>Library, =
room E. The next series of meetings will be for the <BR>regular Fall Semest=
er UIAC meetings. <BR><BR>1) UIAC MEETING FACILITY: UIAC is still trying to=
figure out a <BR>suitable replacement meeting place for its regular meetin=
gs. <BR>This is important to we Greens in case any of us wish to attend <BR=
>their open meetings, which all interested public visitors are <BR>regularl=
y invited to attend almost every Thursday at 6:30 p.m. <BR>standard time. <=
BR><BR>Locations for meetings under consideration are: <BR><BR>a) in the mi=
ddle room of Uptown Bill's Small Mall, located at the <BR>southwest corner =
of South Gilbert and Court Streets, undesireable <BR>in a few ways although=
a fun place to meet <BR><BR>b) on the lower floor of Old Brick in their Pe=
ace Center room, <BR>located at the northwest corner of Market and Clinton =
Street, <BR>which has a large meeting area with a kitchen and bathrooms <BR=
><BR>c) the Iowa City Public Library, which has generously allowed UIAC <BR=
>to violate the repetitive-use rule for several consecutive weeks <BR>proba=
bly in consideration for the flood problems caused to the <BR>university in=
frastructure and operations. But the public library <BR>has a nice meeting =
room upstairs in Room E and the use of Room A <BR>for larger meetings and v=
ideo presentations. <BR><BR>d) still "up in the air" is Uof I McBride Hall,=
for which UIAC is <BR>on a waiting list as the university tries to figure =
out class <BR>space. <BR><BR>2) PRESENTATION BY LIST PROJECT: a very =
emotional issue</DIV>
<DIV>was presented by Matt Walleser, of The List Project: Project to</DIV>
<DIV>Resettle Iraqi Allies. Matt is an undergraduate student in Histo=
ry and</DIV>
<DIV>International Studies right here in our University of Iowa. =
He gave</DIV>
<DIV>his presentation and a short video on his notebook computer that came<=
/DIV>
<DIV>from YouTube which was shocking.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>The project was started by Kirk W. Johnson when he realized that</DIV>
<DIV>our nation did not care at all about the middle-class Iraqi people who=
</DIV>
<DIV>assisted him in his capacity with US AID and our military operato=
ns</DIV>
<DIV>as English-Arabic-Kurdish-Turkish-Aramaic-Armedian interpretors.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>The anti-USA elements regarded the interpretors to be collaborators,</=
DIV>
<DIV>resulting in kidnappings, murders, tortures, and other retaliatio=
n against</DIV>
<DIV>the interpretors as well as against their families. There were t=
housands</DIV>
<DIV>of Iraqi interpretors helping our nation, but USA's policy w=
as to leave</DIV>
<DIV>them and their families in Iraq to suffer harm and fearful mental dist=
ress,</DIV>
<DIV>even when they were originally assured by our nation that the Iraqi</D=
IV>
<DIV>interpretors would be fully protected from harm.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>4-million Iraqis have been displaced. Sweden has allowed more</D=
IV>
<DIV>Iraqi refugees to settle in their country than has our USA because our=
</DIV>
<DIV>USA deems letting them into our country to being tantamount as an=
</DIV>
<DIV>admission that we have lost the war.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Only 1,000 applications to enter our nation by our Iraqi interpre=
ters</DIV>
<DIV>has been granted, even though death threats for "collaborators" to</DI=
V>
<DIV>abandon their homes and flee are commonly carried out with their</DIV>
<DIV>being kidnapped and executions. Kirk has been able to obtain the=
</DIV>
<DIV>assistance of pro-bono legal firms in this, but the progress is slow</=
DIV>
<DIV>and costly.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Matt suggests to write op-eds to local newspapers about this vile</DIV>
<DIV>travesty to our most vulnerable allies, write to our congresspersons,<=
/DIV>
<DIV>it costs $4,000 to settle a refugee who can make it to our USA with</D=
IV>
<DIV>no guarantee for a job! So far, the only FEDERAL assistance=
for</DIV>
<DIV>these threatened brave Iraqis comes to them indirectly from our</DIV>
<DIV>federal government sources THROUGH the IOWA DEPARTMENT</DIV>
<DIV>OF HUMAN SERVICES -- IOWA BUREAU OF REFUGEE</DIV>
<DIV>SERVICES !!!!!!! In other words, IBRS is diverting federal funds=
</DIV>
<DIV>to help these people!</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>You can also send cheques directly to:</DIV>
<DIV>The List Project</DIV>
<DIV>Post Office Box 502</DIV>
<DIV>New York City, New York 10101</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Matt concluded his presentation with a quote from Mother Teresa:</DIV>
<DIV>"The opposite of love is not hate - - - but indifference."</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>3) STUDENT ACTIVITIES FAIR: Although this is an internal U=
ofI</DIV>
<DIV>program for student organizations, there will be a fair of student</DI=
V>
<DIV>organizations to be held next wednesday on August 27 from 11 a.m.</DIV>
<DIV>to 2 p.m. at Hubbard Park, just south of the Iowa Memorial Union</DIV>
<DIV>building, and I volunteered to help staff their table there. Wou=
ld be</DIV>
<DIV>nice if we could resurrect a campus Green Party student organization</=
DIV>
<DIV>that no longer exists on Uof I !!</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>4) SEPTEMBER 11th COMMEMORATION: Uof I wants to have</DIV>
<DIV>a presentation to coincide with the fascist presentations that will be=
</DIV>
<DIV>inundating our nation on September 11th. I respect how this is t=
o be</DIV>
<DIV>a counterpoint with regard to the horrible tragedy our nation suf=
fered</DIV>
<DIV>as a result of our nation's international indifference to the people o=
f the</DIV>
<DIV>world, and Uof I shows its respect for that aspect as well by their</D=
IV>
<DIV>considering a presentation in a "Uof I War On Terror 101" class.</DIV>
<DIV>They discussed poster-publicity to advertise the event in a way that</=
DIV>
<DIV>behooves us in Green Party to take note in our own activities:</DIV>
<DIV>a poster needs to have nothing more than Date-Time-Place-Web</DIV>
<DIV>site address-and a theme to catch attention. Electronic mes=
sage</DIV>
<DIV>publicity needs to be much more specific and detailed.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>The issues considered are War on Terror: what it is about, what it</DI=
V>
<DIV>entails, how it effects domestic policies on the Global War On</DIV>
<DIV>Terror since "9-11", and how it abuses human rights and civil rights</=
DIV>
<DIV>pursuing "persons of interest", suspension of the Writ of Habeas</DIV>
<DIV>Corpus, use of "rendition" and so on.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>5) REPUBLICAN NATIONAL CONVENTION - SAINT PAUL:</DIV>
<DIV>Vague mention was made about information that I am not able to</DIV>
<DIV>obtain since the demise of the Iowans For Economic Human Rights</DIV>
<DIV>Organization. I was able to get further information from Ajax of=
the</DIV>
<DIV>Wild Rose Rebellion to add to my knowledge as former delegate to</DIV>
<DIV>the PPEHRC conference that I attended in Minneapolis at the</DIV>
<DIV>beginning of this year:</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>the student predecessor organization to Iowans For Economic</DIV>
<DIV>Human Rights Organization Uof I is running two buses on a on=
e day</DIV>
<DIV>round-trip on September 2nd to Saint Paul, for the Poor People's</DIV>
<DIV>Economic Human Rights Committee's march "March For Our Lives"</DIV>
<DIV>for a $10 fee or donation. This will not work for me because I w=
ant</DIV>
<DIV>to get in several events including the main march on monday</DIV>
<DIV>September 1st. If you want this one-day round trip on Tuesday,</=
DIV>
<DIV>you should contact <FONT face=3Dtahoma size=3D2>Renee McClain at =
<A href=3D"mailto:renee-mcclain@uiowa.edu">renee-mcclain@uiowa.edu</A></FO=
NT></DIV>
<DIV dir=3Dltr><FONT face=3DTahoma></FONT></DIV></DIV>
<DIV>There was also unconfirmed information that Women For Peace may</DIV>
<DIV>be offering some sort of ride arrangement from Cedar Rapids, but</DIV>
<DIV>maybe Wendy Barth can give us some information on that.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>I will attend the Wild Rose Rebellion meeting this saturday, in Room D=
</DIV>
<DIV>of Iowa City Public Library on August 23 at 5 p.m. to find out mo=
re</DIV>
<DIV>information from them. Green Party members do attend their meeti=
ngs</DIV>
<DIV>so any of us are welcome to attend.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>7) COMMITTEE RESTRUCTURING: Although the rest of the</DIV>
<DIV>Uof I Anti-war Committee meeting was generally internal business, I</D=
IV>
<DIV>will comment on one aspect of their agenda item on Subcommittees</DIV>
<DIV>And Tasks, because I think it is enlightening to our lack of infrastru=
cture</DIV>
<DIV>formality in Iowa Green Party, at least, I've never seen indications o=
f it</DIV>
<DIV>functioning officially beyond the basics in our state party.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>The Uof I AC is reforming its infrastructure, and so a discussion on</=
DIV>
<DIV>what is desired and how to do it (I remember my political science</DIV>
<DIV>instructor teaching us about his I.G.P.O.D.E. analyisis system).</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>They were figuring out how to determine functions that are needed</DIV>
<DIV>as committees and then of how to merge them into consolidated</DIV>
<DIV>fewer numbers of committees.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>They started with the following committee considerations:</DIV>
<DIV>Publicity</DIV>
<DIV>Literature and Education</DIV>
<DIV>Events (planning)</DIV>
<DIV>Budget and Fundraising</DIV>
<DIV>Public Outreach</DIV>
<DIV>Office of Student Life (the official Uof I administrative</DIV>
<DIV> function) /Student Government Liaison</DIV>
<DIV>Event Securtiy (such as for marches, rallies and the like)</DIV>
<DIV>Public Affairs</DIV>
<DIV>Logistics</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>They boiled this down initially to combining Publicity + Lit and<=
/DIV>
<DIV>Education + Outreach, and combining Events + Budget/Fundraising</DIV>
<DIV>+ OSL/Student Government.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Then they reorganized their considerations and resulted in the</DIV>
<DIV>following committee structure:</DIV>
<DIV>Media</DIV>
<DIV>Publicity</DIV>
<DIV>Student Group/public liaison</DIV>
<DIV>Budget/Fundraising/OSL-Student Government</DIV>
<DIV>Event Preparations/Set-up/Logistics</DIV>
<DIV>Committees Coordinator</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>This was interesting to me because they are finally taking a very=
</DIV>
<DIV>active interest in making their organization work. I do hope we =
in</DIV>
<DIV>Iowa Green Party can get somethig actively going like this.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>8) ANNOUNCEMENTS: Many of these announcements have</DIV>
<DIV>already been mentioned in my previous postings here, some of the</DIV>
<DIV>information was unclear previously and in error. Here is the lat=
est</DIV>
<DIV>announcement schedule of events relating to Uof I Anti-War</DIV>
<DIV>Committee:</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>a) Tuesday 8-26: Iron Wall will be shown at 7 p.m. a=
t Iowa City</DIV>
<DIV>Public Library (ICPL) in Room A (the big audio-visual meeting room)</D=
IV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>b) Thursday 8-28: Scarred Land will be shown at 7 p.m=
. at ICPL</DIV>
<DIV>Room A</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>c) Sunday 8-31: David Rovics will present his music =
at 1 p.m. at</DIV>
<DIV>Old Brick, probably upstairs in the main hall, and I think there =
is a</DIV>
<DIV>requested donation but I do not recall the details. It will not =
be much.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>d) Wednesday 9-10: A Bomb Survivors (from Japan) wil=
l be held</DIV>
<DIV>at 7 p.m. at ICPL Room A, and I believe there will be possibly th=
ree</DIV>
<DIV>actual survivors who may speak there.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>e) October 10 to 12 at the De Paul University in Chicago, CAN</D=
IV>
<DIV>(Campus Anti-war Network) will hold a national conference.</=
DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>The meeting was adjourned at 8:05 p.m. Daylight Stupid Time.<BR> =
</DIV></DIV></DIV><BR>
--=20
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Choose From 200+ Email Addresses<br>
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