Mid-West Planning Conference - Dec. 7-8, 2002

The University of Minnesota Coalition Against War on Iraq (CAWI) is hosting a regional preliminary planning conference December 7th and 8th in order to establish an agenda for a much larger conference in February.  In light of recent political shifts toward a more conservative and explicitly aggressive foreign policy, we feel that it is absolutely necessary to immediately begin building a broad-based movement of political and social activists in order to stop the war on Iraq. 
 
CAWI is committed to facilitating a planning conference in which representatives of different organizations can present their ideas regarding:
 
1) Informational session on issues pertinent to anti-war activism, to be presented at the February conference,
 
2) Specific initiatives of regionally coordinated action (such as region-wide walkouts/boycotts/demonstrations/etc.), to be presented at the February conference.
 
The specific intention of this preliminary session is to present and vote on different proposals concerning the two preceding items.    Ideas for Œteach-ins‚ or Œinformation sessions‚ to be taught by students during the first part of the February conference will be approached first.  Specific plans of actions will be dealt with second.  Each organization will possess one voting representative, with CAWI excluded.  We will make decisions by a simple majority. If your group displays any interest in presenting a proposal or offering an information session at the February conference, send an outline or typed version to the appropriate contact as soon as possible.  We would like to arrange for every representative to have access to a hard copy of all topics up for discussion.  Please send proposals as soon as possible, as we are working inside a very narrow time frame. 
 
The December 7th and 8th Conference is scheduled to begin Saturday at 10 a. m.  We will open with an informal gathering, in order to pass out proposals and to make introductions.  At 1 p.m., a teach-in will be offered by the Iraq Peace Action Committee for those who wish to attend; speakers include Phyllis Bennis and Lucius Walker.  We will reconvene at 6 p. m. to hold an informal question and answer session over the proposals presented.  The Sunday portion of the conference will begin at 8 a. m., proposals will be voted on and an agenda for the February Conference set. U of M CAWI will make sleeping bag accommodations available to delegates upon receiving a notice confirming their attendance.    Send all replies to the coordinator for your respective state.
 
Please forward this message to any organizations you feel would be interested in this event.
 
Iowa: Amanda Schwanz- aschwanz@hotmail.com
Minnesota (Twin Cities & Surrounding Areas):  Madeline Leslie- lesl0034@umn.edu
Minnesota (Outside Metro Area):  Arienne Sclerandi- scle0001@umn.edu
Nebraska:  David Meyer- meye0706@umn.edu
North Dakota:  Dan Buechler- buec0021@umn.edu
South Dakota:  Dan Buechler- buec0021@umn.edu
Wisconsin:  Emily Cox- coxx0135@umn.edu

Thanks to Joshua Healey for sharing this announcement.

Page created November 21, 2002 by Charlie Jenks.