Monroe County Green Party

Meeting Minutes

7:00pm, Tuesday, 10/2/01

Bloomington Environmental Center, 116 ½ S. College Ave.

 

Facilitator: Eric White

Scribe: Chris Stafford

 

The meeting was called to order at 7:00pm

 

In anticipation of some controversial discussion, Eric listed some ground rules that would hold for the remainder of the meeting. These included people raising hands, and Eric maintaining a stack. People were asked to limit their comments and try not to simply duplicate others’ comments. Eric also said he would give preference to people who hadn’t spoken before. Finally, the group agreed that votes would henceforth be more formal so that objections would be included in the official minutes.

 

The minutes from 9-18 were approved, pending a vote on the order of the Social Justice and Nonviolence working-group forums.

 

The agenda was approved.

 

Announcements:

 

Jeff talked briefly about the previous weekend’s trip to Washington D.C. Rebecca, Jeff, and Steps all took the trip to the anti-war protest. Jeff estimated there were 15,000 people there, but pointed out that other estimates ranged from 7,000 (Washington Police) to 30,000 (Protest organizers.) Jeff reported that he and several others were corralled by a police “escort” and detained against their will for several hours away from the protest. Steps said that the Washington Times estimated several hundred protesters, and emphasized the singular incident of flag-burning, even though this was not the spirit of the protest. Rebecca mentioned that ANSWER would be holding demonstrations on October 27, and that there was a possibility of a local demonstration as well.

 

Heather mentioned a League of Women Voters meeting on October 10, 7:00-8:30, in the MCPL. The subject would be a discussion of the GPP, and would consist of half presentation, half question-and-answer session.

 

Isabel announced that several “Take Back the Night” events were upcoming. On Oct. 3 would be a Candlelight Vigil at 7:00pm. On Oct. 4 there would be a Rally/March, also at 7pm, from Dunn Meadow to the Courthouse. “Take Back the Night” events focus on violence towards women.

 

Craig announced that the Alternative Transportation plan from last Monday was on the web. Craig was unenthusiastic about the plan. Craig also mentioned that the County Comprehensive Plan would be discussed on Thursday 10/4 at 4:00pm, on the 3^rd floor of the Courthouse. Public comments would be heard, and Craig encouraged people to comment on City/County coordination. Finally, Craig announced that the 3^rd draft of the GPP has been finished, although it’s not yet available to the public. He reported that according to the City Planning Commission it was a terrible plan; that the 1991 plan was better.

 

Bill Mills announced that on Sat. October 13^th was the International Day of Protest against weapons in space. Locally, the demo would take place at 3:00pm in the County Courthouse. Bill provided some background information, including that the US is developing Nuclear Space Weapons and is working to prevent other countries from developing space weapons. Beginning at 1:00 on the 13^th of Oct., in the MCPL, room 1-C, there would be some educational videos on the subject. Bill asked for MCGP sponsorship of these events, which would involve putting our name on the literature as well as posting an announcement to our listserve right before the event. Before a vote was held, Craig voiced his concern that this was a national issue and that we ought to focus more on local issues. Larry responded that this was a local event, and Craig responded that he was worried we were being spread to thinly. Because this concern was not enough to block consensus, the group consented to sponsor this event.

 

Coordinators’ Reports:

 

Treasurer Report: Craig reporting: Expenses: $208.69 Receipts: $584.25 Balance: $1249.79 (Newsletter expenses were $166.68)

 

Secretary Report: Chris Stafford reporting: 496 Supporting Members, 45 Full Members. These numbers do not include anything given to Chris that night.

 

Campus Report: Chris Sapp said that IUB Campus Greens would be meeting Wed., Oct. 3, in the Dogwood Room of the Memorial Union on campus.

 

Media Report: Jeff: Nothing to report.

 

Technology Report: Larry: In process of switching domain name from his personal account to the Monroe County Green Party, but will cost $50. Larry is investigating ways to get around this cost. Peter asked if special announcements could be used to give weekly digest for those who didn’t even want the daily digest. Larry said he didn’t think so, but said he’d look into it.

 

Green Liaison: Steps reported that he and Peter had multiple contacts in Brown County, and they were working to get a local formed in our eastern neighbors. Steps also said he was looking into getting the IGP a table at the Ani Difranco Concert on Oct. 20. Larry agreed to fax the tabling request.

 

Canvassing: Chris reported in lieu of Julie Roberts. Chris reported that Julie was interested in doing monthly, rather than weekly, canvassing, but having more people canvass each time.

 

Working Group Reports:

 

Shadow Government: Heather announced that at the Oct. 3^rd City Council meeting, talk would begin on the Zoning Ordinance, but it would be later in the agenda, so people interested in attending should arrive around 8:00-8:30pm.

 

            Craig reported that at the City Plan Commission a development was announced on 2^nd street, and that there are numerous objections to this development from area residents. Craig said they were currently forming a neighborhood association to protest some of the plans for the development, including 50% more parking than is required.

 

            Eric said that he believed the Martin Luther King Birthday Celebration was likely to include several Nonviolence workshops, and he will continue to attend their meetings.

 

Order of Forums:            At the previous meeting, it was suggested that the Nonviolence group stage their forum before the Social Justice group, seeing as the current issues were more closely related to Nonviolence. George Brooks, chair of the Social Justice group, agreed, and the group consented to make this change. The Nonviolence forum will be planned for sometime in December, the Social Justice in March, and the Grassroots Democracy will be in June.

 

Ecological Wisdom:            Isabel reported that the Forum was a great success, with over 60 people in attendance, good discussion, great speakers, etc. Craig Harvey said that people he’d talked to were very pleased with the forum. Isabel said that she had prepared a statement with some revisions from the Eco-group, and planned to read this statement on Oct. 3^rd, on a simulcast radio/tv program, sponsored by WFHB and CATS. Isabel read the statement to the group, and the group consented to approve it. 

 

Nonviolence:            Jeff reported that the Nonviolence group was thinking about hosting nonviolence-training workshops. Also, the group prepared an extensive statement that was to be discussed later in this meeting.

 

Social Justice: George reported that he was interested in examining a Living Wage for Monroe County. He discussed some ideas with Steve Gardner.

 

Grassroots Democracy: Nothing to report.

 

Election Committee: Craig said that as nobody has showed up to the last two Election Committee meetings, he was going to formalize the membership process for this committee. Craig went to the Election office and reported that the districts have been redrawn. People interested in working with the Election Committee should contact Craig Harvey.

 

Newsletter: Isabel reported that Heather would be chairing the Winter Newsletter Committee, and submissions would be welcome over the next month or so.

 

Old Business:

 

Anne Feeney Concert: Jeff reported that plans for the concert (Oct 14, 7pm) were coming along well. Isabel had copies of the flyer. Eric agreed to contact radio stations, and Heather said she would help out at the door. Craig said he would help sell tickets ahead of time. Others interested in helping should contact Jeff Melton.

 

Statement on Attacks:

 

Rebecca summarized the statement for the group, and mentioned that the Nonviolence group, who wrote the statement, would be issuing shorter statements as well.

 

Eric suggested voting on it, and thus began a discussion that will be summarized here:

 

Steve: Objected to the fundamental nature of the statement, pointing out that this was a clear attack on the United States, and that we had the right to defend ourselves; that an atrocity of this magnitude called for some kind of response. He opposed a response that included indiscriminate killing of innocent civilians. He feels that Bin Laden, and particularly the Taliban, represented regressive and quasi-fascist social forces that we should be opposing since they were even farther to the right than our own government.

 

Rebecca: Worried about the U.S. response being as much a terrorist act as anything inflicted on us. She also mentioned that Bin Laden was supported by many around the world, and that this was a chance to educate Americans on the deficiencies of our foreign policy.

 

Craig: Pointed out that Bin Laden is not a member of the Royal Family, and that waging war in Afghanistan was likely to be unsuccessful given the history of land battles in that country. He suggested that we take the money we would spend on bombs, and drop that amount of food instead.

 

Adam: Said that the first part of the statement, comparing Jesse Helms to Bin Laden, was not a good idea. Also, he said the cry of Racism in the statement was unjustified – that he was impressed by the American crackdown on those who “took it out on Muslims” in our country. He also said that the “Bombing of Montana” comparison was unwarranted. He is disturbed by the flag-waving, and would like to see less cynicism in the statement.

 

Jeff: Helms has supported terrorists in other countries, and therefore lends himself to comparison with Bin Laden, who is a creation of the U.S. Government. He has issued statements critical of US foreign policy. The Racism in the statement refers to our judging terrorist attacks against Americans as more devastating than a similar attack in another country on another culture.

 

Steps: The group has two possibilities: 1) rework the statement, and 2) have Jeff issue the statement as part of his Congressional Campaign.

 

Heather: Thanked the Nonviolence group for all of their hard work. Specifically, she appreciated that they tied their points into the Four Pillars, and offered solutions instead of only problems. She asked who the intended audience for the statement was, pointing out that it would probably not engage many people who didn’t already agree with the statement. She said that the use of analogy is “imperfect” and it might be too controversial for our statement.  Heather pointed out that this statement was consuming much of our time, and agreed with Steps that this could be issued by the Nonviolence Working group and not by MCGP. This would allow us to continue with business.

 

Eric extended the allotment of time for this agenda item.

 

Peter: Had questions about the completeness of the statement, noting that lots of sections appeared incomplete. He also pointed out that although we are certainly fearful of Bush waging war, he hasn’t done anything wrong yet, and we should take this into account. He asked if others had historical analogies for non-military responses to terrorism.

 

Eric: Although Bush hasn’t done anything wrong yet, it is always good to work preventively. Is there an analogy other than with Jesse Helms that could be used?

 

Rebecca: Likes the idea of pursuing other historical analogies. She pointed out that in fact we are already financing rebel groups, groups as bad as the Taliban, in the region, although we haven’t taken direct military action. Defended the Jesse Helms analogy, pointing out that he supported both domestic and foreign terrorist activities.

 

Kevin: Helms is a state-sanctioned terrorist. The Nonviolence group’s statement is great, but this is a local party and there is lots of stuff we ought to be addressing instead of this.

 

Chris Sapp: Steve was right to point out that the McVeigh/Bin Laden comparison was not perfect. He offered a historical precedent in Turkey, where amnesty was granted to terrorists in exchange for their cessation of activities. He also said that the statement is simply too long.

 

Maha: Wanted to clarify a few points of the discussion. Muslim and Islam are different concepts, with Islam referring only to institutions, and not people. Also, Arab and Muslim are not interchangeable, as there are Arabs of many different religions. In addition, there are many Muslims who are not Arab. Bin Laden does not have one specific group with which he can be identified, with even the Taliban saying that their Islam is different from his. In the original sources of his speeches, he doesn’t condemn Western values, but he does address the issue of “justice.” He abandoned his comfortable life to seek justice, which he perceives as fighting the colonialism and the State of Israel.

            Islam, like Judaism, but unlike Christianity, relies on the work of scholars. Islamic scholars do not agree with the Taliban or Bin Laden. Maha also pointed out that terrorists take many different faces, mentioning that Ariel Sharon’s traditional nickname can be loosely translated as “The Butcher.” The Northern Alliance is not as bad as the Taliban.

 

Larry: Said that the MCGP will never come together on this issue, and that the statement is simply too packed full of information to be accessible. He suggested shortening it and putting that version in the newsletter.

 

Heather: PROPOSAL: Have Nonviolence group present statement on Web-site, and issue a condensed version for the newsletter.

 

Isabel: FRIENDLY AMENDMENT: Have the web-site statement be a White Paper and sign only the individuals’ names who worked on the statement.

 

Adam:  Wanted to make sure that the statement was preceded by a phrase that explained it does not represent the views of all members of the Monroe County Green Party.

 

Steve: Agreed with Adam.

 

Heather: REVISED PROPOSAL:

I.) Post on website, by Nonviolence Group, list their names, and include the “disclaimer.”

            II.) The Nonviolence Group would include a condensed version for the Newsletter.

 

This proposal was seconded and called to question.

The vote on this proposal was: 9-Favor, 6-Oppose, 2-Abstain. Counting only the fifteen votes (non-abstentions), the vote did not receive the 2/3 required to pass. VOTE FAILED.

 

Steps: PROPOSAL: Jeff Melton could use the statement in his political campaign:

this proposal was seconded and called to question.

The vote was: 10-Favor, 3-Oppose, 4-Abstain. Out of the thirteen votes, ten was enough to pass. VOTE PASSED.

 

Rebecca: PROPOSAL: Include it on the website but with no disclaimer.

This proposal was seconded and called to question.

The vote was: 4-Favor, 7-Oppose, 5-Abstain. Of the eleven votes, four was not enough to pass. VOTE FAILED.

 

Chris Sapp suggested putting a section on the website where individuals could post freely. Originally this was a formal proposal, but as it was not on the original agenda, and in the interest of time, Chris withdrew this proposal.

 

New Business:

            Railroad Switchyard Statement: Kevin Sowders read a statement he’d prepared regarding the city’s plans to purchase land for and build a new switchyard. Kevin also passed around pictures of the site, and issued a proposal to endorse the statement.

            Having done some research on this topic, Craig provided some more background information. Adam suggested holding off on a vote until we understood the issues. Mike Englert proposed voting to endorse the statement, but Kevin tabled it, seeing that many MCGP members wanted to hear more about it.

 

 

Farmers’ Market:            10/6            Isabel and Steps

                                    10/13            Heather and Peter Drake

 

Kevin Sowders agreed to facilitate the next meeting.

 

Mike Englert suggested using the blackboard in the BEC as an alternative to printing up many paper copies of the agenda.

 

Craig also announced that he was working on getting the city to install solar cells on top of City Hall.

 

The meeting was adjourned at 9:20pm.