Saturday, February 21, 2004 Meeting Notes for People for Peace, Justice, and Healing

PPJH meeting minutes

People for Peace, Justice and Healing met February 21, 2004, at 10:00 a.m. at Associated Ministries. Present for check-in: Sallie S., Mark B., Mark J., Sheila, Kyle, Sally M., Collen.

AGENDA:

1. Earth Charter
2. ACLU essay contest - report
3. March 20 event - report
4. Thursday's appearance by Stan Goff
5. Possible April event(s)
6. Northwest Detention Center

1. Earth Charter. As decided last week, following check-in the meeting began with a reading of one section of the Earth Charter:

"III. SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC JUSTICE
"9. Eradicate poverty as an ethical, social, and environmental imperative.
"a. Guarantee the right to potable water, clean air, food security, uncontaminated soil, shelter, and safe sanitation, allocating the national and international resources required.
"b.Empower every human being with the education and resources to secure a sustainable livelihood, and provide social security and safety nets for those who are unable to support themselves.
"c. Recognize the ignored, protect the vulnerable, serve those who suffer, and enable them to develop their capacities and to pursue their aspirations."

2. ACLU essay contest - report (Colleen). Colleen reported that the 2nd meeting of the working group to plan a Bill of Rights essay contest (a joint ACLU/BORDC-Tacoma project) meets at 7:00 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 25, at Tim Smith's place (1122 S. Grant). Instead of trying to do something by the end of this school year, present plans are to make the printed word the focus of this year's activities (next year music might be the focus, the following year drama and sculpture, etc.) This year, probably only high schools will be involved. Rather than have a contest in which there is a single winner, the results will all be displayed at the Dec. 15 Bill of Rights celebration. The idea of linking the contest to immigrants, rather to than the original 'What Does the Bill of Rights Mean to Me' theme, is being considered, because of the planned opening of the Northwest Detention Center.

3. March 20. Planning continues at UFPPC for a March 20 antiwar rally and march. Sallie S. reported that the logistics committee needs help with practical details like the sound system, organizing clean-up, the stage, etc., etc. There will be meetings Thursday evenings between now and March 20, usually at First United Methodist (423 Martin Luther King Jr. Way), but this week, Feb. 26, at 5:30 p.m. in the basement of Kilworth Chapel at the Univ. of Puget Sound.

4. Thursday's Stan Goff appearance. A very satisfying event. Members present signed a letter of thanks to Jack Peterson and Steve Kieta of Bellarmine, the hosts of the event. [Later, more signatures (for a total of 17) were gathered at the benefit concert at the Washington State History Museum.]

5. Possible April event(s). Mark J. reported on a contact from Dick Burkhart and Mona Lee in Seattle about the April 7-12 visit of Prof. Sheshrao Chavan of India (see http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=ISO-8859-1&safe=off&q=Sheshrao+Chavan+&btnG=Google+Search). Prof. Chavan, who has written several books on Gandhi and was active at last month's World Social Forum in Mumbai, may be available for speaking in the Tacoma area. The group commissioned Mark J. to contact Dick to see what day Prof. Chavan could come to Tacoma; once we have a date we can began to make plans (perhaps for a series of meetings with various groups).

6. Northwest Detention Center. Mark reported on developments during the week concerning the Homeland Security prison nearing completion on the Tacoma Tideflats. A piece by Tim Smith posted on the UFPPC website on Monday (http://www.ufppc.org/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=218&Itemid=2) has been picked up by several alternative media portals and is now posted in several places on the web, where it continues to attract notice, and has had more than 2000 hits; the response to this and other pieces posted in the "Local News" section of the UFPPC website demonstrate the public interest in this situation. On Wednesday members of the Bill of Rights Defense Committee met at Tim Smith's house, and Tim continues to be active on this issue. There are signs that the News Tribune has become aware of our interest in the issue -- though as of Saturday we are not aware of the TNT's publishing anything on this $100,000,000 project since July 2002. Ways of bringing the nature of the facility, the poor record of the Correctional Services Corp. (which is building and which will manage the prison), the controversial nature of prison privatization, and the local, national, and global significance of this development to the public, were discussed. To be continued.

ANNOUNCEMENTS. Sallie S. announced "The World According to Dick Gregory," Monday February 23, 2004, 8:00 p.m., Kilworth Chapel, billed as "an evening of humor and humanity." Presented by ASUPS Lectures, in recognition of Black History Month. $7 General Admission, discount with UPS ID. http://www.ups.edu/news/releases/2003-04/gregory.shtml