OMNI NEWSLETTER: EVENTS AND ACTIONS MARCH 4, 2004

Gray Henry, Omid Safi

Vincent Cornell and Hugh Talat Halman discussants.

Moderator: Vincent Cornell

Location: Giffels Auditorium on UA Campus, Reception follows.

Sponsored by OMNI and UA's Middle Eastern Studies Program. This is perhaps the first occasion of this kind in Arkansas—a panel of four Islamic scholars telling about Islamic peacemaking, a subject underreported and little discussed in our nation. Another of OMNI’s ongoing forums on Religious Peace Traditions. Please come and bring friends.

March 7, Sunday 7 to 9 p.m., at OMNI, United Campus Ministries, Maple and Storer.
Featuring Harmonia, poetry, dances, talks.
Also 2:00 to 5:00 p.m. Monday Information Fair & Exhibit of Portraits of International Women Students & Spouses, Multicultural Center, UA Student Union (Reception with free food)..
Contact Joanie Connors (jconnors@highstream.net).
Sponsored by OMNI, MatriArts Alliance, Spring International, UA Multicultural Center.

"Palestine is Still the Issue" by John Pilger
In a series of extraordinary interviews with both Palestinians and Israelis, John Pilger weaves together the issue of Palestine. He speaks to the families of suicide bombers and their victims; he sees the humiliation of Palestinians imposed on them at myriad checkpoints and with a permit
system not dissimilar to apartheid South Africa's infamous pass laws. He goes into the refugee camps and meets children who, he says, "no longer dream like other children, or if they do, it is about death." Continually asking for the solution, John Pilger says it is time to bring justice, as well as peace, to Palestine.
Run time: 53 min. All UV films begin at 6:30pm and are shown the second
and fourth Fridays of each month. No admission fee, suggested donation is
$2. Healthy refreshments are available.
For further info. call one of OMNI's video coordinators at (479)521-4706
or 582-5141.

"Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired, in a final sense, [is] a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. -Dwight Eisenhower, April 16, 1953"
March 20 is an international day of action against the Bush Administration's continual policy of war and occupation. Fayetteville's own The World Still Says No To War demonstration will be held on that day as well. The festivities will begin by everyone gathering at the Walton Artc Center Parking Lot at 12:30 PM. At 1:00 PM, we will march up Dickson and Block Streets for a two-hour rally at the Fayetteville Square. There will be speakers, poetry, informational tables, and music by the Flip-Off Pirates. The activities on the Square will run from 1:30 to 3:30 PM.
Volunteers are needed however because of some rule changes being imposed upon street marchers by the city. Almost every intersection between the WAC parking lot and the Square must now be blocked off by barricades with a volunteer at each in order for us to march in the street. Roughly, this means that we will need approximately ten volunteers to help out at these intersections. As the march progresses, the barricades will be loaded back into a pickup truck and the volunteer can then join the march. When fully loaded, we will be responsible for returning the barricade materials to the city's street department. Additionally, we are looking for two or three people to act as marshalls to aid in keeping marchers and demonstrators within the designated areas. Perhaps a few of the barricade volunteers would like to help out with this as well.
Of course, and as always, we welcome puppets, street-theater folks, signs, clowns, etc.
If anyone is interested in volunteering for this important event, please call 587-8412 or e-mail me here. But if you agree to help out with the barricades, please be sure to show up by 12:15 or 12:30 sharp, as we will not be able to march in the streets unless every intersection is covered. Thank you all very much. We are looking forward to a big event. Sincerely, Al Vick

Here is one more addition to OMNI’s ongoing educational programs on the Middle East, especially to enable OMNI members to understand the complex history of that area. I hope these will inspire other recommendations. I have recently read Noam Chomsky’s Middle East Illustions, and recommend it:


HARB: I will recommend two books, one by a Palestinian, and one by an Israeli who does not follow the normative Israeli line. Edward Said, whom you have no doubt heard of from literary circles, or possibly even read, wrote from the Palestinian perspective what is probably the most substantial book, The Question of Palestine. I read this some 20 years ago when it first came out, but I imagine that it would still hold up well. It is widely available.
From the Israeli side, I recommend Ilan Pappe, The Making of the Arab-Israeli Conflict, St. Martins Press, 1994. I haven't read this but it comes highly recommended. Pappe is an astute observer and historian, part of what is called the revisionist historians of Israel who, with the benefit of now-declassified Israeli documents, are putting together a new historical analysis of the entire conflict.
Additionally, I haven't read it, but I understand that Englishman Charles Smith's Palestine and the Arab-Israeli Conflict is a worth new effort as well.

There are, of course, numerous other sources. I highly recommend the articles archived at www.ameu.org, which is the web site for Americans for Middle East Understanding. They have a collection of well written articles, averaging four to six pages, that have covered the entire waterfront on this issue for the last 30 years. Marc Ellis, a progressive Jew who writes from the perspective of liberation theology, is just one particular writer to seek out of the authoritative bunch. There are so many good articles there. (By the way, Marc is at Baylor, and would be an excellent speaker for Omni sometime.)
All the best, Jim

The War Resisters League has published its latest US Budget analysis, showing how almost 50% goes to the military (18% past, 28% current, 3% Iraq and Afghanistan), in contrast to the deceptive Bush Admin. figures. Get a copy from www.warresisters.org ; wrl@igc.apc.org (212-228-0450), make a lot of copies, and distribute widely. Someone will lead this effort?

From Macedonia: "In my view the greatest danger for the world is joblessness and consequent lack of means to earn one's living. Next comes terrorism inspired by religious or social and ideological differences. The arrogant rich and their selfish policies have too many sins to answer for too."

Will someone tape this regularly for others to view? One recipient of our newsletter doesn’t get cable but wants to see NOW. And she will provide the tapes (Cynthia, cvanbib@cqmail.net).

First Victory for Public Broadcasting

March 1, 2004
Your efforts worked! All of your calls, emails, and meetings with congressional offices completely changed the tone of last Wednesday’s hearing in the House on public broadcasting. According to our lobbyists, no member of the subcommittee had anything negative to say - in fact some of their comments sounded very much like the language they’ve been hearing from you. And we also learned from an official at PBS that she had heard about all of our efforts and thought it made a critical difference in the outcome of the hearing.

So, congratulations and thank you. Now, it’s on to the Senate.

A Senate committee will soon be holding its own hearing on public broadcasting, and once again, the members of the committee need to hear from you.

We have just over a month to gather enough signatures on a petition to make the case that we value the hard-hitting investigative journalism and other programming on public television and radio stations. And that we don’t want to see funding for PBS and NPR jeopardized or its content politicized.

Over 15,000 of you have already made your voices heard in the House of Representatives. We have set a goal of gathering 50,000 petition signatures to submit at the Senate hearing in April.

We need your help.

• TAKE ACTION!
  
http://www.commoncause.org/action/petition_cpb.cfm
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For information on the CPB campaign: http://www.commoncause.org/news/default.cfm?ArtID=284.