[mgj-announce] notes from 3/10/02 weds MGJ meeting

[Amy Kremen]

Things flew fast at Wednesday's meeting; these notes
reflect what I could catch.  Sorry for errors and
confusing points.  Check the websites and talk to
others to get set straight.  

1. Brief Introductions (including those of a Wash Post
writer and photgrapher) .

2. Media Sound Bites.  Know what to say next weekend.
Look at the MGJ Website-- Know and understand the MGJ
goals.  Remember  A B C to nail the brief time you get
when talking to the media:

Acknowledge the question
Bridge the question to the issues
Communicate

3. Assign Tasks

4. Serin Atiani, a Palestinian woman spoke.  Serin is
part of SUSTAIN.  Here's a rought transcript:

The media seems to finally be on top of the [mid-east
issue] afer 19 bloody months.  What this is is a
repetition of the 1982 Lebanese type of fighting.  
Her family is from Ramallah, and they haven't gone out
from their house in 11 days.  They are getting
water/food from friends who run a grocery store.

Ramallah has been safer than other towns because the
people did not resist.  Serin's mother is pretty sure
that there have been some massacres going on in Jenin.
 There isn't a single reporter/international citizen
there.  Bombs and shooting on a large scale have been
heard.  Everyone is confined to their homes, so what
is known is only what can be heard.  The situation is
beyond imagination at this point.  There is a great
need to speak up.

Oslo is not something to be proud of.   It is an
example of the way globalization usually works. 
Israel's jobs have been harder to get since, and
Palestinian have been forced to work for lower wages. 
The same thing is happening on the border with Jordan,
and is about to happen with Egypt.  It is something
like the sweatshops.  A bad political system is
effective at oppressing citizens in the wrong place at
the wrong time.  

Q:  Was the ALF-CIO wrong to support the free=trade
agreement with Jordan?  
A: Jordan is a poor counry, without many resources- it
should have aid, not be forced into a free trade
situation. 

Q: Do you think there should be int'l peacekeepers or
2 separate states?  What kind of solutions are being
talked about by Palestinian citizens?
A:  Right now the Paletinian peoples' main concern is
for survival, ie getting access to adequate food and
water.  In the long-term, a 2-state solution is being
talked about widely.  Serin would like to see one
state where everyone (Jews, Christians, Muslims) will
have the same rights.  Two states isn't as sure of a
long-term solution in her view.

Q: Is the current situation similar to Massadah?
A: No, the fighters in Jenin have surrendered.

Q: In Tel-Aviv a friend lives near a cafe that was
bombed by a suicide bomber.  She wants to help, has no
Palestinian friends; what can she do?
A:  It is encouraged that Israeli and international
civilians go into the refugee camps.  It is a high
risk to take, but it is the thing to do because it
makes it harder for the Israeli forces to kill.  When
Palestinians see others among them, it really helps to
give hope, and to help foster a belief that help is
coming and that change is going to happen.  In
Palestinian eyes, for so long there has been no one
who has come to their aid.

5. General Scneario Reports
Rally:  Assmble at 10:30 a.m. Sat at
19th/H/Pennsylvania   11 am rally starts.  There will
be 4 speakers from 50 years is Enough, for an hour. 
Speakers will include an Ecuadorian, an Argentinian,
an anti-poverty/welfare legisalation speaker, others. 
Then, the march takes off.

Citibank:  This scenario group is working with
Rainforest action network.  They need help on set-up
and break-down.  They will be inflating a big balloon
with a bar code.

Monsanto: This group is focusing on fumigation of
crops in Columbia.  Philip Kryon  (<sp?) from 
PAN (Pesticide Action Network, now working for Witness
for Peace, will be there.  Will have people with spray
suits spraying plants and people who die as a large
coca plant just keeps growing.  This groups still
needs stilt walkers, a narrator possibly.  Fat-cat
costumes and puppets are also welcomed.

Occidental.  This groups' street theater will take
place on Sunday.  A large pipeline will be constructed
in front of the WB/IMF - people, $, etc will go in one
end and oil will come out the other.  This group needs
old suits, camoflage/military gear (cardboard guns not
toy guns) actors, black streamers or something that
would work for oil, and people to turn out Sat/Sun for
set-up and break-down.

Coke. Theater will address a worker's lawsuit which
argues that Coke hired people to kill Union
organizers, as well as Coke's mission to make everyone
on the planet drink at least one coke a day.  This
group needs speakers, activists, suits, and people who
can help build/break set.

6.  Working group breakouts.

-Latest draft of MGJ vision statement was edited by
some and will be up on the web soon

-Outreach/Education group said: Now's the time to get
the word out.  Anyone on listservs, get the march
information to them, get them to the barious websites
talking about coming activities.   Teach-In for
Saturday, 12:30-5 at UDC

-Lamppost Liberation front (Thursday?) night (sorry
this is too late to post then, call for more info) 202
986 6186  8 pm at Mintwood Place/Adam's Morgan.

-Arts/ Sunday at 6 at the doghouse.  Maybe Saturday
afternoon also.  artsinaction at yahoo.com

-Media.  First PR on the events went out around 4/9. 
Will be putting out the next PR, about the Teach-in,
Thurs 4/11.  They are working with A20 Mobilization,
Columbia and SOA Watch for a joint briefing; Tues 4/16
for more info call Brent at 202 365 3535
Media group needs translators.  Also needs a spanish
speaker ASAP who can do an interview with Univision. 
If you are available to do a weekday interview, let
him know.

7. Closing.


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