Minutes of General Meeting
April 9, 2008

A general meeting for USC4P&J was held at Marilee's apartment on April 9, 2008. Attending were Anna, David, Gen, Gene, Ilona, Maria V., Maria Chiara, Marilee, Michelle and Stephanie.

Anna chaired the meeting and Maria Chiara took the minutes.

1. Organize for April 15 War Tax Day: We discussed doing something on the day US citizens pay their taxes to call attention to military spending. Anna went over the options suggested on the United for Peace & Justice web site, including tax resistance. Gen talked about tax resistance campaign by Code Pink but mentioned it wasn't gaining much support. Stephanie talked about a similar event we organized in 2006, handing out flyers as well as an event with plastic tubes creating a bar graph of military v. social spending. Considering the short amount of time before the event, it was decided that we opt for a non-permitted flyering in the center, using updated versions of the 2006 flyers, with information on military spending as well as the upcoming Iraq war supplemental. Gene, Stephanie, Michelle, Maria and Anna were all available for this initiative. Stephanie also mentioned an Italian tax resistance campaign and it was agreed that we contact them for a flyer.

2. Organizing a Palestine/Israel event: after the demonstration on March 15 we can now concentrate on this important initiative. A working group was created at the previous meeting, but it was now time to get moving on this event. We talked about the difficulty in finding equally matched speakers. It was suggested that we could instead show short two films representing both sides with a discussion to follow. We then talked about how it might be better to try to show just one film aimed at informing rather than have two opposing speakers. Marilee mentioned this might be more beneficial and less polarizing. Anna suggested having a series of films/events rather than just one. Gene suggested a 53' film made by a friend of his on Israelis speaking out against the occupation of Palestine. Gene also agreed to contact his friend and find out whether he would be able to present the film in early June. Once confirmed, the working group could aim to include a number of guest speakers to join in on a post-screening discussion/round table. Gen mentioned that there are plenty of English speakers in Rome to be contacted as participants. Anna and Ilona both suggested screening Occupation 101, which several of us had just seen. Maria V. volunteered to coordinate the working group. Stephanie also mentioned a speaking tour with Palestinians coming to Italy soon and it was suggested that we see if the timing could work out to involve them in one of our events. It was agreed that the working group would report back with a more detailed plan as things proceed.

3. Using the primary season to pressure candidates: Gene talked about having some doubts about this being the right time to pressure the candidates. Stephanie disagreed saying it is the perfect time, citing an article by Jeremy Scahill and Naomi Klein regarding pushing Clinton to ban contractors in Iraq as she looks for ways to distinguish herself from Obama. It was agreed that we remain firm on our position regardless of the campaigns, and use the opportunities to push the candidates, as we did with our filibuster fax blast on March 15. Stephanie pointed out that the national group, Military Families Speak Out, are currently conducting a filibuster campaign targeting Clinton and Obama in particular, and using almost the exact same quotes from their campaign websites that we used in our fax blast.

4. Discussion of film series: The entire film committee was present and submitted the budget for several past seasons as well as the current. It was mentioned by Anna that while donations from the film series certainly help fund our events, that shouldn't be the measure of success, rather we should look at the quality of the films, the number of people who participate, etc. Gen and Marilee made similar observations. There were many positive comments about the film series in general, with a round of applause for the film committee, as well as the current season, the new venue Arcobaleno, the number of people present at the films, etc. It was decided that overall we are happy with the new venue, though Sundays, the only night of the week available, is not the best, and we would therefore always keep our eyes open for new possibilities but plan to continue at Arcobaleno for now. Ilona also mentioned that we might want to think about renewing the film committee and/or adding new members. We discussed the fact that our group actually has a number of people interested in documentary filmmaking who like to participate, though a particular experience in the field isn't necessary.

5. Miscellaneous business: Anna reminded everyone that in June we would be having elections for our coordinating committee.

Stephanie mentioned that the Camp Darby dossier has become the 2nd most requested page on our web site and she has added banners and links to organizations supporting soldiers who resist to that page.

Anna also mentioned that Stephanie is close to completing the new version of our web site. Stephanie talked about sending a message to the list in order to form a working group for input on the new version and that this needs to be completed soon as right now it is necessary to keep both sites up to date.

Special thanks to Marilee for her hospitality as well as the wonderful dinner she prepared for us!

Next general meeting: May 2008, exact date to be announced. Join our mailing list for updates.