Minutes of General Meeting
October 26, 2009

A general meeting of USC4P&J was held at the Café della Pace on October 26th, 2009. Attending were Andy, Anna, Becky, Bob, Catherine, Gene, Ilona, Patrick, Peter, Stephanie. Anna chaired the meeting and Patrick took the minutes. The meeting began at 7:15.

The two new members present introduced themselves: Bob, a music teacher from Philadelphia (and most recently the University of Chicago) and Catherine, a psychiatrist and psychologist from Boston (via L.A.). Catherine wishes to stay in Rome and asked members to tell her of any employment leads they might come across.

The Agenda items discussed were as follows:

1) Discussion of our participation in the November 4 (also officially known as ‘Armed Forces Day') sit-in at Piazza Navona 3 - 7 pm. Entitled ‘Verso un 4 novembre Antimilitarista', the event's platform calls not only for an end to the war in Afghanistan and the withdrawal of Italian troops, but is also directed at other wars/conflicts (including those involving Iraq, Palestine and Kurdistan), military spending and bases. See (in Italian): www.disarmiamoli.org/

Stephanie explained that the organizers would be focusing on civilian casualties of war – Armed Forces Day is limited to remembering fallen soldiers – and military spending. Anna explained that it would probably be similar in size and set up to the Stop the War Machine protest last May.

The members present voted to endorse the event. Bob, Peter, Anna, Gene, Patrick, Stephanie (and possibly Catherine and Andy) volunteered to be present during the time slot 5-7pm (Bob towards the end). All USC4P&J members living in Rome will be encouraged to join in as well.

Flyer: Bob and Anna will write the flyer and Andy will do the graphics. Suggested layout: a double column (English / Italian) on the front side and the film series program on the back side. The front side might use the slogan: “yearly cost of U.S. troops in Afghanistan = yearly cost of the Public Option Health Care Plan.”

Banner and Display: Passers-by will be asked to tie a ribbon on a display representing one of the civilian casualties in Afghanistan. Stephanie will bring the ribbons representing Iraqi civilian casualties from two years ago. The banner might read: “Mr. President, YES WE CAN (quit Afghanistan)!” Andy will do the banner.

Catherine suggested that we ask people to DO something concrete, as well as tying up the ribbons; Anna was of the opinion that the Italian peace group present will have a petition to sign. Stephanie asked if anyone was following the recent debate among U.S. anti-war groups on Afghanistan. Discussion ensued. There is not a unified view among all U.S. based peace groups, some wanting immediate total withdrawal, others focusing on opposing escalation and calling for “responsible” withdrawal to protect the Afghan women. The members present expressed themselves unanimously against escalation; a number favored staggering withdrawal to permit the creation of social structures able to create some stability and favor the protection of women.

2) Discussion about whether to regularly send USC4P&J financial Reports to members or Reports twice a year .

Ilona gave reasons why the proposal of regular reports to the entire mailing list would be unsuitable at our current stage of development. Members present voted the following two-point policy: (1.) Biannual accounts reported by email to everyone on the Coordinating Committee (CCom) and Film Committee; (2.) Any USC4P&J member who is interested in viewing these biannual accounts can obtain them via an email request to our info address.

In any case, the sums involved are quite small. Gene reported 75 euros taken in as donations at the last film showing; 20 (to cover the 1 euro per person contribution for use of the venue) went to Mario and so 55 were turned over to Becky as Treasurer.

3) Whether to endorse/support the Italian BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions for Palestine) campaign. See the Palestinian appeal and the statement endorsed by the Pisa BDS meeting.

Stephanie explained that the boycott was called by Palestinian groups who issued an appeal in 2005, laying out several demands but leaving the tactics up to individual groups/coalitions in order to tailor campaigns to local contexts. Some groups choose to endorse the appeal while others work on a specific boycott campaign without endorsing; some favor boycotting all things Israeli while others target companies profiting from the occupation. No one has any fantasies about inflicting serious economic damage (few purely grass roots boycotts ever manage to do that anyway); the idea is to create actions that have a strong symbolic value of condemnation of Israeli policy and practices in Palestine in order to impact Israeli public opinion. The actions can then be played up both locally and in the Israeli press. An obvious target here in Italy is the produce imported by the Israeli company Carmel Agrexco, since much comes from the occupied territories. Agrexco just opened a new terminal in the port of Vado Ligure in Liguria where ships dock in bi-weekly.

Discussion ensued. Some members favored putting energy into educating public opinion about the conditions in which Palestinians are forced to live, and about the repeated U.N. condemnations of Israeli policy. Others asserted that this is what we have been doing for years and something more is needed. Some wondered about the real psychological impact value of a small scale boycott.

To illustrate how even minor economic damage, if properly played up, can have a considerable impact value, Patrick gave the example of the new ActBlue “boycott campaign” in the U.S. to get a public option Health Plan passed. ActBlue has recently opened a site permitting Democrats to take a pledge to “boycott” (not to fund or otherwise support) Democrats in Congress who oppose the public option; these congresspeople may be facing progressive contenders for the Democratic nomination next Spring so visitors to the site can make their point even stronger by pledging to donate to the contenders...and actually do so. The campaign has just started so funds collected are minimal, yet the impact on the media (and on worried candidates) already seems to be considerable. For a boycott to work, it is often enough just to get it going.

Members present decided that USC4P&J would postpone any decision on endorsing the Palestinian appeal until more members have had a chance to read and discuss it, but would support the specific campaign against Carmel Agrexco in Italy. And that we should also step up information to the general public, for example about the conscientious objectors in Israel.

4) How to increase active participation of members, specifically with regard to organizing and participating in demonstrations and events.

Anna explained that, while participation at the USC4P&J film series is high and a large number of people seem to read the USC4P&J newsletter, actual participation at protests is low. She added that Maria Chiara, who was unable to attend the meeting, wished to suggest that we try sending members a questionnaire aimed at finding out both which issues they felt most strongly about as well as reasons they may have for their lack of participation. Something is needed to get people off the couch. The idea of hearing up members before announcing an initiative has been tried without success.

Discussion ensued. Bob expressed the opinion that USC4P&J has to “pull people in” on specific issues felt as urgent and so it is necessary to poll members to see what their priorities are and if for them there are any really strong issues worth manifesting publicly for. Possible issues are: Afghanistan (and Iraq), health care, Palestine, defense spending, environmental issues like fossil fuel dependence, even local Italian issues like toxic dumping, and so on. Our members could be asked to put a number from 1 to 10 next to the single issue they care most about (the number indicates how strong their feeling is).

Our members could also be polled as to what kind of activities they want more of: social activities (aperitivi, etc.), educational events (guest speakers, etc.), joint activities with Italian groups to meet more people here in Rome, etc. The hope is that a direct response from members – if there is one – will help us increase the level of our members' active participation.

5) Miscellaneous business and suggestions from the membership.

None.

The meeting ended at 9 pm.

Next general meeting: date to be announced. Join our mailing list for updates.

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