UfPJ and Oct. 25

[Yoshie Furuhashi]

At 12:51 PM -0400 8/21/03, Jose G. Perez wrote:
>A lot of what is going on with UfPJ, I am afraid, is simply that it
>is tacking about rudderless, with no clear sense of direction or
>purpose. It is a coalition of disparate forces, many of them very
>well meaning, progressive-minded people but in the central
>leadership core, I think there is a lack of a vision of how to fight
>and how to win -- or perhaps clashing visions, which prevents a
>clear sense of directions and priorities from being set.

I've found several more or less like-minded individuals among my 
fellow UFPJ Steering Committee members: Michael Letwin (NYCLAW), Efia 
Nwangaza (NION), Ajamu Dillahunt (Black Solidarity Against the War), 
Rania Masri (Institute for Southern Studies), Saulo Colon (Vieques 
Support Campaign), and Ignacio Meneses (National Network on Cuba). 
Counting myself, I think that the "UFPJ SC Left" will amount to seven 
(there may be more whose views are close to ours on the questions of 
the occupation of Iraq, Israel and the occupied territories, US 
imperialism in general, the Democratic Party, and/or people of 
color/working-class organizing, but I have not had an opportunity to 
work with them).  We don't know each other well enough to work as a 
"caucus" yet, though Michael, Efia, Rania, and I have discussed 
offlist how to overcome the marginal position assigned to our views.

The rest of the UFPJ SC is currently composed of the following individuals:

Frank Ackles      Veterans For Peace
Andrea Buffa	  Global Exchange
Kelly Campbell    September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows
Patricia Clark	  Fellowship of Reconciliation
Terry Davis	  U.S. Labor Against the War
Marvin Feldman	  Tikkun
Cindi Fisher	  Vancouver for Peace
Lisa Fithian	  RANT
Bill Fletcher	  TransAfrica Forum
George Friday	  Independent Progressive Politics Network
Jen Geiger	  Women's Int'l League for Peace and Freedom
Van Gosse	  Historians Against the War
Graylan	Hagler	  Plymouth Congregational United Church of Christ
Rebecca	Kaiser	  Nebraskans for Peace
Judith LeBlanc	  Communist Party	NYC
Eun Sook Lee	  Young Koreans United/USA
Wolsan	Liem      nodutdol for korean community development
Rahul Mahajan	  Nowar Collective/Austin Coalition
Jessica	Marshall  National Youth and Student Peace Coalition
Kevin Martin	  Peace Action
George Martin	  Milwaukee Coalition for a Just Peace
Liz Mason Deese	  Students United for a Responsible Global Environment (SURGE)
Kiyoko McCrae	  Peace Williamsburg
Gael Murphy	  Code Pink 4 Peace
Kai Newkirk	  STARC Alliance (Students Transforming and Resisting
Corporations)
Brent Purdue	  Campus Greens
Baltazar Pinguel  American Friends Service Committee
Bryan Proffitt	  Hip-Hop Against Racist War
Amy Quinn	  Institute for Policy Studies
Josh Ruebner	  US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation
Damu Smith	  Black Voices for Peace
Stewart	Stout	  Reno Anti-War Coalition
Juhlio César	  Tapia People for Peace and Justice of Utah
Bob Wing	  War Times
Shirley H. Young  Military Families Speak Out

In addition, there are UFPJ Staff:

Leslie Cagan        UFPJ national coordinator
Leslie Kauffman     UFPJ program work, special projects, internet and materials
Hany Khalil         UFPJ national conference follow-up, program work
Yvonne Lewis        UFPJ finances
Beka Economopoulos  UFPJ information management
Erich Strom         UFPJ office management and volunteer coordination
Bill Dobbs          UFPJ media (volunteer)
Saadia Yacoob       UFPJ DC organizer and special projects

What will become important, the UFPJ Administrative Committee:

Andrea Buffa
Bob Wing
Rahul Mahajan
Roxanne Lawson
Bill Fletcher
Jen Geiger
Judith LeBlanc
Van Gosse
Lisa Fithian
Rev. Graylan Haglar
Jessie Marshall
Lenore Palladino

For the last month or so, I've spent a lot of time working in UFPJ 
(lobbying the SC members before I joined the SC, working inside the 
SC, and slogging within the Iraq and Palestine working groups), but 
I've found the political yield to be low relative to the prodigious 
input of time that it takes to work the org.

The next UFPJ Steering Committee conference call:

WHAT: meeting of UFPJ steering committee
DATE: Thursday, August 21st
TIME: 8 pm east coast time
CALL IN NUMBER: 760-477-2010
ACCESS CODE: 102502

The agenda is as follows:

1. Oct. 25
2. Report on Admin Com vote
3. Report on staffing
4. Report on Iraq work

Non-SC members of UFPJ member orgs (the list of the member orgs @ 
<http://www.unitedforpeace.org/article.php?id=1879>) are allowed to 
participate in all SC meetings and conference calls (though without 
voting rights).  If you are a member of a UFPJ member org and feel 
strongly about UFPJ sponsorship of the October 25 mobilization, you 
should get on the SC call and urge the SC to join ANSWER even on 
ANSWER's terms.  If you aren't a member of one, fill out this form 
<http://www.unitedforpeace.org/modinput.php?modin=12> and get on the 
call.

If you don't see this message in time, call 212-603-3700 and leave a 
message that your grassroots organization is already organizing 
activists for the October 25 DC mobilization and that you urge UFPJ 
to co-sponsor it.  It may be worth e-mailing Leslie Cagan 
<lesliecagan at igc.org> and Rahul Mahajan <rahul at tao.ca> in addition.
-- 
Yoshie

* Bring Them Home Now! <http://www.bringthemhomenow.org/>
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