Upcoming Actions and Events

Tuesday April 8, 2008 • 7 pm
Film showing of "Blackwater Invades Illinois,"
DePaul University Art Museum
2350 N. Kenmore Ave.
(1 short block from the Fullerton ‘L’ Station)
Film showing of "Blackwater Invades Illinois," featuring Jeremy Scahill, author of
“Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army”
Followed by a discussion led by Bill Barclay of Oak Park Coalition for Truth and Justice

Saturday March 1, 2008 • 9am - 3 or 4 pm
Peace Talks
Regional Peace Conference
Keynote addresses, workshops, and get to know your friends in the peace movement.
Hosted at Gloria Dei Lutheran Church,
4700 Augustana Dr.
Rockford, IL

9:30 am – Gary Cozette Program Director Chicago Religious Leadership Network on Latin. America (CRLN) and Presbyterian Peace Fellowship’s “Peace Seeker for 2008”,

10:30am – First session of workshops (see list below)

11:30am – second session of workshops

12:30 noon – Lunch

1pm – Keynote: Dan Kenney “Beyond Blackwater”

2pm – Third session of workshops

3pm – proceed to Don Manzullo’s office for an anti-Blackwater demo

Workshops for Regional Peace Conference
Sessions 1 starts at 10:30am
,
• Latin America update – Gary Cozette
• The Threat of Private Military and Security Companies (ie. Blackwater), and up-date of the Clearwater Project and legislation, Dan Kenney & Mary Shesgren
• philosophy of nonviolence and direct action, David Martin & Fred Turk
• Winter Soldiers – Bob Gronko

Session 2 at 11:30am,
• everyday peacemaking (group activities and role plays) – Fred Turk
• “Make a Joyful Noise” peace songs & drumming workshop, David Martin & Martin Hippie
• Running for election as a peace candidate – Bill Barclay and panel
• Colombia - Christian Peacemaker Team member and native Colombian writer/educator Julian Gutierrez
• A primer on organizing for peace: media, fundraising, and organizing basics. Stanley Campbell

Session 3, starts at 2pm
• The Threat of Private Military and Security Companies (ie. Blackwater), and up-date of the Clearwater Project and legislation, Dan Kenney & Mary Shesgren
• Thomas Merton & the Peace Movement - John Eades.
• A Peace Mission to Iran – Stanley Campbell
• Running for election as a peace candidate – Bill Barclay and panel
• Philosophy of nonviolence and direct action, David Martin & Fred Turk
• Draft Boards, Recruiters & War Resisters, Cele Meyer & Kim Abel

We will have a movie room set up with films for your viewing pleasure.


Recent Actions and Events

Blackwater and the Privatization of the Military
With Dan Kenney

Monday, February 11, 2008 • 7pm
Unitarian Universalist Church, 4848 Turner Dr., Rockford


Program is free & open to the public. For more info: Stanley Campbell at 815-964-7111.

Dan Kenney is an educator, activist, and investigative journalist. He is the coordinator of the DeKalb Interfaith Network for Peace and Justice. He is one of the co-founders and Co-coordinators of noprivatearmies. org and of the Clearwater Project to stop Blackwater World Wide's expansion in Northern Illinois. He also was one of the founding members of the Illinois Coalition for Peace and Justice.

His article “Lurking Beneath The Surface of Blackwater North” has been widely published on the web. He also has been published in newspapers and journals. He has often spoken to citizen groups on the issue of private armies and Blackwater in particular. He presented this past November at the School Of Americas Vigil in Columbus Georgia and on the campus of Northwestern University. This February 2nd he will present at an international conference at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. The conference is entitled: “The Privatization of Security and Human Rights in The Americas: Perspectives from the Global South.”

He serves on the Board of Directors of the DeKalb Teachers’ Union Local of the American Federation of Teachers. He also is a member of the City of DeKalb Environmental Commission. His poetry has appeared in journals. In addition to the above he is a fourth grade teacher in the DeKalb School District of DeKalb Illinois.

Blackwater Invades Illinois Documentary Showing
Wednesday, January 30, 2008 - 7 p.m.
Batavia Public Library, 10 S. Batavia Ave., Batavia.

The screening is sponsored by Fox Valley Citizens for Peace & Justice.
Admission is free. Light refreshments will be served and a discussion will follow the film. Copies of the DVD will be available. Stop Blackwater T-shirts will be available for sale.

Drum Gathering At Gate to Blackwater North
October 7th •
3:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.

A Drum Circle Gathering will be held Sunday October 7th from at the gates of Blackwater North on Skunk Hollow Rd. in southeast Jo Daviess county. Anyone interested in helping to create rhythms of peace is invited to join us. Extra drums and rhythm instruments will be available.

Blackwater North is an eighty acre shooting range and weapons training facility that offers classes to law enforcement and military personnel, as well as the general public. It is owned by Blackwater USA, a controversial military contractor and private army with the largest private military base and armory in the country, as well as several thousand mercenary soldiers fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq. It's employees have recently been involved in massacres of Iraqi citizens, and some are being investigated for weapons smuggling.

If you come to the Drum Circle Gathering, please plan to car-pool as parking is limited. To get there, take IL Rt. 78 to E. Loran Rd., about ten miles south of Stockton or ten miles north of Mt. Carroll. Follow the pavement on E. Loran about four miles and turn right on Skunk Hollow Rd. The parking area is about a mile from E. Loran Rd., on the west side of Skunk Hollow Rd. The gates of Blackwater North are about a quarter mile further. Passengers and gear may be unloaded at the gates, but please park only in the designated parking area. Please drive slowly, and respect private property.

Simultaneous demonstrations are being held at Blackwater's home base in Moyoc, North Carolina, and in San Diego, California at the site of a planned eight-hundred-acre training camp called Blackwater West. We gather at the gates to resist this dangerous new form of corporate power and greed. We gather to call forth the rhythms of life and give them voice through our drums and songs. We gather to call for an end to the madness and evil of war for profit. We gather to pray for peace.

For more info contact Martin Hippie at 815-845-2608 or popeace@aeroinc.net

Saturday, August 11
2:00 - 4:00 pm
11311 Skunk Hollow Rd., Mt. Carroll, IL

A Gathering at the Gates (of Blackwater North)
for a peace festival: music, speakers, drumming and dancing..... more details to follow

Join us at the gates, the first time ever that a group of unarmed citizens have gathered for peace to draw attention to the world’s most powerful private military firm, Blackwater USA’s, presence in Illinois.

We’ll have information available about Blackwater’s history and their role in the Iraq war. This event will also highlight the privatization of our military.

No Parking Will Be Allowed On Skunk Hollow Rd.
Parking is available at the Pleasant Valley Twnsp lot at Willow Rd and Rt 78.

click here for map and directions

Please Check Back
We are working on details for a possible bus and will have info shortly.

We plan to have ride share contacts for: Elgin, Chicago, North Shore, DeKalb, OakPark... others? (let us know).

click here to download event flyer

Saturday, June 16th
10:00 am till Noon
Unity House at Unity Temple, Upper East Classroom.
Oak Park, IL


CNIPG (Confederation of Northern Illinois Peace Groups) meeting,
The Clearwater project to challenge Blackwater will be a major topic on the agenda of this meeting.



Sunday, July 1st
2:00 - 4:00pm
Wesley United Methodist Church
2200 16th Avenue
Sterling IL 61081

Meeting of the Clearwater Group

May 15-18 - Jeremy Scahill Illinois book tour (see below)
May 20 – Clearwater meeting Contact us for more information.


Jeremy Scahill, best-selling author of Blackwater, tour information

Click on links to download flyers for Jeremy Schahill's book tour.

May 15 – 3 p.m. Northern Illinois University, DeKalb
May 15 – 7 p.m. Highland Community College, Elizabeth Campus
May 16 – 7 p.m. Northwestern University, Harris Hall, Room #108, Evanston
May 17 – 7:30 p.m. Barbara’s Bookstore, 1100 Lake Street, Oak Park
May 18 – 7 p.m. Grace Place, 637 S. Dearborn Avenue, Chicago

See www.blackwaterbook.com for more information

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