October Issue Front Cover

Posted on 10/18/2024 by Public i

LOCAL POLICING AT A CROSSROADS

Police at spring Gaza encampment on the UIUC campus.
Photo by Farrah Anderson, Invisible Institute/IPM
Newsroom, used with permission

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Interview: Policing and the Urbana Budget

Posted on 10/18/2024 by Cope Cumpston

This interview was aired on WEFT Champaign 90.1 FM on the “Catch the Beat” program on July 3, 2024. It has been edited for style, clarity, and space.

Cope Cumpston: I’m pleased to welcome three guests for the show, Urbana residents who have been active on issues around allocating money for policing and programs for the 2025 Urbana city budget which was just voted on last week. There was an impressive amount of organizing for community input and discussion about contentious issues in the budget, and my guests were all right in the middle of the action. Miriam Larson is the executive director of the Urbana-Champaign Independent Media Center, which has been at the center of providing information and forums around these issues. Jane McClintock is a longtime Urbana resident and currently serves on the board of the IMC and on the Champaign County American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) steering committee. And Sana Saboowala is active in the CU Muslim Action Committee. I’m delighted to have you here with such a current and pressing issue, because it took a lot to get that budget passed. How did you get involved in organizing and advocating to oppose the police budget? Why is it important to you to pay attention to the Urbana city budget and police?

Miriam Larson: I got involved because of Jane and others who really got me to start thinking about what could we do to educate ourselves about both the city budget and the police budget. For me the biggest hook is around the budget, and really thinking about what are our priorities, what do we want to use city funds on? I wasn’t interested personally in prioritizing police, and in the big picture, I wanted to see us invest in other things like community services. So that got me interested in organizing a forum back in December, and that’s one of my starting points. Continue reading →

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Invest in Humanity, Not Handguns: Reject the Public Safety Sales Tax

Posted on 10/18/2024 by Grant Chassy

 Champaign County government placed a question on this November’s general election ballot requesting a tax increase. The so-called public safety sales tax, a proposal that would double the current 0.25-percent sales tax levied on purchases in the county, would generate revenue exclusively to fund law enforcement and criminal justice–related services, such as the sheriff and state’s attorney’s offices.

The county executive proposed this tax, a majority of county board members supported it, and now the voters will determine its fate. So, what does this thing do? Is this good public policy for Champaign County? Continue reading →

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Urbana Activists Want More Police Oversight, but Local Laws Hold the Civilian Review Board Hostage

Posted on 10/18/2024 by Farrah Anderson and Sam Stecklow of Invisible Institute

Ricardo Diaz, the most recent chair of the Civilian Police Review Board, who stepped down in May. Photo by Farrah Anderson, Invisible Institute/Illinois Public Media

This story was originally published by Invisible Institute and IPM Newsroom on July 8. A full version of this article can be found on ipmnewsroom.org and publici.ucimc.org.

Ricardo Diaz joined the Urbana Civilian Police Review Board (CPRB) in 2011, hoping to bring change to policing. Now, Diaz says the board’s power is sharply curtailed.

The CPRB operates on an uncommon model. Complaints about Urbana Police Department (UPD) are first investigated by UPD. Once the investigation is complete, the chief decides on next steps. If the complainant decides to appeal that decision, only then does the CPRB start a review. “That’s the step most people don’t take,” Diaz said. “They are not going to question the chief.” The overwhelming majority of people who file complaints against the police don’t appeal the decisions—severely limiting civilian oversight over the police.

At his last meeting on May 29, Diaz said Urbana residents want the CPRB to be able to do more actual oversight of police. Continue reading →

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Mob Action Charges Against Activists for Pro-Palestinian Encampment at UIUC

Posted on 10/18/2024 by Brian Dolinar

An over-armed officer, displaying chemical spray among other tools of repression, at the UIUC Gaza encampment. This threatening posture is reflected in the felony charges raised against a number of protesters. Photo by Farrah Anderson, Invisible Institute/Illinois Public Media; used with permission

As students are returning to university campuses, we are seeing signs of continued support for Palestinians who are enduring an onslaught by Israeli military forces. Here at the University of Illinois, the first week of classes students chalked “DIVEST” on the front columns of Foellinger Auditorium, only for it to be washed off shortly after.

We are also seeing a backlash against the wave of pro-Palestinian student activism that took place last spring. At the U of I, we had our own encampment set up in solidarity with Gaza that lasted almost two weeks. Across the country, from the University of California to the University of Pennsylvania, administrators are now banning encampments on campuses. The UIUC administration has set up its own “I-Team” to discuss First Amendment issues—or decide how free is free speech? Continue reading →

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The Gaza Protests and Grassroot Challenges to US Foreign Policy

Posted on 10/18/2024 by Janice Jayes

In 1986 the City Council declared Urbana a Sanctuary City, joining hundreds of other cities in dissenting from US policy. News-Gazette clipping from the archives of Rev. Tom Royer

Letters to the editor, teach-ins, motions for divestment, campus protests, city resolutions . . . These expressions of citizen concern are not unique to the ongoing war on Gaza and are entirely appropriate to a democracy. Local communities have the right and responsibility to debate foreign policy at the local level, and these debates have played a significant role in changing public perception of and support for US policies abroad for decades.

Public Actions Prompt Public Debate

C-U has a long history of using public events to prompt public debate on issues. Anti–Vietnam War protests, Sanctuary declarations to protest US policies in Central America, and poster contests to raise awareness of nuclear proliferation are just a few of the previous campaigns designed to raise awareness and pressure elected representatives to address public concerns on foreign policies.

Since last fall local groups have pursued a similar variety of strategies to prompt public debate. In the immediate aftermath of October 7, local actors joined national efforts to put faces and names to the hostages kidnapped and held by Hamas by posting “Kidnapped” signs throughout the community. But as the casualties of the Israeli response in Gaza mounted, other groups sought to bring attention to the Palestinian victims as well. The Champaign-Urbana Jews for Ceasefire (CUJC) and the CU Muslim Action Committee (CUMAC) have been two of the most active groups working to raise awareness of the suffering in Gaza and bring attention to federal government and institutional support for the war in Gaza. Together the two groups have organized marches through C-U, teach-ins, and office visits with local representatives in order to keep the issue before the public. Continue reading →

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Assange, Press Freedom, and the Story from Down Under

Posted on 10/18/2024 by Paul Mueth

The Julian Assange case is incredibly multifaceted, extending over many years.The root of course is the need for transparency regarding the actions of the powerful. The World War I–era Espionage Act is a major impediment to an open and just society.

Starting even earlier than the last decade’s events is necessary, however. It’s an interesting irony that one of the grievances that informed Australians have against the CIA and the US national security state has to do with electoral interference. It doesn’t start with rigging elections in the US manner, though disinformation and campaign finance malfeasance do figure in this case.

The late, great John Pilger outlines in a short essay the mechanism of this undermining of democracy in Australia, as deployed by the CIA and British MI6 in 1975. It involves the legacy of the Commonwealth, where the Governor-General was entitled to prorogue the parliament. “Prorogue” is an almost medieval term for dissolving the parliament. This caused then–Prime Minister Gough Whitlam to have to run again; resources were marshaled to defeat him successfully. Continue reading →

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Covid Origins

Posted on 10/18/2024 by Michael Weissman

Understanding the origins of the Covid pandemic matters because the answer should guide how much we regulate work on pathogens that could start another pandemic. Did it come from some sort of lab leak (LL) or did it spill over from some animal host unconnected to research, by more traditional natural zoonosis (Zoo)? Although most people in the US and majorities or pluralities in many other countries think it came from a lab leak, the virology journals and the most prestigious general science journals are strongly on the Zoo side.

The question has gotten all tangled up with politics in a way that doesn’t help in sorting out the facts. (The current political lineups on this are a bit odd, since funding of the suspect type of research was nominally banned under President Obama and then allowed under President Trump.) One of the reasons that I think it’s important for scientists to speak out honestly on the subject is that otherwise we open the field more to a collection of anti-scientific cranks, especially ones who are anti-vax or even anti–air filtration. If the latter are the only ones making sense when talking about Covid origins, that makes it harder to argue that people should pay attention to scientists on other matters, not only Covid-related but also on climate.

How can a non-expert sort through the evidence to see which explanation is more likely? I don’t know any easy, quick way. One could try trusting the majority of the relevant experts, but that doesn’t always work when many of the experts themselves have too much at stake to be open with the public. On the other hand, Alina Chan recently published a persuasive article in the New York Times citing quite a bit of evidence that an accidental LL was more probable. Who to believe? Continue reading →

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A Surprise from the French Left in the 2024 Legislative Elections

Posted on 10/18/2024 by Belden Fields

French leftist leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon. Photo by Thomas Bresson, used under Creative Commons License CC BY 4.0

Many French people were very anxious prior to the second round of their July, 2024 legislative elections. Unlike the American two-party system, in the French multiparty system a candidate needs 50 percent or more of the vote to be seated in the first round. If no candidate gets that, there is a second, runoff round in which the candidate with the majority is seated in the National Assembly (the lower but more powerful legislative house than the Senate).

Elections for the European Parliament (EP) were held in June of this year, shortly before the July elections for the French National Assembly. The candidates presented by the French far-right party in that election did exceedingly well, as did far rightists from other European countries. This French party was formerly called the National Front. Many of the founders were fascists who had supported the Vichy government installed by the Nazis during World War II. It was led for many years after the war by a racist and Holocaust-minimizing man named Jean-Marie Le Pen. Realizing that his fascism and racism were putting off the French electorate in the present era, his daughter, Marine Le Pen, expelled her father from the leadership of the party, and then from the party itself. She took it over and tried to give it a more acceptable image. But it is strongly anti-immigrant and has continued to harbor people of her father’s ilk within it. Continue reading →

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Reflections on Bangladesh’s Recent Revolution: International Students’ Perspective

Posted on 10/17/2024 by Tahsina Alam et al.

Protest organized by Bangladeshis at West Side Park, Champaign on August 3. Photo by G’son Biswas, used with permission

What began as a student-led protest demanding quota reform in the allocation of Bangladesh’s government jobs rapidly transformed into a revolutionary movement that dismantled an autocratic regime in just two months. As Bangladeshi citizens studying in the United States, we witnessed these historic events unfold from afar, providing us with a unique blend of distance and immediacy. The recent revolution in Bangladesh is both a deeply personal and profoundly significant occurrence for us, resonating on intellectual and emotional levels. This uprising, marked by widespread protests and a clamor for democratic reforms, highlights the resilience and determination of our fellow Bangladeshis.

The Seeds of Discontent Continue reading →

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October Issue Back Cover

Posted on 10/17/2024 by Public i

FRIDAY FORUM + CONVERSATION CAFÉ

Fall 2024 Series

Please join the University YMCA and Diversity & Social Justice Education for our Fall 2024 Friday Forum + Conversation Café series. We will hear from community leaders tackling our most pressing public concerns through an unwavering pursuit of social justice. We are excited to focus the fall series towards Democracy.

All presentations are open to the public and free on Fridays at 12 PM in Latzer Hall at the University YMCA.

An audio recording of each program can be heard the following Wednesday at 6-7 pm on WEFT 90.1 FM community radio.

10/18 – Jeremy Hobson, “The Middle” Podcast

10/25 – Rev. Terrance Thomas, Bethel AME Church, and Pastor Michael Crosby, First             Mennonite Church of C-U – Understanding White Christian Nationalism

11/1 – Steve Schwinn, University of Illinois Chicago College of Law – The Supreme Court          and Democracy

11/8 – Ilana Redstone, University of Illinois Sociology – The Certainty Trap: Democracy’s        Existential Threat

11/15 – Provost John Coleman, University of Illinois – Election 2024 on Campus and                 Across the Country

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Summer Issue Front Cover

Posted on 07/29/2024 by Public i

UIUC JOINS NATIONWIDE MOVEMENT FOR PALESTINIANS

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Popular University for Gaza at UIUC

Posted on 07/29/2024 by Clara Belitz and Sana Saboowala and Izzy Grosof

The encampment for Palestine in front of Foellinger Auditorium on the UIUC quad. Photo by Paul Mueth

From Friday, April 26 through Friday, May 10, we established a branch of the Popular University for Gaza at UIUC, joining the national student movement for Palestine. This encampment was just one small piece in the long movement for Palestinian liberation, one part of the fight for liberation for all. This was not the first encampment against apartheid established at UIUC, nor will it be the last. Students across the nation, including here in Urbana-Champaign, have used their voices to stand up in support of human rights. Members of the community joined with students and faculty to demand that our institutions stop funding genocide.

The encampment began on Friday at the Alma Mater statue by the Illini Union. It brought together UIUC students, faculty, and staff, and Urbana-Champaign community members, to show solidarity for Gaza, demand freedom for all Palestine, and learn about the history of this movement and of anti-colonial struggles in general. Tents were erected as a symbol of our solidarity with refugees in Gaza, and to prepare for a long-term protest. The demands of the protest were:

  1. Divest: UIUC must divest from any organizations or corporations that profit from or support the occupation of Palestine.
  2. Disclose: UIUC must publicly disclose all financial assets, including investments, endowments, and other holdings, to ensure full transparency and accountability.
  3. Cease Collaborations: UIUC must cease collaborations with Israeli institutions as well as all corporations involved in the ongoing oppression of Palestinians, such as Caterpillar.
  4. Student Amnesty: UIUC must offer complete amnesty to all student protesters and halt any and all forms of repression against those advocating for justice.

Continue reading →

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Is the Strike Back?

Posted on 07/29/2024 by Jim Barrett

This article has been adapted by the author from his talk at the Strike School event at the IMC on May 5.

For almost two centuries the strike has been the characteristic and most important form of protest for working-class people. Most often, these conflicts are thought about as economic conflicts, struggles for another dollar a day. And often they have been. But strikes can also be a form of defense against obvious oppression and assertion of workers’ humanity. Strikes can even have political ends. The incidence of strikes has varied enormously over US history, having all but disappeared by the end of the twentieth century.

The American labor movement is usually thought about as conservative, and for most of its history, the label seems to fit in political terms. Despite the strength of socialist movements in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, American workers have largely eschewed the sort of social democratic politics characteristic of most European and other societies Continue reading →

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The Poor People’s Campaign Continues

Posted on 07/29/2024 by Paul Mueth

The Poor People’s Campaign rallies in Washington, DC in July, 2023. Screenshot from Poor People’s Campaign video

The Poor People’s Campaign is a grassroots movement that began in the 1960s and continues to this day, aiming to address issues of poverty, inequality, and social justice in the United States. The campaign was initially launched by Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and other civil rights leaders in 1968, just before King’s assassination. Of course, when MLK started his Poor People’s Campaign it was also with the backdrop of war and militarism, which became a divisive issue, as it is today.

The Campaign has gained momentum in recent years, with thousands of people participating in marches, rallies, and other actions across the country. As a matter of course, media reporting on this new poor people’s campaign is sporadic, and one of the only places to find Campaign leader Rev. William Barber II’s interviews is Democracy Now! Even locally, the Campaign’s actions in Springfield have not been given the coverage that was warranted by local television and other media. Illinois is one of 15 states with a high number of low-income voters who are eligible to vote but not participating in elections. Even more locally, Urbana has a high poverty rate and complementary high rate of child poverty. The commonplace that this is predominantly due to student population is pretty easily debunked, but the fact that a small number of students are availing themselves of food banks, and other temporary and charity sources of aid, does add to the complexity of the problem. Continue reading →

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Critical Need for Long-Term Care for Older Adults in Champaign County

Posted on 07/29/2024 by Cathy Emanuel

The detritus indicating the sad demise of the former Champaign County Nursing Home last year. Photo by Farrah Anderson for CU-CitizenAccess, used by permission

When my eighty-nine-year-old friend survived her bout with fungal pneumonia after spending nearly a month in the hospital, we were ecstatic. Her outcome had not always seemed certain, and we were delighted that she was on the path to recovery. But the length and severity of her acute episode had taken its toll. She had lost 40 pounds and much of her strength, and she needed to be on oxygen constantly if she was going to leave the hospital.

As staff prepared her for discharge, they told her she would need to undergo rehabilitation and should go to a skilled nursing facility for this care. They also told her there was nothing available for her in Champaign-Urbana and she would need to go to Gifford or elsewhere. For my friend, whose likewise eighty-nine-year-old husband of more than sixty years could no longer drive, this meant she would not see him frequently if at all while she stayed 30 miles from home for an indefinite period. Not only would this affect her mental and physical health, it would also likely affect his. And it meant she would have no family member at the facility to help her in making health-care decisions. Continue reading →

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Advocating for End-of-Life Options in Illinois

Posted on 07/29/2024 by Meg Miner

Characteristics of historically underserved populations. Graphic from Compassion & Choices

The Illinois End-of-Life Options for Terminally Ill Patients Act (SB3499), which would authorize medical aid in dying in Illinois, was introduced in the Illinois Senate on February 9, 2024 by Assistant Majority Leader Linda Holmes (D-Aurora). None of the bill’s co-sponsors are from central Illinois. This article contains information about the bill and other end-of-life resources, drawn from the Compassion & Choices website. Readers are encouraged to contact their legislators and affinity groups about supporting this effort.

In brief, this medical-aid-in-dying legislation would allow a mentally capable, terminally ill adult with a prognosis of six months or less to live the option to obtain a prescription medication they may take so they can die peacefully and end their suffering.

The national organization that has been working on this issue is Compassion & Choices Action Network. Medical aid in dying (MAID) is only offered to terminally ill patients when two medical doctors agree that a patient has less than six months to live and determine that a mental health issue is not motivating the person to seek MAID medication. MAID is differentiated from euthanasia because the terminally ill adult takes the medication themselves. There are other safeguards to block coercive misuse. Physician involvement includes discussing options with the patient, evaluating their competency and whether they meet criteria to access this option, reminding them they can always change their mind, and writing the prescription. Continue reading →

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Reform Champaign County Animal Control Policies to Treat Pets and Other Animals Humanely

Posted on 07/29/2024 by Grant Chassy

Like so many others in Champaign-Urbana, I’m a proud dog parent. We adopted our first dog in early 2023. He’s a former stray, and based on his timid behavior at the time we adopted him, veterinarians suspect he was abused before his time on the street. When my partner and I decided we wanted a dog, there was no doubt that we’d take in a shelter dog in need of a forever home. Since then, we’ve adopted another former stray, and we love our two pups dearly.

Our dog adoption story is notable because it’s the story of countless other dogs in our community. People understand that pets are family; animals deserving of sincere care, attention, and a loving home.

That’s why in late 2020, this community was justly outraged when the county euthanized a dog whose owner was in the process of retrieving their loving pet from a county facility. Lost on December 18 of that year, the dog was put down by animal control on Christmas Eve, despite assurances the county made to the owner that they would keep her pet safe until after the holiday, the soonest both parties could arrange for the pickup of the dog. The county government needlessly euthanized a family pet, and that tragic loss of a beloved dog illustrates the need for changing how we manage animal control to treat all living beings humanely. Continue reading →

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Remembering Irfan Ahmad

Posted on 07/29/2024 by Roveiza Irfan

Ahmad, outside the Pentagon, during a rally against the genocide in Bosnia in 1995

Longtime Urbana resident Irfan Ahmad passed away on May 2 due to complications from a chronic lung condition. He was 66. Ahmad immigrated from Pakistan in 1989 to pursue his graduate education in agricultural engineering at the University of Illinois. He later joined the College of Engineering and College of Medicine as research faculty.

As a scientist, Ahmad began his career looking for solutions to hunger and working to improve food security. He developed machine vision systems to detect stresses and diseases in crops like corn and soy. However, his efforts to help people extended far beyond the laboratory as he worked to bring different groups together—students, faculty, businesses, local residents—to lessen suffering and foster justice. One of his favorite quotes was Martin Luther King Jr.’s “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” Continue reading →

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The Making of a Social Justice Priest

Posted on 07/29/2024 by Tom Royer

The author with friend at a protest against the School of the Americas, ca. 1990, recalling US training of the soldiers implicated in the El Mozote massacre in El Salvador. Photo from the author’s collection

Compiled by Janice Jayes from interviews she recorded between 2018 and 2023, in which Father Tom reflected on the many experiences that expanded his vision of moral responsibilities in the decades after his 1960 ordination.

Daniel Berrigan and the Challenges of Vatican II

In 1966 I became assistant pastor at St. Mary’s near Danville, where both my real-world education and my troubles with hierarchy began. The Vatican II documents were just coming out and I joined some local Protestant pastors to study the statements on peace and justice. It was a great lesson in ecumenicalism but also a bit disappointing. Many Catholics focused more on liturgical changes than the admonition to actively engage in building a just world.

Except for the nuns, that is. My observation was, in general, if you had a group of nuns in the parish they most likely knew more about Vatican II than the priests did. In the summer the nuns went off to workshops at places like Notre Dame, where they completed degrees or just visited with friends from the mother house. Notre Dame was just a hotbed of progressive discussion then, with exciting lectures and unusual sermons. I liked visiting friends studying there, and in 1966 I heard that the Jesuit priest Daniel Berrigan would be speaking on campus. Back in Danville I mentioned it to the nuns and the next thing I knew they all wanted to go. The priests I was with were not interested, but the nuns drove up with me for the talk. Continue reading →

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