BACP/BLUE March 2025 MEETING MINUTES Brainerd Area Coalition for Peace and Brainerd Lakes United Environmentalists (BACP-BLUE) held their monthly meeting on Zoom on March 3rd, 2025. 1. Report on manning the Citizen’s Climate Lobby table at Happy Dancing Turtle’s Back to Basics event. This was the 18th year of Back to Basics. There was a good turnout for the event and those members attending were impressed with the event. There was positive communication with attendees and most of them surveyed were very concerned about the environment.  It was suggested that handouts for the public would have been a good idea.   2. Discuss the scheduled March 8 th peace vigil for Palestine at the NE quadrant of the Hwy 210 & Hwy 371 intersection. The vigil will be held as usual. Weather should be good.  Despite the cease fire, Israel continues to bomb Gaza and they are in Lebanon and Syria. Hamas has offered to release all the hostages for a permanent cease fire. The Arab nations are to meet soon and will likely come up with a counter proposal to Trump's Gaza Resort plan. 3. Discuss the strategic planning session for future BACP/BLUE events to be held at UCC following the March 8th peace vigil (@2:30 p.m.) Event will proceed as planned. All BACP/BLUE members are invited to attend. 4. Discuss the proposed peace vigil demanding an end to the Russian ‘Special Military Operation’ in Ukraine. (see documents attached to the meeting invitation). Discussion will be held on Saturday, March 15th at the library at 2p.m. All members and the public are invited to attend. 5G A. Continue our discussion on possible film presentations BACP-BLUE could host this year. Among the films the group is considering hosting are Bad River: A Story of Defiance about the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa’s resistance to Enbridge’s building the Line 5 tar sands pipeline; No Other Land about a Palestinian activist’s resistance to Israel;s destruction of a Palestinian region in the West Bank; and From Ground Zero, an anthology film by 22 Palestinian filmmakers documenting Israel’s genocide in Gaza. (Fellow BACP-BLUE members Larry Fisk and Gayle Nielsen saw From Ground Zero in the Twin Cities.) BACP-BLUE members discussed hosting Bad River: A Story of Defiance at the Brainerd public library before Earth Day (April 22) at our January meeting. Continued support for the Bad River showing. A date of April 19 at 1p.m. was chosen. Larry will reserve library large conference room. 6. Discuss the initial planning for the Camp Ripley peace vigil. Camp Ripley will hold their Open House Day event, where the public is invited into the base, on Sunday, September 14 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. BACP-BLUE will hold a peace vigil outside of Camp Ripley during this time to counter Camp Ripley’s pro-war propaganda and share our message of peace. Fellow BACP-BLUE member Doug Olson informed BACP-BLUE’s allies in Brainerd Lakes Area Democratic Socialists of America (BLA DSA), Veterans for Peace, Women Against Military Madness, the Minnesota Anti-War Committee, and Northfield People for Peace and Goodwill about the upcoming Camp Ripley peace vigil. Discussion as above. 7. Report on Larry & Gayle’s trip to Nicaragua. Great trip. Nicaragua is beautiful and continuing the revolution with democracy at the local level per their new constitution. 8. Treasure’s Report No report as treasurer not present. Next meeting for BACP/BLUE will be April 7th, 2025, at 7 p.m. via Zoom. BACP – BLUE February 2025 MEETING AGENDA Brainerd Area Coalition for Peace and Brainerd Lakes United Environmentalists (BACP-BLUE) will hold our monthly meeting on Monday, March 3rd. The BACP-BLUE meeting will be held online on the Zoom website. The meeting begins at 7 p.m. and will last 40 minutes, the maximum amount of time Zoom provides for free meetings. A link to the BACP-BLUE meeting is at the bottom of the meeting notice. (BACP-BLUE will hold our meetings online through April.) The BACP-BLUE meeting will: 1. Report on manning the Citizen’s Climate Lobby table at Happy Dancing Turtle’s Back to Basics event. 2. Discuss the scheduled March 8th peace vigil for Palestine at the NE quadrant of the Hwy 210 & Hwy 371 intersection. 3. Discuss the strategic planning session for future BACP/BLUE events to be held at UCC following the March 8th peace vigil (@2:30 p.m.) 4. Discuss the proposed peace vigil demanding an end to the Russian ‘Special Military Operation’ in Ukraine. (see documents attached to the meeting invitation). 5. Continue our discussion on possible film presentations BACP-BLUE could host this year. Among the films the group is considering hosting are Bad River: A Story of Defiance about the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa's resistance to Enbridge's building the Line 5 tar sands pipeline; No Other Land about a Palestinian activist's resistance to Israel's destruction of a Palestinian region in the West Bank; and From Ground Zero, an anthology film by 22 Palestinian filmmakers documenting Israel's genocide in Gaza. (Fellow BACP-BLUE members Larry Fisk and Gayle Nielsen saw From Ground Zero in the Twin Cities.) BACP-BLUE members discussed hosting Bad River: A Story of Defiance at the Brainerd public library before Earth Day (April 22) at our January meeting. 6. Discuss the initial planning for the Camp Ripley peace vigil. Camp Ripley will hold their Open House Day event, where the public is invited into the base, on Sunday, September 14 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. BACP-BLUE will hold a peace vigil outside of Camp Ripley during this time to counter Camp Ripley's pro-war propaganda and share our message of peace. Fellow BACP-BLUE member Doug Olson informed BACP-BLUE's allies in Brainerd Lakes Area Democratic Socialists of America (BLA DSA), Veterans for Peace, Women Against Military Madness, the Minnesota Anti-War Committee, and Northfield People for Peace and Goodwill about the upcoming Camp Ripley peace vigil. 7. Report on Larry & Gayle’s trip to Nicaragua. 8. Treasurer’s Report.