This year's annual convention, held at Huston-Tillotson University in Austin, TX from July 8-11 was a big success! Over 100 members and allies were in attendance. The weekend provided a chance to reconnect and recharge our batteries for the work ahead.

The evening before convention there was a protest outside the gate of Fort Hood which was covered by the Killeen Daily Herald. Members of the Fort Hood chapter--Jeff Grant, Michael Kern, Eric Jasinski, Victor Agosto, Kyle Wesolowski, Jake Wade--and Under the Hood Cafe Manager Cindy Thomas also organized GI outreach on and off base.

The meeting was called to order on Friday morning by Board Chair Geoff Millard. He offered opening remarks that highlighted IVAW's history of resistance and growth.

The VA Health Care panel, moderated by Board Co-Chair Adrienne Kinne, featured mental health provider Hans Buwalda and Paul Sullivan, Executive Director of Veterans for Common Sense. The Reparations panel featured Caitlin Brown of Iraqi Health Now, Aaron Hughes of the Field Organizing Team, and Antonia Juhasz of The Chevron Program at Global Exchange, moderated by Geoff Millard.

The panels were followed by workshops covering VA benefits, gender and the military, organizing military families, corporate campaigns against oil companies, truth in recruiting, and developing a grassroots legislative agenda.

Then members were presented with audited financial statements for 2009 and briefed on the organization's financial position as of May 31, 2010. Members also had a chance to engage in a town hall meeting with the 2009-2010 Board of Directors as well as meet the candidates for the 2010-2011 Board.

At night we had the opportunity to connect with local allies who are part of the Third Coast Activist resource center. Special thanks to Professor Robert Jensen and the Mamas of Color Rising for their hospitality and the amazing meal.

We started Saturday with a report from our Field Organizing Team (FOT) followed by a panel on Iraq and Afghanistan. The panel, moderated by NE Field Organizer Chantelle Bateman, included Raed Jarrar, Iraq Consultant with the American Friends Service Committee, Phyllis Bennis of the Institute for Policy Studies, Ann Wright of Veterans for Peace, Kathy Kelly of Voices for Creative Non-violence, and Tod Ensign of Citizen Soldier.

The FOT also lead a workshop on building a GI and Veterans Bill of Rights campaign. A second workshop was lead on war resistance title "ripping the military and new back door."

In the afternoon, members discussed three important resolutions. The first, proposed by Victor Agosto, called for an end to the siege of Gaza by the Israeli military and government with support from the U.S.

The second, proposed by Adrienne Kinne, was in support of immigrant rights and in opposition to SB 1070, the controversial Arizona bill.

The third, proposed by TJ Buonomo, was a call for prosecution of the Bush administration for war crimes. All three resolutions passed.

We also voted in a new Board of Directors. Matthis Chiroux and Cameron White will finish out their remaining year. Adrienne Kinne and Geoff Millard were both reelected for one year terms. Sara Beining, Jeff Key, Robynn Murray, Garett Reppenhagen, Jeremy Stainthorp-Berggren, and Joyce Wagner were all elected for two year terms. TJ Buonomo, Robin Long, and Logan Mehl-Laituri were elected for one year terms, giving us a total of thirteen sitting board members.

In the evening, everyone traveled to Under the Hood Cafe
for an a night of music and socializing with active duty personnel. We raised $3500 for the coffeehouse and heard testimonies from troops and military families.

Throughout the weekend, volunteers with Stage Seven provided a healing space where participants received acupuncture and massage. Thanks to Sean Hanna for making this happen. We ended with a barbecue and swim at Barton Springs, hosted by the Austin Chapter of Veterans for Peace. Speacial thanks to Doug Zachary for preparing all the food.

Overall our first convention went off without a hitch and we learned a lot from the experience. We will be emailing a link to convention attendees with an evaluation form to collect feedback on your experience. This will help the next convention committee plan and avoid any mistakes we made.

Thanks to everyone in Austin and all the active duty members for hosting the 2010 Rise Together Convention.

Upcoming events include:

August 25-29: Veterans for Peace 25th Anniversary Convention, Portland. ME
August 27-29: IVAW Quarterly Board Meeting
September 2-6: IVAW Women's Retreat, Pittsburgh, PA