On Saturday, October 6th, 2007 the Tübingen Progressive Americans are going to have an information stand in front of the Wittwer bookstore off the Schlossplatz in down town Stuttgart. Stop by and see us and talk to us if you are in town from 11-15:00.

We are still considering ideas for how to make the information booth as interactive as possible. We are considering bringing an easel with large notepads to have passers-by record their thoughts on various themes as "graffiti." We are hoping to engage Germans on the role of Germany in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars and talk to Americans about our group and its goals.

Last night, the Tübingen Progressive Americans sponsored a movie in the Deutsch-Amerikanisches Institut in Tübingen, Robert Greenwald's Give War a Chance. About 40 people came to watch and join in the discussion (in English) moderated by TPA member Charles Yee.

The film elicited discussion not only of the film's main ideas - the profiteering by contractors in Iraq and the humanitarian consequences, the no-bid contract process, the revolving door between government, contracting, lobbying and the military, etc. - but also on similar phenomena in Germany, the general human tendency toward greed, the causes and results of the Iraq War, our ignorance and how we allow ourselves to be manipulated, the lack of alternative vision, the biases of recent documentary film making, and more. The viewing was very timely, happening on the same day that the news about Blackwater getting in trouble in Iraq and possibly even having some of its personnel face prosecution.

After the discussion, about eight of us went for a beer and further discussion.