Wednesday, January 18, 2006
Speaking of small minorities of people with narrow agendas taking control of larger groups' agendas, take the case of the Green Party of the United States, recently of note for taking an anti-Israel, pro-Divestment line -- shades here of the British AUT academic boycott.
Enter Gary Acheatel, who's joined the Greens to push change from within. Now personally, I see a lot more wrong with the Greens than this one issue, but you've got to tip the hat to those who run in to the burning building to see what good they can do.
For Gary Acheatel of Ashland, however, that didn't go far enough. So, he joined the Green Party.
Socially and politically, it's easy to condemn and all too often convenient to define ourselves by what we are not. More challenging, and ultimately more rewarding, is to take action that affects change...
...Acheatel's new membership is a calculated move that seems unusual only on the surface. Dig just a bit deeper, and his unconventional reasoning sounds not only plausible but necessary...
...Employing a circle-within-a-circle strategy, Acheatel has now joined the Greens for one reason: to create a groundswell of member activism to reverse the party's anti-Israel resolution.
"There was a time when I admired much of what the Greens stood for," said Acheatel. "I was sympathetic to their position on the environment and gave them my vote in 2000. But their strong environmental positions are now tainted by their ridiculously biased divestment campaign."...
The web site for Acheatel's advocacy group is here: Advocates For Israel.
There's certainly something wrong when the Green party condemns the greenest country in the Middle East!