Saturday, July 1, 2006
The Green-Rainbow Party of Massachusetts isn't the only branch of the organization having trouble with the Middle East obsessives in its midst driving out other members (see previous: Greens, a High School Teacher and a City Councillor United in Hateful Protest and Green-Rainbow Party Suffers Backlash After anti-Israel Endorsement). The Ann Arbor, Michigan branch (why is it not surprising?) is experiencing the same phenomenon: Local Green Party pushes divestment from Israel
Henry Herskovitz, a member of Jewish Witnesses For Peace And Friends, said he is considering running for the City Council in the 5th Ward and his platform will be divestment from Israel. His group has been protesting outside Beth Israel Congregation synagogue before Saturday services every week for the past several years.
"If I have to run for City Council office to get that message out, I will do that,'' Herskovitz said...
... Herskovitz said he joined the Green Party in April. He said four others from his group are members of the Green Party. The Huron Valley Greens caucus is July 12. At that time, the party would have to announce its candidates for the Nov. 7 general election. The deadline has already passed for major party candidates to file, but so-called minor political parties have until July 20.
Marc Reichardt had been the face of the local Green Party for several years, as well as the former state chairman of the political organization, but he said he is no longer active in the party. He blamed a combination of burnout and frustration with the "tunnel vision'' of the pro-Palestinian activists.
"Anyone not helping them with their single issue is some kind of heretic,'' Reichardt said.
Pete Schermerhorn, the Michigan organizer for the Green Party, said it's partially true that the pro-Palestinian activists have taken over the party.
"Some joined recently,'' he said. "Some have been members for years. They've definitely perked up the energy level and, to some degree, redirected it.''...
The trouble for the Greens is, of course, that since they are already a fairly fringe party with a small membership, it makes them ripe for the picking by even more radical groups with even smaller, highly motivated memberships. It only takes a handful of people to insert themselves into positions of influence and use their like-mindedness to co-opt and redirect the organization, driving out others and accelerating and cementing the process -- political parasitism.
One current City Councilor is bemused:
"We deal with issues such as water and sewer rates, parks and street maintenance and downtown development,'' Lowenstein said. "Relations with foreign countries doesn't fit it to what our charter says we should do.''...
We can't blame Ann Arbor for this completely. We in Boston have been exporting our problems to them:
Smith moved to Ann Arbor 1 1/2 years ago. She said she joined the Jewish Witnesses For Peace And Friends shortly after arriving in town and has attended the protests at the synagogue...
Aimee Smith is the nutty protester with the potty mouth in this post from two years ago: Boston for Israel Rally - Jerusalem Bus #19 - Report with Pics [Part 1], and I believe that was she in this year's protest (pic - the one with the "Colonial Conquest..." sign). The occasionally arrested Smith is a former candidate for Cambridge (Mass.) City Council. Say, you think these folks pay for their own travel?
Meanwhile, back here in Massachusetts, Ron Francis's GRP has lost another one:
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, p.44
Sad to watch the Green party sacrifice achievable Green reform for extremist, anti-Semitic politics. They are committing political suicide, since all opinion polls show that Americans' support for Israel has never been higher.
Eric Danis
Mr. Danis raises an interesting point. Polls do seem to show that support for Israel has remained strong. Yet, anti-Israel sentiments, particularly in the media, intelligentsia (college professors, etc.), and other opinion-formers has never been higher. I honestly don't know why that is the case, because it seems to be something of a paradox.
Ann Arbor sounds like Urbana, Illinois. Urbana passed a resolution a few years ago condemning the war in Iraq, as if anyone really cared what they had to say, and also declared themselves a nuclear free zone. University towns tend to be filled with self important, delusional sixties leftovers who think that what they have to say is important. In another 10-20 years or so that generation will be retired from the Universities and maybe some semblance of reality can return.
I guess the Green Party never thought of the implications of bearing the same "colour" as Hamas. It seems to have created some confusion in the minds of some people as to how to go about supporting sustainable development and protecting the natural environment.