Wednesday, October 10, 2007

Hecklers Abuse Genocide Survivors, October 7, 2007, Part 2


After a number of other blogs picked up the story I reported regarding the attempt to disrupt the October 7th Dream for Darfur rally at Boston City Hall Plaza, more information has turned up.

It appears that I was mistaken to assume that the group that came to heckle the genocide survivors who came to speak were only tangentially connected with either the national or state Green Party. I have since learned that they were more closely affiliated with the Massachusetts Green-Rainbow Party than I has suspectedd. I had assumed that the GRP was being unfairly dragged through the mud by Boston Anti-Zionist Action, as extremist fringe groups often falsely claim affiliations with more respectable groups. However as reported by Adam Holland, Solomonia, and Adam Gaffin of Universal Hub the "rotund bespectacled man" whom I photographed and spoke to at the rally was David Rolde. Rolde is not merely a registered member of the Green-Rainbow Party, but the former party secretary and a currently serving member of the GRP State Committee representing Middlesex County. The committee's job includes "[f]ormulating and disseminating statements of Party policy and platform".

I find it disturbing that an elected officer of any political party whose "Ten Key Values" includes nonviolence, respect for diversity, personal and global responsibility, would also have a leadership role in an organization whose actions include attempts harass and intimidate genocide survivors for talking about their experiences in a public forum, disseminate anti-Semitic propaganda on their website, and hold signs proclaiming support for Hezbollah, an armed paramilitary that initiated an unprovoked war in 2006 by attacking civilian targets in Israel.


Back in the 1990s, I was allied with the Greens, because they were talking electoral reform, feminism, and sustainable ecology and had Ralph Nader as their candidate during a period when Bill Clinton and Bob Dole's differences seemed slight. I started having some differences with the Greens on foreign policy when I found myself supporting Clinton's military interventions in Kosova to stop the massive human rights violations the Serbian government was visiting upon the Kosovar Albanians, and eventually drifted back to the Democrats when I noted a renewal of commitment to the social issues I cared about as well as with the necessity of having a progressive movement with strong foreign policy and counter-terrorism experience.

I have never been surprised by Republican politicians having connections with hate-groups (Trent Lott's connection with the CCC is an obvious example) however, I never expected virulent hateful bigot in the leadership of the Green Party.

8 comments:

Silas said...

I think that, as with your own example, if you didn't support Bush the only sane alternative was to support Kerry. With every sane Green having split for the Democrats, that left the party in the hands of complete crazies.

Ian Thal said...

Well, to be fair: Kerry, despite attempts by some Greens to cast him as something else, had fairly solid credentials on most issues progressives care about, on top of having good national security and foreign policy credentials. I wouldn't have considered Nader had Kerry been on the ticket in '96, or '00.

globedoc said...

Followed this blog from Tribe.
Fantastic blog, well written, reads more like an established reporter than a regular blogger.
Thank you for posting this; I'm bookmarking it for future reference.

Nat Fortune said...

Dear Ian -- Ironically enough, David Rolde has regarded every candidate we have ever run for state office --- including Jill Stein and Grace Ross for Governor in 2002 and 2006, respectively --- as unworthy of support, considers the current co-chairs of the party (myself included) to be racists and fascists, and has resigned from the party in protest of the party's new leadership and direction.

As for our platform, our party has at its core 10 key values: grassroots democracy, ecological wisdom, social justice and equal opportunity, non-violence, decentralization, community based economics, feminism, respect for diversity, personal and global responsibility, and future focus and sustainability. It is those 10 key values ---and those values only --- that we ask and expect each of our candidates to support and endorse. (Official party statements and platforms represent the official position of the party at the time they were drafted but do not necessarily reflect the thinking of any individual candidate or member)

You are right to point out that in the past, some of our members, including some in administrative positions, have taken positions contrary to these 10 key values. I write here in this post speaking only for myself, and not in an official capacity, but I too regret that this has been the case and hope that this carries some weight with you. That said, it is time to put down the broad brush with which you have been painting us, and to look at our party, its co-chairs ---the only people authorized to speak on behalf of the party in an official capacity --- and its candidates anew. Look at what our candidates are actually saying, and what they actually propose to do if elected, and judge them on their own merits. I do not know that we will agree on every issue, but we are neither racist, fascist, violent nor anti-Semitic, and we ask for your vote and your support.

Nathanael Fortune, 2007 - 2008 male co-chair, Green-Rainbow Party

Ian Thal said...

Nathanael-

Thank you for providing some elucidation on this issue from within Massachusetts Green-Rainbow. You'll notice both from this article and the preceeding one that I had been somewhat incredulous that either David Rolde or BAZA represented the Green party's ideals as a whole, which should make it clear why I felt that the party needed to rid Rolde and people like him from leadership positions ASAP. So, I never painted the party with a broad brush.

While it is to be expected that the Republicans will have bigoted extremists in leadership positions (Trent Lott being just one such example), the Democrats do not tolerate such things, and neither should the Greens. Though Rolde may have recently stepped down from any leadership position-- he was clearly listed on the Massachusetts Green-Rainbow website as having a number of committee positions when I wrote this article only a couple of weeks ago.

Either way, it is Rolde who is an evangelist for racism and violence against noncombatants and I never assumed that all Greens shared this position. I do expect that the Greens have the decency to recognize him and his ilk as part of the problem and act accordingly.

Anonymous said...

Mr. Thal,

I have been alerted to a concern of yours at my forum. I have responded to your concerns. Feel free to respond.


Sincerely and Respectfully,

drdon

Anonymous said...

sorry about that....i should have added link......

http://prosemiteundercover.phpbbnow.com/viewtopic.php?t=12086&sid=d70ac8dba2f7dc73d5fefccc3ff6f1a6


drdon

Ian Thal said...

Thanks, DrDon.