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.
