"How Dare They Interrupt Our Public Meeting!"
By Aaron Goldstein (07/12/03)
Cambridge, Massachusetts is perhaps the most left-wing city on the East Coast. There are those who might make a case for the Upper West Side of New York, but we're talking about an entire city here.
Indeed, Cambridge is affectionately known as "The Peoples' Republic of Cambridge".
One example of this is that in 1982, the City of Cambridge established a Peace Commission. This municipal department works to promote non-violence in schools and in the community at large, but also address violence in the international arena.
Sounds fairly harmless.
However, this past July 1st, the offices of the Cambridge Peace Commission played host to a meeting of the International Solidarity Movement (ISM). The ISM is an organization that supports Palestinian terrorism. This support for Palestinian terrorism is dressed up in language such as the "right to resist the occupation".
Well, some Cambridge residents—including Hillel Stavis, owner of Wordsworth's Books—believe it is inappropriate for facilities paid for by the taxpayer to be used by organizations that support terrorism.
Several of us ascended the stairs for the meeting that was falsely advertised as the "Cambridge Boys and Girls Club". As we ascended the stairs, the ISM members ran downstairs as Mr. Stavis was asking pointed questions about their support of terrorism. Several ISM members accused Mr. Stavis of "hate" and being "a racist".
Mr. Stavis asked, "How am I a racist?"
Instead of answering his questions, the ISM members simply ran away.
I overheard one ISM member declare, "How dare they interrupt our public meeting."
Interrupt a public meeting?
I guess I shouldn't be surprised, but what the extreme Left considers a public meeting and what mainstream America consider a public meeting are two completely different things.
At public meetings I have attended, people with opposing views are permitted to speak. They may not get their way, but they can be heard and their arguments can be accepted, rejected or ignored in whole or in part.
But at public meetings run by extreme Left organizations, their love of totalitarianism comes shining through. Only the party line can be expressed in public. Any deviation from the party line, and one can expect to be accused of spreading hate or being a racist.
This arrogance was demonstrated when one woman I spoke with at length was challenged by an ISM member as to why Mr. Stavis had not requested a meeting with them. The woman replied that Mr. Stavis had requested meetings with the ISM repeatedly. The ISM member said that she would look into the matter. The woman then asked the ISM member for her name. The ISM member would not give her name.
The woman remarked, "The ISM claims that they are about a peace and dialogue, but when they are confronted by a middle age woman they just run away."
For other commentary and photos on this situation, please check out www.12thman.us.
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