Saturday, July 15, 2006
The case for a boycott / divestment of Israel
As I have mentioned in an earlier post, the Green Party National Committee adopted Proposal 190, which calls for a boycott of Israeli products and divestment from companies with business connections to Israel. It further calls on the various state chapters to pursue the boycott/divestment campaign and for the Campus Greens to do likewise. Finally it directs the International and Peace Action committees to use their committee structure to promote the goals of Proposal 190.
Now, again, as I mentioned in an earlier post, there has been some rather ugly stuff said in recent National Committee listserv emails. I have done some poking around, and I think the national Green Party, including the Media Committee I am a member of, had better think about a few things now.
One of the sponsors of a website that is trying to push the Green Party to overturn Proposal 190 is the Jewish Community Relations Council of Tucson. While there is nothing to indicate that they, or anyone else, have plans to attempt to use what little media attention there may be at the convention to make the Green Party look evil, it may make sense to prepare and hope the preparations were unnecessary.
I am not suggesting for a moment that we make plans to silence these folks if they do attempt to access the media while we are in convention. Far from it, I think we should simply be prepared to explain why we took the position we did, how the process worked, and how the proposal can be amended or reversed by following internal Green Party procedures.
Do not get me wrong. I agree with Proposal 190, and with the goal of making it effective. There is no value to us adopting positions, especially one that is as specific as Proposal 190, unless we intend to follow through. To that end, I say this:
I will post a list of companies to boycott. If someone will find me a list of companies which would be effected by this boycott, including companies which buy from or distribute them here in the US or elsewhere, I will post it here so visitors can see it and decide to participate or not.
For example, if XYZ Computers does not have any manufacturing or distribution in Israel, but ABC Components does, then I want visitors to know this.
I am not willing to take the time to develop this list. If someone else will, I will post it. I will also make it available, as I do every word here, to anyone who wants to take it. In other words, if it's posted here, anyone will be able to not only link to it here, but take it and post it wherever they wish.
The Advocates for Israel has set up a petition to the Green Party, which I assume has not been presented to us formally as yet. Their goal is 10,000 international signatures. They stand at this point at 8183. I am not sure, but I think they may be planning to present the petition at the convention, and again, if that happens, I think we should be prepared to reasonably respond.
Which brings up a point. We should, I hope, have someone from each of the effected committees, that is, Peace Action and the International Committee, to explain how they see their role in implementing Proposal 190. Specifically, in their petition, the group "Stand With US" calls on the Green Party to seek council from the Israeli Green Party (There were two, not sure today) and the Israeli and Palestinian peace groups to see how they feel about Proposal 190.
I know that one Israeli Green Party has in fact called on the USGP to reverse itself on Proposal 190. I have no idea what the various peace groups might say. I think they raise a somewhat valid point there, but we shouldn't limit it to Israeli Greens and Palestinian and Israeli peace groups, but to the Green Party community Internationally. In other words, the Greens in North and South America, Europe, Africa, Asia and Australia are all aware of what is going on in Israel, Palestine and Lebanon, and they are as smart as we. Perhaps it would benefit us to know what Colombian Greens, or New Zealand Greens or Irish Greens have had to say about this. The next International Green Conference is set for Africa, and that may be a good opportunity to craft a program which will help bring Israel in compliance with accepted standards of both domestic and international behavior.
If you have not seen the text of both Proposal 190 and the Stand With US petition, both are behind the "Read more!" link.
I would appreciate it if some of you would comment on ways to be successful with this project, and by successful I don't mean inflicting pain, but bringing about the change we desire. I understand that pain may be part of the process, just as I am sure there was suffering as a result of resistance to apartheid in South Africa.
One final point I would like to make, and I am not looking for a fight here with anyone. Frankly, some folks do seem to have a lot of words at hand when motivated, and I don't care to get into a back-and-forth on the topic with someone better at debating than I am. ~Grin~
I believe that Israel exists. I believe that at some point in the relative near future it will be inside internationally recognized and accepted borders. I believe the leaders of Israel would use their nuclear weapons to "win" any war they were "losing". I believe that every war is fought by the poor at the demand of the rich, and therefore, I don't support war of any sort, including wars of liberation or civil wars, including wars against occupation. There are peaceful ways, and regardless of the inherent racism in saying so, the people who populate that part of the world must find a democratic way to seek peace, as must people in conflict anywhere.
Don't forget, Proposal 190 and the Advocates For Israel / Stand With US petition is behind the "Read more!" link...
Green Party Resolution to Divest from Israel
Proposal 190
Adopted by the Green Party of the United States,
November 21, 2005
1. The Green Party of the United States (GPUS) publicly calls for divestment from and boycott of the State of Israel until such time as the full individual and collective rights of the Palestinian people are realized
To maximize the effect of the Green Party's support for divestment and boycott of Israel:
2. The party calls on all civil society institutions and organizations around the world to implement a comprehensive divestment and boycott program. Further, the party calls on all governments to support this program and to implement state level boycotts.
3. The party urges the Campus Greens network to work in cooperation with other campus organizations to achieve institutional participation in this effort.
4. The GPUS National Committee directs the Green Peace Action Committee (GPAX) to encourage the larger anti-war movement to promote the divestment/boycott effort.
5. The GPUS National Committee directs the International Committee to work with our sister Green parties around the world in implementing an international boycott.
The Stand With US / Advocates for Israel petition.
The undersigned urge the Green Party to reverse its resolution in support of Divestment from Israel and to eliminate that resolution from its platform.
As with any conflict, the Israel-Arab conflict requires bilateral peace negotiations and joint agreements in order for a real and lasting peace to be achieved. Divestment is an aggressively coercive tool that is counterproductive due to the presumption that only one party (Israel) is to blame for the conflict.
The issues behind the conflict are complex; and all require negotiation with an honest peace partner. Reducing the conflict to a simplistic accusation against one side only serves to confuse people and demonize one side in the conflict. It is absurd to expect one side to concede critical issues prior to negotiations; yet that is what divestment demands.
The Green Party's entry into this realm of international conflict resolution is at variance with its own stated mission. By specifically punishing Israeli businesses, divestment in effect condones the PLOÂs use of violence to bring about political change. More in keeping with the Green Party's mission would be support for a peacefully negotiated settlement without preconditions and after the cessation of terrorist activities.
We, the undersigned, call upon The Green Party to replace their resolution against Israel with one that advocates the cessation of terror and the resumption of peaceful negotiations.
Sponsor:
StandWithUs
Co-sponsors:
The Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life of Southern California ( www.CoejlSC.org)
The David Project (davidproject.org)
The Green Zionist Alliance (www.greenzionism.org)
Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC)
of San Francisco, The Peninsula, Marin, Sonoma, Alameda and Contra Costa Counties
Jewish Community Relations Council of Tucson
American Jewish Congress, Western Region
Blue Star PR
The Jewish Action Team (JAT)
Total Signatures: 8183
Goal: 10,000 International signatures
Deadline: 5/1/2006
Now, again, as I mentioned in an earlier post, there has been some rather ugly stuff said in recent National Committee listserv emails. I have done some poking around, and I think the national Green Party, including the Media Committee I am a member of, had better think about a few things now.
One of the sponsors of a website that is trying to push the Green Party to overturn Proposal 190 is the Jewish Community Relations Council of Tucson. While there is nothing to indicate that they, or anyone else, have plans to attempt to use what little media attention there may be at the convention to make the Green Party look evil, it may make sense to prepare and hope the preparations were unnecessary.
I am not suggesting for a moment that we make plans to silence these folks if they do attempt to access the media while we are in convention. Far from it, I think we should simply be prepared to explain why we took the position we did, how the process worked, and how the proposal can be amended or reversed by following internal Green Party procedures.
Do not get me wrong. I agree with Proposal 190, and with the goal of making it effective. There is no value to us adopting positions, especially one that is as specific as Proposal 190, unless we intend to follow through. To that end, I say this:
I will post a list of companies to boycott. If someone will find me a list of companies which would be effected by this boycott, including companies which buy from or distribute them here in the US or elsewhere, I will post it here so visitors can see it and decide to participate or not.
For example, if XYZ Computers does not have any manufacturing or distribution in Israel, but ABC Components does, then I want visitors to know this.
I am not willing to take the time to develop this list. If someone else will, I will post it. I will also make it available, as I do every word here, to anyone who wants to take it. In other words, if it's posted here, anyone will be able to not only link to it here, but take it and post it wherever they wish.
The Advocates for Israel has set up a petition to the Green Party, which I assume has not been presented to us formally as yet. Their goal is 10,000 international signatures. They stand at this point at 8183. I am not sure, but I think they may be planning to present the petition at the convention, and again, if that happens, I think we should be prepared to reasonably respond.
Which brings up a point. We should, I hope, have someone from each of the effected committees, that is, Peace Action and the International Committee, to explain how they see their role in implementing Proposal 190. Specifically, in their petition, the group "Stand With US" calls on the Green Party to seek council from the Israeli Green Party (There were two, not sure today) and the Israeli and Palestinian peace groups to see how they feel about Proposal 190.
I know that one Israeli Green Party has in fact called on the USGP to reverse itself on Proposal 190. I have no idea what the various peace groups might say. I think they raise a somewhat valid point there, but we shouldn't limit it to Israeli Greens and Palestinian and Israeli peace groups, but to the Green Party community Internationally. In other words, the Greens in North and South America, Europe, Africa, Asia and Australia are all aware of what is going on in Israel, Palestine and Lebanon, and they are as smart as we. Perhaps it would benefit us to know what Colombian Greens, or New Zealand Greens or Irish Greens have had to say about this. The next International Green Conference is set for Africa, and that may be a good opportunity to craft a program which will help bring Israel in compliance with accepted standards of both domestic and international behavior.
If you have not seen the text of both Proposal 190 and the Stand With US petition, both are behind the "Read more!" link.
I would appreciate it if some of you would comment on ways to be successful with this project, and by successful I don't mean inflicting pain, but bringing about the change we desire. I understand that pain may be part of the process, just as I am sure there was suffering as a result of resistance to apartheid in South Africa.
One final point I would like to make, and I am not looking for a fight here with anyone. Frankly, some folks do seem to have a lot of words at hand when motivated, and I don't care to get into a back-and-forth on the topic with someone better at debating than I am. ~Grin~
I believe that Israel exists. I believe that at some point in the relative near future it will be inside internationally recognized and accepted borders. I believe the leaders of Israel would use their nuclear weapons to "win" any war they were "losing". I believe that every war is fought by the poor at the demand of the rich, and therefore, I don't support war of any sort, including wars of liberation or civil wars, including wars against occupation. There are peaceful ways, and regardless of the inherent racism in saying so, the people who populate that part of the world must find a democratic way to seek peace, as must people in conflict anywhere.
Don't forget, Proposal 190 and the Advocates For Israel / Stand With US petition is behind the "Read more!" link...
Green Party Resolution to Divest from Israel
Proposal 190
Adopted by the Green Party of the United States,
November 21, 2005
1. The Green Party of the United States (GPUS) publicly calls for divestment from and boycott of the State of Israel until such time as the full individual and collective rights of the Palestinian people are realized
To maximize the effect of the Green Party's support for divestment and boycott of Israel:
2. The party calls on all civil society institutions and organizations around the world to implement a comprehensive divestment and boycott program. Further, the party calls on all governments to support this program and to implement state level boycotts.
3. The party urges the Campus Greens network to work in cooperation with other campus organizations to achieve institutional participation in this effort.
4. The GPUS National Committee directs the Green Peace Action Committee (GPAX) to encourage the larger anti-war movement to promote the divestment/boycott effort.
5. The GPUS National Committee directs the International Committee to work with our sister Green parties around the world in implementing an international boycott.
The Stand With US / Advocates for Israel petition.
The undersigned urge the Green Party to reverse its resolution in support of Divestment from Israel and to eliminate that resolution from its platform.
As with any conflict, the Israel-Arab conflict requires bilateral peace negotiations and joint agreements in order for a real and lasting peace to be achieved. Divestment is an aggressively coercive tool that is counterproductive due to the presumption that only one party (Israel) is to blame for the conflict.
The issues behind the conflict are complex; and all require negotiation with an honest peace partner. Reducing the conflict to a simplistic accusation against one side only serves to confuse people and demonize one side in the conflict. It is absurd to expect one side to concede critical issues prior to negotiations; yet that is what divestment demands.
The Green Party's entry into this realm of international conflict resolution is at variance with its own stated mission. By specifically punishing Israeli businesses, divestment in effect condones the PLOÂs use of violence to bring about political change. More in keeping with the Green Party's mission would be support for a peacefully negotiated settlement without preconditions and after the cessation of terrorist activities.
We, the undersigned, call upon The Green Party to replace their resolution against Israel with one that advocates the cessation of terror and the resumption of peaceful negotiations.
Sponsor:
StandWithUs
Co-sponsors:
The Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life of Southern California ( www.CoejlSC.org)
The David Project (davidproject.org)
The Green Zionist Alliance (www.greenzionism.org)
Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC)
of San Francisco, The Peninsula, Marin, Sonoma, Alameda and Contra Costa Counties
Jewish Community Relations Council of Tucson
American Jewish Congress, Western Region
Blue Star PR
The Jewish Action Team (JAT)
Total Signatures: 8183
Goal: 10,000 International signatures
Deadline: 5/1/2006
// posted by Gregg Jocoy @ 10:20 PM 
