Pledge deserved Hanover Selectboard support
Hanover selectboard refused to adopt an approved town meeting advisory article for the Apartheid Free Community pledge. The reason appears to be that it may not reflect the community’s desires.
First, the façade of the New England democratic town meeting where every voice is heard is specious. By virtue of the process – an evening meeting (minimum 4 hours) that is strictly in-person for at least two thirds of the big ticket articles, does not reflect community desire when the majority of people cannot attend or cast their votes because of disability, school or work.
Second, the organizations that brought the pledge tirelessly educated people for weeks prior to the meeting. There was a discussion and a vote and it passed. What became an advisory article on the pledge should be left on the books.
The Apartheid Free Community pledge condemns all racism, bigotry, discrimination and oppression – all of which are being done to Palestinians in the name of Jewish supremacy. Many Jews, myself included, count ourselves as part of this campaign.
Given the continuing genocide in Gaza, land theft and terror brought upon West Bank Palestinians, even some ardent Zionists recognize the situation as untenable.
Yet the Hanover selectboard was probably swayed by the wearisome arguments about the rise in antisemitism, that any criticism of Israel is support for Hamas, and the Holocaust is the only definition of a genocide.
I once was a naive Jew swayed by this narrative. It was hard to hear that the place Jews were supposed to love unconditionally did terrible things. The confluence of history and the reality on the ground makes the war crimes accusation impossible to ignore. As the pro-Israel faction hunkers down, they lose Jews who cannot justify the suffering inflicted in our name. The billions of dollars in weapons is why Apartheid Free Communities exist. Palestinians deserve to live, just as everyone else does, equally under all international laws and on their land. Apartheid-Free.org is one of the tools to stop the killing and liberate all the stakeholders from fear and oppression.