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Now
It's Andover's Turn
John Haber
Andover parents just now getting wind of the controversy
surrounding the partisan group Wheels of Justice,
scheduled to speak to a captive audience of Andover High
School students on January 5th, may be bewildered as to
how their town became the latest front in the
Arab-Israeli conflict.
That is because the Wheels of Justice visit did not
originate in Andover, but within the wider context of a
small but determined community of anti-Israel activists
in the greater Boston area, with extensions well beyond
the Bay State.
Locally, approximately 100-200 individuals are
responsible for the bulk of anti-Israel political
activity in the area, from holding noisy protests at
Jewish and Israeli cultural events to running film and
lecture series at churches and college campuses.
This group (and younger shorter-term activists - often
college students or recent graduates) has traveled under
a variety of organizational identities (such as The
Middle East Justice Network, The New England Committee to
Defend Palestine or One Palestine, and the Somerville
Divestment Project) headed by Andover teacher Ron
Francis. These organizations have been fluid, often
organized around trends in Middle East politics
(nationalist, Socialist or, currently, Islamist trends)
or specific tactics (such as divestment) and, just as
frequently, disbanding, reorganizing or renaming
themselves.
These local individuals and groups are, in turn,
connected with a network of national and international
organizations (such as the International Solidarity
Committee or ISM, or the Al Awda “Right of Return”
organization), groups committed to anti-Israel activism
on a wider scale.
While not part of a formal network or hierarchy, these
groups – both in Boston and beyond – share a
common overriding goal: to wear away at the generally
favorable impression Americans have of Israel by falsely
presenting the Jewish state as the inheritor of South
Africa’s now-defunct racist policies (thus the use
of phrases like “apartheid Israel” in nearly
every sentence uttered by members such groups).
Because of their small numbers, a key strategy of this
“movement” is to attach their political message
to one or more large, respected institutions whose
reputation can be leveraged to help the anti-Israel
crowed punch considerably above its own limited political
weight.
Over the last few years, anti-Israel divestment
activities within institutions such as Harvard, the
Presbyterian Church or the city of Somerville have not
been so much about economically punishing the Jewish
state as they have been about forcing the Israel =
Apartheid message into the mouths of a respected
university, religious organization, municipality or other
civic institution.
In many ways, the Wheels of Justice coming to Andover is
as much about getting Andover’s name onto the list
of towns that have been “happy” to accept the
organization’s “educational” message, as
it’s been about proselytizing Andover students with
WoJ’s political campaign.
The tactics used to implement this strategy are now quite
familiar: (1) identity a civic institution such as a
school, city or church with a commitment to human rights
and other progressive causes; (2) present the
Arab-Israeli conflict as consisting solely of Israeli
oppressors and innocent Palestinian victims (leaving a
century of Arab war, terror and political repression on
the cutting room floor); and (3) misuse the language of
human rights to ruthlessly push the institution to take
an anti-Israel stand that activists claim is their only
choice.
Andover is currently experiencing a campaign that has
been repeated endlessly across the country over the last
few years. In this case, free speech is the
argument being deployed to make the claim that Wheels of
Justice’s “rights” are being violated by
not allowing them unfettered access to a captive student
audience (understanding that an open-minded town such as
Andover would be sensitive to accusations of stifling
free-speech).
Needless to say, WoJ’s champions have not been
willing to stand up for the free-speech rights of their
critics. And in other instances (such as last year’s
international controversy over the publications of Danish
cartoons featuring the likeness of Mohammed) many of
these same “free-speech absolutists” appealed
to other hot buttons, such as respect for minorities or
the fight against racism, to get their way or silence
their critics.
Tip O’Neil’s aphorism that “all politics
is local” has some resonance in Andover where the
Wheels of Justice controversy has as much to do with the
battle between administrators and the teacher’s
union over who controls the schools as it does with
Middle East politics.
That said, the small minority that is pushing for this
event at all costs, despite protests by students,
teachers, administrators and parents, demonstrate that
their political desires clearly take precedence over
their professional responsibilities.
Despite what some may think, the Wheels of Justice
controversy has little to do with Andover per se.
Rather, like the city of Som-erville (targeted for
divestment campaigns over the last several years by at
least one of the people currently trying to import the
Middle East into your town, Andover High teacher Ron
Francis), Andover is a prop in this drama, a piece of
political furniture being used by partisans to establish
their credentials as “revolutionaries” rather
than simple political nuisances.
In fact, it is a testament to Andover’s broad
mindedness that is has been targeted by the
Israel=Apartheid circus, a traveling show that knows it
does best when unleashing its cynical abuse of the
language of human rights and justice against those who
sincerely hold those values dear.
When this poison was being peddled to Somerville voters,
or Presbyterian Church leaders or even college students,
one could at least make the claim that the target for
such campaigns were adults who were capable of making
their own decisions (which they did, rejecting
anti-Israel programs such as divestment by margins of 10
or 20 to one).
But abusing their authorities as teachers to force
high-school students to sit through a professional,
political indoctrination, all so Andover’s name can
be added to the WoJ bandwagon as it rolls through other
cities and towns represents a level of cynicism, not to
mention an abandonment of professional responsibility,
beyond anything that has yet been seen in the region.
Jon Haber is a Boston area writer and activist who has
fought divestment efforts in Somerville and in the
Presbyterian Church. His writing on the subject have
appeared in the Jerusalem Post and on his two Web sites, www.somervilleMEjustice.com
and www.bearing-witness.org.
*Send your questions
comments to ValleyPatriot@aol.com
The January 2007 Edition
of the Valley Patriot
The Valley Patriot is a Monthly
Publication.
All Contents (C) 2007, Valley Patriot, Inc.
We publish 10,000 newspapers and distribute in Andover,
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