SPEECH

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
 

Given how much the So-Called Somerville Divestment Project (SC-SDP) poses indignantly behind the first amendment, one wonders about what part of these 45 simple words these moral strutters don't understand?

The SC-SDP's most recent example of staged outrage is over the exclusion of political groups at this year's ArtBeat Festival in Davis Square on July 16. Yet in all of the thousands of words they have thrown into the pubic square (in full exercise of their free-speech rights), it never seems to occur to them that official recognition at ArtBeat is not a right, but a privilege, one in which they like any other political group is not automatically entitled.

The decision to keep politics out of ArtBeat in no way prevents the SC-SDP or any other political group or politician from attending the event and exercising their free speech rights in any way they see fit. They just wont be able to do so as an officially part of the event. So long as they don't block the streets, they are free to pose and say anything they damn well please. The city no more owes them a table at ArtBeat than the SC-SDP is required to inform their political opponents of their meetings in advance and provide us with an officially recognized booth in which to counter their propaganda.

It is with open eyes, and a certain amount of regret, that I support the Mayor's action to make ArtBeat free of an officially recognized political presence. Having attended this event for years, I enjoyed learning about what was going on in town from groups like The Mystic View Taskforce, even if it meant parading by the Israel haters (under the many names they traveled under) to move from falafel to face-painting.

I wont pretend to read the mind of the city's leadership in trying to figure out how they came to this decision, except to note that this is yet another case where the irresponsibility of the Somerville Divestment Project in trying to import the bitterness and strife of the Middle East into the city has poisoned the well for other more responsible political groups. If it's a choice between a politics-free ArtBeat and one in which the SDP is allowed to wave bloody pictures in the faces of me and my children (forcing those of us who resist divestment to counter with similar emotive language), I heartily choose an ArtBeat that sticks with art.

It should also be noted that the "innocent" political activists who have also been denied the privilege of an official ArtBeat platform are not entirely without blame for the current situation. When divestment made it's appearance in the city last year, and during it's reappearance this year, groups across the political spectrum , churches and many of those seeking political office (even those who support Palestinian rights) had an opportunity to expose divestment as the propaganda ploy it is, and pierce it's protective garment of cynically manipulated progressive rhetoric. Had more political and church leaders and activists decried the SDP's hijacking of the city's politics and the language of human rights from the moment they appeared in town, it would not have taken long to show divestment the door, rather than allowing it to linger like a cancer in the city for another year.

Even if only for the sake of self-preservation, all community leaders should recognize that divestment is fated to suck all of the political oxygen out of the city, strangling other issues, including the relevant and real human rights causes supported by many Somerville citizens, if this foul agenda item is allowed to linger into this November's elections.

Unfortunately, too few people beyond the city's elected leadership chose to act, remaining neutral or (in some cases) supporting the SDP's attempt to subvert the city for unstated political ends. This left the task of routing divestment to a handful of local activists who were ready to fight for what was right, supported (thankfully) by a Mayor and some (but, by no means all) Alderman who instinctively understood that divestment was poison that had no home in a city that truly cares about human rights and diversity.

In the absence of other leadership, the Mayor took a stand and will suffer some heat for it from the very people who abdicated their responsibility to the city when their voices were needed most. It was not an easy decision, and many will call it unfair. Yet if the worst consequence is that ArtBeat, a "one of the area's largest an most innovative arts festivals" ends up being "just" one of the area's largest an most innovative arts festivals, rather than a front for one more round of hateful propaganda, that's a price I for one am more than willing to pay.