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Hypocrisy silences Vt. peace movement
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' By Gary Sisco
As a leftist, I feel compelled to
disassociate myself from the in
fantile behavior displayed by the
'"peace movement" last week in
the streets of Burlington, and,
more important, from what I see
as a level of moral and political
hypocrisy that has reached new
ext r emes i n r ecent t i mes.
It was bad enough that the
Vermont peace movement was
eerily silent when the Soviet
Union invaded Afghanistan. There
were no demonstrations when the
Soviet army bombed and terror
ized those Third World people for
years on end.
It was bad enough when, two
summers ago, the Vermont Solida
rity Conference refused to vote on
a resolution denouncing the mas
s ac r e of Chi nes e s t udent s i n Ti a
nanmen Square. Under the heavy-
' handed "leadership" of Vermont's
"progressive" stars, including Ber
nard Sanders (who opposed an
appeal for its unanimous adop
tion), the resolution was conve
niently tabled.
D o u b l e s t a n d a r d s l i k e t h e s e
have been building on each other
for years within the Vermont
"left," but there are limits beyond
which hypocrisy cannot be allow
ed to go unchallenged. One such
limit is when simple double stan
dards and political disagreements
cross the line into outright racism,
a line I believe has been crossed
wi t hi n t he Ver mont mov ement .
Nothing but barely concealed
anti-Semitism can explain to me
V e r m o n t
P e r s p e c t i v e
why the spokespeople of the Ver
mont peace movement and so-
cal l ed l ef t have t hus f ar f ai l ed t o
call a single demonstration con
demning the Iraqi regime for its
barbaric missile bombardments of
Te l Av i v.
The U.S. bombing of Iraq has
met wi t h an i mmedi at e, near l y
hysterical demonstration by Bur
lington peace activists and self-
styled radicals. But even after the
third attack on Tel Aviv, an appal
ling silence prevailed within the
alleged peace movement. There
were no vigils in the streets, no
leaets, no meetings at City Hall,
and no demonstrations denouncing
t hese bar bar ous act s of i ndi scr i m
inate terror purposely directed
against the civilian population of
I s r ael .
Words cannot express my dis
gust with this silence. The people
of Israel are sti l l faced wi th the
danger of future missile attacks
and quite possibly with some form
of bombardment with poison gas.
I am not of Jewi sh ancestry.
Ironically, I have taken pride in
my leftist background and activ
ities for years. But I fear that
what I am seeing today in the
st at e of Ver mont i s t he devel
opment of a "left" with which I
can cl ai m nei ther afni ty nor
solidarity; of a movement veering
so sharply toward anti-Semitism
that it faces the very real danger
of abandoning every sense of mor
al probity.
But I fear that what 1 am seeing
today in the state of Vermont is
the development of a "left" with
which I can claim neither afnity
nor solidarity.
community activist
I shoul d al so make i t cl ear t hat
I am no supporter of the Israeli
government. I am an unabashed
eco-anarchist. I do not support
any governments in the world. I
have never supported any acts of
oppression, including those of Is
raeli troops against Palestinians.
I do not support this war. I feel
a deep sense of horror and trage
dy for the Iraqi, the Kuwaiti and
especially the Kurdish people who
have already been slaughtered by
the tens of thousands to satisify
t he ambi t i ons of a Mi ddl e East er n
versi on of Stal i n named Saddam
Hussein only to be visited by
mor e deat h and dest r uct i on at t he
hands of George Bush and his
" c o a l i t i o n . "
My heart goes out to the peo
ple of all nationalities, on every
side of the present conict, includ
ing the American troops ordered
to the Persian Gulf by their gov
e r n m e n t . I w a s i n t h e s e r v i c e
myself, and I have no desire to see
another generation of young peo
ple thrown into an imperialist
adv ent ur e.
Bu t n e i t h e r t h e Gu l f wa r n o r
the Israeli government' s treat
ment of Palestinians in any way
justies the incredible callousness
and silence on the part of the
Ve r mo n t " l e f t " a n d " p e a c e
mo v e me n t " wh e n c o n f r o n t e d wi t h
utterly barbarous, purposeful at
tacks on civilian targets in a coun
try that has gone out of its way to
avoid becoming embroiled in the
present conict.
I f t h e r e a r e t h o s e i n Ve r mo n t
who would try to make a case that
the Israeli government' s treat
ment of Palestinians, however de
plorable, justies Saddam' s
b o m b a r d m e n t o f Te l A v i v w i t h
ballistic missiles, then I nd that
there is no basis for rational and
ethical discourse on this subject.
Even worse, i f there are any
supposed radicals who would ar
gue that civilians deserve to be
punished for the actions of a state
or its military, then I believe these
alleged radicals should hang their
heads i n shame.
Gary Sisco of Burlington is a
communi t y act i vi st