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Group that sought to cut funds for Israel fades in Somerville
Last year the Somerville Divestment Project (SDP) shot itself in the foot and has not been seen in public since. It is not known whether SDP died of its wounds or is merely convalescing.
Ron Francis on City Hall steps as divestment supporters deliver the first 1,000 signatures on the 2005 Somerville divestment petition. [Bridge file photo]
SDP was founded in 2003 by residents concerned about deteriorating conditions in Palestine and about U.S. support of the State of Israel. The group focused its efforts on getting the City of Somerville to financially divest from Israel.
Critics say SDP forgot where it came from: “It’s our tax money, so we should have a say in how it’s used.”
At the group’s Annual Meeting on June 17, 2007, half the active members were, in effect, expelled. SDP’s leader Ron Francis began the meeting by explaining that there were two classes of SDP membership. He said that only Active Members were allowed to vote for the Board.
In point of fact, SDP bylaws stated that all SDP members are voting members.
Francis then defined Active Members as those working on projects approved by the SDP Board. He excluded members working on a Palestine film series on the ground that the Board had not updated its initial approval of their project.
Finally, he called on all present to state support for the exact wording of the 2004 divestment resolution rejected by the Somerville Aldermen. Those who did not, he pronounced, could no longer be SDP members.
Although the newer members had not even seen this document, they were now suddenly required to take a loyalty oath to it. Henceforth and for the first time, disagreement with any part of this document meant instant exclusion from membership. Thus it became a holy text that could never be challenged.
Francis brushed aside objections and went ahead with the election. In response to criticism of the meeting, he wrote, “Personally I was very energized … every active member that I know of is satisfied and is very engaged. Our two year plan is moving along very smoothly and deliberately….”
That assessment has proved overly optimistic. Since that 2007 SDP Annual Meeting, the group has not had any more public meetings or activities. Francis himself dropped out. The group’s website has been inactive for a year.
What was behind this strange event?
The fateful phrase in the 2004 document condemns “armed attacks where civilian casualties are likely.” Inclusion of this phrase was supposed to answer accusations that SDP “supports suicide bombers.” However, it did not impress the Aldermen in 2004. None of them voted for the divestment proposal.
The expelled SDP members were not calling for endorsement of any sort of violence. Their point was that Americans in SDP are in no position to criticize or give any kind of political advice to people in Palestine. Therefore SDP should not take sides within Israeli politics or among Palestinian political forces.
We criticize Israel, they said, because we pay taxes and vote in elections and it is our government which supports Israel financially, military and diplomatically.
Some activists do not believe that the public can understand this distinction.