According to the Somerville Divestment Project (SDP), the city of Somerville holds the bonds of only one foreign state. The Somerville Retirement Board currently invests in Israel bonds.

Having failed to persuade the Board of Aldermen to divest—get rid of—these bonds, the SDP is currently trying to put a divestment question on the ballot in the city of Somerville for the November election.

This year, SDP, as it has done the last two years, was planning to table at Art Beat. This year’s "celebration of art" was held in Davis square on Saturday, July 16. SDP was told by the Somerville Arts Council that they were not allowed to participate this year. SDP asked why it was not allowed to table at art beat. The Somerville arts council told SDP that they did not fit in.

After more probing the Somerville Arts Council said that they had received "complaints from the community." When probed again they said that they were not allowing political organizations to participate in the celebration. However it was quite obvious that other political organizations were allowed to participate.

One, Somerville Climate Action, was actually collecting signatures for another ballot question at their table, although staff at the Somerville Election Commission told us they were unaware of their petition.

It was the Mayor

Finally, as all other excuses had no ethical logic, the Somerville Arts Council explained that they worked for the Mayor. The Mayor specifically expressed opposition to SDP’s participation at Art beat.

In Somerville, the Arts Council is part of the Executive Department—in other words, the Mayor’s office.

Well, there are many arguments over this holy war. Does the Mayor of Somerville have an absolute dictatorship over the Somerville Arts Council? Does the city budget give him that authority? Did he decide that he had that authority and everybody believed him?

Ron Francis, a founder and spokesman for the SDP, says that SDP had a Constitutional right to participate in the Art Beat celebration. "The mayor is meddling in the process," he says.

Last December, the month after the Board of Aldermen rejected the SDP’s first divestment effort with his emphatic approval, Mayor Joe Curtatone was brought to Israel at the expense of the U.S. Conference of Mayors and the American Jewish Congress—Council for World Jewry. He remains firmly set against divestment.

The only other group that was singled out was Mystic River Green-Rainbow Action (MRGRA). That may be because Green-Rainbow Party members are among the divestment activists. The Green-Rainbow group responded by setting up a "virtual table" on the pavement at the very center of Davis Square. The tablers say they were there all day without interference by police or ArtBeat staffers. An MRGRA statement stated that they "and the Somerville Green-Rainbow Party have tabled in the past. We have had nothing but positive experiences at Art Beat. We are proud to be a part of the Somerville community.

"The Somerville Arts Council cashed our check on June 15. We received notice that our application was approved. We were sent tabling information. Five days before the festival we were told "this year Art Beat is not going to be a public forum". We would not be allowed to have a table here.

"The truth is that the Mayor excluded us because he wanted to exclude the Somerville Divestment Project.

"Denial of free speech is a dangerous thing. It threatens the relationship between community and politics. We call this relationship democracy. We believe our community can tackle political controversy. We believe open debate is a strong measure of who we are as a community. Art Beat is a public forum."

SDP met with the Aldermen at City Hall on Thursday, July 20 to formally ask them to put the divestment question on the ballot in November.

The Aldermen formed a sub-committee to help the Aldermen to help with the decision. If the Aldermen do not decide to put the question the ballot, SDP will then have to come up with more than 4,000 valid signatures on its petitions, 10 percent of the registered voters in Somerville.

The petition with the ballot question on it is being circulated through the city of Somerville. You can view it online at www.divestmentproject.org

But the petition cannot be signed online. To be legal, signatures must be affixed to printed sheets. The deadline for submitting signatures to the Election Commission is September 8.

The proposed question is only advisory in nature, because the Somerville City Charter contains no binding initiative process.

Different cities have different relationships to their counties, different cities have different relationships to states. Different states have different relationships to different countries. Different might mean that you don't fit in.

Pleased to see you

Ron Newman, long an active supporter of ArtBeat, wrote the Mayor complaining about the exclusion policy. Curtatone’s response seems to say that everyone might fit in after all, only some fit on top, others on the bottom.

"The Mystic River Green-Rainbow Action organization was present at this year's festival, but were asked not set up an official table," he wrote, " because we do not think the celebration is an appropriate venue for the official sponsorship of political groups by the city…. I was pleased to see the Mystic River Green-Rainbow Action group on Saturday. ArtBeat attracts a diverse collection of people, and we do not wish to discourage this. Instead, we want to do our best to make everyone welcome."

Text of the divestment petition

Whereas in 1948 Israel forcibly displaced over 780,000 Palestinians from their homes and has since denied these refugees the right of return, a fundamental right guaranteed by Article 13 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights; and

Whereas in 1967 Israel invaded the remainder of Palestine and continues to hold these territories under military occupation in which Israel commits extensive human rights violations that run contrary to the Geneva Conventions, such as

• Confiscation of land, water, and property for Jewish settlement;
• Collective punishment and torture;
• Destruction of homes, schools, hospitals, farms and other life-sustaining infrastructure; and

Whereas Palestinians inside Israel face institutionalized racism in the form of

• Confiscation of land, water, and property for Jewish settlement;
• Confinement into ghettos;
• Denial of land, housing, and water;
• Residential and school segregation;
• Denial of civil liberties;

and other discriminatory practices that meet the definition of Apartheid as given in the International Convention on the Crime of Apartheid; and

Whereas the Somerville Retirement Board currently invests $250,000 in Israel Bonds and over $1.2 million in companies that supply arms and military equipment to Israel;

Shall the city of Somerville divest these publicly administered financial holdings?

For more information on the Somerville Divestment Project, visit www.divestmentproject.org, call 1-800-571-6175, or write SDP, P.O. Box 441259, Somerville MA 02144