Shalom Magazine

By Susie Davidson

Fringe elements are diluting what public empathy there may be for the Occupy movement. I know - I’ve been in the thick of it.

As reported in the Nov. 11 Boston Globe, I, along with my fellow local poets Peter Desmond and Robyn Su Miller, have been operating a poetry reading series at the Dewey Square encampment. We began with a full week, and currently are holding it every Friday from noon to 1 p.m. It has been our hope that OccuPoetry would be a harmonious and vibrant exchange of spoken verse, lending some literary beauty and keeping alive poetry’s longtime legacy within protest movements.

That has largely been the case. But on Monday, Nov. 7, the main stage was not available, so we moved to the other performance area, Dewey Square, and held the reading without amplification. This was just after some members of Occupy Boston, who claimed to be anti-Zionist and not anti-Semitic, held a sit-in on Friday at the Israeli Embassy, following Israel’s decision to intercept an aid flotilla on its way to Gaza. On that Monday, members of this contingent had staged a rally at the main stage and were virtually all over the encampment, shouting about Israel and Palestine.

During the poetry reading, a reader recited a poem sympathetic to Palestinians. I responded with one of mine, "Havdallah on Lake Winnepesaukee," about our own desperate struggles, hopes, and wishes for peace. I offered her some of the candy I bring to readings and said "let peace begin with us." We hugged. A success!

But afterwards, my boyfriend and I went to the main stage area, where we observed a young man wearing a yarmulke trying to hold a discussion about Israel’s defense needs with several ringleaders of the pro-Palestinian event. We learned through his friend that he is a second-year student at Suffolk Law School, and he demonstrated a tremendous grasp of history, superb diplomatic skills and had the firsthand experience of having been an Israeli army soldier. A few of the men seemed to be amenable to hearing his answers to their charges and listened to his expert clarifications within the discussion, such as explaining the difference between Muslims and Islam. But unfortunately, he could, in the end, get nowhere amid their reticence coupled with the confrontational style and shrieking, mainly of anti-Israel rhetoric, among some of the others.

That Wednesday, I held a poetry reading of all veterans, and I picked up D-day veteran Irving Smolens of Melrose on my way. A Vietnam War-era veteran (who had not seen live combat) who shall go unnamed, along with other members of the invited Veterans for Peace group, had written me earlier in the week, asking if he could recite a poem about Gaza. I replied that it was really not appropriate to the program’s theme, which was overtly about U.S. veterans and U.S. war involvements. He and other members of Veterans for Peace then accused me repeatedly of censorship, and so I simply did not include him in the reading list. The event was a great success and a remarkable opportunity to hear the poetic recollections of the 12 veterans who graced the stage. With five minutes to go, I made the mistake of reading the names of the last three readers.

When this man and his cohorts did not hear his name, they literally charged the stage. One actually wrenched the microphone out of my hand, yelling about my censorship, as they proceeded to take over the event. I grabbed Smolens and left, stopped on my way out by several attendees who, to their credit, felt terrible about what was happening. As pronouncements about Israel and shame about being a Jew (the content of his poem) filled the air, Smolens remarked to me that the application of the word "peace" in Veterans for Peace was rather a misuse of the term.

I myself have some criticisms of Israel and lean toward J Street, but I do not single her out, and I will not tolerate anti-Israel hatred at events that I organize. As reported in the Globe as well that week, Abraham Foxman of the ADL stated at Monday night’s event at Faneuil Hall that singling out Israel is, quite simply, anti-Semitism. I agree. Without also protesting, for example, the overwhelming poverty in Liberia, rapes in the Congo, the crushing of the Tamil Tigers by the Sri Lankan army, or the plight of the Armenians, of journalists in Russia or of cartoonists in Denmark, let alone the oppression of citizens occurring in Israel’s neighboring Syria and Iran (as well as that levied against gays, minorities and women seeking rights in Gaza, for that matter), what these anti-Israel demonstrators are exhibiting, despite their statements to the contrary, is nothing but anti-Semitism.

And that is how the public will see it. As much as we can often feel targeted, the fact remains that anti-Semitism is not condoned by the general populace, and not even by those who sympathize with the Occupy movement. I’m an example of that. Although I am certain that most of the inhabitants of Dewey Square are not anti-Semitic and stick to the movement’s main platform about economic disparity in the U.S., my support has gone down a notch, and I’m now constantly on the alert when I’m there.

Such vehement crusading for side causes that have nothing to do with the Occupy movement’s stated mission will indeed taint, if not destroy whatever good it could accomplish in our society. And violence has no place anywhere, at any time.