6 hours Ago
By Mark Wallach and Matt BenjaminMany of you have already seen this, but for those who have not, you should know that a minimally clever advocate for Gaza has put together and circulated on the internet a “Wanted” poster, identifying certain members of the Boulder City Council as criminals. Who are these evildoers? The seven members of the City Council who voted to tend to City business and not to opine on foreign affairs. Accordingly, we are first accused of being complicit in genocide, as the Council declined to pass the ceasefire resolution demanded of us.
Next, we are accused of investing in genocide, for failure to divest Boulder of investments in companies not approved by the author. And, finally, we are accused of suppressing free speech, because some Gaza supporters have been suspended from entering the Penfield Tate Building for disrupting Council meetings.The problem with all this is not the content of their claims, as specious as they are, but the manner in which they are presented.
Wanted posters imply that these members of Council are actual criminals, who need to be apprehended. Dead or alive? This is on the very edge of incitement to violence. If this poster is intended to be humorous, I can only suggest that the author invest in a joke-writer, as it is nothing of the kind.
This is a serious statement about the members of Council and it is an encouragement to those who would take their opposition to the next level. This poster even refers to Council members as being “silent, like the ‘good German Nazis.'” This antisemitic characterization of the Council, some members of which are Jewish, is abhorrent, and perhaps the most offensive thing that can be said to a person of the Jewish faith.
But when you have abandoned all standards of decency in communications with others, when getting your way is the only value of consequence, none of this should be surprising. As elected officials we are used to criticism from all sides; you don’t get into this business unless you have thick skin. So we have no issue with anyone who disagrees with us on Gaza or anything else.
But the publication of this “Wanted” poster represents something else entirely; it comes from a conviction that there are no longer any boundaries of any kind. As a result, the nature of discourse on this issue has sunk to a level that represents a new low in Boulder politics. The partisans for Gaza, who show up like clockwork for each Open Comment period at Council meetings, have become increasingly frustrated at the unwillingness of our Council to be coerced into doing their bidding.
As a result, they have resorted to guerilla tactics intended to disrupt our ability to conduct the business of Boulder: screaming, cursing, attempting to intimidate those with a different point of view. This is not radical politics, it is juvenile, performative politics. And it is, and will continue to be, entirely unsuccessful.
They can lengthen our meetings with their histrionics, but the meetings go on nonetheless. They believe that they will wear us down in time, until we finally give in and accede to their demands. Well, good luck with that.
Have any of them actually met the members of this Council?There is, of course, a solution for the protestors: run your own slate of candidates in this fall’s Council elections and see if the community agrees with you. But the community will not, as the majority of the residents of Boulder would give such candidates short shrift in an election. The community desires a Council that is focused on the many problems faced by Boulder: homelessness, crime, renewing our infrastructure, and finding ways to pay for our needs in a climate of deep economic turmoil and insecurity.
And one last point: the poster accuses the Council of suppressing free speech because certain protestors have been banned from City buildings for a period of time. This is entirely false. No one — repeat, no one — has been banned on the basis of their speech.
They have been banned on the basis of their conduct, and their attempts to disrupt our meetings. There is every right to come before Council and express your point of view. There is no right to prevent the City Council of Boulder from meeting and conducting its business.
Of course, they actually know this, but it sounds more dramatic to cast us as the destroyers of first amendment rights.We live in frightening and uncertain times. The ability to have rational discourse on most issues has been degraded almost beyond recognition.
But while there is always room for substantive — even hotly contested — debate on the issues of the day, there should be no room for political discourse that promotes threatening behavior and can instigate violence. If we cannot do any better than this, we have lost our way as a community, at a time when we simply cannot afford to do so. Mark Wallach and Matt Benjamin are members of the Boulder City Council.
They are writing in their individual capacities..
