A few days ago, I was lucky enough to go to Campus Progress' National Conference in Washington, DC. If you've glanced at the CP blogs over the last few days, you already know about Obama's speech, Fat Joe's panel appearance, and a lot of the other cool stuff that went on. I was especially impressed by how organized, relevant, and inspiring the speakers and panelists were (with a particularly large place in that category for Tammy Baldwin, one of the alumnae we Smithies love to love).
And then came a big black spot on the experience. Amidst tables sponsored by such progressive, pretty much unimpeachable organizations as NOW, PIRG, Camp Wellstone, and Planned Parenthood, there intruded on my vision a table sponsored by The US Campaign To End the Israeli Occupation. Passing out leaflets and selling CDs and books containing such gems as "Israel is occupying Palestinian land and harshly controlling Palestinian lives; Palestinian violence, even those extreme and ultimately illegal actions such as lethal attacks on civilian targets, is a response to that occupation", this organization had no place at a conference for young progressives. This conference was (or at least I thought it was) a celebration of progressive values -- civil rights, free speech, true democracy, and all that jazz. So how did it happen that there was a table in the middle of it all proposing the dissolution of the only Middle Eastern country that actually practices those things?
I am not asking Campus Progress to encourage a pro-Israel group to table so that they can give information about the only state in the Middle East that supports women's rights, LGBTQ rights, religious freedom, and freedom of the press. I'm just asking them to reconsider giving the thumbs-up to a group devoted to dismantling all of that. Regardless of our individual views on the greater issue of conflict in the Middle East, this organization did not belong at the national conference.
I approached someone at CP about this the day after the conference to discuss my concern. His response was that if CP didn't allow this organization to buy table space at the conference, it would seem as if they were endorsing the views of all the other organizations present. Forgive my jumping to conclusions, but at the time, it seemed terribly obvious that if CP gave space to an organization at the conference, they considered that group to be an ally in the progressive movement (no other table challenged this assumption). I would not expect to see a table sponsored by Focus on the Family or Concerned Women for America at the conference either, because their positions are in direct conflict with Campus Progress' -- so why was this group there?
Even if next year's conference again finds this organization selling its wares to the next generation of progressives (and I really, really hope it does not!), I hope, at the very least, to spark some discussion. The presence of this group detracted from an otherwise fantastic day, and I do not think that should pass unnoticed.