Here's my second post on yesterday's action in the Maine capitol building (first post is here) with an update on our interaction with a legislator who I did not recognize at the time.
(Sorry, I won't be sharing how we got the banner, t-shirts, or "bloody" sheets through security. Because: security.)
But, I can now share the awesome flyers we distributed.
And I can share my observation that Rep. Billy Bob Faulkingham, a Republican from Winter Harbor who is House Minority Leader, shouted a couple of times at us, "Do you support Israel's right to exist?" and was ignored. Then a solitary voice answered "No." (I'm unsure if this was one of the die-in folks, one of our supporters, or just someone in the considerable crowd that had gathered to watch.)
This gave him the perfect opening to shout: "That's genocide! That's genocide!" as he stormed off. (I caught just this portion on video which you can see here.)
It's unclear whether Faulkingham had seen our flyers. Since he didn't address any of the fiscal points raised (e.g. $200 million in tax breaks General Dynamics has received from Maine over the years) I'm going to assume not. Instead he recited some AIPAC talking points for a reporter who interviewed him after the fact.
Coalition organizers and media crew have clapped back with a statement addressing his misinformation. An excerpt:
“Nothing could be further from the truth,” said Lisa Savage, an organizer with the coalition, who is a long-time anti-war activist and former candidate for U.S. Senate. “The people of Maine are ill-served by legislative leaders who cloak themselves in purposeful ignorance.”
Reporter Corey Bouchard subsequently interviewed Faulkingham, who expanded on his misconceptions. After viewing the interview, Savage pointed out, “‘From the river to the sea’ is actually a Zionist slogan used to push for displacing indigenous Arab — that is, Palestinian — people from the area between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea.
“Also, Jerusalem is the site of the al-Aqsa mosque, where apartheid policies of the occupation have been in full force, with resistance mounting over the years.”
I suspect the Israel lobby, which for years has falsely claimed to speak for all Jews worldwide, has contributed to Faulkingham’s misunderstanding of this key point. Maine deserves better from its elected officials.”
Paige Milligan, an activist who has lived in Palestine and holds a PhD in Arabic literature, commented: “Israel as a state and Zionism as a political project and ideology are fascist, genocidal, racist, and Jewish supremacist. Rep. Faulkingham’s claim that any call to dismantle Israel is ‘genocidal’ shows his ignorance and his own racism, as it conflates the settler-colonial apartheid ethno-state of Israel with all of Judaism's many, diverse cultural traditions and histories, and all Jewish people. This is deeply offensive.
Judaism, taken as a religion, a culture, a history, and/or an ethnicity that one is born into, is part of one's identity. Zionism, a supremacist, racist, settler-colonial ideology with roots in 19th century European anti-Semitism and colonialism, is not an identity. It's a cult.”
Faulkingham is a well-known Trump (or maybe LePage?) wannabe whose fish stories were deconstructed here, and who the record shows pleaded guilty to throwing human shit on people in 2003.
Now, I have a new research project: exactly how much AIPAC money has he taken?
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Finally, here is media coverage from two tv channels and that seems to be about it. The Portland Press Herald was there and interviewed me, but published nothing. Someone else who was with us as a photographer noted that Maine Public (aka NPR) didn't cover the event despite being in the state house covering legislation. But participant Kristen Salvatore advises that she will be interviewed by the Maine Morning Star about yesterday's action. Yay!
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