You have just brushed up against the rest of the world we all see.

It's not all sharing and caring and being able to slag off at whomever you like, without repercussions.

The greens have for years been able to say and do what they like, and now a little more attention is being given and a few more questions asked, and it's all foul play?

Dear me, get over it and harden up a little. how do you think the people who are the brunt of your bile feel?

Why are you surprised people bite back, I guess after years of being ignored you all felt you could spray anything you liked and get away with it.

It's not a conspiracy that has been organized against the green or socialists, it just that independently and without being goaded, people realize they don't like you .. that's life.

Oh and Maggie Thatcher's favorite quote "Socialism is great, until you run out of other people's money"

The economic policy of the Nazis was to leave industry in nominally private ownership, but for the State to direct any and every aspect of it, in its absolute discretion.

Sound familiar?

Since the Greens' entire policy consists of threatening to lock people in a government cage if they won't submit to having their property commandeered, and every detail of their life dictated by government with total control over production, the least you should have to complain about is the insensitive remarks of those who fear and loathe you.

'pro-Palestine stand'?

Come-on, I thought it was an anti-Jew stand.

You just shouldn't mess with the Jews. Ask Mel Gibson.

Did it EVER occur to The Greens that generally people think that local councils should be fixing pot-holes not pretending to have an influence on a foreign country.

Miss-use of rate payers money, Grandstanding, Loony left. Out!

The emergence of the Greens is either a short-term anomaly or a long term trend to permit a 3rd electoral force to enter the political main stream. My guess is the former as the 2 party system seems the historical norm and I don't see the ALP or the LNP going anywhere in a hurry. I used to support the Greens as a protest vote but now I see them on the cusp of asserting some real influence (post July 1 will be strange days indeed) I agree that they need to be heavily vetted by the electorate and some good old fashioned skepticism applied to their policies - and especially - to their people. Bob Brown is untouchable - I love the guy and think he's a national treasure - BUT I am deeply concerned by his team, deeply concerned. I doubt I am alone. Pip, welcome to the majors, grow a few extra layers of skin, you're gonna need it.

No-one needs to smear the Swampies masquerading as Greeens, they do a great job of that all by themselves. Interesting to see Norm Sanders, hero of the Save the Franklin campaign, lamenting the take over of the Greens by the Socialist Workers Party in a recent letter to the paper.

What will happen when Bob Brown retires is anyone's guess but a return of the Greens to the bottom of the garden seems pretty likely, given the Swampies have already tried to remove Christine Milne from the deputy's job. A pity really- raising awareness about the environment is worthwhile work. Sad that the global warming scare has allowed the socialist faction to link the environment with their anti-capitalist fantasies.

Thanks SV, did not twig to SWP subterfuge, one guaranteed way to see the Greens ousted from mainstream. Maybe ALP and LNP need new factions to absorb all the (likely) disaffected once they get a dose of SWP fanaticism. Won't life post July 1 be interesting?

Then it struck me - Take one Green Party, add Socialist Alliance (Democratic Socialist Perspective of course) and hey presto - you have the Nuclear Disarmament Party implosion (pun intended) of the 21st Century. I hope Norm is wrong but I suspect he's seen it all before.

I've not followed the specifics but one of the quotes in the article suggested that the council had enacted a ban on doing business with any firms with links with Israel. If that's the case then it's a lot more than just a criticism of Israel.

So did the council pass a motion which was critical of certain actions of the state of Israel or did they take an action which restricts the options of third parties? Is the council in the habit of passing similar motions about other states or was Israel singled out for a specific reason?

There is a big difference between expressing a criticism and using the economic power of ratepayers against third parties.

Personally I'm in the group who would rather see my local council focussed on finding ways to reduce the massive contribution they make to the cost of living in a house than taking on foreign policy activities.

R0bert

Pip,

What level of political naivety led the Greens to not seeing this coming? While there may be a few that decry the treatment of the Palestinians, after the holocaust, Israel has become integral to the Jewish psyche, and criticising Israel is like criticising someone else's children. (I.e. sure to illicit a robust defence irrespective of the child's behaviour)

Surely the first law of political survival is not to pick a fight with someone that can fight back and hurt you, unless there is a significant benefit.

Fiona Byrne is a victim of political Darwinism.

The Marrickville boycott against Israel thankfully drew degrees of attention to the plight of the Palestinians, still being killed in Gaza nightly. So it has served some purpose.

Still no interest from Ms Gillard though.

One thinks back to 1933 when the Jews commenced a boycott against Germany and German goods which culminated in World War Two.
Millions of people, including Gypsies, Jews, Communists, other ethnic groups, soldiers from all around the world suffered and died horrible deaths on battlefields, on the high seas, and in fire-bombed cities, the greatest number being in the Russias, twenty five plus million, all during a conflict that may never have happened, had International Jewry not declared economic war on Germany.

The front page of the London Daily Express of March 24, 1933 says it all: "Judea Declares War on Germany! Jews of all the World Unite! Boycott of German Goods! Mass Demonstrations!"
One of the leaders of the movement, Samuel Untermeyer, ignored pleas from Jews who lived in Germany, not to go ahead with the boycott, for obvious reasons, but on August 6, 1933, he said this on WABC, New York.
“Each of you, Jew and Gentile alike, who has not already enlisted in this sacred war should do so now. It is not sufficient that you should buy no goods made in Germany. You must refuse to deal with any merchant or shopkeeper who sells any German-made goods or who patronises German ships or shipping”.
“We will undermine the Hitler regime and bring the German people to their senses by destroying their export trade on which their very existence depends”

This first boycott eventually cost 50 million lives.

Eighty years on and the position seems to be reversed but growing daily.

The boycott message continues to grow all around the world, with or without The Greens in Australia.
We have seen in this NSW campaign all kinds of pressures from the Zionists living in our country and further exploited by groups such as NSW and Federal Labor, yet again for their political gain.

They would sell their country for a vote

Never let the facts get in the way of a good yarn. Where is the evidence that Labor ran a smear campaign agaonst the Greens?

Didn't Bob Brown acknowledge the poor strategy in the Green candidate saying she would introduce a Bill in Parliament to boycott israel if elected?

The Greens lost because Labor ran a good local campaign and because they had a talented and dedicated member.If there was a smear campaign it wasn't run by Labor.

There is a simple principle governing our relations with Israel, which seems to elude many chardonnay sippers, but which does not elude most of the voting public.

The principle is that the enemy of my enemy is my friend.

As far as I know, Australians are not threatened by Israelies in any way, whereas muslim extremist suicide bombers attacking aeroplanes and cities are a constant threat to us. This is also condemned by the Geneva Convention of warfare, to the extent that suicide bombers have no rights at all under the Convention, and may be rightly shot down as vermin.

The nationality annoying Australia varies from time to time. 100 years ago it was the fenians, and the outrages performed by them generated significant outrage in Australia.

The result of all this at the moment is that Israel is our ally, and extreme muslims are the enemy.

It is not surprising that this conclusion affected the voting in Marrickville.

Pip

Could you please explain how it was a smear?Byrne supported the policy and suggested she would push for it in state parliament. Except when she was lying and telling people she wasn't.

No Labour candidate was intending on bringing this issue to the state Parliament? NSW State labour would have nothing to do with such a ridiculous policy. So where is the smear? Its totally the truth. In fact, Jamie Parker is talking about making it his issue as well.

Funnily enough, a lot of people vote for the greens because they want action on climate change. Until just recently, a lot of these people were unaware of the extent of the ex-socialist party's influence in the greens. These throwbacks have gained political political power by using the cover of the 'greens' party and are set to repay that favour by destroying the greens credibility. What little they have, anyway.

The BDS movement is doing its best to equate Israel with South Africa, and the current situation, with apartheid. Most intelligent people reject this false comparison for the fraud that it is. It simply doesn't bare scrutiny.

Israel is less than a year away from another major war with Hezbollah. Hezbollah, who gained power in Lebanon by murdering the MP's, has been very busy building massive fortifications across the border areas to house their new rockets. Tens of thousands of Iranian and Chinese medium range missiles have been moved into the area. Hassan Nasrallah has told his fighters to ready themselves for a new war. http://en.rian.ru/world/20110216/162636891.html

As it always has, Hezbollah will provoke a confronation by whatever means necessary.

A Byte Backwards is sometimes useful especially when one thinks as I do that the soundbyte itself spooked the Federal ALP right in the middle of Rudds "BRAVE" Mining Tax stand, on the eve of being rolled.

Counterpoint ran a sound that made me squirm. Is Counterpoints special guest John Black Chief Executive of Australian Development Strategies..... right?

You decide.

"Former ALP Senator John Black suggests that green voters don't conform to the popular stereotype. His research company has studied the demographic data and he offers a radical reappraisal of their attitudes and voting preferences. The richest voters in Australia he says are not Liberals but Greens."

http://www.abc.net.au/rn/counterpoint/stories/2010/2932279.htm

My problem is class, and race relations in Australia. Seems we are going backward when it comes to equity issues with even the PM buying into the ACT.

Anyone who'd hoped for a team approach on "cohesion" might agree with me when we say we won't ever stop bullies while our politicians trumpet on all platforms.

You get what you ask for and here it appears fear attracts the strong. the weak. the innocent and all spin that leads to the lack of innovation in todays leaders.

http://www.miacat.com/

Yes the Jews do get pissed off when someone gives moral and practical support to those who regard killing Jews as a worthwhile endeavour but are there enough Jews in Marrickville to make a difference?

Perhaps the Marrickville voters were dubious about someone who doesn't realise foreign policy is a Federal not State issue? Perhaps the more informed ones realised that if Marrickville Council actually boycotted all computers or mobile devices with substantial Israeli components the council would collapse. Perhaps the voters thought that a state member so concerned with meaningless symbolism (how much Israeli product does Marrickville actually buy?) wouldn't be concerned enough with bread and butter issues?

Perhaps the voters just didn't like or trust Fiona Byrne enough to vote her into power?

Interesting what one turns up on the internet:

'The parliamentary road to socialism is non-existent. Electoral Politics, however, can be a useful vehicle for furthering campaigns and resourcing activism. As someone who is involved in the student sector in Australia, and with a Federal Election coming sometime this year, these issues have been at the forefront of my mind ... Supporting the Greens would perhaps be the most effective strategy at the next election. The Greens are in many ways bourgeois, but they have been able to exert influence over the Government's agenda ... Let's ditch this 'third party' stuff: communists can't fetishise alternative political parties, but should always make some kind of materially based assesment about the effectiveness of any given strategy come election time ...'

'Towards an anti-capitalist, anti-social democratic, internationalist movement,
Adam Bandt'

http://www.driftline.org/cgi-bin/archive/archive_msg.cgi?file=spoon-archives/marxism.archive/marxism_1995/95-03-31.000&msgnum=45&start=3475&end=3598

What a spineless, ignorant and inward looking load of cobblers from most of you.
Like the Troglodyte climate deniers on SBS "Insight"(which most of you wouldn't watch, anyway) you'll deny a truth out of sheer perversity.
It is right that many millions of Palestinians should also get a fair go (after sixty years, surely), but you are all too brainwashed to grasp it- too many American telemovies and too much Murdoch and Alan Jones, I'd propose.
God help most of you.
One day you may need help or be the victim of an injustice and I hope you get treated the way the Palestinians have been treated. And if it happens, I'll cheer from the rafters.

so paul, you're a green voter then?

gosh, we sure want to vote for a party full of folks like yourself, so rational and .. oh

A ridiculous proposition by Pip Hinman.

The simple fact is that support for the Watermelons in the NSW electorate is ten percent.

Fortunately that was low enough to save Marrickville from electing a green, but not low enough to save Balmain from inflicting one on us.

Don't be fooled, everything on the RED/green agenda is equally on the agenda of the Loony Far Left factions of the rest of the getup, GAYLP, Socialist Alliance.

Is Israel an apartheid state?

http://icahdusa.org/2010/03/is-israel-an-apartheid-state/

The evidence is quite clear on this question for anyone who wants to look at some facts. And the results are devastating for ordinary Palestinians who want to stay in their homes and lead a normal life.

Why should Marrickville Council be concerned?

http://www.interfaithpeaceinitiative.com/globalactions.pdf

Organisations of many kinds who oppose social injustice wherever this occurs have shown their concern as can be seen in the 88 pages (at the above URL) of about 500 organisations who have condemned Israel for their actions and recommended boycotts, divestments or sanctions against Israel.

This global campaign will in time have its effect, as it did in South Africa, and bring Israel to its senses and peace to Israel/Palestine.

The tenth paragraph of Pip Hinman's article included a quote from the Sydney Morning Herald editorial of Monday 28 March 2011. That quote said, in part, in relation to Marrickville Council having signed on to a Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions campaign against Israel:

"... Fiona Byrne's support for an absurd ban
on firms with links to Israel from doing business
with Marrickville Council only cast doubt on her
and her party's commonsense."

It should be remembered that one of the four referendum questions put to the Australian people in 1988 proposed alteration of the Constitution to specifically recognise local government, thereby removing it from its subordinate position in relation to its respective State government. Those four referenda were each voted down by the people with record low 'Yes' votes in the history of Federal referenda.

I wonder whether most posters to this comments thread are not focussing upon the wrong aspect of this Marrickville Council decision. A picture being worth a thousand words, it is worth noting that a picture accompanies Pip Hinman's article. Looking beyond the defacement of the billboard, we see that the poster was about the extolling of the virtues of real change and renewable energy in the pictorially inferred context of electricity generation, and presumably its associated distribution and supply.

Could it be that between them, those who voted for BDS on Marrickville Council may have been wittingly or unwittingly setting the Marrickville ratepayers, and maybe even the newly elected NSW government, up for a fall? The BDS ban is claimedly on firms having links with Israel from DOING BUSINESS with Marrickville Council. Should it ever become to be shown in court by a plaintiff claiming damages arising from such BDS campaign, that the Council was acting outside its authority in participating in that campaign, Marrickville ratepayers, and perhaps NSW taxpayers at large, could be liable to pay the bill.

Electricity's Israel links? http://www.uiansw.org.au/gallery_thumb.cfm?id=98&category_current=2

Perhaps Barry O'Farrell's Minister for Local Government would be well advised to summarily dismiss Marrickville Council and appoint an administrator before any such potential liabilities can be incurred.

Just thought I should mention that I had seen some advertorial stuff over the Easter long weekend on Channel 9 for the Better Place electric car! You know, the one being plugged (!!) by the company with which Ben Kenneally, as Head of Marketing and External Affairs, Better Place Australia, is involved: Ben, the other half of the former(?) 'power couple', the other half of which (or at least the 'killer heels' thereof) is the subject of this article.

Whilst it was undoubtedly not a good look for Kristina's government to be seen excluding all others who may have had an interest in tendering to Energy Australia for an electric vehicle grid enterprise agreement at a time when her husband was Head of Marketing and External Affairs of the lone eventually successful tenderer, and when her own government was trying to bumrush a firesale privatisation of NSW' remaining electricity assets before its time in power expired, perhaps we shouldn't be too hard on her.

With Better Place, founded by Israeli entrepreneur Shai Agassi, being the world's leading provider of electric vehicle services and a pioneer in sustainable transportation technology, perhaps we have a 'Chim Ham'-like situation with respect to Ben Kennealy being involved with that enterprise. It is not hard to imagine Thomas Keneally, Ben's uncle, having made many useful contacts with prominent Israelis over the years since he commenced research on his book, 'Schindler's Ark'. Perhaps Ben has been a beneficiary of that.

All of which, to my perhaps labyrinthine mind, makes all the more intriguing the initial Labor Party support within Marrickville Council for the Greens-initiated BDSM* campaign against Israel that commenced prior to the recent State elections, support which was the basis for claims of Labor hypocrisy made on behalf of the defeated Greens candidate for Marrickville at the State elections. See: http://forum.onlineopinion.com.au/thread.asp?article=11852#203281

A puzzle.




*The 'M' in this acronym standing, of course, for Marrickville, just to make sure that its Council's resolution is clearly identified in the wider Boycott-Divestment-Sanctions scene.