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Greenwashing War: Burlington, Vermont Mayor Signs Deal With Lockheed Martin

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Current ISE Director Brian Tokar is quoted in an article posted to progressive news outlet Toward Freedom; here’s the lead paragraph:

When it leaked in Seven Days, a local alternative weekly, that Mayor Bob Kiss of liberal mecca Burlington, Vermont had inked a deal with the world’s largest war profiteer all hell broke loose inside the Burlington left. Charges of “corporate greenwashing” and hypocrisy lit up Facebook pages and coffeeshop conversations. These charges land fresh like the daily newspaper at the doorstep of most mayors of American cities. Mayor Bob Kiss however, is a former conscientious objector, and a member of Vermont’s Progressive Party, the most successful third party in the US, which touts a platform totally at odds with war profiteers like Lockheed. It’s the party that claims Bernie Sanders, the US’ lone socialist senator, recent Filibuster leader and viral web sensation amongst its founders. Mayor Kiss, whose party has for 28 of the last 30 years controlled City Hall, was learning what many social movements that assume governmental control learn: wielding power without alienating the community organizers and social movements that put leaders into office can prove to be quite the difficult equation to balance.

To read the rest of the article:

http://www.towardfreedom.com/home/americas/2245-lockheed-martin-and-burlington