EASTHAM — A yellow patch of grass opposite the Lobster Shanty on Route 6 became the site of a 100-person protest on Saturday, March 1, as it was the nearest place along the highway to the Cape Cod National Seashore’s Salt Pond Visitor Center.
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ISRAEL AND PALESTINE
After Tense Prologue, Film and Discussion Go Forward Without Incident
About 20 people protested a documentary, claiming it is anti-Semitic
WELLFLEET — The organization Wellfleet for Palestine organized a screening of the 2016 documentary film The Occupation of the American Mind on Tuesday, Jan. 14 at the Wellfleet Public Library. While about 70 people watched the film, about 20 protesters carried signs outside.
The film examines the role of lobbying in influencing American news media, public opinion, and foreign policy toward both Israel and Palestine. News of the screening provoked a backlash, with protesters calling the film anti-Semitic, but the film and discussion afterward went forward civilly.
Wellfleet Executive Assistant Rebekah Eldridge said she began receiving calls and messages from people asking the town to halt the showing on Friday, including a deluge of more than 1,200 formulaic emails that accused the library of promoting anti-Semitism, saying, “we hold you responsible for inciting violence.”
Town Administrator Tom Guerino released a statement on Monday saying that the film would be shown in accordance with the organizers’ First Amendment rights.
Library Director Jennifer Wertkin told the Independent Monday that “Wellfleet for Palestine reserved the room in accordance with our policy, and they are allowed to do that. We are a public institution. Use of the meeting room does not imply an endorsement by the library of the opinions being expressed.”
Protestor Cheryl Mavrikos from South Yarmouth told the Independent that the film promotes anti-Semitism by discussing the ways that the “Israel Lobby,” as the film calls it, shapes public perception of the Israel-Palestine conflict. She compared this to anti-Semitic conspiracy theories about a “Jewish cabal.” Mavrikos did not dispute the claim that pro-Israel organizations provide substantial funding to American politicians.
Farrukh Najmi, a founding member of Wellfleet for Palestine, told the Independent that the screening was part of a film series the group puts on to “educate people and present a narrative that is lacking in mainstream media.”
He disputed the notion that the film is anti-Semitic and said that Wellfleet for Palestine has a number of Jewish and Israeli members. “It’s part of our charter that we will not tolerate any form of hate, including anti-Semitism,” he said. “If criticizing Netanyahu or criticizing Israel … is anti-Semitic, then we are in a very dark place.”
Approximately 20 people who gathered outside the library before the screening held signs reading “hate speech is not free speech” and “Cape Cod stands with Israel.” Most of the protestors the Independent spoke to said they had heard about the screening on social media.
Evan Provisor from Wellfleet called the film “a piece of propaganda.” He said he had no objection to the library’s allowing Wellfleet for Palestine to show the film, however.
Eileen Elias from Barnstable disagreed, criticizing the library and town counsel for allowing the film to be screened. She called the event one-sided: “You can’t talk about one piece and say that’s the whole. You have to understand all the pieces.”
After the screening, the organizers opened the floor for discussion, which focused on the current conflict. Some said their objections to the film were about a lack of acknowledgement of Hamas’s role in the conflict. “The worst type of lie is a half-truth,” Mavrikos said. “Why do they keep rockets in schools?” she asked. “Why do they put rockets in hospitals?”
Several speakers who identified themselves as Jewish described their support for Palestine. Elaine Baskin from Wellfleet spoke of being raised as a Zionist but said, “I realize now that Zionism is a colonialist project.”
Catherine Hoffmann from South Wellfleet and Cambridge said, “We face a situation in which more than 50,000 people in an entire region have been annihilated.” She said that a friend whose son had died in the Oct. 7 Hamas attack in Israel told her, “Do not let anyone die on behalf of my son.”
Some speakers decried war in all its forms. A speaker who said he was from Wellfleet and described himself as a pacifist said, “Israel will never earn its security by obliterating its enemies … Hamas will never succeed in achieving a state by hurling more rockets.”
After the discussion ended, Wellfleet for Palestine member and event host Lor Holmes told the Independent she was heartened by the event. “We were afraid,” she said. “We didn’t know what to expect.” She said she was glad to hear diverse opinions.
Library Director Wertkin said that she was relieved that, as in other conversations about Israel and Palestine in town, “people were well-behaved, and it was civil.”
Editor’s note: An earlier version of this article, published in print on Jan. 16, misnamed the host of the film showing at the library. It was Lor Holmes, not “Hughes.”
SUFFERING
Airman’s Death Is Both a Protest and a Loss
Aaron Bushnell’s extreme act reverberates in the community here
ORLEANS — In the days since Airman Aaron Bushnell died by fire in front of the Israeli Embassy in Washington, D.C. while shouting “free Palestine,” there has been a surge across the country in demands for an end to the Israeli military’s offensive in Gaza, where more than 30,000 people, predominantly civilians, have been killed, according to Gaza’s health ministry.
The 25-year-old Bushnell was born and raised here in the Community of Jesus, a tight-knit religious commune in Rock Harbor with about 300 members, according to Tom Ryan, a longtime adviser to the group. Bushnell left Orleans in 2019 and joined the Air Force in May 2020; he worked in cyber-defense operations in San Antonio, Texas. Before his death he had transferred to a program in Ohio for Air Force members transitioning to civilian life, according to multiple news reports.
On Feb. 25, Bushnell live streamed himself with his phone as he approached the embassy, saying, “I am an active-duty member of the United States Air Force, and I will no longer be complicit in genocide.”
He called his suicide “an extreme act of protest” but said that “compared to what people have been experiencing in Palestine at the hands of their colonizers, it’s not extreme at all.”
He lit himself on fire and died at a hospital hours later.
Bushnell became the face of the movement at protests and vigils held worldwide last weekend.
Jennifer Smith, a mid-Cape member of several peace and social justice organizations, called Bushnell’s self-immolation “such a horrific act, but that was the point.
“Most of us don’t categorize this as a suicide,” Smith said. “If you look back, people who have taken that dramatic step all had a compelling and urgent message to share with the world.”
Meanwhile, Bushnell’s family is waiting for his body to be released by the military.
Bushnell was a student at Orleans Elementary School between 2003 and 2007 and attended Nauset Regional High School from 2013 to 2014, according to the Nauset public schools.
Learning more about who Aaron Bushnell was has been difficult. Officials and members of the Community of Jesus have not spoken to the press or provided a statement in reaction to his act.
Reporters from many news organizations swarmed the community’s campus and surrounding neighborhood in the days following his death, even knocking on the door of the Bushnell family home, according to Ryan.
Sunday’s Eucharistic service, normally held on the group’s campus at the Church of the Transfiguration, was canceled because of concern that it would be interrupted by reporters or protesters. According to Ryan, church members instead gathered in small groups at their homes. Ryan, an Eastham resident and former Catholic priest, is not a member of the Community but has taken on various roles there for about 30 years.
In 1991, Ryan was hired by the Community of Jesus as a legal consultant and expert on zoning exemptions for religious buildings during the town’s review of the proposed Church of the Transfiguration. He also provided advice on the selection of religious art for the church’s interior.
“I knew Aaron since he was born, and I knew his parents before he was born,” Ryan told the Independent.
Bushnell was passionate about things he valued, Ryan said, but not unusually so. “He was idealistic, like lots of kids,” said Ryan, “but not in an exceptional, unreal way.”
According to Ryan, Bushnell didn’t “half listen” the way some people do. “When Aaron was with you, he was intensely with you,” he said. “He would listen to what was being said — not just the words but exploring the experience.” Bushnell was imaginative and curious, Ryan said.
Ryan has been involved in religious education programs at several Christian and Catholic parishes on the Cape. At the Community of Jesus, he was head of kindergarten-to-grade-12 religious instruction from 2010 to 2019, consisting of twice-weekly classes that all the students took regardless of which local schools they attended.
Ryan also organized youth group field trips, including a visit to the Holy Land in 2016 that Bushnell, a recent high school graduate, went on. The trip included going to Biblical sites and meeting with Christian groups, as well as visiting Bethlehem University in the West Bank, where both Islamic and Christian students studied, Ryan said. The group briefly visited a refugee camp run by the United Nations, Ryan said, but it wasn’t an experience that would have traumatized anyone.
“I haven’t seen or talked to Aaron since Covid,” Ryan said. “I think he left a little before that.”
Asked whether he viewed Bushnell’s self-immolation as reflecting a mental-health crisis or as an act to focus attention on the plight of the Palestinians, Ryan said it could be both.
“Many feel the need to cry out against the slaughter in Gaza, but he had in his mind that he needed to go on a self-destructive pathway,” Ryan said. “Millions who feel the same conviction don’t go to that.”
Bushnell would have been aware of self-immolation as a form of protest, Ryan said, such as the acts of Buddhist monks protesting the war in Vietnam in the 1960s.
Bushnell had also recently become focused on alleviating poverty and homelessness, according to his friend Ashley Schuman, who spoke to the New York Times for its Feb. 28 story about Bushnell. Schuman, a Yarmouth resident who was born in the Community of Jesus and grew up with Bushnell, left shortly after he did, according to the Times.
It reported that Schuman spoke of the anxiety she and Bushnell dealt with as teenagers due to the high expectations and tight restrictions of the Community’s leaders and teachers. Schuman talked on the phone with Bushnell regularly after they had both left the community, according to the Times, and he appeared to her to be increasingly stressed, no longer expressing the enthusiasm he had back at school and during boot camp. The two fell out of touch in 2021.
Schuman did not respond to several requests for comment from the Independent.
While Bushnell’s self-immolation is viewed by many as a political act to draw attention to the suffering in Gaza, for his family, it is about the very personal and devastating loss of one’s child by his own hand, Ryan said.
“They’re not wondering if Al Jazeera had a story on this, or what they are thinking in Russia about this,” Ryan said. “It’s a suicide that cuts into your body and into your heart and your soul and mind in a way most other deaths don’t.”
ADDRESSING A GRIEVANCE
USPS Protest
Laurie Veninger stands up for “de-mail” at the North Truro Post Office with Ira Brodsky and Mark Enright. Veninger said other members of Indivisible Outer Cape gathered at post offices in Wellfleet, Truro, and Provincetown on Saturday as part of a nationwide protest against Postmaster General Louis DeJoy and policies that are disrupting service and the public’s trust in the mail. (Photo Nancy Bloom)
DEBT OF GRATITUDE
Friends of Willy’s Coach Press Niggel to Pay His Widow
Remembrance and protest on the anniversary of Joe Abbott’s death
EASTHAM — About 50 people gathered outside Willy’s World Wellness & Conference Center on Aug. 7, marking one year since the death of tennis coach Joe Abbott, who collapsed at work on the gym’s tennis courts.
They held signs remembering Abbott, but said they were also there in protest, because Willy’s owner, Barbara Niggel, has not paid Abbott’s widow the $20,000 Niggel allegedly owed Abbott when he died.
“Be Kind, Be Decent, Willy’s Pay Joe What You Owe,” read the sign held by David Bernstein, a tennis player who started a GoFundMe campaign after Abbott, of South Dennis, died at age 63 of a heart attack on Aug. 7, 2019. The campaign raised about $40,000.
Bernstein and other students of Abbott say they are not done trying to help Francine Abbott, Joe’s widow, as well as his six children and 12 grandchildren.
Ms. Abbott did not want to comment about the money at the protest Friday, but said, “Everyone who is here is why Joe came to work in the morning. And they became my support system this past year. They were his family, and now, they are my family.”
Niggel, through her attorney, Ed Kirk, has disputed Abbott’s claim. Kirk told the Independent in March, “If and to the extent it is demonstrated that Joe Abbott was owed any money at the time of his death, that amount will be paid. Given her long-standing relationship with Joe Abbott, my client would be of the opinion that Joe Abbott would not be happy with the allegations being made against my client at this time.”
Bernstein said Abbott was very loyal to Niggel, who has a long history, documented by numerous small claims in Orleans District Court, of failing to pay contractors and employees, as well as violating building, health, and safety codes, which caused the town of Eastham to shut down the gym for months last December.
Bernstein said Niggel is asking Francine to “jump through hoops” to document the money owed. He and Abbott’s other supporters say they won’t pay fees or use the newly reopened gym until the money is paid.
Protestors also said they were upset about the way Abbott died, immediately after strenuous work to resurface the outdoor courts on a hot August day. They said Niggel had collected extra money from the tennis players to hire a professional contractor for the project.
The day Abbott died, he had been hauling 80-pound bags of material to resurface the courts, said Betsie Lind of Eastham, a longtime student of Abbott’s. Lind said he then began her lesson, but promptly stopped, saying he was feeling too hot and needed to sit down.
Lind said Abbott was sweating profusely. She tried to use the downstairs phone by the indoor tennis courts, but it did not work, so she dialed 911 on her cell phone.
Lind remembered Abbott as more than a tennis instructor. “He was more like a life coach,” she said.
Mary Gulrich, one of Abbott’s students from Eastham, added, “He treated each of us with dignity and respect and greeted us with hugs and joy.”
“We are very saddened that it’s been a full year and we’re still waiting for Francine to be paid,” said Anne Sigsbee, another of Abbott’s students who joined the protest.
Along with private lessons, Abbott coached several teams, including a men’s team that went on in February to win a U.S. Tennis Association national championship in Florida.
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This Week in Eastham
Meetings Ahead
Meetings are held remotely. Go to eastham-ma.gov/calendar-by-event-type/16 and click on a particular meeting to read its agenda. That document will provide information about how to view and take part remotely.
Tuesday, Aug. 11
- Conservation Commission, 6 p.m.
Wednesday, Aug. 12
- Finance Committee, 5 p.m.
Covid-19 Update
As of July 30, the number of confirmed cases in Eastham was 14. The number of cases increased from 12 last week, according to the town’s website.
Willy’s Protest
A protest outside Willy’s Gym is planned to begin at 8 a.m. on Friday, Aug. 7. Anne Sigsbee has organized the protest for the one-year anniversary of the death of Joe Abbott, a longtime tennis instructor at the gym.
“It will be a year since Joe died and many of us are very aware that his family has not been paid what he was owed when he died,” Sigsbee told the Independent.
The Independent reported in March that Francine Abbott of South Dennis, Joe Abbott’s widow, claims that Willy’s owner Barbara Niggel owed him more than $20,000 in unpaid wages and loans when he died last year. Niggel has denied this and has hired a lawyer to represent her in the dispute.
“We felt to honor him and his family we would speak up,” Sigsbee said. “Some of us feel strongly and will not use the facilities until we learn that they’ve been paid what they’re owed.”
The protest will be an all-day event with most people showing up around midday, Sigsbee said. She expects 20 or more people to attend, including Abbott’s family, and participants will be wearing masks and remain socially distanced.
“Joe’s family is very supportive and will be there,” she said.
Anyone planning to attend should wear a mask; signs are welcome.
Nauset Schools to Reveal Opening Plan Aug. 6
Nauset Regional School Supt. Tom Conrad will announce the district’s reopening plans for the fall at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 6.
So far all that has been announced to parents is that the Nauset district, which spans Wellfleet to Brewster, will most likely open late, on Sept. 16, to give teachers time for training and to be ready for a school year guaranteed to include distance learning for families needing that option and a lot of hand sanitizer.
Other than that, Conrad’s message will lay out details on whether all students go back to a brick-and-mortar school, continue “distant learning,” or a combination of both.
To get on the Zoom call, follow these instructions: Go to nausetschools.org. Scroll down the Quick Links and select “Event Calendar” and then click on the event listed on Aug. 6. Click next on the “Description, 8-6-2020.” This will take you, finally, to the agenda and Zoom meeting link.
Rock Harbor Open Again
The Rock Harbor boat ramp is open again, according to Town Administrator Jacqui Beebe. She gave an update to the select board on Aug. 3 on the completion of the project to repave and replace the boat ramp in the area.
Beebe said Harbormaster Scott Richards will be at the harbor assisting boats in and out of the area. The town waited to see what the weather was like earlier this week but planned on opening the boat ramp after Wednesday.
“Our docks and floats are in the water and we have everything set up to receive boats at this point,” Beebe said. “The ramp portion is complete; the parking lot was repaved two days ago and is ready to be driven on.”
The line markers for parking spaces will be drawn either this week or next week.
Register to Vote
The last day to register to vote in Eastham for the state primary election, to be held on Sept. 1, is Saturday, Aug. 22 at the police station. The deadline to request a mail-in AV or EV ballot is Wednesday, Aug. 26 at 5 p.m. and to request an AV or EV in person is Monday, Aug. 31 until noon.
Early voting for the primary will be held at town hall on Saturday, Aug. 22 and Sunday, Aug. 23 from 9 to 11 a.m. and on Monday, Aug. 24 through Friday, Aug. 28 from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.
The last day to register to vote at the annual town meeting, to be held on Sept. 21, is Tuesday, Sept. 1 until 5 p.m.
Kerry Steps Down from Strategic Planning
In a letter to the select board, Scott Kerry announced he will be stepping down from the strategic planning committee but said he would still provide input as a resident.
“I would like to offer my services and experiences as a business owner, father of an elementary school student, and long-time resident if needed and/or desired,” Kerry wrote. “I will plan to make future meetings when my schedule permits.”
Kerry is the new town moderator and chair of the T-Time Development Committee. —Ryan Fitzgerald
HUMAN RIGHTS
At Protests Here, There Is Solidarity
In a white corner of the country, a cry for justice ‘for those hurting now’
WELLFLEET — Protests against police brutality following the May 25 murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis were not confined to America’s major cities. About 150 people marched through Wellfleet last Sunday afternoon, and about the same number gathered in Provincetown that evening.
