Rhinecliff, NY -- Bethlehem Neighbors for Peace

Last night, I attended a weekly discussion group held by the Bethlehem Neighbors for Peace (BNP) to promote Jonathan Tasini's campaign. Unsurprisingly, I was preaching to the choir -- everyone of the 20 or so people in the room was already planning to vote for Jonathan, but they were pretty happy to know that the campaign was paying attention to them. Prior to the meeting, they had their weekly anti-war protest at Four Corners, which drew a crowd despite the brisk temperatures outside.

BNP is larger than I would've expected -- they have over 600 people on their e-mail list, and nearly 500 have attended an event. They appear to skew older -- other than me, only one other person in the room was under 30.

The conversation centered mostly on civil liberties and civil disobedience, and was comfortable for the most part, until I realized that, to a person, everybody in the room believed that the Bush administration was behind the 9/11/01 attacks, and members of the group swap several films on the topic and show them to a variety of audiences around the Capital District. Once I realized that, I realized I wasn't really in my own circle, but it was interesting to spend a bit of time with people who are further to the left than I am.

BNP's weekly gatherings are held each Monday at 6 PM in the lounge at the back of Perfect Blend Cafe in Delmar. I am a semi-abashed fan of Starbucks, but PB's chai lattes really put Starbucks's to shame! Come for the coffee, stay for the uber-liberal conspiracy theories!

posted by jbrzoska @ 8:55 AM Trackback Link