While Williams, Councilwoman and Mayor-elect LaToya Cantrell and others issued a statement Friday defending their actions, Williams on Wednesday called for reconsideration of the issue, saying that he was not aware of the boycott movement or its mission when the council voted.
He said it was a mistake for the council to introduce and vote on the unadvertised measure at the end of a nearly six-hour meeting, as doing so did not give people enough time to voice their opinions.
Landrieu, who said he hadn't seen the document before the council's vote, quickly denounced it last week, saying it was "ill-advised, gratuitous and does not reflect the policy of the city of New Orleans."
For starters, I really hate it when they lie like this. Jason Williams clearly knows what the BDS movement is. When he finds it convenient to pretend not to, he's just insulting a voting public he presumes to be stupid.
Here is a link that should pull up video of the discussion. Williams gives a long talk where he reads the resolution out loud and goes on to compare it with similar divestment campaigns such as the movement against South African Apartheid. After that there were three public comments on behalf of the resolution all of which specifically referenced Palestinian rights. Councilmembers knew what they were voting on. Or, at least Jason did.
The only reason he or any of them would want to walk this back now is because one or more contractors who do business with the city expressed concern about the implications of having their investments scrutinized for human rights violations. It's worth asking who those people might be.
Maybe Veolia had something to say about its experience here.
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