STORY
Kieran Dams has resigned from the Green Party and announced that he will sit as an independent councillor following the adoption of the party’s controversial motion declaring Zionism to be a form of racism. The 23-year-old Waterloo councillor said he had returned from the party conference unable to defend a decision that he believed could have serious consequences for Jewish members.
Dams said he had supported an unsuccessful amendment intended to protect members from pressure or disciplinary action because of their attendance at, or association with, Jewish institutions such as synagogues and community centres. He subsequently voted against the final motion and said he had witnessed Jewish members in tears after it was approved.
The councillor said that supporting Palestinian freedom and criticising the actions of the Israeli Government were compatible with defending Jewish communities from antisemitism. He warned that he feared the Green Party was heading towards what he described as a “very dark place”, but said he would continue handling casework and representing Waterloo as an independent councillor.