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Before Joe Biden’s withdrawal, the Democratic National Convention (DNC) was expected to be a gloomy vigil for American democracy, mired by leadership disputes and an emboldened Donald Trump. But, as the saying often attributed to Harold Wilson goes, “a week is a long time in politics.”
What’s instead unfolding in Chicago is, on the whole, a powerful display of cross-party unity against Trump. Now officially the Democratic nominee for President, Kamala Harris seems to be largely succeeding in bridging the party’s factional (and largely generational) divide. But for many on the party’s disillusioned left, foreign policy still remains a sticky issue.
Packing Chicago’s United Center to the brim, the Convention’s line-up showed widespread support for Harris across the party’s traditional ideological lines. The Clintons, the Obamas, left-wing congressional icons like NY Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC) and Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, celebrities from both television and TikTok, union leaders and indigenous spokespeople, all united in praise for Biden and Harris.
AOC delivered a fiery speech in support of Harris, rallying against “corporate greed” and the “two-bit billionaire union buster” Trump. She recognised the Vice President’s efforts “to secure a ceasefire in Gaza and bring the hostages home.”
Sanders – the US’ most popular politician amongst Millennials and Gen Z – urged Americans to “have the courage to stand up to wealth and power and deliver justice for people at home and abroad.” He spoke on campaign finance reform, guaranteeing health care as a human right (historically a point of controversy among Democrats), and “end[ing] this horrific war in Gaza” with “an immediate ceasefire.”
In a rare move, the Uncommitted Movement, which has worked within the Democratic party to secure thirty delegates at the convention (representative of over 700,000 primary voters) standing against US military support for Israel, were given the go-ahead to speak at an untelevised fringe event about Palestinian human rights. It was the first panel of its kind in DNC history.
In her forceful Tuesday night speech, Michelle Obama perfectly captured the “magical” feeling in the arena. “This is our time to stand up for what we know in our hearts is right. To stand up, not just for our basic freedoms but for decency and humanity; for basic respect, dignity, and empathy; for the values at the very foundation of this democracy,” she said.
According to Democratic Strategist Simon Rosenburg, this level of Democratic unity is unprecedented. “I’ve been doing this a long time, decades, and I don’t think the party has been this joyous, happy, confident, united in any of the years since,” he told Channel 4’s Matt Frei on Monday.
But under the surface, divisions over Gaza may still present a challenge to Harris come November. As the convention roared in celebration this week, the streets around the United Center were enveloped in peaceful protest.
Despite a few confrontations with local law enforcement, the type of brutal police crack-downs witnessed across US college campuses over the past year have so far not manifested in Chicago this week. According to on-the-ground reporters at PBS, “the crowds of pro-Palestinian protesters included many families and people of different faiths.”
Rabbi Brant Rosen, the founder of the Jewish Voice for Peace’s Rabbinical Council who spoke at one of the protests on Monday, urged for more recognition of Palestinian human rights at the DNC.
The word Palestine is not allowed inside the Democratic National Convention. The word ceasefire has barely been uttered. This is a Hollywood-style coronation of a candidate. They assume they are entitled to our votes, but they are not entitled to our votes
Rabbi Brant Rosen
A spokesperson for the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), which has also campaigned for an arms embargo on Benjamin Netanyahu’s government, told Byline Times that “the American-Muslim community has pleaded with Democratic elected officials including Ms. Harris, to end the carnage in Gaza for months.”
“Very few officials that we have met with have had the political courage to call this ‘war’ for what it is – a systematic genocide, perpetuated by an Israeli government we send financial support to, against Palestinian civilians,” they said.
President Biden, speaking on Monday, acknowledged the protests forming outside the conference centre, saying “they have a point, a lot of innocent people are being killed, both sides.”
Since 7 October 2023, 1,200 Israelis have been killed and over 5,000 have been injured, compared with over 40,000 Palestinian deaths and nearly 80,000 wounded.
Layla Elabed, Uncommitted Movement’s co-chair who spoke at the un-televised DNC panel on Monday, acknowledged that the opportunity to speak up for Palestinian rights was a “historic moment.” However, she argued, “It’s not enough.”
The group said they “strongly support” the decision to include the families of Israeli hostages on the speakers list, but believe that the Palestinian-American community should be represented as well. The Movement noted that Cook County, the seat of the Democratic Convention in Chicago, is also home to the United States’ largest Palestinian population.
On Wednesday, Uncommitted spokespeople claimed they were denied a request to put in a Palestinian voice on the DNC’s televised main stage. The planned speaker was Georgia state representative and Palestinian-American Ruwa Romman, who claims her speech had been given to DNC officials ahead of time, and that it “urged us to unite behind Harris”, criticised Trump, and centred on the promise and optimism of the moment.
“The only reason we’re doing this,” Romman said on X, “is to save the soul of our party and prevent bad actors from using our pain in an ongoing voter suppression campaign.”
The Uncommitted delegates, who say they still support Harris and want her to beat Trump, have organised a 24-hour sit-in beginning on Wednesday night to protest the decision to reject their speaker – in what they have called a “moral act of civil disobedience”. They’ve been joined virtually by AOC, and in person, by Minnesota Congresswoman Ilhan Omar.
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Speaking at the sit-in on Thursday, organisers explained their position. “Our party’s platform states that every life is valuable: whether American, Palestinian, or Israeli. We will conduct a moral act of sitting in at the Convention to push our party to better align our actions, instead of just our words, with the notion that every life is valuable by simply allowing a Palestinian American to speak from the stage.”
The Democratic party leadership has reportedly acknowledged the sit-in but has not yet offered any formal response.
Looking forward, Harris may now be overseeing a much more united and optimistic party base than Biden would have been at this stage. But Uncommitted’s successes show that unprecedented pressure is now coming from within the party to change course on foreign policy.