Democratic National Convention officials rejected a request to allow Palestinian Americans to speak from the conference’s main stage. In protest of that decision, a group of “Uncommitted” delegates critical of the party’s stance on the war, staged a sit-in in front of the United Center Wednesday evening as party leaders continued speaking inside
DNC organizers did not comment on the record on their decision to exclude Palestinian American speakers from the main stage at the four-day convention.
Earlier this month, they had suggested as a speaker Dr. Tanya Haj-Hassan, a pediatric intensive care physician who most recently treated patients in Gaza with the nonprofit Medical Aid for Palestinians. Delegates also proposed a number of Palestinian American elected officials to DNC officials. Until Wednesday, Uncommitted members had expressed that negotiations with the DNC had proceeded in good faith.
As the party coalesced support around Harris in recent months, delegates committed to Harris also joined the Uncommitted movement’s push for a ceasefire and change in Israel policy. At least 200 Harris delegates signed a pledge pushing the administration to secure a permanent ceasefire in Gaza. Harris has called for a ceasefire and the protection of civilians in Gaza, though it’s not yet clear whether her administration would adopt a policy toward Israel that differs from Biden’s.
Among the Harris delegates opposing U.S. support for Israel’s war in Gaza were several who unfurled a banner during Biden’s speech on Monday with the message, “Stop Arming Israel.” Other delegates seated around them responded by hitting and blocking them with “We Love Joe” signs and eventually snatched the banner away. Delegate Nadia Ahmad filed a complaint with Chicago Police on Wednesday alleging that she was the victim of simple battery.
The Uyghurs are being genocided in China. The Rohingya are being genocided in Burma. There are people being genocided in South Sudan, Ethiopia, and Syria. This list is surely incomplete. By absolutely no means am I minimizing the plight of Palestinians in Gaza, and I fervently condemn all such actions.
That said, geopolitics is a filthy, nasty, amoral business, and humans are selfish and vicious. The Democrats are playing the game as best they can. Israel has one of the most powerful militaries on the planet, and they can destroy Gaza all on their own. They are the only nation on Earth who refuse to admit they are a nuclear power. The USA is playing two sides in the conflict; publicly they vow to support their ally Israel. They promise weapons and aid. Behind the scenes they are delaying the regular aid, and the additional aid is scheduled years out. The USA is also divided roughly 50/50 on how to react to this conflict and is forced to play a similar game with the American public, because there are factions here calling for Civil War 2, and wouldn’t that complicate things?
You want immediate solutions, just like we all do. The only solution is convincing Israel to disengage, which is certainly being communicated behind the scenes. International sanctions would help, but international public support must get behind that. Should we move a couple carrier groups just offshore to threaten Israel? Sounds like an option, but what would that do to the balance of powers in the Middle East? What would Iran do? How will China react to such provocations? Will they take the opportunity to distract from their domestic issues by invading Taiwan, the global high tech manufacturing powerhouse? How will it affect the war in Ukraine and Russia? Iran is already helping Russia and brutalizing their own people for advocating freedom.
Conflict between three precarious superpowers vying for supremacy and balancing conflicts between their weaker neighbors. Nukes all over the place. That is a plausible scenario for how to start WW3. Probably something best avoided, exceedingly carefully, and unfortunately, horrifically slowly.
So that’s the situation. Is there anything I missed? Of course there is. There are thousands of factors in play. Take for instance, the fact that military technology is on the cusp of changing completely to autonomous drone swarms. There’s the fact that MAGA is being driven by an Evangelical death cult who are convinced that if they glass the Middle East, they can force Jesus to return for Armageddon. Then there’s climate change to deal with.
Those smaller genocides I mentioned at the start get largely ignored simply because those nations are not major players, or because we can do almost nothing about them.
There are no easy, quick solutions. Geopolitics is a horror show. I’m not trying to convince you to disengage, or accept it, or get used to it. By all means, engage, refuse to accept it, rage against the dying of the light.
But remember that people are engaging in global diplomatic strategy because they too are horrified. Remember that the stakes are calamitous. This is not the democrat’s fault. We are 8 billion barely-not-chimps who have seized the keys to the Universe somewhat earlier than we have figured out there are no gods coming to save us from ourselves. Sh!t just is.
And if you want to see just how bad it can get, there’s always letting Trump turn everything to hell again. It’s mind-boggling how much of our current situation is directly his stupid fücking fault. That’s all a protest vote will get us; more of the worst. Yes, the GOP is horrifyingly worse than the Democrats. You care deeply and that is a wondrous, beautiful thing. We need you. Stop deluding yourself that both sides are the same. Get out and fücking vote.
As an American, the only ones that are funded by US military aid are Israel’s genocide of Gaza and Saudi Arabia’s genocide of Syria (that I’m aware of). Those are the only ones that I can try to get my government to stop giving unconditional military support to and instead threaten conditional support or even sanctions to stop the genocide. Of course I also support using soft power such as sanctions to add pressure on other powers to stop their genocides, such as on Russia and China, along with other international pressures like thru the ICC and ICJ
deleted by creator
Sorry, that’s completely wrong. Israel is still extremely reliant on the US military hardware – tanks, planes, missiles, guns, you name it. The vast majority of the bombs being dropped on Gaza come from the US, also.
https://www.npr.org/2024/04/04/1242911786/a-closer-look-at-u-s-military-support-for-israel
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/11/us/israel-gaza-bombs.html
Also, the Biden administration merely delayed one shipment of 2,000 lb bombs. Netanyahu claimed that the Biden administration was holding back more, but this was just a PR move. The US is still happily sending tank engines, planes, guns, and smaller bombs to Israel.
Al in all, the Biden administration has done very little to effectively restrain Netanyahu. The “bear hug” strategy has been an unmitigated failure.
deleted by creator
I’m not advocating either way, although the horrors I’ve seen happening in Gaza are on a whole other level than anything I’ve witnessed before.
I wouldn’t blame anyone who votes third party, or even sits this one out
deleted by creator
You are literally in here trying to absolve the US from their role in an active genocide. You don’t get to moralise about damned fools.
If I still lived in America, I’d be voting Democrat because I think it’d be stupid to do otherwise, but your political stance is genuinely disgusting.
deleted by creator
I’m not advocating either way, although the horrors I’ve seen committed in Gaza are on a whole other level than anything I’ve witnessed before.
I wouldn’t blame anyone who votes third party, or even sits this one out.
What? Where are you getting the idea that the US is not funding the Gaza Genocide? That’s completely untrue
https://www.cfr.org/article/us-aid-israel-four-charts
deleted by creator
No, I’m advocating for demanding more from our representatives. Here’s a link of another comment of mine detailing my position on it
deleted by creator
This should be pinned at the top of any tankie post.
Take it. It’s yours.
The Israel Palestine one is the one that we can actually help as Americans. And we are very actively involved with it.
The US isn’t delaying shit. They delayed one little shipment once, but have also just approved more money and weapons for Israel like a week ago. It’s always ongoing. The US is divided, but the Democrats are polling against the way Israel is conducting the war.
International support is already there. Literally the whole world is against Israel except some Western ones. The only reason they still exist is US support who regularly vetoes UN sanctions against them, defends them from fights that they start, lies for them, etc. It needs to be torn down and rebuilt asome whole secular state. We’ve done it to South Africa so this isn’t as impossible as you seem to think it is. There are very smart people in universities across the world who think of this stuff. And not giving money to Israel would help us have money for all those other conflicts you’re mentioning. We don’t have to park a ship there btw. We just have to stop giving them weapons. That would end our culpability in the region right there. Stop over complicating a genocide to absolve your country’s complicity. These factors are in every international conflict, but that doesn’t mean we’re giving money to Russia to kill Ukraine because it would be easier.
Ya, the democrats didn’t just trip into helping a settler colonial ethnostate commit a genocide. This has been happening for 70 years. They’re not helping because of careful ethical considerations. There helping because American empire demands it. It fuels our military industrial complex and disrupts the Middle East, which helps us harness that chaos in the region for oil and power reasons. It’s why Biden said if Israel didn’t exist they’d have to invent one. The problem exists because America isn’t interested in fixing it. We’re the bad guys here. And once people understand that, they can demand better instead of shrugging. We don’t even need Israel as an ally. We have allied with various countries in there over the decades, like Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Iraq, Iran, Egypt, and Jordan. Palestine could be that ally, too.
Nobody wants a quick easy solution. They want some effort. They didn’t bring it up once during the DNC. The family of Israeli hostages did better about acknowledging Gaza Palestinians than our mainstream politicians and future Presidential administration. The hypocrisy is incredibly resounding.
Trump is worse is no excuse to continue a genocide. We can do better than that. Other countries have, and we are supposed to be the leader of the free world, but we are woefully behind Mexico, Colombia, South Africa, Ireland, China, and so many other countries on this issue. It’s not impossible if they can do it. It just needs some courage to fight AIPAC, and inviting leftists into the big tent instead of constantly kicking them out and silencing them.
The only just answer to Israel is decolonization. I’m not deluded enough to believe that will happen. The least we can fucking expect of politicians is to stop arming genociders and stop funding them. For fucks sake you’re talking about the systematic mass murder of children. The time for grand geopolitical lines is gone. What the fuck is the point of the international political community at all, if it can’t or won’t do anything about a genocider in their midst?
No. I expect more, and the fact that so many don’t is entirely the problem.