I am a Palestinian American in Pennsylvania, a contested state. I plan to write in “uncommitted” in the Democratic primary on 23 April and in November, I will vote for a third-party candidate.

For many, myself included, a vote for Biden is simply impermissible – the extent of the moral calamity is so great as to render a vote for Biden a vote for complicity.

As the president of the Center City mosque in Philadelphia, Mohammed Shariff, said to me: “My vote is the purest form of expression and speech.” President Biden ignores our voices at his own peril, and ours.

  • @[email protected]OP
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    fedilink
    02 months ago

    Just deciding you’re going to make a private decision to protect the Palestinians by refusing to vote for Biden…

    You’re commenting on an article in The Guardian. People are protesting in the streets. The uncommitted movement is seeking out all the media coverage they can get. The ask, a permanent ceasefire, has been stated loud and clear from the beginning. They are literally doing everything you are suggesting they do.

    • mozz
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      02 months ago

      I do think there’s some fairness to this – I was talking more to the person reading the article that the person who wrote it. Writing an editorial to put pressure on the candidate sounds fine to me.

      At the same time, I don’t think you can say the ask has been stated loud and clear, when the article says not “I won’t vote for Joe Biden unless he does X” but “I am not going to vote for Joe Biden and will not change my mind; at this point I prefer to enable a much worse outcome for the Palestinians instead.”