Tens of thousands of people were expected to march on the Democratic National Convention to protest the loss of innocent lives in Gaza. But by early Monday afternoonphclub, only a fraction had shown up. The speakers were spirited, to be sure. But the park seemed half empty; a stack of signs depicting “Killer Kamala” and “Genocide Joe” — the ones that had freaky laser beams for eyes — lay unused in a pile in an empty corner of the park. It was not 1968.
Frank Chapman, an 81 year-old Marxist who is the dean of protest organizing in Chicago, conceded that Kamala Harris “may have taken some of the wind out of the sails” of marchers when she ascended to the top of the ticket. The Gaza protests have lost some momentum since the switch from President Biden.
But that doesn’t mean the battle over the soul of the Democratic Party has been called off. The party still faces a long-term moral quandary of how to square its rhetoric about being the party of freedom, equality and racial justice with the virtually unconditional support it has offered to a far-right government in Israel that is accused of starving and bombarding large numbers of civilians in Gaza since the brutal Oct. 7 attack by Hamas.
At the Democratic National Convention, some delegates are demanding a cease-fire and an end to the unconditional supply of arms to Israel. But they are being treated like the unwanted stepchildren at the family reunion. The party agreed to hold a human rights panel on Monday afternoon to highlight the suffering of Palestinians, but that didn’t feel like equal treatment. It wasn’t held on the main stage or during a prime time television slot, as the families of some of the hostages taken from Israel are expected to get.
Dr. Tanya Haj-Hassan, an American pediatric intensive care physician who recently worked in Gaza and spoke on the panel, told the audience not to celebrate her appearance at the event as a victory. Instead, she asked them to focus on policy changes — like the conditioning of military aid — that can save lives. “We have treated so many children who have lost their entire family that a term has been coined: W.C.W.N.S.F.” — wounded children with no surviving family, she said.
The truth is that Palestinians have been struggling for decades to have their full humanity recognized by American politicians, including those in the Democratic Party. Jim Zogby, a founder of the Arab American Institute, has been at it since the 1980s. For years, he said, candidates from both parties returned donations from Arab Americans and avoided being associated with Arab American organizers out of fear of offending pro-Israel groups.
We are having trouble retrieving the article content.
Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.
Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.
Thank you for your patience while we verify access.
Already a subscriber? Log in.
Want all of The Times? Subscribe.phclub