Notably absent from Walz’s speech was any real substance on foreign policy — including discussion of the genocide happening against Palestinians in Gaza, which uncommitted delegates and their allies have been trying to discuss for days at DNC. Indeed, most of the night, if not the week, has ignored the issue, and where it has been mentioned, Israel’s role in the genocide has been glossed over.
Uncommitted delegates in support of Palestinian liberation and an end to the genocide have requested that the DNC allow a Palestinian speaker take the podium in the United Center, to discuss a permanent ceasefire and an embargo for weapons from the U.S. to Israel, which the U.S. is legally obligated to do.
“We are learning that Israeli hostages’ families will be speaking from the main stage. We strongly support that decision and also strongly hope that we will also be hearing from Palestinians who’ve endured the largest civilian death toll since 1948,” read a statement from the Uncommitted National Movement account on X. “Excluding a Palestinian speaker betrays the party’s commitment in our platform to valuing Israelis and Palestinian lives equally. Vice President Harris must unite this party with a vision that fights for everyone, including Palestinians.”
A group of uncommitted delegates, joined by interfaith leaders and their allies, staged a sit-in just outside the convention hall on Wednesday night, saying they wouldn’t remove themselves from that spot until their demands for a Palestinian speaker were met.
I’m surprised how people are surprised that this kind of stuff happens every DNC every four years.
It’s a Spectacle intended to avoid anything controversial or negative about the party.
It doesn’t make it right, it’s never been right, but it does make it the norm.
People who are shocked that the Democrats would cover their ears and ignore the horrors of what’s happening in Gaza for the sake of their televised self-aggrandizing bonanza must be young or naive.
This is par for the course. Both parties are filled with monsters. One party just has the monsters finally being honest about being monsters.
The time for making your case was during the primary season. That’s when Democratic voters decide which issues are most important to them.
Time and again, Democratic voters indicated that women’s rights and housing are among the most important issues. Gaza isn’t.
If Gaza activists had succeeded in convincing voters that Gaza is more important than women’s rights, then DNC speakers would be discussing Gaza instead of women’s rights.
People did, and when “Uncommited” was an option, they did it. Then liberals on social media cried how it was supporting Trump to vote in democratic primaries.
And Harris wasn’t an option as the front runner, it was Biden and no one else with above 1%. She was part of the VP ticket, but VPs don’t generally decide policies, they’re there to break ties in the Senate and as a backup plan if something happens to the President.
When running, we criticized and people said it would hand the election to Trump. Biden won the biggest tally of votes possible, mine was in there. When mid-terms came up, and we wanted to still help with COVID and the groups it harmed, it was said that handed it to Republicans.
It feels like its never a good time to ask for something that helps Americans. We vote in primaries, we ask nicely, we protest, we organize, we vote blue no matter who, because Trump is the default of “Fucking never in a million years.” and we’re still called traitors who want him to win, because we want money sent to Ukraine than Israel’s genocide.
Primaries are lot more than just voting for the top of the ticket. There are hundreds of downballot candidates involved. More important, it’s when voters decide what issues need to be addressed.
Nobody named “women’s rights” ran for office this year. But women’s rights activists succeeded in persuading Democrats that it is the most important issue this year.
This is what Democratic activism is really about, you are basically competing against other activists for the attention of your own party.
Finally, if you vote for Democrats in November then nobody should consider you a traitor.
No one is demanding it be the main discussion. Of course topics like women’s rights and inflation are going to get the most time as they are high priority for most voters. But that’s not the same as it getting no discussion. The DNC is giving time for families of Israeli hostages to speak, which is great, but are also denying anyone to speak on behalf of the Palestinian victims. Which is showing that the DNC does not consider the victims or their voices to be equal.
While low on the importance for most voters, as foreign policy usually is, the vast majority are still in support of a permanent ceasefire. However, for hundreds of thousands of Democratic voters in critical swing states, it is a major issue. Also for over 200 delegates. Those votes and delegates are critical for securing the election.
The anti-genocide protests will only gain more momentum, it’s a dangerous situation for the Democratic party to continue ignoring them
A Gaza ceasefire did get some discussion. Sanders and AOC, both high profile speakers, promoted a Gaza ceasefire in their speeches. But Americans aren’t interested enough in Gaza to justify a speaker who will mainly or exclusively be discussing that topic.
And yes, Americans are more interested in rescuing hostages than helping war victims. Not just in the abstract, polling consistently shows that Americans overwhelmingly view Hamas as evil but are more evenly divided regarding Netanyahu. It might seem unfair, but don’t blame the DNC. That’s our national mood, which the DNC will respond to. If Gaza activists want that to change then they will have to do more work.
So easy when our government keeps using our taxpayer dollars to prop up Israel and it’s swarm of bots to shut down any dissenting voices online. I guess the activists just need to get more money somehow to battle the endless propaganda from Israel that is literally funded by our taxpayer dollars.
Yeah, they’ve got their work cut out for them when they’re basically going against US/Israeli imperialist propaganda with basically an endless supply of money to finance it.
Yup, they just need to try harder, that’s the ticket. This is the most out of touch bullshit I’ve ever fucking had the displeasure to read.
Who said change is easy? Those who challenge entrenched interests will always have a difficult road ahead.
But it’s not impossible. Civil rights activists achieved change, LGBTQ activists achieved change, even wack-job anti-abortion activists achieved change. So can Gaza activists.
The calculus has changed. Those things happened before concerted propaganda via the internet, which is largely unregulated, unlike television and newspapers. Previously, spreading propaganda was a lot more difficult. The reality is that propaganda is disseminated at high speeds and has tools like Persona Management Software, where half the people you are arguing with online, aren’t even real people (just hundreds of sockpuppet accounts controlled by a single person). Was anyone ever able to “flood the zone” with bogus material like this in the past? No, because only the internet allows such endless publishing with no guardrails.
But sure, somehow those are all exactly the same. It’s not like LGBTQ rights have been losing ground or anything recently? Give me a break.
We literally have an anti-trans billionaire who owns a fucking media organization, and because he’s insulated by money, fuck-all happens to him when he breaks the law.
EDIT: Further, we’re literally headlong into a “death of truth” era because of AI video. The idea that the speed at which propaganda can be made and disseminated doesn’t change how hard it is to fight is abso-fucking-lutely bullshit. This is a way harder fight, and comparing to past fights is a fucking joke.
All activists will sometimes lose ground. The successful ones gain the ground back. The unsuccessful ones are discouraged by setbacks, complain about the latest tactics used by their opponents, and give up.
Women’s rights activists suffered a huge setback in 2022. They did more than complain about the internet and billionaires. They redoubled their efforts and are determined to gain all that ground back in the coming years. And then some.
A genocide can’t really wait years for action
Oh no! Someone complained! That must mean they’re not a real activist who gets anything done and thus should be chided and dismissed!
If that’s really your implication here, get fucked, cunt. People can and do both. You’re allowed to speak at how fucked the situation is while also trying to do something about it, and people telling us “just try harder” like they’re doing anything better can eat dogshit.