August 16, 2024
When Democrats meet to nominate Kamala Harris and Tim Walz next week in Chicago the voices of grief and terror from Gaza will be muffled, but not inaudible. We need to make sure they are heard clearly. And, as uncomfortable as that might be, we need to remind Kamala Harris that she is part of an administration currently in power that has chosen to irresponsibly back Israel’s catastrophic and yes, genocidal war tactics in Gaza and that we can’t wait until next year and a new administration for real action to change that.
As democratic luminaries like Barack Obama and the Clintons take to the proscenium at Chicago’s United Center next week, don’t expect them to remind our nation that 40,000 are now dead in Gaza and that gruesome massacres – like the one last Saturday that scattered dismembered bodies of more than a hundred people around a schoolhouse where they had taken refuge – have become commonplace. They won’t tell you that American bombs did this, nor about the starvation and disease now endemic in Gaza, nor that this massacre comes on the heels of the approval of another 3.5 billion of weapons for Israel’s armed forces.
But some Democratic delegates – 30 or so who ran in the primaries on an “uncommitted” slate with the plan to bring the horrendous reality of this US supported war to the convention – hope to move the hearts and minds of the assembled and their fellow Americans
The “uncommitteds” are asking for an arms embargo on Israel and changes in the Democratic platform to condition US support for Israel. To bring a first-hand story of what is happening in Gaza they requested a speaking slot for Tanya Haj-Hassan, the outspoken pediatric intensive care doctor who has tended to wounded and dying patients in Gaza.
The demands of these delegates are likely to be minimized, but we must make sure that Kamala Harris and all the other politicians hear and respond to these concerns and that in the case of the Democrats – who currently hold the White House and are attempting to regain it for another four years – that they act forcefully on behalf of a ceasefire and, as Tim Walz says, “burn some political capital” to do the right thing now, before the election – to end the killing and start the healing.
Alarmingly, the whole region is on the precipice of a widening war in the wake of Israel’s assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran as well as major airstrikes in Lebanon and Syria. Iran has declared that the only measure that can prevent their retaliation is a full and immediate ceasefire. We need a peaceful and just resolution urgently to head off the threat of even greater warfare.
We need to keep up the pressure on lawmakers and candidates for office. You can find local Bay Area events here and national actions here.
Can’t find an action near you? You can make it happen! Here is a wonderful toolkit put together by the Ceasefire 24 Network with step-by-step instructions on how to get organized.
Thank you for your commitment and courage. We will never stop the struggle for peace and accountability.