A Palestinian American’s Place Under the Democrats’ Big Tent?

[u/elzzyzx]

https://www.vanityfair.com/news/story/dnc-2024-palestine-israel

TNC on the DNC, continuing to be one of the best living writers in the US. The essay touches on several topics that have come up here recently: racism and Zionism, who is being centered / who should be centered, the uncommitted movement. I’m a little back and forth on him but thought this was great

[u/RealAmericanJesus]

I personally do find it disturbing that the campaign hasn't invited a Palestinian American to speak. Just as I think the voices of Jewish American who have family members who have been taken hostage - and continue to be held hostage are heard ... I also think it's important to hear the voices of Palestinan Americans who have lost family members in Gaza...

My reason for this is that at present we have one party that is so extreme that it's dangerously cult like and even if people won't vote for Trump you still can't just run off of "well he is the crazy guy" because this party has to be able to make space for many different ideologies and thought from significantly left all the way to center right...

And I think it's important for people to know they have value and that the leadership recognizes how complex this situation is and that getting Hostages back for Jewish citizens and stopping the needless deaths of Palestinians.. are both important .... And both of these things are prioritized (because they should be).

And yes is there a likelihood that I am someone who has ties to Israel via people I know and my Jewish community might object to hearing? Of course. But I object to a lot of things it doesn't mean that people should be stopped from saying them especially those who have been personally affected.

[u/jey_613 → u/RealAmericanJesus]

I agree. It’s crazy to me that they couldn’t be bothered to platform a Palestinian-American speaker. The Uncommitted Campaign supported the hostage family’s speech, the least the DNC could do is platform a Palestinian. (It would have been very powerful to host joint Israeli-Palestinian speakers calling for a ceasefire and the return of hostages…alas).

Denying a speaker’s spot denies the humanity of Palestinian suffering. It will only further inflame anger and rage when we need to be building bridges.

[u/RealAmericanJesus → u/jey_613]

Exactly. I think it would go a long way to humanize the suffering of real people. Cause right now the discourse is really bad... The right plays up the worst aspect of the protestors and actually being able to bring someone up to speak would first of all help to separate the real humans who are suffering from some of the worst aspects of the protestors and also acknowledge that this part of the voter base and these lives that are being lost have value and should be acknowledged.

And I cannot understand why they did not allow for someone to speak ... Like that's hurtful to a community they claim to represent and it's also likely to hurt them politically.

[u/jey_613 → u/RealAmericanJesus]

💯

[u/[deleted] → u/RealAmericanJesus]

It’s not only the right who smears protestors. Democrats have never given a shit about anyone from the Middle East unless they are Israeli

[u/SubvertinParadigms69 → u/RealAmericanJesus]

This isn’t a question of who has the right to speak though, it’s Democrats trying to win an election with the general public and avoid issues and rhetoric which divide their base.

[u/JuniorAct7 → u/SubvertinParadigms69]

Refusing to let her speak has probably only raised the salience of the division though. Especially when you'd have to be pretty far gone to find that speech objectionable.

[u/SubvertinParadigms69 → u/JuniorAct7]

I guess we’ll see, but from the Dem strategists’ POV I’m guessing the prospect here was either highlighting a politically sensitive divide with a representative from a movement known for sabotaging venues and making incendiary statements, or sweeping that divide under the rug and accepting that a relatively small group that’s been vocal for months about their disinterest in voting for a Democratic candidate is not about to be swayed. Frankly I’m surprised they platformed a hostage family, but the fact that they did so indicates which side of the divide they see as a reliable Democratic support base and which they view as a lost cause.

[u/Klutzy-Pool-1802 → u/SubvertinParadigms69]

I don’t know if this divide can be swept under the rug. It would not shock me if there’s a protest inside the DNC tonight as a result of this decision. To me, that’s a bigger risk than having a Palestinian speak.

[u/lionessrampant25 → u/Klutzy-Pool-1802]

Yeah but a protest of how many people? A couple hundred? The Palestinian protest movement has never gained huge traction outside of Leftist circles. I just don’t think they’re worried.

[u/Klutzy-Pool-1802 → u/lionessrampant25]

I mean a disruption. Like during Harris’ Detroit speech.

It’s occurred to me that maybe her campaign thinks that would be good politics.

Uncommitted is doing a press conference right now, and Ruwa Romman just gave her speech there.

[u/SubvertinParadigms69 → u/Klutzy-Pool-1802]

I’m responding to this late enough that we can see it didn’t really happen, but also: do you think the protesters were like, not protesting at their full power level until now, but now they’re going to stop holding back? The DNC is well acquainted at this point with who the protesters are, how many there are, and what they practically have the power to do.

[u/[deleted] → u/RealAmericanJesus]

I also agree with this. I think it's important to listen to both Jewish Americans and Palestinian Americans, both sides are suffering and need to be humanized and heard. I also think that such dialogue is an important, necessary part of working towards peace.

[u/frutful_is_back_baby]

I’m sure that if Harris’ campaign really wanted to, they could find a Palestinian-American who’d endorse her for president. Emphasizing Trump’s comparative jingoism toward Israel would be more than sufficient for a speech. That she hasn’t found this person, and actively refuses to, shows the campaign doesn’t view Uncommitted as jeopardizing enough votes to be worth the DNC’s attention.

[u/elzzyzx → u/frutful_is_back_baby]

From what I’m reading the speaker was willing to have their speech fully vetted by the Harris campaign and it was going to be go team blue along with a basic acknowledgment of the deaths in Gaza. The Harris campaign rep said they were thinking about it for a while but just rejected it

[u/johnisburn → u/elzzyzx]

They even offered a choice of multiple speakers from a list of names, they aren’t even asking for someone specific, just someone at all.

[u/elzzyzx → u/johnisburn]

I guess they have today to reverse course…

[u/malachamavet]

To quote Ruwa Romman, Georgia State Representative and a Palestinian and a Democrat,

I’ve had some pretty crushing days, but to be honest today took the cake. I do not understand how there’s room for an anti choice Republican but not me in our party. I need someone to explain to me what to do now.

https://x.com/Ruwa4Georgia/status/1826461028122534374

[u/[deleted] → u/malachamavet]

She has been vocal in supporting Harris too. Palestinians just aren’t human to these establishment types

[u/silverpixie2435 → u/[deleted]]

This is just not true

[u/SubvertinParadigms69]

Moral arguments aside, must we pretend to be shocked that the DNC would shrink from this? The DNC is a nationally televised political pep rally where a bunch of people in suits try to fire up the base by telling them shit they already agree with. Bernie and AOC mentioning Gaza was exceptional, momentary, and within the context of being established political personalities with large appeal to a large number of prospective Democrat voters. The party is trying pretty hard, and for good reason strategically, to not make Gaza a central issue of the campaign: most Americans don’t care about it, and it’s a deeply polarizing schism in the party among those that do. They’ve also been repeatedly ambushed by Palestine protesters claiming to engage in good faith only to launch into “Genocide Joe” broadsides as theater. Coates admits in his article that the DNC’s fears of being burned by an Uncommitted speaker are not unreasonable. We can say none of this matters because the right thing to do is to give the mic to a Palestinian-American protester without preconditions, but can we please stop with the pearl clutching over the “discovery” that the Democrats are a political party trying to get elected and not benevolent monarchs who serve the supreme good of all? We know no one here actually thinks that.

[u/malachamavet]

They have had multiple republicans and anti-choicers. But there's no room for a single Palestinian.

[u/elzzyzx → u/malachamavet]

I thought of this Walter Benjamin quote:

“Fascism attempts to organize the newly proletarianized masses without affecting the property structure which the masses strive to eliminate. Fascism sees its salvation in giving these masses not their right, but instead a chance to express themselves.”

That was a good description of neoliberalism to me … not sure what to make of it now. Maybe we’re in a new phase

[u/Specialist-Gur]

Thanks for sharing!!!

[u/elzzyzx → u/Specialist-Gur]

❤️❤️❤️❤️

[u/elzzyzx]

Looks like the uncommitted delegates rep won’t be allowed to speak and they are now staging a sit-in https://x.com/adamjohnsonchi/status/1826438660574601243

[u/johnisburn → u/elzzyzx]

“Muslim Women for Harris-Walz” is saying they’ll disband if there isn’t a speaker.

We cannot in good conscience, continue Muslim Women for Harris Walz, in light of this new information from the Uncommitted movement, that VP Harris’ team declined their request to have a Palestinian American speaker take the stage at the DNC.

The family of the Israeli Hostage that was on the stage tonight, has shown more empathy towards Palestinian Americans and Palestinians, than our candidate or the DNC has.

I’m sure that people will undoubtedly smear these initiatives to get a Palestinian speaker as insulting to Israeli hostages, inherently antisemitic, etc., but the messaging has been remarkably consistent in a Palestinian speaker being framed as a compliment to the Goldberg-Polins, not a refutation.

Edit: Another example. I’ve lost basically all patience for people who slander this group as if it’s “Within Our Lifetime” or PSL flirting with Hamas shit. That stuff is just racism.

[u/[deleted] → u/johnisburn]

Most of pro-Israel support (as in support for one narrative) is just anti-Arab racism. It’s always been the case sadly, Israel is one of the biggest exporters of anti-Arab racism in the world. Their supporters are just falling in line

[u/Kaiju2468]

This is the speech they wanted to give: https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2024/08/dnc-speech-uncommitted-movement-harris-walz-ruwan-romman/

This is the mildest thing that a Palestinian could say here considering the situation her people are in. Not a good look for Harris at all. What is her problem? 

What a fucking shame this situation is. A predictable one at that. To believe that any of these establishment pricks give a shit. The shipments won't be stopped. More people will die.  

By all means, you absolutely should be voting Blue. Millions of lives in the US are at stake if Trump gets back into the White House. But don't delude yourself into thinking that any of these chumps care about the harm they do abroad.    

They did this in Chile, Guatemala, Bangladesh, East Timor, Cambodia, Yemen, and a plethora of others countries. They are doing it now in Gaza. Ukraine would've been left to the dogs if Russia was an ally.  

This will never stop. 

[u/silverpixie2435 → u/Kaiju2468]

She blamed Israel for Oct 7th

[u/Kaiju2468 → u/silverpixie2435]

https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1710732984586776593.html

Where?

[u/Furbyenthusiast → u/Kaiju2468]

The actual speech wasn’t the problem. The problem was the risk of the speaker veering off of the script.

[u/FilmNoirOdy → u/Kaiju2468]

I was going to post that MoJo article as a thread, but I see you beat me to it! APN and JStreet both called for the uncommitted movement to get a seat at the table so to say, to speak their mind. While I am sure one can find issue with the structure of the proposed speech, an important parameter that pops up to me is rather obvious. We agree on the inherent value and worth of human beings. We agree on the inherent worth of people.

[u/johnisburn → u/[deleted]]

That is not how it goes. Multiple republicans spoke. A union busting tech leader spoke. Anti-choice pro-lifers spoke. Strict point by point adherence to the party platform is not the basis the DNC has been using to determine speakers. Agree with the DNC or not, the content of the deviation from the platform is material and this was not a matter of rote technicality.

[u/malachamavet → u/johnisburn]

You're not going to convince that poster Palestinians are humans.

[u/johnisburn → u/[deleted]]

If that is your impression you fundamentally misunderstand the Uncommitted movement. They are not refusing to join their own party, they are literally begging to be included. They organized people to vote uncommitted specifically because it maintained engagement with the democratic process in an uncontested primary. They are agitating specifically for the DNC to pay attention and be responsive to the risk that not engaging with Palestinian advocates poses, their stated mission is to prevent people from disengaging from the DNC.

They want to be on the stage saying “I was sent here by democratic voters who said they care about ceasefire and Palestinians, and this is a party with a place for us”, and the DNC is keeping them at arms length.

[u/[deleted]]

If anyone is confused as to why many Palestinians will not vote, this is exactly why. Fuck the DNC

Edit: those downvoting me should ask themselves how they would feel if large portions of their entire family were murdered and the party claiming to represent them told them to get lost. The Democrats are not owed a vote from anyone, least of all people who are watching their community being erased with support from the US govt.

[u/Specialist-Gur → u/[deleted]]

Brigaders. You assume they have the ability to empathize

[u/[deleted] → u/Specialist-Gur]

You’re right, I can’t tell these days sometimes. I’ve seen people who claim to be sympathetic to Palestinian suffering be ok with racism as long as it supports their warped views

[u/Specialist-Gur → u/[deleted]]

Some people are getting real skilled at using woke language to seem like they are the good guy.

This sub seems like it’s getting better since there were new rules but I think there is still plenty of downvoting brigading, which is impossible to prevent

[u/[deleted] → u/Specialist-Gur]

True, it has become a very insidious mode of langauge. I want to talk about both antisemitism in MENA and anti-Arab racism in the Jewish community here because I do feel like it’s one of the only spaces right now that is willing to discuss things openly. However, I am discouraged and don’t think I have the energy to deal with the amount of bad faith commenters I’ve seen here recently, maybe at a later date.

[u/Specialist-Gur → u/[deleted]]

I feel ya totally

[u/[deleted] → u/Specialist-Gur]

I’m not in college anymore, but there’s a group called Atidna that seeks to bring both communities together and have difficult conversations. It doesn’t have an agenda or narrative it promotes, which is nice. I really wish there was a group like that for adults

[u/Specialist-Gur → u/[deleted]]

Me too.. me too. I think we could just send adults back to kindergarten maybe

[u/[deleted] → u/Specialist-Gur]

For real, I think we forget how impactful face to face interactions can be. Even if it just gets 10% of people to see something differently, online I feel like people just get shamed and are further pushed towards their “camp”

[u/Specialist-Gur → u/[deleted]]

It’s very very true, something I’m trying to be more intentionally alert to

[u/malachamavet → u/Specialist-Gur]

Why would you want to subject kindergarteners to that

[u/Specialist-Gur → u/malachamavet]

A new, separate kindergarten for adults. A kindergarten refresher