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You Will Hear the Names of the Dead: The DNC in Chicago
It is easy to stand on a police line. It’s easy to yell at politicians. It’s easy to say things and do things by yourself. It’s hard to organize your neighbors and talk to new people about things they don’t immediately understand. But we must.
Aug 27, 2024
A few weeks ago, I plunged into Lake Michigan. Unlike usual, the water felt warm. It was easy to run all the way in and easy to float over the waves. Montrose beach was crowded with families, pitching tents to keep out of the sun. Children played, laughed, and cried. Midwesterners who still hadn’t made it out into the sun crisped their pale shoulders. It would have been a perfectly relaxing day, but fighter jets circled above everyone’s heads—doing dives and turning every which way. Mothers plugged their children’s ears and I saw a baby wearing noise canceling headphones.
It was the Air and Water show—an annual proud display of American military capabilities. They are the same jets that fly over the shores of Gaza, dropping bombs on families. That’s what I thought about—it was just by happenstance that we were there watching these planes as a performance rather than in Gaza as a weapon of mass slaughter. The more places I travel to, the more I realize how much the world looks the same. People everywhere are really kind and generous—the only thing that separates us is if the stars align to have us born under the boot of the United States or not.
As the jets flew over our heads I felt my stomach sour. In two weeks, the Democratic National Convention would come to Chicago and it was a present opportunity to make clear the contradictions that kept me up at night. Once months and months away, the DNC was finally around the corner.
Last week, members of the Democratic Party came from all parts of the country to convene in Chicago. They were coronating Kamala Harris as their presidential nominee, a woman no one really voted for. Even in the face of this blatant lack of democracy, the party members were elated to choose her. They carried signs with her husband’s name and applause erupted from the tens of thousands of people in the United Center when she declared that the United States would have the “most lethal military” in the world under her leadership. To the people well aware of the millions of people the United States killed in the last twenty years alone, her statement was a threat.
The week was marked by the obvious gaps between the people going into the United Center and the people outside of it.
There was a young woman that sat outside the exit of the Democratic National Convention on its third night reading the names of the children Israel has killed in the last ten months. She did it for hours, until her speaker battery died. She did it alone, taking care to pronounce every child’s name correctly and to say their age at the time of their murder. Without her, many of the DNC guests wouldn’t necessarily be confronted with the carnage members of their party is carrying out.
Outside the gates of the DNC I saw a young woman making sure the children of Palestine weren’t just numbers, and I saw people laughing at her for doing so. They laughed loudly and mocked her voice. They mocked the names of the dead babies. They yelled at her to leave them alone. They left the coronation ceremony livid that they had to even hear about Gaza.
That night was demoralizing, and it’s something I will remember for the rest of my life.
Democrats laugh at the names of dead children. They openly refuse to let a Palestinian speak for two minutes at their four day long event. They order riot cops on people protesting a genocide. They have their parties, fundraisers, and happy hours while bodies pile up. If they really didn’t think the genocide was so bad, they wouldn’t get so mad at us for reminding them. They knew that the people they were rallying behind are cheering on mass slaughter—they’ve just weighed their fun, their careers, and their vanity against the lives of 180,000 Palestinians and decided that nothing could be more important than themselves. I don’t care what they said to me, or my friends, but I hope our faces and our presence made them feel even an ounce of discomfort. In the best case scenario, I hope they went to sleep hearing the echoes of the martyrs' names. I still foolishly hope they turn a corner at some point.
There’s a lot to be said about the Democratic National Convention. It happened in the city with the largest Palestinian population in the United States. Plenty of our neighbors here have lost dozens and dozens of their immediate and extended families and Kamala Harris took to the stage to promise her ironclad support to their executioners. Riot cops filed into the streets, prepared to use the kettling tactics they used from the Israeli military. All of a sudden, the place I call home felt unrecognizable. The air of the coronation felt heavy—it didn’t feel like home. There were points where I was with thousands of other people, chanting in unison, but still felt so lonely. Luxury SUVs carried important people into important buildings for important events. And between us and the importance, there were police with rifles strapped to their chests.
But there were also good people. Like the girl outside the convention. And the thousand of people that marched with us. And the Shake Shack worker that joined us because he had 15 minutes before his shift started. And the security that had to kick us out to keep their job but told us how much what we were doing meant to them.
In the lead up to the DNC, we spent so much time thinking about the last DNC that happened here in 1968. Protests against the Vietnam War took to the streets in small numbers, demanding an end to the war. They were met with horrible police brutality, and mass arrests with long legal battles in their wake. Our mentors from ‘68 urged us not to be nostalgic for those days. I still admire them for going face to face with the Chicago riot cops, but I’ve also taken their reflections of ‘68 very seriously—they didn’t end the war on Vietnam. Many of them feel like they could have focused more on building a sustainable movement that people could join for the long haul. The 2024 DNC in Chicago presented us a unique opportunity—we had to take this huge moment of mass mobilization and make sure our efforts and organization doesn’t get washed away after all the balloons on the United Center floor had popped, and the important people flew out of O’Hare. When the dust settlesd and the most powerful people in the world left our city, how should we keep fighting? I was happy when so many people asked us what was next, because it meant we were thinking long term.
In our own discourses on the left, the week was consumed by the discussion of tactics—what works and what doesn’t. An organizer I know reminded us about our responsibility to be a movement people want to join. There are plenty of people who are sympathetic to our cause but haven’t figured out how to be part of it. There’s millions of people without a movement home. Our cause is already popular, it’s already growing every day. Are we doing what we can to make sure people know where to go? Are we keeping our eyes on the prize or are we getting so wrapped up in nostalgia that we can’t see what we will be capable of a year from now if we move strategically? We are nothing without the people. Our responsibility is to the people—not to our egos, not to our careers, not to the vanity of our organizations, and not to our impulses. As a movement we generally have to be better at unlearning instant gratification and also embracing a diversity of tactics. But that’s something for another day.
It is easy to stand on a police line. It’s easy to yell at politicians. It’s easy to say things and do things by yourself. It’s hard to organize your neighbors and talk to new people about things they don’t immediately understand—my hope comes from the idea that once we get really good at that, the light at the end of the tunnel will be as clear as day.
Chicagoans are loud, principled, and good people and because of that there're 2.6 million reasons to love this city. For a few days Chicagoans made certain Democrats couldn’t walk around our city without seeing and hearing about the people of Gaza. It’s my hope that we see that as a small success, and also my hope that we saw the week of mobilizations as a jumping off point for building the world we want to see.
Lake Michigan is connected to the ocean through narrow waterways along the northern border of the United States, and someone mentioned at a protest that it’s not unfathomable that the waves crashing onto the shores of Gaza were once here in Chicago, and vice versa. Even if we don’t have skies that are absent of fighter jets in my lifetime, every second spent moving us towards that kind of life was worth it. As long as we don’t throw in the towel, we are closer than ever to that reality.
This blog originally appeared here on Proof That I’m Alive.Keep ReadingShow Less
Rejecting 'Cynical Politics,' Ocasio-Cortez Centers Workers in Primetime DNC Speech
"To love this country is to fight for its people, all people, working people," said the congresswoman.
Aug 20, 2024
Taking the stage after United Auto Workers president Shawn Fain denounced Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump as a "scab," U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez made even clearer that the Democratic Party is unapologetically centering issues affecting working Americans ahead of the November elections.
The New York Democrat's speech—given just six years after she stunned the party establishment by ousting high-ranking corporate-friendly Rep. Joe Crowley—represented a shift away from a Democratic strategy that has leaned heavily on appealing to centrist voters and painting progressives like Ocasio-Cortez and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) as radicals, suggested some observers.
"Democrats giving AOC a primetime speaking slot at Democratic National Convention means they are finally embracing progressives and acknowledging this is part and parcel of their base and future," said journalist Wajahat Ali, noting that Ocasio-Cortez was given just 90 seconds to speak at the 2020 convention.
Ocasio-Cortez began with the story of her unexpected rise from restaurant worker to federal lawmaker, sharing that when she won her 2018 election she was one of tens of millions of Americans who were uninsured, "taking omelette orders as a waitress in New York City" while her family struggled to pay bills.
"Like millions of Americans, we were just looking for an honest shake," said the congresswoman. "And we were tired of a cynical politics that seemed blind to the realities of working people."
Those "cynical politics" are still centered by Republican politicians, Ocasio-Cortez said, who frequently attack her "by saying that I should go back to bartending."
"But let me tell you, I'm happy to, any day of the week," she said. "There is nothing wrong with working for a living."
Ocasio-Cortez told the delegates assembled at the United Center in Chicago and viewers at home that the candidacy of Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, present American voters with "a rare and precious opportunity."
"In Kamala Harris, we have a chance to elect a president who is for the middle class because she is from the middle class," said the congresswoman. "She understands the urgency of rent checks and groceries and prescriptions. She is as committed to our reproductive and civil rights as she is to taking on corporate greed."
Watch Ocasio-Cortez's speech below:
Ocasio-Cortez's speech came days after Harris introduced a far-reaching economic agenda including an expanded child tax credit, a federal ban on price-gouging in the grocery and food industries, and medical debt relief. On Sunday, Harris rejected a reporter's question about how she would pay for the policies, saying policymakers should focus on the "return on investment" that would come from pulling children out of poverty and ensuring people can pay for essentials.
New York City Council member Chi Ossé said in response to Ocasio-Cortez's speech Monday night that it was "phenomenal to watch an un-bought politician who holds populist, working-class values hold center stage at the DNC" and noted that the lawmaker was greeted by "the entire room chanting" her commonly-used nickname, AOC.
Progressive strategist Waleed Shahid added that he had "never imagined" seeing two grassroots leaders who had challenged their own institutions—Ocasio-Cortez and Fain—being invited to introduce the Democratic presidential nominee.
Elevating outspoken progressive leaders was a smart strategic decision by party leaders, said Evan Sutton of Firekit Campaigns, a former communications director for the American Federation of Teachers.
Like Fain, Ocasio-Cortez took direct aim at Trump, slamming him as "a two-bit union buster [who] thinks of himself as more of a patriot than the woman who fights every single day to lift working people out from under the boots of greed, trampling on our way of life."
"We know that Donald Trump would sell this country for a dollar if it meant lining his pockets and greasing the palms of his Wall Street friends," she said. "The truth is, Don, you cannot love this country if you only fight for the wealthy and big business."
"To love this country is to fight for its people, all people, working people, everyday Americans like bartenders, and factory workers, and fast food cashiers who punch a clock and are on their feet all day, doing some of the toughest jobs out there," Ocasio-Cortez added. "Imagine having leaders in the White House who understand them, leaders like Kamala and Tim."
The congresswoman's brief mention of Israel's U.S.-funded assault on Gaza—which a majority of Democratic voters view as genocide, according to a Data for Progress poll released in May—received applause as she said Harris is "working tirelessly to secure a cease-fire in Gaza."
But some asked where the evidence of such work can be found, as Israel continues to bombard schools and other civilian infrastructure in the enclave, which U.N. experts warned last month has been pushed into famine by Israel's continued blocking of humanitarian aid.
"I understand the political value of AOC getting thunderous applause for cease-fire in Gaza—the fact that the party really wants it COULD pressure Harris—but, so we are clear, Harris is not working tirelessly for cease-fire," said author and podcast host Kate Willett. "That would involve cutting off weapons."
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Biden's Cruel and Orwellian Remarks on Gaza at the DNC
A speech that denied the suffering of Palestinians was a journey into an alternative universe of political guile from a president who just six days earlier had approved sending $20 billion worth of more weapons to Israel.
Aug 20, 2024
An observation from George Orwell—“those who control the present, control the past and those who control the past control the future”—is acutely relevant to how President Biden talked about Gaza during his speech at the Democratic convention Monday night. His words fit into a messaging template now in its eleventh month, depicting the U.S. government as tirelessly seeking peace, while supplying the weapons and bombs that have enabled Israel’s continual slaughter of civilians.
“We’ll keep working, to bring hostages home, and end the war in Gaza, and bring peace and security to the Middle East,” Biden told the cheering delegates. “As you know, I wrote a peace treaty for Gaza. A few days ago I put forward a proposal that brought us closer to doing that than we’ve done since October 7th.”
It was a journey into an alternative universe of political guile from a president who just six days earlier had approved sending $20 billion worth of more weapons to Israel. Yet the Biden delegates in the convention hall responded with a crescendo of roaring admiration.
A political reflex has been in motion from top U.S. leaders, claiming to be peace seekers while aiding and abetting the slaughter. Normalizing deception about the past sets a pattern for perpetrating such deception in the future.
Applause swelled as Biden continued: “We’re working around-the-clock, my secretary of state, to prevent a wider war and reunite hostages with their families, and surge humanitarian health and food assistance into Gaza now, to end the civilian suffering of the Palestinian people and finally, finally, finally deliver a ceasefire and end this war.”
In Chicago’s United Center, the president basked in adulation while claiming to be a peacemaker despite a record of literally making possible the methodical massacres of tens of thousands of Palestinian civilians.
Orwell would have understood. A political reflex has been in motion from top U.S. leaders, claiming to be peace seekers while aiding and abetting the slaughter. Normalizing deception about the past sets a pattern for perpetrating such deception in the future.
And so, working inside the paradigm that Orwell described, Biden exerts control over the present, strives to control narratives about the past, and seeks to make it all seem normal, prefiguring the future.
The eagerness of delegates to cheer for Biden’s mendaciously absurd narrative about his administration’s policies toward Gaza was, in a broader context, the convention’s lovefest for the lame-duck president.
Hours before the convention opened, Peter Beinart released a short video essay anticipating the fervent adulation. “I just don't think when you’re analyzing a presidency or a person, you sequester what’s happened in Gaza,” he said. “I mean, if you’re a liberal-minded person, you believe that genocide is just about the worst thing that a country can do, and it’s just about the worst thing that your country can do if your country is arming a genocide.”
Beinart continued: “And it’s really not that controversial anymore that this qualifies as a genocide. I read the academic writing on this. I don’t see any genuine scholars of human rights international law who are saying it's not indeed there. . . . If you’re gonna say something about Joe Biden, the president, Joe Biden, the man, you have to factor in what Joe Biden, the president, Joe Biden, the man, has done, vis-a-vis Gaza. It’s central to his legacy. It's central to his character. And if you don’t, then you’re saying that Palestinian lives just don’t matter, or at least they don’t matter this particular day, and I think that’s inhumane. I don’t think we can ever say that some group of people’s lives simply don't matter because it’s inconvenient for us to talk about them at a particular moment.”
Underscoring the grotesque moral obtuseness from the convention stage was the joyful display of generations as the president praised and embraced his offspring. Joe Biden walked off stage holding the hand of his cute little grandson, a precious child no more precious than any one of the many thousands of children the president has helped Israel to kill.
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