Chicago, August 20 (RHC)--Rich Barnes says that opposing Israel’s war in Gaza is not a complicated issue. “Are we for mass murdering babies, or are we against it? To me, it’s a pretty simple equation,” he said, holding Palestinian and Irish flags near the Democratic National Convention (DNC) in Chicago on Monday.
Barnes was one of thousands of protesters who blanketed the grass of Union Park, blocks away from the Democratic National Convention, to demand an end to United States support for Israel’s war.
As the Democrats gathered at the convention to present Vice President Kamala Harris as their presidential nominee, several Palestinian rights advocates told Al Jazeera that they will not vote for Harris unless she agrees to an arms embargo against Israel.
The demonstration, dubbed the “March on the DNC”, also demanded an immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gaza. “I’m worried because I feel like there’s not going to be any big, major change with her,” Barnes said. “We’re trying to put as much pressure on from the left to say: ‘Listen, you can’t expect our vote.”
The protesters held signs linking Harris and President Joe Biden to the atrocities in Gaza, which they describe as a genocide: an effort to destroy the Palestinian people through bombing and starvation. “Both Democrats & Republicans have blood on their hands,” one poster read. Another one said: “No votes 4 Kamala until arms embargo 4 Israel.”
The convention kicked off on Monday as thousands of Democratic officials, operatives and supporters descended on Chicago to celebrate Harris’s candidacy ahead of the presidential election in November.
Harris, who was selected to replace Biden at the top of the Democratic ticket, is set to accept the party’s nomination on Thursday, the fourth day of the event.
But the convention protests had been organized with the assumption that Biden — a staunch Israel advocate who led support for the war on Gaza — would be the nominee. He withdrew from the race on July 21 amid concerns about his age and ability to lead.
For many protesters, however, the new Democratic nominee makes little difference. Their message to the Democratic Party remains the same: that it must listen to the millions of voters who want to end US-backed human rights abuses against Palestinians.
While Harris has acknowledged Palestinian suffering in Gaza, the Democratic nominee has not promised any actual policy changes on the issue.
Amal Jaber, a teacher who drove from Wisconsin to join Monday’s protest, dismissed Harris’s professed empathy for Palestinians as “lip service.” “We need to see action,” Jaber told Al Jazeera. “Palestinians are still being killed today. Unless we see real change, I don’t see the Muslim community in Wisconsin supporting Kamala Harris right now. Enough is enough.”
The U.S has provided Israel with military support and billions of dollars in aid to back the war on Gaza, which has killed more than 40,000 Palestinians.
Biden, a self-proclaimed Zionist, has been an unflinching supporter of Israel. Vice presidents usually do not dictate foreign policy, but the White House has said that Harris has been a “full partner” in overseeing the US approach to Gaza.
But last month, after meeting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Harris called the war “devastating.” She told reporters: “We cannot allow ourselves to become numb to the suffering and I will not be silent.”
However, the vice president has said through her aides that she does not support an arms embargo against Israel, disappointing the hopes of many antiwar demonstrators.
At the protest in Chicago on Thursday, one protester held a sign that said, “DNC = Decades No Change.” “There’s been no change. There’s no reform by the murderous system. And the answer is to abandon the empire,” Tina, who chose to be identified by her first name only, told Al Jazeera.
She added that Harris’s expression of sympathy for Palestinians does not make any difference without a change in policy – “none whatsoever.”
Gaza-related protests are expected to continue throughout the week until the convention concludes on Thursday. Chicago, which has a long history of political activism, is home to one of the largest Palestinian communities in the United States.
A masked protester who chose to remain anonymous told Al Jazeera they found it incongruous that the Democrats decided to hold their convention in Chicago, the largest U.S. city to pass a Gaza ceasefire resolution. “It feels like a slap in the face that the Democrats are currently funding this genocide, yet they chose to come here,” the demonstrator told Al Jazeera.
“But it also feels right that we’re doing this rally here, and we have the opportunity to show up.”
Inside the halls of the Democratic National Convention, the antiwar movement will also be represented by the dozens of “uncommitted” delegates. They represent the hundreds of thousands of people who voted “uncommitted” in the Democratic primaries to protest Biden’s Gaza policy.
“We need a change in the Gaza policy. We need a ceasefire,” Abbas Alawieh, an “uncommitted” delegate from Michigan, told reporters at a news conference early on Monday.
“We need to stop sending weapons that are being used to kill families, to kill people we love, to kill civilians in Gaza and to perpetuate a crushing occupation of Palestinian lands and of the Palestinian people.”
Back at the protest, demonstrators cautioned Kamala Harris that they — and their demands — will not be easily dismissed. “This isn’t going away,” said Kwabena Ampofo, a US military veteran. “What you see right now isn’t just a media moment. This isn’t just five minutes or 15 minutes of sun. This is an issue that — I’ve never seen in my almost 30 years of life — transcends so many people’s lives.”
