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GEOPOLITICS / MIDDLE EAST ISRAEL / GAZA STANDOFF Democracy Now!: 'It's the Democratic Party's War': Gaza Protests Planned Throughout Week as DNC Begins in Chicago PLAY YOUTUBE VIDEO Original article: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hhou8JIeWSE Peter Burgess COMMENTARY I don't agree with the characterization of the Gaza / israel confrontation that is portrayed in this Democracy Now piece. Peter Burgess
'It's the Democratic Party's War': Gaza Protests Planned Throughout Week as DNC Begins in Chicago Democracy Now! 2.25M subscribers Aug 19, 2024 Latest Shows Support our work: https://democracynow.org/donate/sm-de... As the 2024 Democratic National Convention opens Monday in Chicago, we look at the protests planned throughout the week to pressure Vice President Kamala Harris and the Democratic Party on key policies, including the ongoing U.S.-backed Israeli war on Gaza. Meanwhile, at least 36 delegates are also inside the convention as official delegates representing the 'uncommitted' movement and are advocating an antiwar agenda to push for an end to U.S. arms sales to Israel. Although protesters this week come from a range of communities advocating on various issues, from economic injustice to reproductive rights, 'Palestine is at the center,' says Hatem Abudayyeh, spokesperson for the Coalition to March on the Democratic National Convention and national chair of the U.S. Palestinian Community Network. 'All of those communities are standing up very publicly and very proudly, saying, 'Free Palestine. End U.S. aid to Israel.'' Democracy Now! is an independent global news hour that airs on over 1,500 TV and radio stations Monday through Friday. Watch our livestream at democracynow.org Mondays to Fridays 8-9 a.m. ET. Subscribe to our Daily Email Digest: https://democracynow.org/subscribe People 4 people Amy Goodman American journalist (born 1957) Transcript 0:00 this is democracy Now democracynow.org War peace in the presidency breaking with convention we're broadcasting from the studios of can TV here in New York I'm Amy Goodman joined by Juan Gonzalez for the first time in four and a half years since before the pandemic and then Juan moved to Chicago where we are right now hi Juan hi Amy and good to be back I'm Juan Gonzalez uh the Democratic ational convention kicks off today here in Chicago the 4-day convention will culminate on Thursday with vice president kamla Harris accepting the Democratic nomination for president we'll be bringing you coverage all week from the Suites to the streets to the convention floor while Harris has energized the Democratic party following President Biden's decision to pull out of the race last month the issues around the election have not changed from economic Injustice to Reproductive Rights to us support for Israel's war on 1:01 Gaza and thousands of protesters are converging on Chicago to make their voices heard in addition to the protest on the streets inside the convention at least 30 Pro Palestinian delegates are representing the uncommitted movement and are advocating an anti-war agenda to push for an end to us armed sales to Israel over the course of the week there 1:24 are at least six major protest plan the 1:26 demonstrations kicked off on Sunday on 1:29 the eve of the the convention with the 1:30 March for bodies outside unjust laws 1:34 which was organized by a coalition of 1:36 different activist groups to demand 1:38 action of Reproductive Rights lgbtq plus rights and for an end to the war on Gaza the largest group The coalition to march on DC has planned demonstrations on the first and last days of the convention with a major protest planned for today activists sued Chicago earlier this year saying restrictions over where they can 2:00 demonstrate violate their constitutional rights for more we're joined here in Chicago by hatam abua he's the spokesperson for the coalition to march on the Democratic National Convention and National chair of the US Palestinian Community Network he was born here in Chicago as a longtime organizer in the Palestinian Community welcome to democracy now it's great to have you 2:23 with us if you can start off by talking 2:25 about what are the plans today so the 2:30 plans today are relatively simple we're 2:31 going to start with a launch with a 2:33 press conference at 10:00 a.m. and then 2:35 at 12: noon on the dot hopefully we will 2:38 start our program from a stage at Union 2:41 Park um historical Union Park where in 2006 if you remember the Sensen brener bill the anti-immigrant bill um and uh you know an explosion of uh immigrant rights sentiment in this country 500,000 people were in Chicago on March 10th of 2006 in that very Park so we're really 3:01 proud and honored to be there for this protest today and could you talk about the difficulty you've had in terms of uh arranging permits and the negotiations that went back and forth with police in the city yeah we had a really really hard time with the law department at the city of Chicago uh very you know very 3:18 conservative very reactionary um they 3:20 did not negotiate in good faith with us 3:22 they made some promises that they 3:24 reneged on and originally when they 3:27 denied three of the organizations within 3:29 the Coalition of March on the DNC when 3:31 they denied their permits they tried to 3:33 bury us four miles away on Columbus 3:35 Drive we rejected that of course 3:38 immediately and we sued in federal court 3:40 saying that if we were not within Sight 3:42 and Sound of the United Center the 3:43 convention center that they would be 3:45 violating our first amendment rights so 3:47 then my organization uscn filed the 3:50 fourth permit application they rejected that as well but they recognize that they better put us within Sight and Sound and they did um and there was some intercession by the mayor himself on 4:00 some of this could you talk about that 4:02 so listen I think the mayor from day one 4:05 um has said that he believes in the 4:08 right for of people to protest he 4:10 believes in the First Amendment right of 4:12 everyone to protest he talked about how 4:14 he came to the to city hall because of 4:17 the protest movement because of the 4:19 Black Liberation movement that he was a 4:20 part of um and he also many times talked 4:24 about the relationship between the Black 4:25 Liberation movement and uh and Palestine 4:28 Liberation so broke the tie in in the city council to pass a ceasefire resolution the biggest city in the entire country that has done that so we see that you know uh Brandon Johnson has been an ally to oppress communities generally definitely an an ally to the Palestinian community in Chicago and Beyond and we're we're proud to have that relationship it's very interesting what he said in a recent interview this is the mayor of Chicago saying what's happening right now is not only a GRE 5:00 it's genocidal we have to acknowledge 5:02 and name it for what it is and have the 5:03 moral courage to exercise our Authority 5:08 um and if you can talk about not only 5:10 that but the fact today and do you think 5:12 the pressure you have all brought for 5:14 these protests to be seen and heard has 5:17 led to another first ever um you have 5:21 the DNC hosting a panel on Palestinian 5:24 human rights today at 3:00 which will be 5:27 probably in the midst of your protest 5:30 um the leaders uh and among those who will be speaking will be the heads of the uncommitted movement and Dr Tanya hasj Hassen which they're still pushing uh for her to actually address the convention from the stage and that's a public panel that's happening in the convention center I hadn't even heard that um I have to shout out to my colleague when we were in our press conference yesterday I got the quote in Mother Jones and I I presented it to the to the media gagle there as well it was 6:00 a powerful quote from the mayor again an 6:03 example of how you know he's uh he's 6:05 really from the movement and uh um and I 6:08 think it's very very powerful also that 6:10 there's a panel in there I believe that 6:13 you know the um the action outside is 6:17 what the world will be watching um to 6:19 people are talking about the excitement 6:21 of uh you know KLA Harris going to the 6:23 top of the ticket but I think the 6:25 excitement today and this week is going 6:27 to be outside we've got almost 300 6:30 organizations that have joined the 6:32 coalition to march on the DNC um 6:35 Palestine is at the center after October the Coalition made a shift and recognized that we had to call for a stop to us Aid to Israel and a stop to the genocide but at the same time of course we're still addressing all the other issues that we initiated this coalition to do Reproductive Rights women's rights workers rights lgbtq rights the Black Liberation movement immigrant rights all of those issues are 7:00 going to be addressed they're going to 7:01 be addressed from the stage they're 7:03 going to be addressed in the posters and 7:05 in the banners and in the puppets um 7:07 it's going to be an incredible site 7:09 diverse children and seniors people of 7:12 all different physical abilities people 7:13 of all different immigration statuses 7:16 and the powerful element of it is the 7:18 fact that all of those forces and all of 7:21 those communities are standing up very 7:24 publicly and very proudly saying free 7:27 Palestine and USA to Israel for that to 7:30 happen and for the entire world to be 7:32 watching it is going to be a really 7:34 really powerful moment and could you talk for those people around the country who are not familiar with the the size and the influence of the Palestinian Community here in Chicago yeah I we believe that there's approximately 880,000 Palestinians that live in greater Chicago we think there's about 250,000 Arabs in the entire State um and and so yeah I I believe we're very uh influential I believe we we did an incredible job of of uh helping to win 8:02 the the ceasefire resolution with our allies mostly black and Latino um city council members and of course the mayor breaking this High um and so it is the largest community in the United States um and I think that is obviously significant the other thing is on Wednesday at 3:30 um the Chicago Coalition for justice in Palestine of which usbn is also a member and a leader uh will be organizing a protest uh that Coalition locally has organized over 50 protests since October um and uh and clearly clearly Chicago is the Hub of the Palestinian community in the United States I mean isn't the concentration of Palestinian Americans in Chicago is the largest concentration of Palestinian Americans in the country it's called Little Palestine it is it is yeah and and it's the largest community we believe it's the largest community in the entire world outside of the Arab 9:00 world I wanted to ask you you've been quoted as saying that Palestine is this generation's Vietnam War but you talk about that the similarities and the limits of that comparison yeah listen I think that obviously there are no us boots on the ground except for the advisers and the CIA and the others that are working directly with the Israelis to repress the Palestinians um but it is a US war and I think the entire world recognizes that you know Biden could have turned off off that tap of funding and weapons from day one if he wanted to if he wanted to stop this genocide he could have stopped it um he could stop it today so it is a US War it's recognized across the world as a US war and and so and and the way that the rest of the C the world has responded to it reminds me a lot of the way the world responded to the Vietnam War saying we have to stop this these attacks on the people of Vietnam the other comparison is that the Vietnamese lost 2 million 10:01 beautiful souls in that battle uh to defeat us imperialism um and to rid themselves of colonialism uh in Algeria the algerians lost a million to get their independence and to boot the French colonialists out of there and so we recognize that there have been 40,000 Palestinians who been killed maybe 10,000 still under the rubble 100,000 injured 2 million displaced but we look at the history and we think about Vietnam and Algeria and we say we are on the path to Liberation and if it takes 40,000 Martyrs it's hard to say this it's hard to watch every day 247 on our hands a genocide in real time but we know that this will lead to the liberation of Palestine and the liberation of Palestine will lead to the liberation of all the Arab masses and the Arab world so we are supporting our people in Palestine um we recognize that they are um 11:01 incredibly strong and steadfast in resisting the Israeli occupation and colonization in this brutal genocide and the rest of the world is with them they know that we just have to battle the Democratic party and KLA Harris and Joe Biden because those are the only people who are not with the Palestinians in this world you were also in Milwaukee for the Republican convention could you talk about what happened there yeah I was I was there and and I we get questioned all the time well how come you're not protesting the Republicans well we did protest the Republicans well how come this one is going to be a lot bigger and why are you putting more resources here and I said that's not necessarily the truth if the Republicans were in power and the Republicans had the presidency then the event of the Season would have been Milwaukee and the RNC but the reality is it's Joe Biden's War it's the Democratic party's war and Biden and Harris and blinkin especially and you know Jeff and Schumer and Pelosi and all of them the top rep the top 12:01 leaders of the democratic party are complicit and that's why we're protesting the DNC and that's why there's going to be thousands if not tens of thousands in the streets this week we want to thank you for being with us hatam abuda you mentioned Vietnam we're going to go back to 1968 here in the streets of Chicago hatam is spokesperson for the coalition to march on the Democratic National Convention and National chair of the US Palestinian Community Network born in Chicago longtime organ her in the Palestinian community

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