Voices from the Streets of Chicago: DNC Protesters Call for Gaza Ceasefire & Economic Justice

[Uncle Joe]

Democracy Now! is in Chicago for the 2024 Democratic National Convention, where protesters have actions planned throughout the week. The demonstrations kicked off on Sunday, on the eve of the convention, with the March for Bodies Outside Unjust Laws, which was organized by a coalition of several different activist groups to demand action on reproductive rights, LGBTQ rights and an end to the war on Gaza. We hear from protesters on the ground who say they will withhold their votes in the presidential election until the Democratic Party commits to reversing the Biden administration's policy of "warmongering."

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.

[Ocelot II]

1. Why didn't they protest the RNC?

Fuck them if we end up with another 1968. They are not helping; haven't they figured out that Trump would be a thousand times worse?

[Uncle Joe]

2. They did, but not in the same numbers because

the Democratic Party is the party in power.

If it had been a Republican Administration in power, Milwaukee would've attracted much more attention, and many more protests.

[Ocelot II]

4. Except that the Democrats have almost no power under the current Congress.

It's an exercise in performative outrage by people who haven't got a clue about how complicated and difficult the situation is. Maybe they should run for office and try to make themselves useful instead of tearing down the only party that can prevent the mess from getting worse.

[Uncle Joe]

6. The buck doesn't stop with the Congress.

The Presidency is the still the ultimate single person power and some of the protesters are running for office.

[Oopsie Daisy]

9. And... word-word-words, "overton window" more words, or something. 🤡 🤣😂

Always on their endless quest to win hearts and minds, eh? 🤪 This will be as "successful" as their ham-fisted efforts to get universities to "divest" from Israel. Naive, heavy-handed, violent, inelegant, ineffective.

[thucythucy]

10. Last I heard President Biden was working hard to get a cease fire.

It's not like he has a magic wand he can wave to cast a spell on Hamas and Netanyahu. Time and again we seem close to a cease fire, and then one or the other side pulls back.

Do they seriously believe Trump and Vance--and Jared and Ivanka-- give a shit about Palestinian lives? That an administration staffed with Islamaphobes would do anything to spare Gaza?

A better way for Palestinian-American leaders to approach this might be to endorse Harris, work for her election, and then call in for their favors.

If they work to defeat her, and she wins, why should she care about their concerns? I think she would anyway, because she's a decent and compassionate person, but she would work for a just settlement in spite of these misguided efforts, not because of them.

Of course if she loses what happens in Gaza will be many times worse. Trump has said he'd green light anything Netanyahu wants to do. Not to mention, Palestinian American leaders will be lucky not to end up in Guantanemo Bay.

The only possible effect of these demonstrations will be to assist Trump's bid for re-election. Just as the anti war protests at the DNC in 1968 accomplished nothing but to put Richard Nixon in the White House, who then did everything he could to extend and expand the Vietnam War, expand COINTELPRO, and do everything he could to harass and destroy the anti war movement.

[Uncle Joe]

11. Personally I believe Kushner's 2+ billion dollar "shadow diplomacy" in the Middle East during *rump's Presidency

was to form an "October Surprise," but it actually started last October.

I also believe to ignore these anti-genocide/pro-peace demonstrations or sweep them under the rug weakens democracy and would increase *rump's chances of returning to power.

The thing that damaged the Democratic Party the most in 1968 wasn't the peace demonstrations, it was Mayor Daley's hard core anti-democratic, anti-First Amendment policies along with the militant police response that resulted in violence.

That's what sealed the deal for Nixon's rise to power, no pun intended against the literal gagging of Bobby Seale at his trial.

[thucythucy]

12. So you think people who were shocked by police brutality

voted for Nixon?

Yes, Daley was a thug and a criminal, and the Chicago police acted more like Brown Shirts than law enforcement. But the message most swing voters got was: the Democrats bring chaos and are tearing down the country. Look how much hate and violence they brought to Chicago. "What we need is law and order."

It seems to me I'm not "ignoring" these protesters at all. I'm pointing out how counterproductive they are to their own cause. And certainly the media isn't "sweeping them under the rug." They're giving them microphones and a national platform to spew hate at Harris and Democrats.

What truly "weakens democracy" is anything that furthers Trump's chances in November.

As for "pro peace" I was just on a thread that featured some of these "pro peace" demonstrators carrying a sign that read "Globalize the Intifada."

Refresh my memory, but were either of the Intifadas examples of Gandhi's Satyagraha?

[Uncle Joe]

13. I think many of the people that were shocked by Daley's thuggery and the "Brown Shirt" tactics didn't vote at all

(snip)

Although the popular vote in the 1968 Presidential race was extremely close, Richard Nixon won the contest with a clear lead in electoral votes over his chief rival Hubert Humphrey. He did so by carrying the great majority of Western and Midwestern states and by winning close contests in seven states surrounding the deep South. Only in the East did Humphrey show impressive strength. The deep South went to George Wallace.

Nixon won 302 electoral votes from 32 states—32 more than needed to gain a clear majority in the electoral college. Humphrey's 191 electoral votes came from 14 states, and Wallace carried five states with 45 votes. Because it was not clear until well into the day after the election that Nixon would gain an electoral majority, many observers expressed horror at the distinct possibility that the election might be deadlocked in the electoral college, with Wallace holding the balance of power, or eventually be decided in the House of Representatives.

As it was, Nixon's electoral vote total was the smallest for a winner since Woodrow Wilson (D) gained the Presidency in 1916 with 277 electoral votes. The lowest winning electoral vote totals since 1916 had been registered by Harry S. Truman (D) in 1948 and John F. Kennedy (D) in 1960, each with 303 votes—just one more than Nixon's total.

Nixon built his electoral majority by carrying the two biggest Midwestern states, Illinois and Ohio, each with 26 electoral votes, California with 40 electoral votes, and one key Eastern state: New Jersey with 17 electoral votes. To this nucleus he added 11 Western states, 10 states in the Midwest and the seven Southern states; none of these 28 states had more than 14 electoral votes.

https://library.cqpress.com/cqalmanac/document.php?id=cqal68-1282553


The total turnout dropped from 1964 to 1968 and dropped off dramatically in 1972

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_presidential_elections_by_popular_vote_margin

When the people vote, Democrats generally win, that's why the Republicans hate democracy.

I count every sign that I can, and by my count the overwhelming majority of protesters are against genocide no matter who commits it.

They took "Never forget" as being a universal maxim.

[thucythucy]

14. Protesters I've seen also carry banners praising Hamas,

which has called for more "October 7"s and the extermination of all Jews.

So perhaps "Never forget" is not quite as universal a maxim as you imagine. Anyway, shouldn't that be "Never again?"

And the pile of mass produced unused signs I just saw on another thread here were almost all calling for "Victory for the Palestinian Resistance." Not a single sign calling for humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza, and certainly nothing about releasing hostages.

These demonstrations are misguided and self-defeating. I don't see how they will accomplish anything for Gaza, for Palestinians, or for American democracy.

[Oopsie Daisy]

3. Of course "Democracy Now!" is eager to amplify the anti-Democrat voices. No surprises there!

[Ocelot II]

5. "Democracy Not" is a more accurate name.

[Oopsie Daisy]

8. Done! (Thank you!)

[nycbos]

7. As an adopted Chicgoan...

... the true voices of Chicago are looking forward to elected Harris and Walz are frustrated by the very poor performance of the city's sports teams.