International Courant
Chicago, Illinois – As balloons fell from the ceiling of a packed United Heart in Chicago, strains of Democratic Occasion supporters stood, clapped and cheered in pleasure.
It was Thursday evening and Kamala Harris had simply delivered her closing speech at this yr’s Democratic Nationwide Conference.
The temper was jubilant: Democrats within the viewers had been enthusiastic and plenty of had been satisfied that Harris had breathed new life into the get together within the weeks after President Joe Biden ended his faltering re-election bid.
However whereas cheering faces stretched so far as the attention may see and pink, white and blue balloons flew into the aisles, the temper outdoors the sector took a really completely different flip.
There stood a small group of individuals, wearing Palestinian keffiyehs, nearly immobile, trying exhausted and mournful.
The conference’s “uncommitted” delegates, who had known as for an arms embargo on Israel over its devastating warfare in Gaza, suffered a blow after Harris mentioned in no unsure phrases that she would proceed to produce weapons to the US ally.
Asma Mohammed, a delegate from Minnesota, summed up how they felt because the conference got here to an in depth.
“There are balloons raining down on the Democrats in our get together, and there are bombs raining down on youngsters, households, and those who I like,” Mohammed informed Al Jazeera, tears streaming down her face. “That’s what I assumed.”
Protesters in Chicago denounce Kamala Harris’ help for Israel (Ali Harb/Al Jazeera)
One other activist rubbed her shoulder to consolation her as they each cried.
In the meantime, the excited attendees walked by with their “Harris Waltz” indicators and American flags.
Finally, two radically contrasting realities emerged from the four-day conference in Chicago. On the one hand, there was happiness and pleasure. However for Palestinian rights advocates, the conference introduced much more ache and disappointment.
Greater than 40,200 Palestinians have died in Gaza as america sends billions of {dollars} in assist to Israel, which continues to bombard besieged Palestinian territories.
Lots of the activists who protested outdoors the conference had been in mourning: Prepare dinner County, which incorporates Chicago, has the biggest Palestinian-American group of any county within the US.
These working throughout the Democratic Occasion, together with the “non-committed” delegates, needed to carry that grief into the celebratory environment of the conference. They informed horrific tales of carnage, displacement and despair in Gaza — all made potential by American taxpayer cash.
However contained in the conference corridor, the get together continued unabated, save for a number of shouts of “Free Palestine” on Thursday evening as Harris spoke, which had been ultimately drowned out by the cheering crowd.
Whereas disengaged delegates tried to strain the Democratic Occasion from inside, protesters gathered day by day outdoors the conference to criticize Harris and Biden for his or her help for Israel.
The protesters had been various, energetic and indignant, gathering with Palestinian flags and chanting towards the Israeli occupation and the Democratic Occasion.
“DNC, your fingers are pink! Over 40,000 useless,” a petite younger lady in a hijab shouted by way of a megaphone Wednesday. Hundreds of individuals on the march echoed her chant.
Nonetheless, some feared the town would descend into chaos, as occurred in 1968 when a Democratic conference was held amid the civil rights motion and the unpopular Vietnam Battle.
On the time, the police cracked down on anti-war protesters. This time, there was no crackdown.
There have been some skirmishes, however the protests had been peaceable and demonstrators weren’t allowed to get too near the conference middle. The conference middle was guarded by a safety perimeter with a number of checkpoints.
But for a lot of demonstrators, there have been nonetheless parallels with the scenario in 1968. They noticed the warfare in Gaza as this technology’s Vietnam.
“Similar to in 1968, there’s nothing to have fun,” the demonstrators chanted.
For 4 days, the demonstrators and disengaged delegates marched, chanted, and even begged to be heard and acknowledged.
But it surely seems the protesters’ voices didn’t transfer the get together management. Harris’ marketing campaign and the occasion’s organizers in the end rejected the “non-committed” motion’s request to have a Palestinian speaker on the conference.
And whereas Harris and Biden have known as for a ceasefire in Gaza, Palestinian rights activists mentioned their statements fall quick. A number of activists argued this week that there may be no ceasefire so long as the US continues to produce Israel with weapons to gasoline the warfare.
Al Jazeera spoke to many Harris supporters on the conference, and so they had been both sympathetic or detached to the protesters. Audio system on the conference who talked about Palestinians and known as for a ceasefire had been met with deafening cheers from the gang.
Nonetheless, Democrats had been keen to maintain the present going as they rallied round Harris. Palestine didn’t appear to be a precedence for them. The warfare in Gaza and people who raised it on the conference appeared a sideshow, if not an annoyance.
The conference is now over. However the sharp divide between pleasure and agony in Chicago may plague the Democratic Occasion for years to return.
Just about each pro-Palestinian advocate and protester Al Jazeera spoke to on the conference had the identical message: “We’re not leaving.”
Celebrations and sorrow: a stark distinction on the Democratic Nationwide Conference | Information US elections 2024
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