International Courant
Because the mud on this election slowly settles and Kamala Harris faces the wreckage of a marketing campaign that did not win a single swing state, the Democratic Get together and its liberal supporters are eagerly on the lookout for somebody apart from themselves to guilty. their catastrophic defeat. And it appears they’ve already discovered appropriate scapegoats: Arab Individuals, Muslims and anybody else who refused to solid their vote for the federal government that eagerly enabled the genocide of my folks, the Palestinians.
All through the evening of November 5, as electoral votes poured in for Trump from key states like North Carolina, Indiana and Ohio, social platforms have been flooded with offended Democrats who blamed Arab and Muslim Individuals for not voting for Harris and wishing for extra demise . and destruction of our brothers within the Center East as punishment for this perceived ‘betrayal’.
“I hope each rattling Muslim (sic) who voted for Trump will get to observe Bibi flip Gaza right into a glass parking zone,” one individual wrote. “(Inexperienced Get together Chief Jill) Stone voters will see what Trump does to Gaza,” one other recommended.
Their argument appears to be that by rejecting Harris, we’ve got given Trump the presidency and “sacrificed” the way forward for American democracy on the altar of international coverage.
They appear to consider not solely that we’re highly effective sufficient to resolve the destiny of democracy on this nation, but in addition that, merely due to our minority standing, we “owe” our vote to the Democratic Get together.
Actually, it’s true that minorities persistently confirmed far more help for Democratic candidates than white voters in modern American elections.
In 2016, Trump’s victory over then Democratic presidential candidate Hilary Clinton was achieved primarily by white voters: 57 % of white males and 47 % of white girls voted for him. In that election, 88 % of black voters and 65 % of Asian voters supported the Democrats. In the identical method, three-quarters of Muslim voters and about 60 % of Arab Individuals mentioned they voted for Clinton that 12 months. The sample continued in 2020, with minorities, together with Muslims and Arabs, exhibiting up in giant numbers to help the Biden-Harris ticket.
However this historic help, which undoubtedly cemented previous Democratic victories and helped Clinton retain the favored vote in 2016, doesn’t imply that we “owe” the occasion something, or that we will be held accountable for its “magnificent ‘defeat towards the occasion. Trump on this election.
Politicians, no matter occasion affiliation, should not entitled to the votes of any specific demographic group. It’s their responsibility, and even their privilege, to earn our votes. Nonetheless, throughout this election cycle, the Democratic institution has labored tirelessly to ensure we do not vote for them. So this defeat is theirs, and theirs alone.
Simply take a look at how the Democrats campaigned within the state the place I reside, Michigan. Michigan is a vital swing state the place elections can rely upon simply hundreds of votes. Michigan is house to about 200,000 Muslim Individuals. Over the previous 12 months, these voters have made it clear in each attainable method that their vote was conditional on the occasion’s promise to finish its monetary, political and army help for the mass killings of Palestinians, Lebanese and Yemenis. The “uncommitted” marketing campaign – geared toward ending the Democratic Get together’s help for the genocide in Israel – gained greater than 100,000 votes within the state’s Democratic main.
The Democratic Get together wasn’t listening. Harris not solely refused to desert Biden’s staunch pro-Israel coverage on Palestine, but in addition personally supported the continued bloodshed in Gaza by publicly insulting anti-genocide activists within the state. When pro-Palestinian protesters interrupted a Harris rally in Detroit by merely saying they “is not going to vote for genocide,” she silenced them along with her slogan: “I converse.” She then despatched former President Invoice Clinton stateside to ship a speech making an attempt to justify the mass homicide of Palestinians. Liz Cheney, the Republican daughter of Iraqi struggle architect and struggle felony Dick Cheney, additionally appeared within the state to marketing campaign for Harris. Congressman Ritchie Torres, who this previous 12 months accused anybody who demanded an finish to the bloodshed in Gaza of being an anti-Semitic terrorist, was one other surrogate Harris despatched to Michigan.
Consequently, Michigan Muslims understandably didn’t vote for Harris. They did not vote for Harris as a result of they did not owe her their vote, and she or he did nothing to earn it.
Within the metropolis of Dearborn, the place about 55 % of residents are of Center Japanese descent, Trump gained with 42.48 % of the vote over Vice President Kamala Harris, who obtained solely 36.26 %. Jill Stein of the Inexperienced Get together, who campaigned closely to finish Israel’s assault on Gaza, obtained 18.37 %. In 2020, a whopping 74.20 % of voters within the metropolis had solid their votes for Biden.
What we see in Michigan is certainly an image of betrayal. But it surely was the Democratic Get together that betrayed the voters who supported it election after election, not the opposite method round.
In any case, the numbers from Michigan and different battleground states present that Democrats’ losses are just too nice to be attributed solely to Arab and Muslim voters.
For instance, the Senate flipped attributable to Democratic losses in locations like Ohio and West Virginia, the place the outcomes can’t be linked to the supposed “betrayal” of Muslim and Arab voters. These races, and in the end the Senate and the White Home, have been misplaced as a result of the DNC refused to take heed to the first calls for and wishes of not solely Muslims and Arabs, but in addition the overwhelming majority of potential Democratic voters.
They failed to supply the American folks with solutions and options on necessary points like healthcare, local weather change and, sure, ending genocide.
Opposite to what Harris and her surrogates could recommend, most Individuals need an finish to American help for Israel’s brutal struggle on Gaza. A February survey of 1,232 seemingly voters by Knowledge for progress discovered that 67 % – together with 77 % of Democrats and 69 % of independents – would help the US name for a everlasting ceasefire in Gaza and situation army help to Israel.
This was about eight months in the past, earlier than Israel dedicated numerous massacres, invaded Lebanon and commenced ethnically cleaning northern Gaza, utilizing famine as a weapon of struggle. Even the next proportion of Individuals in all probability need their nation to cease supporting Israel now.
Kamala Harris and the Democratic Get together didn’t lose this election as a result of some demographic group “betrayed” them. They misplaced the election as a result of they betrayed their core base, together with Arab and Muslim Individuals.
Kamala Harris may have simply secured their votes, and the votes of many others, just by selecting a humane and humanitarian ticket, together with guarantees to uphold worldwide legislation and finish American complicity in Israel’s genocide. As a substitute, the federal government opted for stubbornness, apparently prepared to gamble with each human lives and electoral success.
The Democratic institution cannot have it each methods. They can’t ignore, reject and antagonize communities whereas on the similar time anticipating their unconditional help. Palestinians, Arab and Muslim Individuals and others who left the Democratic Get together due to its help for Israel should not asking for particular remedy – they’re asking for primary human dignity and ethical consistency in international coverage.
This is not nearly international coverage – it is in regards to the nature of democratic illustration itself. Those that have remained silent throughout months of humanitarian disaster however at the moment are coming ahead to debate electoral politics reveal that their earlier silence was certainly a selection. It was a selection that spoke volumes about priorities and values. They now declare, “Trump will probably be worse.” However for individuals who have seen their youngsters mutilated and their land destroyed, there may be nothing worse.
We all know, in fact, that President Trump will no much less help the genocide of my folks than Biden or Harris. His actions throughout his first time period made that crystal clear. He’s a bastard born of a decades-long historical past of white supremacy, racism and bigotry. However this doesn’t imply that we may have used the fragmented stays of tens of hundreds of Palestinian males, girls and kids killed by American bombs dropped by Israel to vote for the lady who personally defended and facilitated their homicide. We could not try this, and we did not.
It’s time, because the nation and the world put together for a second Trump presidency, for Democrats to cease passing the buck and take duty for the alternatives they’ve made. We’re not right here due to something Arab and Muslim Individuals have or haven’t executed. We’re right here as a result of the Democratic Get together, first beneath Joe Biden after which Kamala Harris, insisted on committing genocide whereas ignoring the fundamental rules of “democracy” and “freedom” that they supposedly cherish.
So, Vice President Kamala Harris, Gaza is talking now. Was the slaughter of our youngsters value it?
The views expressed on this article are these of the writer and don’t essentially mirror the editorial place of Al Jazeera.
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