Our Waning Ability to Pressure The Establishment Demands An Enduring Fight

With the coming DNC protests in Chicago, we should keep our strategy revolutionary, never compromising with the establishment.

The fight for Palestinian liberation has been a difficult one. Not to suggest any fight for liberation is any easier than another, but this one has been uniquely frustrating because of the overwhelming apathy and progress going in the wrong direction. This fight has gone back decades, and while it has been overshadowed by the immense suffering caused by America in the early aughts, it has never gone away. Let’s remind people that this did not start last October. A month before, Human Rights Watch determined 2023 to be the deadliest year for Palestinian children in the West Bank after settler raids and attacks by the IDF. Let’s remind them that it was always an apartheid state where Palestinains are kept in abject poverty. Let’s remind them just six years ago, 223 people including 46 children were killed in Gaza protesting the blockade imposed on them. Let’s remind them of people like American activist Rachel Aliene Corrie who was murdered for protesting the destruction of Palestinian homes. Let’s remind them that there is simply no symmetry in the relationship between the people held in an open-air prison and the goliath modern military state. With the coming protest at the Chicago DNC, protestors and the Uncommitted movement leaders must face a serious reality; we cannot rely on the establishment and we cannot accept compromises from them.

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In a rather crushing announcement on August 13th, the Biden administration approved $20 billion arms in sales to Israel. The bulk of it was $18 billion worth of F-15 fighter jets along with $102 million in air-to-air missiles, $774 million in tank cartridges, $583 million in vehicles, and $61 million in mortars. This support will not have any impact on the current situation as it will not be delivered for another 16 months but it proves that the current administration refuses to hold any leverage over Israel. Joe Biden has expressed his enthusiastic support for Israel regardless of their actions, even going far enough to call himself a ‘zionist’ in an interview last month. While his mental faculties have been called into question, it's hard to tell if his stance on the current situation is due to cognitive weakness, his stubbornness, or his 1970s-era view of foreign policy. It is becoming increasingly obvious that this is no longer just about the immense suffering in Palestine, it’s about the serious threat of a regional conflict. 

Either Biden fails to realize the political reality, or he doesn’t care. In Israel, there is immense pressure on the current administration to keep pursuing war. Netanyahu’s far-right administration has become overwhelmingly extremist, spouting overtly fascist rhetoric throughout the past year. Like every fascist regime, Netanyahu’s power is maintained through fear, creating enemies and necessitating a constant threat. This fundamental fact underlies why Israel has backed out of every major peace agreement and has said it will continue the war with or without America’s support. That is why Israel assassinated Ismail Haniyeh, leader of Hamas’ political branch, the one person who was in charge of negotiating and accepting ceasefire deals. With the killing of Haniyeh in Iran’s capital city Teran, Israel has essentially said to the world that they are unwilling to humor any peace agreement and will continue the Palestinian genocide⁺ indefinitely. It’s not the first time they’ve done this either, Israel has a history of assassinating political leaders against international law. While this was happening, Israel has also expanded its war with Hezbollah in Lebanon, now firing at civilians as well, killing 10 in an air-strike on Saturday. Despite the Biden administration saying over and over for months that a ceasefire is close, Israel’s aggression is only accelerating. Iran has promised to retaliate for the attack inside Tehran, but they have not made a move yet, and likely won’t. The American media has grossly exaggerated the current threat of a war with Iran in recent weeks. While Iran is in strong opposition to America and Israel, they currently have little incentive to start a wide-scale regional conflict, they mainly want to improve their political position in the region. Israel is not getting the response it desires– an excuse to justify an all-out war. Countries like China and Russia have postured on the side of Iran, but merely to oppose the US and Israel’s hegemonic control over East Asia. The grim reality is that if there were a distinct first strike in a regional war, it would certainly come from Israel. This strike would be covered up, scapegoated, and hidden in western media the same way it was with the false ‘weapons of mass destruction’ narrative. If one were to imagine what a spiral into war would be like– this would be it. The right-wing media crafts cover to justify America’s involvement in an unjust war and the liberal media apathetically supports it, only meekly prodding at the machine. President Biden has placed America in an uncritical supporting role, so if this day comes when Netanyahu’s domestic support decays and he needs a warrant to further centralize his power, America will have no leverage to stop him.

It’s obvious that protest has no effect on Biden and it probably wouldn’t if 100,000 people showed up in front of the white house demanding change. Since he left the race, protestors have even less leverage but as I alluded to earlier, they had little effect on policy in the first place. Now the pressure shifts to Harris who, granted, has taken a slightly better position on the issue but is nowhere near condemning Netanyahu. Liberals and the establishment media have taken it upon themselves to criticize the mode of protest saying it's misdirected. The most absurd are those defending Harris’ “I’m speaking” remark where she made the disgusting false dichotomy that Palestinian protests were helping Trump win. These disingenuous attacks should not bear any weight in our minds because there will never be a ‘good’ time to protest. The reasoning makes no sense; should someone’s liberation be put on pause because there is an election going on? Imagine scolding BLM protesters after the murder of George Floyd that they shouldn’t protest for police reform because it's an election year. For an entire crowd of Harris supporters to jeer and boo these Muslim men and women, some of whom have families affected by this genocide⁺, it takes an immense amount of collective apathy. Another line of argument I’ve heard, even from well-meaning supporters of the cause, is that– protest or not, Harris does not have the power to change anything. I’d argue that she has immense power to make change, she is second in line to the presidency and is part of Biden’s administration. Structurally she doesn’t have power but she can influence Biden by pressuring him. If she really did care about the suffering of Palestinians, she could threaten to speak out against him, threaten to call for his resignation, and side with the international community condemning Netanyahu and his regime. It would be extremely impractical but the reality of the situation is dire; we are more than 300 days into a genocide⁺ and Israel leading Biden down a dangerous path. Ultimately, the media and the establishment will follow her, and Biden would be completely irrational to sabotage her election chances. Netanyahu needs Trump in office so there is no friction with annexing the West Bank and forcing the exodus of Gaza. If Harris is elected it is not inconceivable that he would provoke more conflict between November and inauguration day which is the most terrifying outcome. Our objective is to keep up the pressure. Harris will try to run a clean campaign until November but we need to make it clear that we won’t stop until true justice is achieved. 

When I talk about justice in this instance, I’m particularly talking about the Palestinian struggle, but this needs to be part of a larger movement. When these protests arise for a certain cause, they must be part of a broad struggle against capitalism and the state. We must help each other realize that every fight for liberation is connected and none of us can be free until we are all free. This is why unions have supported the protests, no one’s struggle is isolated. The same military-industrial complex that lobbies the government to support the funding of Israel is the same force that drove the war on terror, the Gulf Wars, the Vietnam War, the Korean War, and every other instance of American imperialism. It is the inherent profit incentive of these ‘defense’ companies to use their immense wealth to influence our government to get entangled in endless wars thus further increasing their profits. It is these same capitalist forces that prevent reforms that would give the people a more democratic government. Under capitalism, there is no profit incentive in preventing war, thus war continues. And if there are rules in place to stop war, those rules can be changed. This isn’t a flaw in the system that can simply be regulated out, it is a foundational pillar of the capitalist system.

For months, protests at the DNC have been planned and it seems like tens of thousands are expected to show up Monday. The media is already comparing it to the 1968 protest of the DNC which was in response to the Vietnam War and police oppression. Know how the media will treat these protests; there will be many parallels to 1968. They will try to discredit the movement and say it is astroturfed. They will villainize protestors and paint them as terrorists. They will distort the message and refuse to air the movement leaders’ speeches. They will use the slightest instance of anti-semitism to represent the entire protest. They will blame all violence that occurs on protestors, even if the militarized police are the ones who initiate it. They will not show protestors being brutalized, sprayed with pepper spray, or shot with rubber bullets. They will put pundits on air to concern troll about Palestinian suffering. They will suggest that our protest will never work because our mode of protest is ‘too radical’. They will put more pundits on to express outrage over broken windows and spray paint on a corporate-insured bank. And finally, they will offer no solution to the genocide⁺ which is before us.

Time is running thin, and we don’t have much power. Although the protest is not making a dent in the policy decisions by our leaders, we should never give up, accept the media narratives, or compromise. We protest for no other reason than because it is necessary. Every other fight for change in history was first unpopular… until it became true. History will absolve you.

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