Protesters at Republican National Convention Call Attention to Gaza Amid Heightened Security - U.S. News - Haaretz.com
MILWAUKEE – The largest organized protest during the Republican National Convention kicks off Monday amid heightened security and growing tensions following the attempted assassination of presumed Republican nominee Donald Trump.
The march, which identifies "stand with Palestine" as one of its five points of unity, showcases how the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the ongoing Gaza war have become top-tier progressive issues, alongside "fight[ing] the racist and reactionary agenda of the Republican Party" as well as defending LGBTQ and reproductive rights, immigrants' rights and "peace, justice and equity for all."
In the hours following the assassination attempt against Trump in Pennsylvania on Saturday evening, march organizers insisted that they "reaffirmed our commitment to a family-friendly march along the route we have agreed on with the City."
- Deport 'pro-Hamas' students, build a U.S. Iron Dome: Trump's GOP releases party platform
- Jewish Republicans rally behind Trump as campus antisemitism set to star at GOP convention
- U.S. antisemites spin conspiracies blaming Israel for Trump assassination attempt
"Our broad coalition includes many endorsing organizations such as unions, community groups and churches," organizers in the Coalition to March on the RNC said. "We have teams of experienced marshals and medics prepared to keep us safe. Our history as organizers speaks for itself. We have held several marches over the last two years, including one with over a thousand participants, and have seen no arrests or injuries," they continued.
The coalition met with the Milwaukee City Attorney's office and members of the Milwaukee Police Department earlier this week to solidify their agreement to march near the convention.
"We are confident in our security plan, we uphold our agreement with the City to march within sight and sound of the Fiserv Forum without being impeded by law enforcement, and Deputy City Attorney Adam Stephens will be marching with us to make sure things go off without a hitch," they added.
Seven of the organizations involved in the coalition are explicitly dedicated to Palestinian rights, and several of the speakers are Palestinian rights activists or activists focused on the intersectionality of Palestinian rights and other issues.
"The most visible figurehead of the Republican Party right now is Donald Trump, but we want to be clear: We are marching on the Republicans' entire agenda. Our speakers today represent a broad movement against the entire Republican platform," said Omar Flores, co-chair of the Coalition to March on the RNC.
"We are marching on every Republican state slashing funding for DEI initiatives in education, every Republican governor putting up more razor wire to militarize the Southwest border, every Republican voting for right-to-work bills, and every Republican signing bombs they are sending to Gaza," Flores continued.
National Chair of the U.S. Palestinian Community Network (USPCN) Hatem Abudayyeh said his organization immediately joined the coalition upon learning about the convention in December 2022.
"Because Republicans have historically supported Israeli racism, white supremacy, apartheid and Zionism, the systems of oppression used to colonize and occupy historical Palestine," he said, "we knew that we would have to stand with our social justice partners across the U.S. to fight for the rights of our Palestinian people and challenge Trump and all the other Republicans who, as of today, have provided political, diplomatic and financial cover for Israel to kill almost 40,000 Palestinians in Gaza."
"We also recognize that Israel's genocide against the Palestinian people of Gaza is the primary issue in the world today, our generation's Vietnam War; and just like that war, we have to play our part in the belly of the beast to stop the genocide, to end U.S. aid to Israel, and to stand with Palestine," Abudayyeh continued.
He further warned that Trump's remarks in last month's debate demonstrate that he wants to "intensify" the war and "kill more and more Palestinians," stressing that "people in the U.S. want money for health care and childcare and jobs and immigration and education, not occupation."
"Before South African apartheid was defeated, our international movement had built a consensus that South Africa had no right to exist as a racist, white supremacist, settler-colonialist, apartheid state. Today, there is the same worldwide consensus that Israel also has no right to exist as a racist, white supremacist, settler-colonialist, apartheid, Zionist state. It is on its last legs, as is the U.S. empire," he said.
Other prominent Palestinian-American activists with prominent roles in the march include Milwaukee Muslim Women's Coalition Executive Director Janan Najeeb and USPCN Chicago chapter leader Rania Salem, who is also co-chair of the group's Campaign to Free All Palestinian Political Prisoners.
Another speaker is Victoria Hinckley, a student organizer with Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) at the University of South Florida in Tampa. She was recently expelled in her senior year due to her involvement in her group's solidarity encampment for Gaza.
The march will occur again next month at Chicago's Democratic National Convention, where Flores says "we will be letting the Democrats know that we also see every bomb they drop on Gaza, every family they separate at the border and every time they choose not to raise the minimum wage."