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There were a lot of reactions to Kamala Harris picking Minnesota Governor Tim Walz as her VP, and a couple narratives stood out.
First, the idea that the Walz selection represented a significant win
for the left because he was the most progressive of the bunch and
Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro was the worst on Israel.
Second, the idea that the selection of Walz does not matter in any way and shouldn’t be identified as a victory. Shapiro had baggage that would have quickly become a Trump talking point, so the decision had nothing to do with Gaza.
Personally, I find both of these misplaced.
Yeah, it’s tough to believe that Shapiro comparing Gaza protesters to
the KKK or backing a bill that would penalize schools for divesting
from Israel is what did him in as an option. It’s also futile to pretend
Walz is great on the issue. He deserves credit for backing a ceasefire
and acknowledging the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, but he’s a mainstream
Democrat on the issue.
Having said that, the Walz pick quite obviously feels like something that activists will attempt to build on.
This is Daniel Denvir, host of the Jacobin magazine podcast “The Dig,” on Twitter:
“Left twitter need not be so hotly divided between sunny optimism and
nihilistic doomerism! Waltz was the best pick and it’s good news for the
left he was selected. At the same time, we need material changes in
policy that will stop the genocide, namely an arms embargo on Israel.
Harris selecting Shapiro would have been signal she is not receptive to
left demands on Palestine. The selection of Waltz suggests she *may* be
more receptive than Biden. So this is good news but no VP pick was going
to change the fact that we haven’t won what we need on Gaza.”
The Uncommitted Movement’s statement on the pick reflected this complexity as well.
“Governor Walz has demonstrated a remarkable ability to evolve as a
public leader, uniting Democrats diverse coalition to achieve
significant milestones for Minnesota families of all backgrounds,” said
Uncommitted senior advisor Elianne Farhat. “While his past positions as a
Congressman may have conflicted with anti-war voters, we hope he can
evolve on this issue as he has on others, such as shifting from an A to F
rating from the NRA.”
“As Harris’ vice presidential
pick, it’s crucial he continues this evolution by supporting an arms
embargo on Israel’s war and occupation against Palestinians in an effort
to unite our party to defeat authoritarianism in the fall.“
We’ll see how Palestine groups that engage with electoral politics
navigate this terrain in the coming weeks. At a Progressives for Harris
meeting this week Gaza was central, with multiple speakers calling for a
ceasefire and an arms embargo. Three Palestinians spoke and Rep. Summer
Lee declared, “We will free Palestine.”
Georgia State Rep. Ruwa Romman was one of those speakers.
“I’m sure there are those, like me, who have not endorsed VP Kamala Harris as we wait to learn more about her policy,” she told
attendees. “..We also know there is a massive threat looming with a
second Trump term. I’m here to say both of these positions are valid and
we can hold both at the same time. And, that there is so much all of us
can do to keep up the pressure to save lives and bring voters along.”
At a Harris rally in Detroit last night, a group of protesters
chanted, “Kamala, Kamala, you can’t Hide, we won’t vote for genocide.”
“I’m here because we believe in democracy. Everyone’s voice matters, but I am speaking now. I am speaking now,” said Harris.
When protesters continued to interrupt, Harris told them, “You know
what, if you want Donald Trump to win then say that. Otherwise I’m
speaking.”
They were then hauled away by security.
“Troubling, but unsurprising,” tweeted
Mitchell Plitnick. “Harris tries to connect legitimate protest against
the administration she is still a part of being a full partner in
genocide with support for Trump. Not the way to win back Uncommitted
voters in swing states, something she still needs to do.”
Prior to her speech Harris and Governor Tim Walz briefly met with
Uncommitted National Movement founders Layla Elabed and Abbas Alawieh.
The activists expressed their concerns about the U.S. supplying Israel
with weapons and requested a meeting to discuss a potential arms embargo
in more detail.
“I’m Palestinian, I’m a founder of Uncommitted. Michigan voters want
to support you, but we need a policy that will save lives in Gaza right
now,” Elabed told the Vice-President. “I meet with community members
every day in Michigan who are losing tens and hundreds of family members
in Gaza. Right now, we need an arms embargo. Will you meet with us to
talk about an arms embargo?”
“I’m a DNC delegate and I appreciate your leadership,” said Alawieh.
“We want to support you, Vice President Harris and our voters need to
see you turn a new page on Gaza policy that includes embracing an arms
embargo to save lives. Can we meet to discuss this urgent need for an
arms embargo?”
“Since October 7, the Vice President has prioritized engaging with
Arab, Muslim, and Palestinian community members and others regarding the
war in Gaza. In this brief engagement, she reaffirmed that her campaign
will continue to engage with those communities,” said the Harris
campaign in a statement after the rally. “The Vice President has been
clear: she will always work to ensure Israel is able to defend itself
against Iran and Iran-backed terrorist groups. The Vice President is
focused on securing the ceasefire and hostage deal currently on the
table. As she has said, it is time for this war to end in a way where:
Israel is secure, hostages are released, the suffering of Palestinian
civilians ends, and the Palestinian people can realize their right to
dignity, freedom, and self-determination.”
This morning White House National Security Advisor to the Vice President Phil Gordon tweeted,
“VP has been clear: she will always ensure Israel is able to defend
itself against Iran and Iran-backed terrorist groups. She does not
support an arms embargo on Israel. She will continue to work to protect
civilians in Gaza and to uphold international humanitarian law.”
Elabed and Alawieh released a joint response to Gordon:
“It’s exactly because the current White House policy allows bombs
to flow to Netanyahu unconditionally that he has been emboldened to
kill tens of thousands of civilians. That’s why our movement of over
700,000 Uncommitted voters is advocating for a common sense policy
change to end the flow of American weapons to an extreme, far-right
Israeli government and its war and occupation against Palestinians.
“We found hope in Vice President Harris expressing an openness to
meeting about an arms embargo, and we are eager to continue engaging
because people we love are being killed with American bombs.
“When we told Vice President Harris that members of our community
in Michigan are losing dozens and hundreds of their family members to
Israel’s assault in Gaza, she said back: ‘It’s horrific.’ It’s clear to
us that Vice President Harris can lead our country’s Gaza policy to a
more humane place. We hope she will meet with us so we can move forward
to discuss an arms embargo.
“Palestinians cannot eat words. Our communities are in deep pain.
The bombs must end and Palestinian and Israeli families must be
reunited.
“We pray that Vice President Harris can unite our party by
correcting course because our democracy cannot afford to pay the bill
for disregarding Palestinian lives should it come due in November. Not
another bomb.”
Cori Bush Loss
There’s a story behind every person in Congress, but the vast majority of them are boring and predictable.
Elite schools, an early thirst for power, and a consistent fear of
rocking the boat are all reoccurring staples across various forgettable
biographies.
Cori Bush was an outlier in this regard. She established a church and
served as its pastor. She worked as a triage nurse. She devoted herself
to activism during the Ferguson protests.
She ran for Senate in Missouri and lost badly. She ran for the House
and lost again. She ran for the same seat two years later and toppled
longtime incumbent William Lacy Clay.
In recent years, we have seen progressive candidates express
solidarity with Palestinians only to abandon those ideas once their
campaigns took up steam. Don’t forget what happened with Greg Casar or Maxwell Frost.
Bush was an outlier in this regard too. She expressed support for the
BDS movement on her campaign website, she spoke at a rally condemning
Israel’s annexation of the West Bank, and she said she’d support a bill
cutting off military aid if she was elected. She was backed by the St.
Louis Palestine Solidarity Committee, not the kind of endorsement that
most lawmakers seek out if they’re trying to oust a House member in an
historic upset.
Days before that election in 2020, Clay’s team sent out a mailer
smearing Bush for defending the BDS movement and accusing her of having
an “anti-Israel agenda.” The mailer featured a photo of Bush next to
Muslim activist Linda Sarsour.
In Congress, she walked the walk. A consistent critic of Israeli
policy who opposed Iron Dome funding and stood up for Palestinian
rights. She pushed for an investigation into the killing of Shireen Abu
Akleh. She was one of the first House members to call for a ceasefire in
Gaza and one of the only people in Congress to accuse Israel of
genocide.
Tuesday night’s result felt very familiar, as we just saw a nearly identical scenario play out in New York’s 16th district.
Like Jamaal Bowman, pro-Israel lobbying groups identified Bush as a
potentially vulnerable candidate. AIPAC poured millions into the race
but never mentioned the cause in their ads because they knew the
Democratic base had grown much more sympathetic to Palestinians.
Like George Latimer, AIPAC recruited a political opportunist willing
to say all the right things and back all the proper legislation. Wesley
Bell abandoned his campaign to unseat Missouri GOP Senator Josh Hawley
to run against Bush, even though he told her he wouldn’t.
In an appearance on The Breakfast Club Harper Hill said AIPAC offered him $20 million to run against Rep. Rashida Tlaib, but turned it down.
“The guy down in Missouri took the same deal I was offered,”
explained Hill. “Wesley Bell was running for U.S. Senate..he took the
deal, left the Senate race and ran against Cori Bush. What they did is,
they figured everybody is for sale.”
Many saw Bush’s 2020 win as a victory for the Black Lives Matter
movement gripping the country at the time. However, it’s a mistake to
view social movements as finite efforts that can be diagnosed as
successes or failures. Every major political project represents a
continuum, eternally facing setbacks while simultaneously inspiring
further activism and birthing various organizing offshoots.
Having said all that, the tenor of mainstream politics has undeniably
shifted over the past four years. Just look at Kamala Harris, a
presumptive presidential nominee who still hasn’t released much in the
way of a policy plan but has taken the time to distance herself from
various positions she took as a presidential candidate back then. She’s
announced she’s now opposed to a jobs guarantee, Medicare for All, and a
fracking ban.
The reality is that every progressive achievement is greeted with
political backlash. I bring this all up to reference something that the
political consultant Peter Feld told me about AIPAC’s strategy shortly before the Bowman race. Feld referred to AIPAC’s game plan as The Empire Strikes Back.
“AIPAC is just coming into Portland and crushing progressives, coming
into deep blue New York state and Jamal Bowman’s district and trying to
crush progressive Democrats who support Palestine,” said Feld. “I think
the impact is that people like Richie Torres and Dan Goldman feel like
there’s just no downside at all toward expressing the most hardcore
support of Israel that they can. Not only voting for weapons to Israel,
but voting to censure Rashida Talib, voting to sanction the ICC, voting
for the Anti-Semitism Awareness Act.”
“That’s going to be the consequence if AIPAC plows through this
primary cycle like a hot knife through butter,” he continued. “We’re
going to see a very unconstrained period, and that’s just so ironic at a
time where, as we’ve said, Democrats, by a margin of 77 to 23, want to
stop sending aid to Israel and also overwhelmingly support a ceasefire.” |