Colin Boyle/Block Club ChicagoWith all eyes on Chicago for the Democratic National Convention, tens of thousands of protesters marched in solidarity with Palestine.
As the Democratic National Convention kicked off Monday with caucus meetings for DNC delegates, 15,000 protesters from across the country assembled in Union Park, demanding a ceasefire in Gaza and an end to U.S. military aid for Israel.
Throughout the two-hour rally, speakers criticized President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, the presumptive presidential nominee and the Democratic Party for supporting Israel’s war on Gaza.
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Left wing scholar and presidential candidate Cornel West gave an impassioned speech, telling Palestinians they were “not alone.” “We will never forget you. Your dignity and your decency will never be swept away by any form of colorism, genocide or ethnic cleansing,” West said.
Organized by the Coalition to March on the DNC, rally speakers also called for U.S. policymakers to protect reproductive and LGBTQ+ rights, enact comprehensive immigration reform, invest in disenfranchised communities and military divestment.
Hatem Abudayyeh, a co-founder of the U.S. Palestinian Community Network and a lead organizer for the Coalition to March on the DNC, said he was pleased by “not only the numbers, but also the composition” of the event’s turnout, noting that members from numerous social movements, communities of color and oppressed groups were unified in their call for Palestinian liberation.
Thousands of demonstrators arrived from across the country to attend the protest and hold the Biden and Harris administrations accountable.
“Policymakers need to understand the gravity of the situation,” said Farah El-Ashram, a 22-year-old first-generation Palestinian American from Cleveland. “I don’t want my hard-earned money, or anyone’s hard-earned money…go toward killing innocent people. That’s not why my parents decided to raise me here.”
Victoria Hinckley, a student organizer with the Students for a Democratic Society, echoed El-Ashram.
“We don’t want our tax dollars being sent to Israel to actively fund the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians,” Hinckley said. “There are really heinous war crimes going on in Gaza right now by Israel, by the Zionist entity that’s directly funded by the United States.”
Advocating for Palestinian rights has come at a cost for Hinckley. The 22-year-old activist was expelled from the University of South Florida in Tampa right before graduation for her involvement with the school’s student encampment. But even as the university continues to withhold her degree, Hinckley does not regret pressuring her school to divest from Israeli companies.
“The Palestinian resistance is remaining steadfast in their struggle as they’re experiencing a genocide. It’s only right that we’re standing in solidarity with them and demanding things of our own institutions,” she said.
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On Oct. 7, Hamas militants invaded southern Israel, killing an estimated 1,200 Israelis and taking 240 hostages. Israel retaliated with airstrikes and an on-the-ground offensive. More than 40,000 Palestinian civilians, mostly women and children, have been killed. The war has resulted in more civilian casualties than the almost two-year war between Russia and Ukraine. Close to 90% of the population has been displaced as a result of the war on Gaza, according to the United Nations.
Palestinian Americans and sympathetic Chicagoans have demonstrated every weekend since October.
Harris, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, has recently sought to appease uncommitted and Palestinian voters. During a recent campaign rally in Arizona, Harris stopped her speech to address a protester, saying it was time for a deal for both a ceasefire and the release of hostages.
Ahead of the Democratic National Convention, organizers announced a panel discussing Palestinian human rights for the first time in history. The move was praised by Layla Elabed, one of the founders of the Uncommitted National Movement, in a video posted to X on Sunday night. “We thank the DNC for working with us on creating this historic panel while we continue focusing on policy change.”
“I just hope at the end of the day, people will choose humanity. That people understand that innocent lives shouldn’t be the cost of a war between two different groups,” El-Ashram said.
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