Staff, published on Fightback News, August 21, 2024
Chicago, IL – On August 19, over 20,000 people marched on the opening day of the Democratic National Convention, demanding an end to U.S. aid to Israel and an end to the genocide in Gaza. The march was the result of over a year of work by the Coalition to March on the DNC. Marchers came within sight and sound of the Democratic National Convention, putting heat on United States government as it facilitates a genocide.
Hatem Abudayyeh, the national chair of the U.S. Palestinian Community Network, told the crowd, “Black liberation, immigrant rights, reproductive rights, women’s rights, workers’ rights, the right to strike, the right to unionize. The rank-and-file workers are here, the Black community members are here, the documented and undocumented immigrants are here, how powerful this is to be together here, all of us.”
Abudayyeh continued, “Killer Kamala, Genocide Joe, and Baby Killer Blinken and all the rest of the Democratic Party in there, we are not going to give them a pass.”
More than 270 organizations from across the country worked for over a year to organize the March on the Democratic National Convention. Israel has relied on U.S.-supplied aid to carry out its genocidal campaign in Gaza. The coalition made its main slogans “Stand with Palestine” and “End U.S. aid to Israel.” Other issues included immigrant rights and legalization for all; defending LGBTQ and reproductive rights; stopping police crimes and enacting community control of the police; defending the right to unionize and strike; and demanding money for jobs, schools, healthcare, housing and the environment.
After Biden abandoned his presidential campaign, the coalition decided to continue to organize, recognizing the Democratic Party and the DNC as providing support to the genocide in Gaza. Frank Chapman, the executive director of the National Alliance against Racist and Political Repression and a leading voice of the Black liberation movement, said in the opening rally: “We’re here today to declare our unconditional solidarity with the Palestinian people. And so that nobody misunderstands what I mean by that, let me simply say, we want Palestine to win.”
Less than a week before the start of the DNC, the Coalition forced the city of Chicago to fully recognize the right to rally with amplified sound and a stage. The organizing and strength of the coalition made it possible to march within sight and sound of the DNC.
Nazek Sankari of the US Palestinian Community Network made it clear that the Democratic National Convention should have expected to face mass opposition when they chose Chicago as a host city: “Chicago, the largest city with a ceasefire resolution, a progressive Mayor Brandon Johnson, that identified the acts of Israel as genocidal, and the city that has organized almost 50 mass protests as the Coalition for Justice for Palestine where we shut down roads, highways, and Lakeshore Drive over the last ten months.” During the march on the DNC, as thousands rallied in Union Park, this power was on full display.
The coalition had support and attendees from across the country, from Los Angeles to New Orleans to Atlanta. Contingents included the anti-war contingent, the student contingent, the labor contingent, and the immigrant rights contingent, highlighting the various demands of the march, with the Palestinian contingent leading the march.
Carlos Montes, a member of Central CSO in Los Angeles stated, “We fight against the police killings of young Chicanos by the LAPD, we fight for better schools against privatization, we fight for immigrant rights, but we know the struggle is for self-determination.”
Speaking at the rally, Sydney Loving, a fighter against police crimes from Dallas and a member of the Central Committee of the Freedom Road Socialist Organization, said “The monopoly capitalists who run this country are getting rich off this system and somebody’s getting rich off the genocide in Palestine. But this system will not last. We’re building a revolutionary movement to take back our power, because we want to build something better for everybody. Working-class and oppressed people deserve a real future, and Palestinian children deserve a real future, and this rotting system has no future.”
Other speakers included Kobi Guillory of the Chicago Alliance against Racist and Political Repression, Kristen Perez of the Illinois Nurses Association, Xavi Velazquez of the Legalization for All network and La Frontera Nos Cruzó, Ju-Hyun Park of NODUTDOL, and Rhonda Romero of Bayan USA. All spoke to the various demands of the coalition, raising the energy of the crowd as it prepared to march. Organizations in the coalition included the US Palestinian Community Network, National Alliance against Racist and Political Repression, New Students for a Democratic Society, Freedom Road Socialist Organization, International League of People’s Struggles, United National Antiwar Coalition, and Legalization for All Network.
The march then proceeded from Union Park to a park within sight of the United Center, where the DNC is being held. Chants of “Free, free Palestine!” filled the streets as the march made its way towards the center. Several buses of delegates to the Democratic National Convention were delayed because of the march, leaving empty seats at the Democratic Party opened up their celebrations. Due to the strength of the march, the Chicago Police Department were forced into allowing a longer march route than specified in the permit after claiming for weeks that this was impossible. The march concluded with chants filling up the street below raised train tracks, ending in Union Park.
The march was a resounding success and example of the power of organizing. The Democratic National Convention was disrupted, both inside and out, as delegates arrived late, and pro-Palestine delegates raised the demand of an arms embargo through a banner inside the convention. Even with the denial of permits for month until the last moment , and a change in presidential candidates, the march proceeded within sight and sound of the Democratic National Convention.
The March on the DNC made it impossible to ignore the genocide in Gaza, and the popular support for an end to U.S. aid to Israel. The protest was a crucial moment of solidarity with Palestine.
*Featured Image: Lead banner at the August 19 march on the DNC. | Kim DeFranco/Fight Back! News