By Cameron Harrison and Taryn Fivek
“Today we are voting in the streets!” Allen Harris, a member of United Steel Workers, told People’s World at the March on the Democratic National Convention (DNC) rally that saw 10,000 protesters hit the streets of Chicago August 19.
Marchers demanded the Biden administration stop providing weapons to Israel and pressure its ally, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, to end his genocide in Gaza. They also defended immigrant workers and called for moving money from the war budget to fund community needs – including schools, healthcare and housing. They defended LGBTQ rights, supported workers’ right to unionize and strike, and called for community control of the police.
“Labour has come out for a ceasefire, the AFL-CIO has come out for a ceasefire, now seven major national unions have written a letter to the Biden administration demanding an arms embargo,” Harris said. “We were part of getting a ceasefire resolution passed in our Steel Workers local, and we are very proud of that fact.”
Despite the menacing presence of thousands of police officers, paralyzing road closures and a drawn-out legal battle that saw the city fighting to keep protesters out of “sight and sound” of the convention, thousands gathered in Union Park to hear from dozens of speakers from an array of organizations before hitting the streets. Another major protest is scheduled for the close of the DNC on August 22.
Frank Chapman, executive director of the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, one of the groups responsible for organizing the rally and march, said, “In the whole entire history of the world, there has never been a moment like this, a moment so packed with the horrors of genocide, a catastrophic moment for sure. It’s also a moment of unspeakable resistance.”
“An arms embargo is exactly what we need,” said Nick, a member of SAG-AFTRA in Chicago. “It’s hypocritical of our government to ‘support’ a ceasefire while continuing to funnel billions of dollars’ worth of weapons that are used to continue the slaughter.”
Elijah Edwards, president of Chicago AFSCME Local 2858, said, “If we aren’t calling for peace, what are we actually calling for?” He was marching with a group of trade unionists carrying a banner that read, “Organized Labor Stands With Palestine.”
Members of the Teamsters, Chicago Teachers Union, Service Employees, AFSCME, United Auto Workers and Steel Workers were among those marching with the labour contingent.
“We are definitely for the labour movement moving to call for a ceasefire and an arms embargo,” Edwards said. “It’s very important that our labour movement is taking the politically independent position on Gaza, moving our working class into the mass movement for peace and justice in Palestine.”
Another steelworker, David Vance, said that he was “not expecting Kamala Harris to march with us today,” but he said, “What we’re doing is a necessary step forward in the direction of ending the genocide.”
Mollie Hartenstein, a member of Jewish Voice for Peace in Chicago, said that she’s a Jewish American taxpayer and a voter and that she was at the march to tell the pro-war lobby: “Not in our name!”
“There are over 100 Jewish Americans here with us today from all over the country. We are confident that our voices will be heard on the inside [of the DNC]” she said while busily organizing the JVP contingent in preparation for the march.
“We are not going away. Our demands are not only to the DNC but to all politicians in our country, that in order to secure a permanent ceasefire, an arms embargo must be enacted on Israel.”
The many groups present included the US Palestinian Community Network, Sunrise Movement, Not Another Bomb, US Hands Off Cuba coalition, Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, Voces de la Frontera Action, Black Lives Matter Chicago, Students for Justice in Palestine, CodePink, the Communist Party USA, the US Campaign for Palestinian Rights, Veterans for Peace, and others.
“Every single step we take is a step in the right direction. Every single action brings more people out,” said a representative from Sunrise Movement, a youth organization that fights against corporate interests and towards an environmentally just future. “We need to put more pressure on our politicians to work for the people that elected them.”
Bia, a Palestinian-American from Chicago, said that she came to Union Park to protest against the US support of arms to Israel.
A contingent of CPUSA members carried a banner that said, “End the Occupation.”
“I am marching as a communist and as a healthcare worker,” Sharmain Siddiqui, a member of the Chicago Club of the Communist Party, said. “We are marching on the DNC, while the Democratic Party consolidates its program, to highlight our own: the people’s agenda – which includes both an end to the occupation of Palestine and a re-investment in this country’s healthcare infrastructure.”
“We support the issues, and that means arms embargo, ending the occupation and murder of Palestinians, and securing an immediate ceasefire,” Bia said. “I think this large gathering of the movement will show [the DNC] that we’re not a small minority and that we are not going away.”
People’s World
Support working-class media!
If you found this article useful, please consider donating to People’s Voice or purchasing a subscription so that you get every issue of Canada’s leading socialist publication delivered to your door or inbox!
For over 100 years, we have been 100% reader-supported, with no corporate or government funding.
