As Democrats brace for possible disruption to high-profile speeches at the Democratic National Convention, a pro-Palestinian group called Delegates Against Genocide, angry about U.S. support for Israel's offensive in Gaza, said it would call for an arms embargo this week.
The group of delegates against genocide said it would exercise its right to free speech during the main events of the four-day conference. Conference organizers declined to give details but said it would revise its party platform and use delegate rights to speak at the conference.
The group wants to include language supporting the enforcement of laws that prohibit providing military assistance to individuals or security forces that commit serious human rights violations.
We need to make our voices heard,” said Liano Sharon, a business consultant and delegate who signed the platform with 34 other delegates. “Freedom of expression necessarily includes the right to stand up and speak out, even when the authority in the chamber tells us to shut up.”
“They want the congress to go ahead. They don’t want any disruption or any announcements or anything like that,” he told Reuters at a Palestinian protest in Chicago."I'm sorry. The convention is a political engagement tool, right? If we don't use it for politics, then it's just a beauty pageant."
The Harris campaign declined to comment on the group's plans.
The No Say Movement, an independent group pushing for a change in Democratic policy toward Israel that won the support of more than 30 delegates in the primary and has also called for an arms embargo, has so far failed to successfully secure a Palestinian American or Gaza humanitarian worker to speak on the convention’s main stage.
The "No Take A Stand Movement" said they had no intention of disrupting the proceedings of the conference.
Late Saturday, conference organizers added daytime panels on Arab and Palestinian issues to Monday’s agenda and a discussion on anti-Semitism.
Representative Nadia Ahmad, a Barry University law professor in Florida, said there are about 60 Muslim delegates, a small fraction of the 5,000-strong total. But she said their concerns are shared by others.
Demonstrations are expected every day during the congress, and while their agendas vary, many activists agree that an immediate ceasefire is a priority.
The largest group, the Democratic National Convention March Coalition, plans demonstrations on the first and last days of the convention. Organizers say they expect at least 20,000 activists, including students protesting the war on college campuses.
"The people in power are going to be there," said Liz Rathburn, a student organizer at the University of Illinois at Chicago. "The people in the United Center are going to determine our foreign policy in some way."
The draft platform released by the Democratic Party in mid-July called for an "immediate and lasting ceasefire" in the war and the release of the remaining hostages taken by Hamas militants during an Oct. 7 attack on Gaza that Israel says killed 1,200 people.
The draft platform makes no mention of the more than 40,000 people in Gaza who Palestinian health authorities say have died in the ensuing Israeli offensive. Nor does it mention any plans to limit U.S. arms shipments to Israel, which on Tuesday approved an additional $20 billion in weapons sales.
Mediators, including the United States, have tried to broker a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, which rules Gaza, under a plan proposed by Biden in May, but have so far failed.
Pro-Palestinian activists say Harris is more sympathetic to the people of Gaza than Biden. Her national security adviser said on Thursday that she did not support an arms embargo on Israel. After a meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last month, Harris told reporters that Israel not only has the right to defend itself, but she also mentioned Gaza: "We cannot remain indifferent to the suffering, and I will not remain silent."
Organizers of a planned protest on Monday said the crowd outside the venue could exceed 100,000.
The city of Chicago has designated a stage in a park about a block from the United Center, where the Democratic National Convention is held. Applicants will have 45 minutes to speak.
Activists said they had learned lessons from last month's Republican National Convention in Milwaukee and predicted bigger crowds and more intense demonstrations in Chicago, a city with deep roots in social activism.
Chicago said it had made necessary preparations with the police and Secret Service. Security will be very tight and traffic control will be implemented around the convention center.
The report comes from the Associated Press and Reuters and does not represent the views of Rixin.
