It was President Joe Biden’s first big campaign rally of the year, a chance to spotlight the issue of protecting abortion rights. Instead, at least a dozen times during Biden’s 22-minute speech, demonstrators scattered throughout the audience rose to shout out demands for a cease-fire in Gaza.
Demonstrators disrupted Biden’s speech at Mother Emanuel AME Church in South Carolina earlier this month as the president spoke out against racism, and they turned up at a United Auto Workers gathering this past week in Washington where Biden accepted the powerful union’s endorsement, and at a political event in Columbia, South Carolina on Saturday.
“For most people, you get very few chances in this life to confront the president of the United States,” said Niki Thomas, a 29-year-old UAW member who yelled for a cease-fire and was dragged from the room during Biden’s speech to the union. “There was no way that we weren’t going to take that opportunity to speak up for for ourselves, for our members, to get a chance to let the president know how we feel.”
During a visit to Tel Aviv, Biden warned the Israelis not to be “consumed by rage.” But Biden has also said he believes Israel has the right to defend itself and he has asked Congress for billions to help Israel in its war effort.
I just have to wonder why spend all this effort protesting Biden’s campaign, who belongs to the party with the most in support of Gaza, instead of Trump or Haley, whose party overall supports the continuation of genocide in Gaza.
I just worry this is going to backfire, if pro-Palestinian protesters are painting themselves as anti-Biden and not anti-Trump.
It’s always so easy to put sanctions on countries that start genociding. Yet he keeps finding ways to support it in this instance. It feels like the very thing we could change with protest, especially during an election year.
It feels like the very thing we could change with protest, especially during an election year.
You ain’t changing shit in regards to President Joe “I am a Zionist” Biden’s support for Israel. In fact you ain’t changing shit about America’s support for Israel. AIPAC has spent tens to hundreds of millions of dollars a year for decades supporting both Democrat *and Republican politicians in order to keep it that way.
If anyone tries to change tunes AIPAC will crush them. It’s that simple.
Most people have NO idea just how much political power AIPAC has in this country. I documented some of it in a comment three months ago.
Then find the votes you need elsewhere.
The simple answer is he is the current president. If the current president were Haley or Trump, the protestors would be focused on them. Biden has also openly declared support for Israel, which is even mentioned in the article.
These aren’t protests against the entire Democratic party, and I’m not sure why anyone would think that.
These aren’t protests against the entire Democratic party, and I’m not sure why anyone would think that.
Because if these protests cause Biden to lose support from voters and thereby lose the election, we’re looking at another Republican regime. 4 more years of a conservative stacked judicial system, war hawk military appointments, book bannings, and imposing of “Christian” values on society. And with conservative American news constantly going on about “Iran this” and “Iran that” every time something happens in the Middle East, I know what the logical next step is under Trump.
I know what Biden’s stance on Palestine is, but I also know his administration is the only one that would be willing to exercise restraint.
So let’s not do anything to hopefully push the current president for meaningful change since that might hurt his chance at re-election?
Sure, seems reasonable. /s
Centrists just want people who disagree with their support for genocide to shut up.
Fuck centrism, this is about doing whatever it takes to stop the spread of fascism.
Does “whatever” include Joe Biden not supporting a genocide? Or is the “whatever” limited to only the people without power?
The “whatever” means not letting an election be decided by a misunderstanding of an incredibly complicated situation that risks alienating the noble cause of supporting Palestine from the party that is likeliest to support Palestine in the first place. Based on the reaction of the crowd, I don’t think this stunt earned them many supporters. Just the opposite, really.
And anyone who is saying that Americans shouldn’t vote for Biden just because of his stance on Gaza is abetting fascism, plain and simple. Because that is the only alternative on the table right now.
You don’t do that by protesting at events about the restoration of bodily autonomy for women. You just don’t.
Ah yes, the good old “There is no proper time and place for you to protest”
Saw a lot of that in my Facebook years
Any other issues you want to demand permanent silence on?
Jesus fucking Christ, god forbid I care about the public perception of Palestine without getting dog piled by white knights who decided my message for me.
If your message is anything other than “shut up forever” I have yet to see it.
So do it only when and where it can be ignored?
The Democrats seem to value the AIPAC voters so much that they are willing to commit Genocide to get their votes. If Pro-Palestinian voters can show the same amount of value in their votes the Democrats won’t be able to ignore them in the future.
They gave Biden an ultimatum for a ceasefire date and Biden refused to listen to it. If they aren’t willing to abandon Biden now, there’s no reason for anyone to listen to them in the future either. Zionist voters are willing to vote for Trump, a guy that had kept book of Adolf Hitler’s speeches in his bedside cabinet
Because most of the people bandwagonong against Biden now are either naive people who have no idea how politics work, or shills.
Genocide is wrong. No centrist thinks so.
What does that have to do with US elections?
Centrists’ candidate is supporting genocide for them.
I’ll ignore the fact that the US has begun shifting policies in favor of Hamas making your point moot, and pick up where we left off.
The right wing candidate openly supports genocide in Ukraine (supporting Russia) and Western Europe (via withdrawal from NATO) without caveat.
So what does Gaza have to do with whether we need to prevent a Trump presidency?
So what does Gaza have to do with whether we need to prevent a Trump presidency?
Nothing. We need to prevent a Trump presidency. Democrats need to abandon their support for the genocide that the entire centrist wing of the party has always wanted if they want to prevent a second Trump administration.
Centrist Democrats would, to the very last one, prefer Trump to be dictator for life than abandon their support for genocide that marks their wing of the party’s single greatest accomplishment.
