Sep 19

Sep 19 "AbandonHarris"

Demonstrations, Performance, Protest, Public Declarations

Late this afternoon, about 75 people gathered in Chicago’s Federal Plaza for the weekly pro-Palestinian demonstration. I am not sure why the demonstration took place today rather than Saturday afternoon, which is usually the time set aside for these demonstrations.

The organizers acknowledge that attendance is down at the weekly events. Neither they, nor I are surprised. Many demonstrators live in Bridgeview and the surrounding suburbs, which means each week, they face an hour to 90-minute trip into the city, depending on traffic. At some point, life gets in the way of demonstrating, no matter how dedicated someone is to the cause. Kids have soccer games; elderly parents need care; business commitments require additional time; and the garage needs cleaning.

I was only able to stay for an hour today, so more people may have shown up, but I doubt hordes of people flooded the plaza after I left.

When I first arrived, the organizers were talking with the police officer in charge of today’s CPD response. That’s when I learned that a judge had earlier in the day dropped charges against one of the protesters who was arrested on April 15th. It was a very odd conversation because the officer present was probably also involved in the decisions that lead to the multiple arrests at the earlier demonstration. Yet, both he and the demonstrators exhibited a rather cavalier demeanor as the discussion unfolded. No hard feelings from either side.

I was present for the arrests on April 15th. I am still not sure why that demonstration got out of control, particularly because the demonstrations organized by the heritage Palestinians have remained largely peaceful, with the organizers and the police working together to assure that the demonstrations are not marred by violence or other disruption.

Before the speeches and chanting began, I did ask one of the organizers whether the Palestinians would reconsider their decision to use the ballot box in November as another means to protest the Biden Administration’s handling of the war in Gaza. Was Harris a more acceptable candidate than “Genocide Joe?” I was told that heritage Palestinians would take the same approach that they did for the primary election—vote Jill Stein, refrain from voting, or write in “Gaza.” To a certain extent, any decision to register a protest vote doesn’t matter in Illinois. The question is whether the heritage Palestinians in Michigan will also decide to use their votes to register dissatisfaction with the Biden/Harris Administration.

Given that I am staunchly opposed to Donald Trump, I don’t understand their reasoning. From a realpolitik perspective, the next president will be either Donald Trump or Kamala Harris. It is quite apparent that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu believes a Trump Administration will be far more supportive of Israel than a Harris Administration. Last week, I heard former national security advisor Richard A. Clark make the same point during an interview

Israel’s current escalation of its war with Hezbollah in Lebanon is designed to further tip the scales in favor of Trump. Moreover, Donald Trump’s recent anti-Semitic comments claiming that American Jews who vote for Harris will be responsible for Israel’s destruction should Harris prevail telegraph just how bad a Trump victory could be for the Palestinians living in Gaza and the West Bank.

Naturally, I was disturbed to see several demonstrators holding “AbandonHarris” signs. I will be interested to see whether there are more of those signs at the pro-Palestinian demonstration scheduled for Saturday, October 5. One thing is for sure: the attendance at that demonstration is likely to be much larger than today’s because that demonstration will mark the one-year anniversary of the October 7th Hamas attack on Israeli civilians.

[Click on an Image to Enlarge It. The Images Are Not Necessarily in Exact Chronological Order]