After a week of protests, thousands of demonstrators took to the streets for a final March on the DNC, marching within sight and sound of the United Center on the concluding day of the 2024 Democratic National Convention. The demands of marchers and the Coalition to March on the DNC were clear: they called on the Biden Administration, the Democratic aarty, and the Harris campaign to take action to secure an immediate, permanent ceasefire in Gaza, and to end US aid for Israel. TRNN’s Mel Buer reports on the ground from Union Park and speaks with march attendees.
Video/Post-Production: David Hebden
Transcript
Protesters: Hey, hey! Ho, ho! The occupation’s got to go!
Hey, hey! Ho, ho! The occupation’s got to go!
Mel Buer: Over the last four days, thousands of demonstrators have gathered in the streets to march within sight and sound of the DNC to make their demands known that a permanent ceasefire in Palestine and an arms embargo against Israel are the only ways to end this genocide.
Today we are walking around to talk to demonstrators about the last four days and why they are out here today.
Speaker 3: As someone of the Afghan diaspora, it is beautiful to see so many people come together and advocate for Palestinian human rights, something I just never imagined that folks would come together and push forward.
As an environmental science teacher, what is happening is an ecocide, and it’s environmental destruction. And so we also think about the rights of nature. And so, nature’s rights are being violated, too. And so we’re looking at various types of rights being violated, and how do we protect our environment? And nature includes us as well.
Mel Buer: And for you?
Speaker 4: I think it’s incredible to see the numbers that we’re seeing this week, and I think, as someone that’s new to the labor movement, we’re seeing a lot of people coming together for different causes and seeing how all of these issues are connected. And we cannot stand for labor rights, we cannot stand for environmental rights without standing for Palestinian liberation.
Mel Buer: So we’ve been out here, I’ve been out here every day since Sunday. I’ve been seeing thousands of demonstrators come out to this park and elsewhere in the city, and it’s been really heartening to see just how big the crowds are. On a personal level, beyond just the policy and being part of the labor movement, what is it like to be a part of this?
Speaker 3: It’s surreal. I think a lot of us who have been part of movements like these since we’ve been young, because we’ve been impacted by war or our generations of communities that have been impacted by war, and we’re here, seeing the diverse community build and come together, and educators, teachers that I wish I had growing up, that advocated for me when we were at war with Afghanistan. But seeing folks being able to speak up and learn and educate and uplift our most marginalized voices has been very powerful and moving. It gives me a lot of hope.
Speaker 4: For me, it’s been really reinvigorating coming to these events, being around such an intergenerational community that is fighting for Palestine. I think it’s incredible, and it really pushes me every day to work harder and think about and reflect on what I’m doing in this larger movement.
Mel Buer: Now that we’re at the end of the DNC, day four, last night, what is one message that you would like to send straight into the convention center to the Harris campaign?
Speaker 3: Let’s humanize Palestinian voices. Let’s make sure Palestinian voices are able to be uplifted on that stage. The time is now.
Speaker 4: Words mean nothing if you don’t commit to taking tangible action, like stopping funds to Israel, stopping arms to Israel. We need to make moves now.
Speaker 5: This coalition put together the march on the first day and also the last day. It was important that we set the tone of the week by having that march on Monday. And it’s important that we set the final impression of the week as well with the march today.
And so, we’re really happy with the turnout on Monday. We’re really happy with the turnout today. We’ve brought together people from all over society, all different sectors of the movement, and united under these demands of standing with Palestine and ending US aid to Israel.
Mel Buer: So the DNC has been going on for four days, and we’ve seen a lot come out of the convention, and we’ve seen a lot happening on the ground here outside the convention. What is one of the main messages that you want this march to bring back to the DNC before they leave today?
Speaker 5: I think what we want from the DNC, or what we want the DNC and the Democratic Party leadership to hear and see is that there is an organized movement of the very people that they claim to represent that don’t stand with them in this genocide, that want an end to US aid to Israel.
And at the same time, we want to see a stop to a deterioration in our rights. We need our rights defended. And the reality is that the Democratic Party has overseen a deterioration. And so, we want people to also know that there’s a mass movement, to join the mass movement, and to be willing to fight for more. Because if there is change, it’s because we forced it to happen.
Mel Buer: Now, there’s been a huge police presence at every single march. I’ve been out here since Sunday. It’s kind of wild to watch. What are your thoughts about the police response in the city of Chicago for the last couple of days? And what does that say about where we’re at currently?
Speaker 5: The police only have one role, and it’s do not infringe on our First Amendment right to protest. We know how to keep us safe. We’ve gone to great lengths to ensure that we can have a safe protest because we have people from all walks of life at this protest, people of all ages, people of all ability, statuses, undocumented people, and we know how to keep our own protest safe, so they need to stay as far away as possible. That’s our view.
Mel Buer: Do you have any other message that you would like to share with our audience before I let you go?
Speaker 5: Yeah. We believe that the movement for a free Palestine, the movement to end this genocide, it has shown that people in this country are outraged. People in this country are of conscience, most people. We’ve seen continuous mobilization every week in Chicago especially, but all over the country. And it’s been people in vast numbers from all different communities. And it shows that there is a sizable movement for justice, and we need to come together, unite all our demands, and also push for a free Palestine.
Speaker 6: Well, the main tenet of our organization is to stop war. So I’m out here saying, spending billions and billions of dollars to kill people anywhere, but especially now Gaza, Palestine, is an utter waste of resources, utter waste of, well, monetary as well as human resources. And it makes no sense to me.
We have 20% of the children going to bed hungry right here in this country, but we don’t have any money for that. But we always have money for war. So that’s why I’m here. And also, I guess, I don’t guess, one of my mottoes is keep planting seeds, and so I’m here planting seeds of peace. Sometimes they take, sometimes they don’t, but you gotta keep planting.
Mel Buer: So there’s been a big mass movement the last couple of days. We’ve seen people out here every night. I’ve been out here every night. How do you feel personally about seeing the movement, as it is, out in the streets in the last couple of days?
Speaker 6: I’m very grateful. I was in the infantry in Vietnam, and I saw a lot of children. And so when I see these clips of children being massacred, it’s just beyond me, and it takes me to another spot, and I gotta do what I can to stop this. I’m very glad these people are out here.
I talked to a musician the other night, and he spends a lot of his time in Europe, and he says they have demonstrations in most of the nations in Europe every day, if 10, 20,000, every day. On the weekends, 100,000. He just can’t believe the US is so… People just don’t know. The news media, other than you guys and a few others, don’t carry it. They carry all these fluff stories, and they carry the pro-Israel stories, which are just lies, but they don’t carry the truth. So it’s good to see folks out here. It does my heart good.
Mel Buer: What is one message that you would have for the folks attending the DNC or for the Harris campaign or the Biden administration?
Speaker 6: Spend money on we the people, not on war.
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