Globe: ‘Uncommitted’ Democrats look to make the most of their small contingent at convention to protest Gaza war

https://www.bostonglobe.com/2024/05/24/nation/gaza-war-uncommitted-delegates-democratic-convention-biden/

By Jim Puzzanghera Globe Staff,Updated May 24, 2024, 5:56 a.m.

WASHINGTON — While there almost certainly will be plenty of people protesting the war in Gaza outside the Democratic National Convention in Chicago this summer, progressive activists have begun crystalizing plans to make the most of their limited numbers on the inside.

In a novel strategy, opponents of the war earned 35 delegates so far — including one each from Massachusetts and Rhode Island — after significant numbers of Democratic voters cast “uncommitted” ballots in presidential primaries this year. Now, with the primaries wrapping up next month, activists have begun coordinating their state-by-state efforts as they prepare to take their case directly to President Biden and the public in the convention’s spotlight.

The contingent will be a blip in a sea of 4,672 delegates at Chicago’s United Center. But those delegates, many of whom still must be chosen at state Democratic conventions, will be able to go beyond the expected protests outside the security perimeter and bring their message straight onto the convention floor.

“We want speaking slots. We want to be on the relevant committees. We want to be able to talk through resolutions. And more than anything, we want the president to be able to hear what we have to say,” said Asma Mohammad, a leader in the effort in Minnesota that saw nearly 19 percent of voters choose “uncommitted” in the March primary. That resulted in 11 convention delegates, and Mohammad said she hopes to be one of them when the final selections are made next week.

If chosen, she anticipates joining forces with the uncommitted delegates from other states. Mohammad doesn’t expect they will disrupt the proceedings, as some protesters have done at Biden events in recent months.

“I don’t think people are going to sabotage a moment to tell the president how they feel . . . in terms of walking out or protesting or disrupting. I think that people are really just centered on getting the message across,” she said. But if there are any attempts to silence them at the convention, Mohammad added, “We’ll make sure everyone knows about them.”

Politico reported this month that some Biden advisers are suggesting moving some convention business, such as votes on the party platform, online in a partial reprise of the pandemic-altered 2020 Democratic convention to minimize the potential for antiwar demonstrations. The news drew an angry response from Abbas Alawieh, a spokesperson for the Uncommitted National Movement.

“The DNC’s attempt to sideline genuine discourse and sanitize the convention undermines the spirit of democracy that our party’s voting base expects them to champion,” Alaweih said in a statement. “At a time when democracy itself is at stake, we expect a ‘pro-democracy’ president to welcome members of his party who care about the basic rights of Palestinians as much as he does Israelis and Americans.”

DNC officials have denied they will try to squelch any voices at the convention and said that before the war in Gaza they had been planning to incorporate some elements from the largely virtual 2020 convention, like the pretaped, on-location videos from each state during the nominating roll call.

“Our convention will be a celebration of all that unites us as Democrats — because though we may not see eye to eye on every issue, we all operate from the same set of shared values,” said DNC spokesperson Emily Soong, adding that the party will “welcome all our delegates to Chicago.”

The Biden campaign did not respond to email requests for comment.

Anger over the growing death toll in Israel’s war on Hamas, which was triggered by the group’s deadly Oct. 7 terrorist attack on Israel, is a major risk to Biden’s reelection in an expected tight race against former president Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee.

In the battleground state of Michigan, where the effort began in February to get voters to mark uncommitted as a protest message to Biden, 13.2 percent of voters chose the option in the Democratic primary. The surprisingly strong showing led to efforts in other states that had uncommitted or a similar ballot option. In Wisconsin, another battleground, the percentage was smaller, at 8.2 percent, but those approximately 48,000 votes were more than double Biden’s narrow victory margin there four years ago.

Uncommitted won 29.2 percent in Hawaii, which resulted in seven convention delegates. Just on Tuesday, the percentage was 17.9 percent in Kentucky, producing eight uncommitted delegates. The Kentucky effort received some guidance from national uncommitted organizers, which also helped spread the message on social media. But, Valerie Magnuson, of Louisville, a campaign organizer with Uncommitted Kentucky, said it was a no-budget, grass-roots effort.

“I think no one was even thinking about how many delegates we’re going to get at the national convention. Everyone’s been so focused on what can we do to send a message today to stop what’s happening in Gaza,” she said. “Now it’s like, OK, we have delegates . . . so we’re having internal conversations to try to figure it out.”

In the March 5 Massachusetts Democratic primary, “no preference”won 9.2 percent of the vote. While that total fell short of the 15 percent needed to win any delegates statewide, the vote total in the Seventh Congressional District, which includes most of Boston, was enough to land Massachusetts one uncommitted delegate.

“Hopefully at the Democratic National Convention we can clarify to Joe Biden and the Democrats that . . . the blood is on their hands,” said Sara Halawa, of Somerville, who helped organize the Massachusetts primary protest vote as a leader of Somerville for Palestine. “I think that with these delegates, we’re able to have a real reckoning inside the Democratic Party about who we are and the values that we have at home and the international community.”

Rhode Island also earned one uncommitted delegate, and antiwar organizers there have started coordinating with the other states even as they continue to hold rallies for a cease-fire and raise money for medical care for Palestinians in Gaza, said Danya Reda, an organizer with Vote Uncommitted Rhode Island.

The convention could be the last best chance for antiwar protesters to make their case to Biden, “uncommitted” organizers said. And they warned it could be the last chance for Biden to change course on Gaza, if he doesn’t before then, and avoid the loss of a significant number of Democratic voters that could cost him the election.

“As this [war] keeps going on, Biden is going to lose more voters and that’s really worrisome and this is a way to be heard and send that strong message to Biden,” said Rima Mohammad, a Democrat on the Arbor, Mich., school board who will be one of that state’s two uncommitted delegates in Chicago. “That’s the biggest platform at this point.”

Halawa said Biden is taking a huge risk by continuing to stand by Israel as it commits what many progressive activists label as genocide in Gaza. Israel and Biden reject that the war constitutes genocide.

“As a Muslim American, I know as much as anybody the threat that Donald Trump poses to American democracy,” said Halawa, who added she would vote for a third party candidate if the election were today. “What I don’t understand is why Joe Biden and the Democrats are wiling to risk American democracy for Israel’s genocide. If Joe Biden loses the election in November, it’s nobody’s fault but his own.”