On Thursday night, on the last day of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, incumbent US Vice President Kamala Harris formally accepted the Democratic Party’s nomination for the presidency, confirming her and running mate Tim Walz as the Party’s ticket for November.
In her acceptance speech, Harris set out to differentiate herself from Republican candidate Donald Trump’s far-right political program, including the infamous Project 2025. However, her speech inadvertently highlighted several points of agreement between the establishment of the Democratic Party and the far-right in the United States.
The issue of reproductive rights, for example, is one that the Democratic Party in general attempts to use to gain votes from those concerned with far-right policies against abortion.
Many working people are deeply concerned with having abortion rights further taken away since Roe v. Wade was defeated in 2022, and rightfully so, as the Republican Party has been responsible for extremely draconian anti-aboriton laws in recent years. However, the Democratic Party inaction on actually securing abortion rights and fighting back against right-wing attacks is also notable.
“He plans to create a national anti-abortion coordinator, and force states to report on women’s miscarriages and abortions,” Harris said during her acceptance speech, referring to Trump. “Simply put, they are out of their minds. And one must ask — one must ask, why exactly is it that they don’t trust women? Well, we trust women. We trust women. And when Congress passes a bill to restore reproductive freedom, as president of the United States, I will proudly sign it into law.”
Notably, the Democratic Party had the opportunity to codify abortion rights into law in 2022 with the Women’s Health Protection Act, but the US Senate failed to pass the bill into law despite having a Democratic majority in the body. The Democrats were unable to reign in two conservatives who were in the Party at the time: Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Bob Casey of Pennsylvania. The Party also refused to abolish the filibuster which would have also assured the bill’s passage. The bill would have enshrined abortion rights nationally and prohibited states from passing most abortion restrictions prior to fetal viability, therefore making any Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade practically irrelevant. Instead, the bill did not pass, and the Supreme Court was able to overturn abortion rights only a few months later.
“I will always stand up for Israel’s right to defend itself, and I will always ensure Israel has the ability to defend itself, because the people of Israel must never again face the horror that a terrorist organization called Hamas caused on Oct. 7, including unspeakable sexual violence and the massacre of young people at a music festival,” Harris stated.
There have been protests every single day of the Convention in Chicago. Activists have also directly disrupted DNC-adjacent events and targeted politicians as high up as VP candidate Tim Walz. A video recently went viral of DNC attendees leaving the convection to be greeted by pro-Palestine protesters reading out the names of children in Gaza killed by Israeli forces. The attendees were shown covering their ears or mocking protesters in a shocking display of indifference to genocide.
Harris did give lip service to US involvement in so-called ceasefire negotiations, stating that “now is the time to get a hostage deal and a cease-fire deal done.” However, some argue that what are now referred to as ceasefire negotiations have become so watered down that what the US is pushing for is essentially a temporary pause, and does not include many of the provisions that the Palestinian resistance deems as necessary, including which Palestinian prisoners would be released or a complete withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza.
On August 23, the “Abandon Biden” campaign sent out a press release announcing that they would now be organizing under the name “Abandon Harris.” Earlier this year, the campaign had organized efforts to cast “uncommitted” protest votes against Biden in the Democratic Party primaries across different states while he was the presumptive nominee in response for US support for Israeli genocide,
“We call on all people of conscience to join us in holding the Democratic Party accountable for the bloodshed in Gaza,” the campaign stated.
“Let’s be clear: appealing to the conscience of the Democratic Party is a waste of time,” the press release continued. “They have no conscience. They have no moral compass. There is only one path forward: abandon the party of genocide and ethnic cleansing. Stand up for dignity, integrity, and humanity because they won’t. This is a moment that demands anger, resolve, and unbreakable commitment. Our commitment is to ensure that Kamala Harris loses the 2024 election and to make it clear that anyone who runs on a platform of genocide will be condemned to failure.”
Harris also gave a nod to US militarism, something that both major parties are in complete agreement on, both voting to give billions of dollars to the US military budget each year. “I will ensure America always has the strongest, most lethal fighting force in the world,” Harris proclaimed. Harris also bragged that the United States Border Patrol, directly responsible for carrying out the vicious US policy against migrants, endorsed her plan for so-called “border security”—remarkably similar rhetoric to the right-wing plan to carry out mass deportations.
“Kamala Harris has made it clear that her priorities will be war, repression and maintaining an unequal economic status quo,” wrote the campaign of Claudia De La Cruz, a socialist running for President against both Harris and Trump in November, under the ticket of the Party for Socialism and Liberation. Currently, Cruz’s campaign is under attack in several states, including Pennsylvania, by the Democratic Party that is attempting to ensure that the third party candidate loses ballot access.
This article originally appeared in People's Dispatch on August 29th, 2024
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