(Chicago) It was a pretty dull night until Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez set the United Center on fire.
But she did more than supercharge the Democratic convention’s electrical current. She sent a signal to the party’s left: All behind Harris.
A few hours earlier, not far from there, in Union Park, the pro-Palestinian demonstration, which was supposed to bring together 50,000, 70,000, some even said 100,000 people, had more or less come to nothing.
Perhaps 5,000 people showed up and hundreds of signs brought by the organizers lay on the park’s grass.
More importantly, what was billed as an expression of a possible division within the Democratic Party over the Palestinian issue turned out to be an anti-government demonstration… and therefore an anti-Democratic one. The protesters I spoke to equated Democrats and Republicans with regard to military aid to Israel, which was just renewed at the same time as an arms sale of more than $20 billion was announced.
PHOTO CHRISTIAN MONTERROSA, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
A few hours earlier, not far from there, in Union Park, the pro-Palestinian demonstration, which was supposed to bring together 50,000, 70,000, some even said 100,000 people, had more or less come to nothing.
“We’re tired of being stuck with only one alternative,” Bea Brown, 25, who supported Bernie Sanders before joining the Revolutionary Communist Party, told me.
Nothing seems more absurd to him than hearing Donald Trump call Joe Biden a “communist.” They are all hungry for a third way, which has never really taken off in the United States.
The demonstration was organized by radical left groups, humanitarian organizations and unions. The posters call Joe Biden a “genocidal” and Kamala Harris a “bloodthirsty” person. So this is not a breakaway branch of the Democratic Party that would disrupt the convention.
The demonstration ended with a few arrests in the evening, when some broke through security fences.
The protesters have obviously not said their last word. The week has only just begun.
But headlines in major newspapers that spoke of the risk of derailment and fracture among convention delegates quickly faded.
At 34, Ocasio-Cortez has already been elected three times (2018, 2020, 2022) in the 14the district of New York City, which overlaps his native Bronx and part of Queens.
She is the leader of the “Squad,” a group of nine diverse lawmakers representing the left wing of the Democratic Party in the House of Representatives. The Squad is particularly known for its criticism of Israel and pro-Israel American policies.
In her seven-minute speech Monday night, Ocasio-Cortez said just one line about it.
Kamala Harris, she said, “is working tirelessly to achieve a ceasefire in Gaza and bring the hostages home.” Political commentators will note the sequence in the sentence. Most importantly, she said in other words: Now is not the time to derail Harris’ campaign on this issue and indirectly favor Trump.
It must be said that the Squad has had some difficulties in the Democratic primaries in recent weeks. Cori Bush of Missouri and Jamaal Bowman of New York, two harsh critics of Israel, were defeated in favor of Democratic candidates more aligned with the position of the American government. Pro-Israel organizations had spent record sums to eject them. Another member of the Squad, Ilhan Omar, a Muslim representative from Minnesota often attacked by Republicans, on the other hand won her primary last week.
Ocasio-Cortez is also said to have senatorial ambitions that would inspire her to speak more centristically. The fact remains that in the Democratic Party, she embodies resistance and protest. However, there was no reservation, no hesitation in her support for Harris. The ovation she received, it is worth emphasizing, came from delegates who are in principle very centrist, all of whom are “committed” to Joe Biden.
“The United States has the unique opportunity to send to the White House a woman who is going to work for the middle class because she is middle class,” she said to thunderous applause.
“You can’t say you love this country if you only work for the rich and big business” and if you don’t know anything about “the people who punch their cards at work, who have difficult jobs.”
“The Republicans told me I should go back to work as a waitress,” said the woman who had to interrupt her (brilliant) studies at Boston University after the death of her father, which nearly caused the bankruptcy of her family.
“I’d be happy to do that, because there’s nothing wrong with making a living! Imagine having people in the White House who understand that…”
There is no “but”, there is no “if”, there is no condition.
The rallying cry has been sounded.