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WHY THE UNCOMMITTED MOVEMENT WAS A SUCCESS AT THE DNC  
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Waleed Shahid
August 27, 2024
Jacobin
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_ Political strategist Waleed Shahid explains why the Uncommitted
movement’s organizing at the Democratic National Convention should
be seen as successfully moving the needle within the Democratic Party
toward justice for Palestine. _

Pro-Palestinian delegates to the Democratic National Convention,
including Abbas Alawieh, an Uncommitted delegate from Michigan and
co-founder of the movement, seated at center, stage a sit-in outside
the United Center in Chicago., David Dayen

 

The Uncommitted movement’s success at the Democratic National
Convention (DNC) is not just a fleeting victory — it is the
beginning of a strategic shift in how the Democratic Party grapples
with its own contradictions.

Much like the 1964 Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party (MFDP), which
challenged the segregationist stronghold of the Mississippi Democratic
Party but was ultimately denied a seat at the convention, the
Uncommitted movement didn’t win every immediate demand. But the true
victory lies in the alliances forged, the hypocrisies exposed, and the
narrative shift that will reverberate long after the convention doors
have closed.

The MFDP, under the leadership of Bob Moses, Fannie Lou Hamer, and
Ella Baker, didn’t just confront the Dixiecrats — they revealed
the Democratic Party’s moral failings on a national stage. By doing
so, they laid the groundwork for future civil rights victories.
Similarly, the Uncommitted movement engaged with a diverse coalition
at the DNC — rank-and-file Kamala Harris delegates, unions like the
United Auto Workers, Jewish organizations like Bend the Arc, and
elected officials like representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan
Omar, and Ro Khanna. The support from black leaders like Pastor
Michael McBride and Reverend Traci Blackmon from the Black Church PAC,
and the amplification of our cause by voices like Ta-Nehisi Coates,
signal the building of a coalition that transcends individual battles
to redefine the party’s stance on Palestinian human rights.

This coalition — uniting progressives, racial-justice advocates,
labor unions, elected officials, Palestinian and Arab organizers, and
Jewish organizations — is the blueprint for a new Democratic
majority. One that says no more bombs, no more weapons for Israel’s
military aggression against Gaza, and no more complicity in the
occupation of Palestine. The next few weeks, months, and years,
hopefully under a Harris administration, will be about solidifying and
expanding this coalition.

It’s clear that the heart of the Democratic Party is with us. It’s
time for the leadership to catch up.

Yet this moment is not just about immediate actions; it’s about a
long-term strategy. As Bayard Rustin reminded us in his 1965 essay
“From Protest to Politics
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political parties are both instruments of change and products of
social relations. They can either be paralyzed by reactionaries or
transformed by strategic engagement from within. The Uncommitted
movement understands that politics is more like chess than boxing.
It’s not about quick, reactive blows, but about occupying the center
of the board — building influence in key areas of political power
and using that influence to shift the party’s trajectory.

Much like Rustin’s critique in 1965, we recognize that the battle is
not about changing hearts but about reconstructing the political,
social, and economic institutions that mold collective sentiments.
Engaging with the wider electorate, where most people connect with
politics through voting, transforms our efforts from being minor
irritants to major threats. It’s through primary elections that we
bring our demands directly to the political class, challenging them to
respond. This is how we move from the margins to the center of
political discourse, leveraging the power of the vote to enact real
change.

This antiwar movement, much like the civil rights movement before it,
faces the challenge of out-organizing entrenched forces within the
Democratic Party. AIPAC’s influence is deeply rooted, but it is not
insurmountable. Just as the Sunrise Movement has taken on Big Oil, and
health care advocates have challenged Big Pharma, we must
strategically diminish AIPAC’s power to advance our cause. This
means not just mobilizing protests, but building the political
infrastructure necessary to sustain a battle for influence within the
party — a battle that we are already beginning to win — through
organized votes, money, and networks of key leaders.

The Uncommitted movement’s success at the DNC is not the end, but
the beginning of a larger struggle. It’s a struggle that will
require patience, strategy, and unwavering commitment. As Rustin so
wisely put it, the difference between expediency and morality in
politics is the difference between selling out a principle and making
smaller concessions to win larger ones. The Uncommitted movement is
here to bend the arc toward justice — not just for Palestinians, but
for the broader vision of a Democratic Party that truly represents the
values of its base. And I believe, with every action we take, that
we’re going to win.

_Waleed Shahid is the director of the Bloc and the former spokesperson
for Justice Democrats. He has served as a senior adviser for the
uncommitted campaign, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and Jamaal Bowman._

* Israel-Gaza War
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* Uncommitted Movement
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* DNC
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* movement growth
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