Know Your Enemy - [UNLOCKED] The Uncommitted Movement (w/ Waleed Shahid & Abbas Alawieh)

Matt and Sam interview Waleed Shahid and Abbas Alawieh, two organizers of the Uncommitted Movement.

Duration: 59m
Broadcast on: 09 Sep 2024
Audio Format: other

Matt and Sam interview Waleed Shahid and Abbas Alawieh, two organizers of the Uncommitted Movement, about their experiences in the months following October 7 as well as before, during, and after the Democratic National Convention. As an Arab-American from Michigan and one of the state's two Uncommitted delegates to the DNC, what has Abbas heard from the people in his community, and what has he heard from his party? Why try to work within the Democratic Party to change its approach to Israel-Palestine? What were the Uncommitted Movement's "asks" at the convention, and why were they all refused? How does the Democratic Party, institutionally, need to change to better reflect the broadly pro-ceasefire views of its voters? And is there any hope that a possible Harris administration will be an improvement on the dreadful status quo?

Sources:

Waleed Shahid, “Why the Uncommitted Movement Was a Success at the DNC,” Jacobin, Aug 27, 2024

"'The Uncommitted Movement Is the Floor of What’s Possible:' An Interview with Waleed Shahid," Dissent, Aug 16, 2024

Ben Terris, "A 'Ceasefire Delegate' Finds Lots to Do but Little to Celebrate," Washington Post, Aug 21, 2024

Akbar Shahid Ahmed, "Gaza War Critics Are Inspired By The 1964 DNC — And They're Playing The Long Game," HuffPost, Aug 23, 2024

Noah Lanard, "Why Were Democrats Afraid to Hear a Palestinian?" Mother Jones, Aug 31, 2024

— "Here Is the Speech That the Uncommitted Movement Wants to Give at the DNC," Mother Jones, Aug 23, 2024

Ta-Nehisi Coates, "A Palestinian American’s Place Under the Democrats’ Big Tent?" Vanity Fair, Aug 21, 2024

[music] Alright, welcome listeners to this very special episode of Know Your Enemy. I'm Matt Sippen, your podcast co-host, and I'm here as always with my great friend, Sam Heather Bell, and our two guests, Walid Shahid and Abbas Alawiya. Welcome, gentlemen. Thanks. Thanks so much for having us. Yeah, I'm so happy to have you guys here. A few weeks ago, we recorded our kind of pundit response episode to the DNC, but we ended up talking a lot about the uncommitted movement because that was really, at the time that we recorded, we were most fixated on and felt like the biggest story of the convention to me and Matt. And so we wanted to have you two who were very involved in it on to discuss kind of where that movement came from, what was the purpose of it, what happened at the DNC and what you guys are doing now. But before we dive into that, I guess, beginning with Abbas, could you tell us a little bit about yourself? Yeah, thanks so much again. I'm so excited to be here. My name is Abbas. I'm one of the leaders of the uncommitted national movement. I was also an uncommitted delegate from Michigan to the Democratic National Convention. Before uncommitted organizing and ceasefire organizing, I spent five years on Capitol Hill, which is like spending a whole lot more time elsewhere. It took a lot out of time. But I was a chief of staff to Congresswoman, Corey Bush, and legislative director to Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib, and got on the Hill working as an advisor to former Congressmen, Andy Levin, who is a wonderful person, dear friend, and was a supporter of uncommitted. So really happy to be here. I'm from Michigan, an immigrant kid, an Arab-American born in Lebanon, and just pushing for an anti-war future for our country. That's who I am. I'm Walid. I grew up in Arlington, Virginia. My dad immigrated to the U.S. from Pakistan in the early '70s when he was in his early '20s. He worked two jobs most of my life as a kid in the daytime. He worked as an office assistant/jack of all trades at the Pakistani embassy in Washington. At a night, he parked cars as a parking attendant. And for the past almost decade, I've been at the intersection of social movements and the Democratic Party, and have been trying to figure out how to move the Democratic Party

Transcription truncated.

Matt and Sam interview Waleed Shahid and Abbas Alawieh, two organizers of the Uncommitted Movement.