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

Matt and Sam talk to Abbas Alawieh and Waleed Shahid about their efforts to shift the Democratic Party's incoherent & immoral position on the war in Gaza.

Duration: 2m
Broadcast on: 06 Sep 2024
Audio Format: other

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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

Every conversation I have with a Democratic Party leader, with a fellow Democratic staffer, et cetera, my plea to them is similar. Listen, if the policy, if our country's policy was that weapons would be sent to kill your family members, I hope you would be doing the same exact thing that I'm doing. Like, you know me, I'm a Democrat. You know, I've worked with the president's team and the vice president's team. And heck, I worked with the vice president's team when she was a senator. Like, these are people I deeply value. I know where there's room for me in this country's politics and where there isn't, right? There isn't a single federal elected official on the Republican side who supports the ceasefire. I know where there is room for me. But in this instance, it was conversation after conversation where the majority of folks I was talking to were like, yeah, that makes a lot of sense. I hope she updates her policy. It sounds really important for Michigan. A lot of us feel this way. Like, it would be really good for her to use this opportunity to give us an update here. Those were most of the conversations that I had. I think there's really deep alignment with what we're pushing for and with what the majority of Democrats want. And I think there's a real question for the Democratic Party to answer. In a moment when the majority of our party's voting base doesn't want this war, I think the party's making a big mistake by not engaging productively here with uncommitted on some key things. We, on the uncommitted side of things, have built trust for folks that they feel deeply betrayed by the Democratic Party. We've built trust with those folks. And we've said publicly that if we get a policy change, then we will not only endorse vice president Harris, but we will mobilize those voters. When you said put me in, coach, let me mobilize a community that you have left behind. Let us mobilize our community in a moment when you have abandoned us and aren't showing up to our public events since October. You treat us like we're a problem.

Transcription truncated.

Matt and Sam talk to Abbas Alawieh and Waleed Shahid about their efforts to shift the Democratic Party's incoherent & immoral position on the war in Gaza.