by Farrukh Abadi
72 protesters were arrested outside the Israeli consulate in Chicago Tuesday night according to the National Lawyers Guild of Chicago. The organization cited disproportionate police presence and the police force “indiscriminately” arresting protesters. The mass arrest marks the most intense repression seen thus far during the Democratic National Convention protests, which began Sunday and has continued through the week.
Roughly 200 protesters participated in the action, which defended itself against the police and burned US and Israeli flags. Organizers distinguished the action from the “city-approved and peace-policed march” organized by a more Democrat-friendly coalition that took place earlier in the day which explicitly opposed any actions that go beyond the bounds of legality. Organizers of the consulate protest argued that “the people of Palestine require more”, with one speaker at the protest highlighting the insufficiency of peaceful protests to end US support for Israel.
Among the organizations participating was Samidoun, a Palestinian prisoner solidarity group that has faced intense repression internationally for its staunch support for Palestinian liberation, including being banned in Germany and declared a terrorist organization by Israel.
Major daily protests have been organized against the DNC by a broad coalition of hundreds of organizations that have united around ending US support for Israel and its ongoing genocide. The wide political spectrum among the thousands of protesters present has also brought with it contradictions between those who wish to persuade the Democrats through conciliation and those who, like Samidoun and the consulate protest participants, see the pro-Palestine movement as inherently antagonistic to imperialism and Zionism.
The concialiationist, legalist trend finds expression in many of the coalition’s leaders as well as the uncommitted delegates, seeking to work with the Democrats and “unite the party”, for example by relying solely on legal protest permits, stifling the activity of the masses, direct participation in the DNC, and working on building relationships with imperialist representatives and ultimately with Harris and Walz themselves. Leaders of these forces find themselves in positions close to politicians, among politicians themselves, or occupying leading positions in nonprofits aligned with Democrats, in contrast to the activists opposing imperialism and Zionism who face violent repression from the state.
