USA : the vote uncommitted, a mass campaign of DSA
Interview with DSA members Nell Geiser and Anlin Wang on the uncommitted campaign in protest against Biden's support of the genocide of the Palestinians
- International, USA
Nell Geiser is a member of Metro DC, Democratic Socialists of America, and a member of the International Committee Steering for DSA. Anlin Wang is a member of Philadelphia chapter of Democratic Socialists of America. He also serves on the steering committee for the International Committee for DSA.
Can you explain how DSA was involved in the Uncommitted campaign?
NG: Many DSA chapters around the country helped with the ground program for the Uncommitted campaign by doing large-scale outreach to voters and community members, encouraging participation in the Democratic primary.
A lot of people are disaffected and do not want to participate in the Democratic primary, but this gave people a reason to show up and vote, a protest vote against Biden and for solidarity with the Palestinians.
For example, here in the DC area, we were a big part of the Maryland Uncommitted campaign, and we knocked 27,000 doors in the DC suburbs of Maryland. We did a statewide phone bank. DSA is particularly focused on that kind of mass outreach through our communities, and we were able to reach nearly 10%. About 10% of the primary vote in Maryland voted uncommitted. Here in DC, it was a little over 7% who voted write-in because we don’t have an uncommitted option. Some states have the uncommitted option, some you have to write it in.
It started in Michigan, where there is a large Arab American community. They were able to get more than 10% uncommitted, and that spread across the country for all the primaries after that. DSA was part of the coalition effort led by Palestinian organizations that took this step to really provide an alternative and a way for people to engage in politics, even if they were disgusted by Biden. We’re very proud of that.
How many uncommitted delegates do you think there will be at the Democratic Convention?
NG: It’s probably not that many in the end, because in Maryland, we would have had to get 15% uncommitted vote to have even one delegate, and we did not reach that. So it may only be a small percentage uncommitted.
AW: There’s not going to be many delegates. There are some states which didn’t even allow for the possibility of any delegates at all for uncommitted. Just about two weeks ago, it was pretty assumed that most delegates would go there and just try and raise their voice as much as they could about Palestine and the importance of that to the presidential election. But now, given the state of uncertainty around whether Joe Biden will be the Democratic nominee for president, I do think there are some questions about if there’s anything else the delegates can do, either in support of that process or for whatever else they can do around Palestine.
NG: DSA is also part of the big coalition that will be protesting at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago next month.
Do you expect big demonstrations there?
NG: I don’t know how big. It’ll be interesting to see, because there will also be protests at the Republican Convention, obviously. It will be interesting to see whether U.S. people, organizations mobilize, because there is a lot of fear among mainstream Democrats about Trump. A lot of people are telling us : “don’t protest the Democrats, we need to unify against Trump”. So we’ll see how it plays out.
Do you think that if Biden is abandoning the race and is replaced by somebody else, this could have an impact on that campaign?
NG: It is very complicated, because only Kamala Harris, his vice president, could get access to his funds, his money. So, I don’t know. It’s complicated how an alternative candidate at this time could gain the necessary momentum. I think a lot of us think it’s very likely that Trump will win.
What about the actions of the students on the American campuses you were involved in?
AW: I wasn’t involved as a student, but I was there as a community member, a citizen of Philadelphia, to support the people of my city standing up against the institutions that are materially supporting Israel, giving money to the occupation. When I see students stand up, risk their own educations, risk their own physical safety, put that on the line, I think it’s my responsibility as a Philadelphia citizen to stand with them and support them as best I can.
To that extent, we in DSA helped send them things like volunteers to act as volunteer security or marshals. We also helped send them supplies, and had volunteers to pick things up, send them to the encampment, or else help coordinate other things.
Which university was that?
AW: There were two universities that held encampments, University of Pennsylvania and Drexel University, both of which are close to each other. After the police took down the Penn encampment, students then set up another one at Drexel.
Were students sanctioned by the administration for participating in these demonstrations?
AW: Yes. Some faced academic sanctions and suspension. I believe a few students may have been expelled. The consequences are real. They took on real risks here. Some folks got arrested as well, but I think those charges were mostly dropped.
What about the unions? Did they give their support, the teachers’ union especially, to the students?
AW: in Philadelphia, there have been people in the teachers’ union who have stood up for their students’ right to express themselves about Palestine.
NG: a lot of university professors have tried to defend the students here in D.C. At George Washington University, several schools had an encampment in downtown D.C., a coalition encampment, and they had professors defending them and creating a security line. I don’t think, though, that it was an official act of their union. It was more of like a caucus of support of Palestine, solidarity activists within the faculty.
AW: some faculty at schools like Haverford, which is right outside Philadelphia, also had an encampment briefly, and Penn, have also started up semi-official organizations. It’s not union, it’s not by the union, not through the union, but they have started up their own faculties to support organizations for Palestine-related actions.
And within your union, did you discuss about that situation?
NG: I am staff for the Communications Workers of America, and our executive board, I believe in December, did pass a ceasefire resolution calling for a permanent ceasefire. We’ve taken some other stands and engaged in some pressure on the government, but very limited. It’s something that a lot of U.S. unions have made statements about, but haven’t followed it up with mobilization and with encouraging their members to go into the streets or take up material support. We see more action by U.S. unions than we have in the past, yes, but not enough to make a big difference or to show unified solidarity from the U.S. labor movement.