Protesters Against Gaza Genocide to Converge on Chicago, Aiming to Make Their Mark

It was never just about Joe Biden.

“We’re not changing a thing. Everything is still full steam ahead,” said Hatem Abudayyeh, chair of the U.S. Palestinian Community Network, who is pledging to protest at the Democratic National Convention that begins Aug. 19 in Chicago, despite President Joe Biden’s name no longer appearing on the Democratic ballot.

The threat of protest has hung over Chicago — scene of the violent 1968 demonstrations — since the city was first selected as the site of the 2024 convention, but it was supercharged by the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas on Israel and the ensuing war in Gaza.

The elevation of Vice President Kamala Harris to the top of the ticket is not deterring Abudayyeh or others planning to march. Nor has it softened his inflammatory language towards the Democratic candidate, having previously referred to Biden as “Genocide Joe.”

“It’s still about ending the genocide,” he said. “Our target is the Democratic Party and the leadership of the party and ‘Killer Kamala’ is one of them.” Abudayyeh justifies the monikers for Biden and Harris, saying, “we feel that their administration is responsible for this ongoing war and genocide. We just couldn’t think of a name for Antony Blinken.”

Israel denies that it is carrying out genocide in Gaza. A case brought before the International Court of Justice by South Africa alleges that Israel is violating international law by committing and not preventing genocidal acts. The court has ordered Israel to do more to prevent the deaths of civilians.

Harris has sought to distance herself from Biden, focusing on Palestinian suffering in the administration’s response to Israel’s war in Gaza and pressing for Israel to allow more aid in the territory. During a rally in Arizona last week, she said, “Now is the time to get a cease-fire deal and get the hostage deal done.”

The U.S.-Palestinian Community Network is part of the Coalition to March on the DNC, an alliance of groups and activists that started planning demonstrations as soon as Chicago was picked to host the Democratic convention in April 2023.

After nationwide protests erupted across college campuses earlier this year in response to the Israel-Gaza war, Chicago city officials took what activist groups said were unconstitutional steps in rejecting protest permits.

The city’s Department of Transportation, which handles the application process, said in a statement that when permits are denied, “the applicant is given an alternative route per the requirements of city ordinance that allows the parade to proceed while accounting for police resources, security, safety, and other additional factors.”

“The political affiliation of a group is not a factor when reviewing permit application,” officials said.

While thousands nationwide have marched peacefully, tensions at some protests have escalated. In July, during a visit to D.C. by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, pro-Palestinian protesters set an American flag ablaze, along with an effigy of Netanyahu, and spray-painted statues around Union Station with messages like “Free Gaza,” “All zionists are bastards” and “Free Palestine.”

Law enforcement leaders said the city is prepared. “We want to make sure that everyone in this city is protected and everyone’s rights are protected,” said Chicago Police Superintendent Larry Snelling. “What we’re not going to allow are for people to converge upon this city and commit acts of violence or vandalism.”

Some of those planning to march are local government officials and others are longtime activists, with a history of protest-related arrests. They are united under one goal: that inside the convention center, their voices will be heard.

‘October 7 changed everything’
“Our coalition was going to rally around a number of issues, like stopping police crimes, the immigrant rights movement, legalization for all, defending the right to unionize and strike,” said Faayani Aboma Mijana, spokesperson for the March on the DNC and member of the Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression (CAARPR).

“But October 7 changed everything,” Mijana added. “We as a coalition decided that we were going to center the demand of ending the genocide, of ending U.S. aid to Israel and then relating our own struggles and our respective areas to what’s happening in Palestine.”

On Oct. 7, Hamas militants stormed through the Israel-Gaza border, killing In the months of war, more than 40,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israel’s assault, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.

‘Nothing more American than the First Amendment’
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“We’re not expecting one protest to change everything,” said Kobi Guillory, an activist with the Freedom Road Socialist Organization. “But every protest matters and every protest is going to build up into something that is going to give us justice.”

Within sight and sound
The Coalition to March on the DNC first requested a permit in August 2023, but the city responded that it was too early to grant their request. When the group filed for march permits in January 2024, the city said they could gather in Grant Park, nearly four miles from the United Center.

The mayor’s office told The Washington Post that throughout the permitting process “we have maintained our commitment to ensuring that all demonstrations can happen in the safest way possible.”

Abudayyeh’s organization also filed a federal lawsuit in March.

“It’s important that we be within sight and sound of the DNC, because the DNC is where some of the richest and most powerful people in the country converge,” Mijana said. “We the people will not be taken for granted.”

In July, the city decided to allow the coalition to march within a few blocks of the United Center and the Democratic convention. Their starting point will be in Union Park — a half mile from the arena — and their permitted route takes them up to the perimeter of the security zone.

Abudayyeh remains unhappy with the city’s plan, however, telling The Post that the approved route is too short and narrow for the number of protesters they’re expecting, which he said could be in the tens of thousands. On Aug. 13, U.S. District Court Judge Andrea Wood ruled against the coalition’s request for a longer route, saying the city met its legal burden by allowing protesters to demonstrate within sight and sound of the United Center.