“After extensive consultation, discussion, and deliberation, the American Muslim 2024 Election Task Force has decided to encourage American Muslims to vote for any presidential candidate of their choosing who supports a permanent ceasefire in Gaza and a US arms embargo on the Israeli government, such as candidates Dr Jill Stein, Dr Cornel West or Chase Oliver,” read the statement, obtained by Middle East Eye.
The statement was written by the American Muslim 2024 Election Task Force, an umbrella group formed this year that consists of a number of prominent Muslim organisations including the political arms of Americans for Justice in Palestine (AJP), Cair, and the US Council of Muslim Organizations.
“We cannot endorse Vice President Kamala Harris’ candidacy because of her refusal to even consider imposing the arms embargo on the Israeli government required by US laws and her failure to promise any other changes whatsoever to President Biden’s failed policy of steadfast financial, diplomatic and military support for Israel’s genocide in Gaza,” the statement read.
I don’t care which neoliberal party wins one specific presidential election. I don’t think on alarmist timelines where every successive election is The Most Important Election of Our Lifetime and carries a totalizing importance that makes all the rest of the future a footnote. What I care more about are the substantive elements of party platforms and how those platforms change, and if one of them can change at all, it’s the Democrats.
Putting pressure on her. If she wants to win, she needs to pivot on Palestine. If she chooses not to, she is choosing for Trump to win rather than for Palestine to stop being genocided. It is her job to get votes if democracy actually exists in this country, not the job of the people to vote for her.
This does have the very real potential consequence of Trump winning, neither I nor anyone else here as hesitated to say that. However, Trump does not represent a totalizing threat like I described in my last comment. He toys with fascist rhetoric, but he is in no way a serious fascist the way someone like Ron DeSantis or Tom Cotton is. My interest is in creating a serious left opposition prior to them being the Republican frontrunners, because this “wait until next election, now wait until next election” is just a stalling tactic to prevent the left from making any progress with the Democrats move further and further right, taking up old Republican policies like Trump’s old immigration policy.
