Reckoning With the Left’s Many Failures
Despite all our expressions of moral outrage at Israel’s horrors in Gaza, we have yet to build a movement that can stop the genocide, writes Waleed Shahid. Building such a movement should be our top priority.
Pro-Palestinian protesters demonstrate blocks away from the Democratic National Convention on August 22, 2024, in Chicago, Illinois. (John Moore / Getty Images)
In assessing the current political moment, one basic fact is very clear: we on the Left have failed.
We have failed to achieve freedom, dignity, or equal rights for the Palestinian people. We have failed to secure Palestinian statehood or self-determination. We have failed to stop the United States from supplying weapons for offensives in Rafah or Southern Lebanon. We have failed to establish an arms embargo, achieve a cease-fire, or halt settlement expansion.
We failed to reelect Jamaal Bowman and Cori Bush or secure even three minutes of speaking time for a Palestinian American at the Democratic National Convention (DNC). And we have failed to shift the overall direction of Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, or Democratic Party leadership.
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