After facing a humiliation ritual at the 2024 DNC, Democratic strategists within the Uncommitted National Movement co-opted the group’s platform to implicitly endorse Kamala Harris. Immediate backlash from actually uncommitted members led to a split in the movement, with the new “Uncommitted Grassroots” endorsing a third party vote. What began as mass protest against Palestinian genocide was mangled into yet another voting funnel for the Blue Fascist party. Uncommitted’s downfall provides a valuable lesson: “independent” movements will inevitably be hijacked by opportunists when they operate within bourgeois elections.
In protest of the increasingly blatant genocidal and anti-democratic nature of the party, over 700,000 Democratic voters had selected “Uncommitted” during the 2024 DNC primary election. Only around half of states even permit a selection of “Uncommitted;” had every state allowed the option, millions more people would have done so. Before “Uncommitted,” the movement began with a campaign named “Listen to Michigan,” cofounded by Layla Elabed and Abbas Alawieh. Both are career Democratic strategists. Over a series of weeks, they organized a Get Out the Vote Campaign which won over 100,000 Uncommitted votes. The mass campaign spread across the empire, and on March 18, Listen to Michigan launched the Uncommitted National Movement — founded on the goal of achieving a ceasefire in Palestine. Anyone with experience in electoral politics should have predicted what would happen next. Absolutely nothing was done to quell the zionists’ extermination campaign, but the Democrats in power changed their tone. They would voice their “concern” over a massacre while sending the bombs to carry out the next one. Abbas Alawieh claimed the Party was engaging in serious dialogue with Uncommitted despite none of the group’s demands being met or even taken seriously. Notably, Uncommitted never explicitly threatened to use their leverage against the Democrats. Not only did the party call their bluff, but they pivoted even further rightwards. More so than Biden, Harris’ campaign explicitly courted Republicans, moderates, and subhumans like Dick Cheney. Every night of the Democratic Convention featured Republican speakers. A pre-vetted, no doubt tamed speech from a single Palestinian, however, was too much to ask. While the representatives of Uncommitted were shunned inside the convention, protesters outside the convention hall were mocked as they read the names of murdered babies. The convention was a celebration of “lethal force” against Palestinian children: a spectacle of blood and death.
No amount of humiliation or open duplicity from Blue Fascists would stop the unelected leaders of Uncommitted from fulfilling their original goal: saving the Democratic Party from defeat in November. On September 19th, they released a slimy statement implicitly endorsing Kamala Harris. Only an experienced Democratic operative could have written this statement. Instead of officially endorsing Harris, they told their members to “vote against Trump.” They also warned against voting for any third parties. If this sounds to you like it is telling you to vote for Harris, you have a keen ear! Everyone should understand by now that her victory would have done nothing to save Palestinian lives. Of course Trump is not going to bring peace to West Asia, but neither would Harris. The only thing her election would have done is lend legitimacy to the continuation of Democrat-led war crimes.
The problem with Uncommitted National is not that they accepted money from a Democrat aligned SuperPac. The problem is that they completely misunderstand how to use their (now dissipated) political leverage. Their “pressure” never extended past begging Democrats to grow a conscience. Those sending the bombs do not — will never — cede their commitment to a genocidal outpost of imperialism. But Abbas Alawieh and Layla Elabed do not seem to get this; they continue to hold on to the deluded belief that the Democratic Party can be pushed by the voters to do anything that isn’t in full service of the bourgeoisie. In hindsight (or should we say foresight), the material purpose of Uncommitted should have been to prove that Democrats are not subject to proletarian pressure. The party cannot change.
One also has to question how many “Uncommitted” voters were registered to vote by Uncommitted during the primary season. Their website confirms: “we are registering people who have never voted to participate in politics, collectively, and we’re not done just yet.” For them to register young voters radicalized by the genocide, then tell them to vote for the genocidal Democrat eight months later is a textbook example of counterinsurgency.
When it comes to mass election campaigns, the general election functions like a bear trap covered in honey. Radicalized people are led into this trap, transfixed by sweet sounding “serious” dialogue. Once you are stuck in the election’s claws, you can enjoy the honey for as long as it lasts. But when it inevitably dries up, you remain stuck in the same place, left to starve or eat through your own foot. This is voting in the empire. Between bleeding out and starving to death, committing yourself to the bourgeois hunting match will do nothing to improve your — and definitely not Palestine’s — condition.
The correct course of action is to avoid the election trap altogether, and to help your friends and family escape it, too. The people setting these traps are out there. They don’t hide who they are. Your comrades are out there too. Many are still hidden in between the trees, but you can spot them if you look closely enough. Join them, and watch out for traps along the way.
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