Union night at the DNC. Barely a mention of Gaza inside the UC.
When I posted that other than a passing reference by AOC at last night’s session of the DNC, that there was barely a mention of Gaza, I was criticized for failing to say that Joe Biden had also mentioned it
I had gone to bed by the time Biden spoke, which was so late in the night that CSPAN had gone off the air.
But unless Biden announced that he was ending support for Israeli genocide, it wouldn’t have been enough as far as I’m concerned.
Without U.S. arms to Israel, there would be no war on Gaza.
Meanwhile organizers reported 12,000 protesters marched nearby.
Many more than that had been anticipated.
Instead, inside the United Center there were chants of “USA, USA,” and delegates waving signs saying the same, provided by the DNC.
It was sickening.
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Apparently it was union night at the DNC.
They brought out the presidents of our largest unions and gave major speaking time to UAW president Shawn Fain.
Fain gave a rousing endorsement of Harris and Walz and correctly identified Trump as a scab.
Fain also made no mention Gaza.
I should point out that Fain is the first democratically elected leader of the UAW, chosen by direct vote of the membership.
There should be more of that.
It is more than a little ironic that as the Democrats and union leaders went after Trump for his attempts at undermining democracy, most union members don’t have the right to vote for their leaders.
The twenty largest unions in the United States don’t permit direct election of their leaders. Of 13.3 million members - 83 percent of all US union workers — only six have direct elections.
As a member of the National Education Association our leaders were chosen by a relatively small number of delegates at our conventions.
Only 20 percent of all union members, or 2.7 million, have the right to directly elect their top officers. Eighty percent of members - 10.6 million workers - have no such right.
Aside from the Teamsters and UAW, the only other large unions with a form of direct elections are the Steelworkers, Machinists, SAG-AFTRA, and the National Association of Letter Carriers.
Some smaller unions, like the Writers Guild and the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU), also have direct elections.
Indirect elections of our union leaders smells a lot like the electoral college.
It is undemocratic as hell.
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Are we done with Hillary yet? Can’t we just move on?