The sudden angst of Kamala Harris on Gaza, in the fag end of her campaign, was too little and too late. Her words sounded as hollow and empty as always. The voters said, No.
By Amit Sengupta
Gaza did her in.
At the fag end of the campaign, she had upped the ante. Suddenly, her heart went out to the people of Gaza.
While the world knows, that this relentless mass murder of innocent people, which continues till this day and this very moment, including thousands of children, is backed by the pro-Israel regime led by Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.
Not only that, almost 2.5 million people are currently displaced and homeless, scores of people are being routinely killed, thousands are yet again being forcibly pushed out of the refugee camps by armoured tanks in Northern Gaza, the dead and alive are rotting in the rubble, UN relief workers are not being allowed to bring in aid, while some of them have been killed, refugee camps, hospitals and schools are being bombed, scores of doctors and nurses have been murdered, while only three hospitals are just about functioning, hundreds of young men and boys have been picked up and taken to unknown locations and torture chambers, more than 170 journalists have been killed, often victims of targeted assassinations, epidemic and disease is rampant, there is often no drinking water or food, no electricity or mobile connection, and Gaza has now turned from the world’s biggest open air prison into a vast graveyard of infinite tragedy.
If this is not a living hell, what is it?
Does this not remind of the Holocaust and concentration camps enacted by the Nazis?
And is Israel not operating like a Nazi machine, working for the US in the Middle East?
Add to this, the killings of ordinary folks and citizens in the West Bank and Lebanon, and the atrocities of Benjamin Netanyahu, backed by the Biden-Harris regime, seems to have no end.
So why did they do what they did in Lebanon?
Hundreds of pagers were subverted by the Israeli intelligence in Beirut and elsewhere. And they kept exploding.
With each explosion, kids lost their limbs, men their genitals, women their torsos, others their faces and eyes. Many of them would live like this for the rest of their lives.
What was their crime?
They are the legitimate and peaceful citizens of Lebanon. They did not attack Israel. They are not members of the Hezbollah, who, mostly, operate underground, and hence are inaccessible?
So whey were their bodies and souls ravaged by Israel — for what reason?
Thereby, the sudden angst of Kamala Harris on Gaza, in the fag end of her campaign, was too little and too late. Her words sounded as hollow and empty as always.
Addressing a rally in East Lansing city of Michigan, Harris said: “This year has been difficult, given the scale of death and destruction in Gaza and given the civilian casualties and displacement in Lebanon, it is devastating. And as president, I will do everything in my power to end the war in Gaza, to bring home the hostages, end the suffering in Gaza, ensure Israel is secure, and ensure the Palestinian people can realise their right to dignity, freedom, security and self-determination,”
Michigan is home to 200,000 Arab Americans. Along with other swing states like Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, it is now clear that the Arab Americans did not vote for her, here, or elsewhere in America.
Add to that the huge mass of progressive students, teachers (and citizens) who marched on the streets of the US in tens of thousands, faced police brutality, and who occupied their campuses for months, often risking their academic career — the vote of the millennials too did not seem to go to her.
The ‘Uncommitted Voters’ and students had clearly marked their frustration and displeasure at the Biden campaign. They had ardently appealed for immediate ceasefire in Gaza, the release of Israeli hostages, and asked his regime to stop sending billions of dollars, and bombs and guns to kill the people of Palestine.
Neither Biden, nor Harris, cared a damn!
However, the fake sympathy, and homilies, continued as a routine PR exercise — with no tangible action on the ground. Earlier, she had said: “What’s critically important as we look at this moment, is acknowledging the tragedy of what has happened in Gaza, in terms of the extraordinary number of innocent Palestinians that have been killed, and taking that seriously and speaking truth about that.
Meanwhile, check this out.
On her unrelenting support to the war machine of Israel, she had said in her first interview to CNN as a Democratic candidate: “I’m unequivocal and unwavering in my commitment to Israel’s defense and its ability to defend itself, and that’s not going to change… I say today, Israel has a right to defend itself. We would, and how it does so matters…
Will she mark a a change in US policy which might have an impact on American military assistance to Israel, Harris had said emphatically : “No.”
Now, the voters have said it as emphatically as they could: No.
The “No votes for Genocide” campaign had picked up very strongly in many parts of America, along with the ‘Abandon Harris 2024’ campaign. The campaign has been led by the likes of radical grassroots leader Kshama Sawant, Indian origin economist and city council member in Seattle. She is the leader of Workers Strike Back.
With a strong base among the working class, she has consistently argued that progressive citizens should reject the Democrats. This is because when it comes to the powerful ‘industrial-military’ establishment, the war machine and arms industry, and the gigantic capitalist corporations, the ideological position of the Democrats and the Republics remains the same. There is simply no difference.
Besides, both are backed by the super-powerful Jewish lobby led by AIPAC. This is the shadowy organization with hugely deep pockets who organize strong lobbies in support of Israel, and who target those who speak for the rights of the people of Palestine.
As a consequence, media reports are now pointing out that a large section of voters, including students and Arab Americans, voted for the Green Party candidate, Jill Stein. Her presence is a pointer that there is a strong section of US citizens who have seen through the real political and social character of the Democrat and Republican leadership. Both are equally Right-wing, and both have relentlessly backed the Genocide in Gaza.
(Barring the likes of Bernie Sanders, Ilhan Omer, Rashida Tlaib, Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez, the ‘socialist squad’ within the Democrats. They have been consistent in their opposition to Israel and the killings in Gaza. Omar and Tlaib have been re-elected. However, the Democratic leadership continued to support Israel.)
Donald Trump had branded Harris as a Marxist. “She’s a Marxist, her father’s a Marxist professor,” he had said, though there seems to be no current link between her and her father. In response, what did she say?
The BBC reported that “in a tacit rebuttal to Republican claims that she supports ‘communist’ policies, Harris described herself as ‘a capitalist’. “I promise you I will be pragmatic in my approach,” she said at an event hosted by The Economic Club of Pittsburgh.
The BBC headline said: ‘I’m a capitalist’ says Harris in economic pitch to voters.
Clearly, majority of the American voters have, therefore, chosen an extreme Right-wing capitalist, real estate tycoon, racist, misogynist and white supremacist as their honourable president. Tells a story about a nation which claims ad infinitum to be the the “greatest nation on earth”!
Please also see:
The picture of Kamala Harris has been taken from her X handle. The poster of Jill Stein has been taken from the X handle of Kshama Sawant.
Kamala Harris should have taken early action as her last words turned out to be hollow and manipulative. Her early actions, like the US government’s continued support for Israel, doesn’t match her last comments on Gaza. It seems like a last minute attempt to gain voters rather than a genuine appeal for addressing a huge humanitarian crisis.In such a situation, neither Harris nor Trump can bring a positive change, causing endless suffering to common people.