The Democratic National Convention (DNC) is set to commence tonight, Monday August 19, 2024.
Thousands of Democratic delegates, party officials and elected leaders will gather in Chicago for the convention which will be held from Monday to Thursday, August 22, 2024 in Chicago.
Chicago previously played host to the convention in 1996, when Bill Clinton was nominated for re-election, and 1968 when Hubert Humphrey was nominated.
Democrats hope the convention will serve as a strong show of unity, as party members coalesce behind the Harris-Walz ticket less than three months before Election Day.
Held every four years, the Democratic National Convention is a gathering to formally select the party’s nominees for President and Vice President.
It serves as a way to drum up enthusiasm for the Democratic ticket.
On Monday, the convention will focus on the Biden administration’s policy accomplishments
U.S President, Joe Biden is expected to speak, along with former Secretary of state, Hillary Clinton.
Biden is likely to receive a far more electrifying welcome as an outgoing President than he ever did as a candidate.
The convention will honour his half-century career in politics as Senator, Vice President and President, with the first lady, Jill Biden, among those paying tribute.
U.S Vice President and Democratic Presidential candidate, Kamala Harris is likely to join Biden on stage.
On Tuesday, the second night, former President Barack Obama will give an address.
Former President Bill Clinton will join Harris’ Vice Presidential pick, Tim Walz on the convention’s third night.
Harris will close out the fourth night of the convention. Thursday is entitled “For Our Future”, underlined by Harris’s speech.
Protests Expected At DNC
Meanwhile, a coalition of activist groups called the Coalition to March on the DNC has planned demonstrations on Monday and Thursday to coincide with Biden and Harris’ speeches.
Organisers say that they expect at least 20,000 activists to demonstrate, including students who protested against the war on college campuses.
Activists have branded Biden “Genocide Joe” and called for Harris to change course.
The switch at the top of the ticket has cause some activists to pause but others contend that Harris is part of the Biden administration and so complicit.
“Democratic Party leadership switching out their presidential nominee does not wash the blood of over 50,000 Palestinians off their hands,” the Coalition to March on the DNC stated on its website.
“Biden’s entire administration, together with high ranking members of the Democratic Party from all over the country, has spent the last ten months wholeheartedly supporting the genocide in Gaza with our tax dollars,” the coalition said.
“It is a matter of historical urgency that all organizations who fight for the rights of working and oppressed people in the US join us in this demonstration to stand in solidarity with Palestine.”
Coalition to March on the DNC
Chicago is home to one of the country’s largest Palestinian American communities, and many locals are expected to take part in the marches.
Harris’ speech on Thursday will be watched closely for signs that she is willing to take a harder line against the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.
Peter Beinart, a professor of journalism and political science at the Newmark School of Journalism at the City University of New York, opined in an article that Harris can distinguish herself simply by enforcing an existing law that bars the US from assisting any unit of a foreign security force that commits “gross violations” of human rights.
“The premise of the Leahy law is that all lives, including those of Palestinians, are equally precious,” Beinart noted.
He added, “Kamala Harris can show, finally, that a major-party nominee for President agrees.”
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