The Democrats’ stubborn refusal to learn from the campus protests
The Democrats’ stubborn refusal to learn from the campus protests for Palestine In Philadelphia and across the U.S., progressive young voters rejected the idea that domestic priorities must be tied to a destructive policy abroad. Members of the local Philadelphia community and Reclaim’s leadership, described the ways in which the Democratic party leadership had failed them: plenty of “brat” and Beyonce, but nothing about a living wage for working families — all while supporting a genocide in Gaza and repression on college campuses. Donald Trump’s commanding victory is attributable to more factors than can be easily listed here. But among the lessons of the presidential election, the youth vote tells an important story. Overall, the Democrats experienced their worst performance among young people in 20 years. Compared to President Joe Biden’s election victory in 2020, Vice President Kamala Harris lost 3 million votes from Americans under 30. Americans across the country moved to the right, and under-30 voters were no exception. But the Democrats lost youth not only to Trump but to broad demobilization: put simply, fewer young voters turned out at the polls. According to research compiled by Tufts University, nationwide youth participation was eight points lower in 2024 than in 2020 — 42 percent as compared to 50 percent. Kamala Harris won among under-30s by only four points; in 2020, Biden beat Trump among this demographic by 25 points. That’s a 21-point swing in only four years. So what explains this? “I didn’t feel like my views were represented by either party,” Sophia Rosser, a third-year student at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, told me. For Rosser, the fact that Harris seemed to back all of Biden’s policies, especially his support for Israel’s genocidal war in Gaza, highlighted contradictions in her campaign. “I can’t think of her attempt to solve the housing crisis without thinking about the fact that 90 percent of people in Gaza have been displaced,” she said. “I can’t think of her [vowed] protection of women’s rights and not think of mothers in Gaza, who are giving birth without access to care, or the thousands of children who have been murdered.” This was a common sentiment among young voters I spoke to in Pennsylvania: a refusal to accept that achieving progressive political priorities at home must come at the cost of continuing a destructive, illiberal policy abroad. Democrats, they argue, can no longer afford to be “progressive except Palestine.” And thousands of them, like Rosser, are university students who participated in protests and joined encampments over the past year. Rather than take their concerns seriously, Democratic politicians and party leaders spent much of the past year berating and belittling students for their vocal opposition to Israel’s genocide, and smearing them as being motivated by hatred of Jews. Biden described the encampment at Columbia as “antisemitic protests.” Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown, who is often described as a progressive, told reporters in relation to the protest movement that “the antisemitism and hate and violence [on college campuses] are not acceptable.”. By November, it was clear that this policy of prolonged vilification did substantial damage to the Democrats. “A lot of left-leaning kids stayed home,” Jeet Heer, a columnist at The Nation, noted on X. “Don’t let anyone tell you Gaza wasn’t a factor.” -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Groups.io Links: You receive all messages sent to this group. View/Reply Online (#34125): https://groups.io/g/marxmail/message/34125 Mute This Topic: https://groups.io/mt/110189904/21656 -=-=- POSTING RULES & NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. #4 Do not exceed five posts a day. -=-=- Group Owner: marxmail+ow...@groups.io Unsubscribe: https://groups.io/g/marxmail/leave/13617172/21656/1316126222/xyzzy [arch...@mail-archive.com] -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
