Jewish Voice for Peace’s Chicago chapter will join the March on the DNC alongside a broad coalition of justice-driven organizations, helmed by USPCN and CAARPR
Beginning today until August 22, the Chicago chapter of Jewish Voice for Peace, the largest progressive Jewish anti-Zionist organization in the world, is joining the Coalition to March on the DNC for a historic week of protest. Led by the US Palestinian Community Network (USPCN) and the Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression (CAARPR), this coalition brings together 241 progressive organizations across a wide array of issue areas to issue a list of demands to Democratic Party leaders. Along with echoing and uplifting each of the coalitions’ demands, JVP Chicago demands that our leaders enact an immediate arms embargo on the Israeli military as the only practical means to achieve a permanent and lasting ceasefire.
JVP Chicago’s participation alongside visiting members from other JVP chapters is just the latest tangible illustration of burgeoning American Jewish support for Palestinian liberation. Not only do a majority of Jewish Democrats support a ceasefire, recent polling also shows seven in ten American voters do as well and a majority support an arms embargo. “No matter where we live, the color of our skin, or how much money we have in our bank accounts, each of us deserves a safe, warm place to call home, the ability to put food on the table, and to know that no harm will come to us or our children,” shared Arielle Rebekah, a local Jewish transgender activist and spokesperson for JVP Chicago. “But corrupt political leaders in the US have continued to prioritize their political and financial interests in the Middle East over Palestinian lives, making it impossible for Palestinians—and anyone living in the Middle East—to be free or safe.”
The Coalition to March on the DNC is multiracial, multifaith, and intergenerational, encompassing organizations from various movements including Palestinian liberation, racial justice, prison abolition, reproductive justice, labor rights, and more. This collaboration reflects the foundational underpinning of progressive movement organizing, encompassed by the belief that there is safety in solidarity and true liberation can only be achieved when we join together and work as a collective.
“There is a long history of domestic protests influencing US political leaders to dramatically alter their foreign policy. In this moment, we are reminded in particular of how anti-war protests in the US made support for the American offensive in Vietnam politically toxic, thus helping to bring about an end to the Vietnam war,” reflects Mollie Hartenstein, a queer Jewish activist and spokesperson for JVP Chicago. “We know that when people of conscience join together across the lines of race, class, and religion to make our voices heard, the world we deserve becomes not only possible but inevitable. By pressuring our leaders to create a US foreign policy that centers human rights for all people over the financial and political interests of a wealthy few—including, most immediately, enacting an arms embargo on the Israeli military—we will bring about a future where all people are safe and free in their homes, their communities, and wherever they roam.”
The March on the DNC officially includes two marches, both beginning at Union Park. The first march begins at 12PM on August 19 at the start of the Democratic National Convention, and the second begins at 5PM on August 22 to close out the convention.