Webinar: Report from the Streets at the DNC!

The just concluded DNC was an occasion for speeches, postures and positions on the inside, and large protests, marches and rallies on the outside. Thousands of people gathered in Chicago’s Union Park and the streets to make their voices known on the pressing topics of concern to the ordinary citizens of the country. No topic was more important though than the concern to stop the war in Gaza and above all to stop the US weapons shipments that fuel and perpetuate the massacre of innocent civilians. Inside the convention, the speakers and luminaries were not impervious or unaffected by the war and a number of positions were taken and promises made.

But at the moment to embrace the Palestinian voice and have a Palestinian Speaker, they balked — none was permitted.

What was the reaction in the street to the promises made by the politicians and luminaries? What was the response of the hundreds of Palestinian and other Arab Americans and allies among the thousands of demonstrators in Chicago? We’ll hear from MAPA’s own Brian Garvey and Keith Harvey and have a chance to discuss the convention, the protests, and how we see the next 7 weeks of the campaign, what we can expect and what we can do.

Speakers:

Keith Harvey is the Regional Director for the Northeast Region of the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), a position he has held since 1992.

Brian Garvey is the incoming Executive Director of Massachusetts Peace Action. Brian served as assistant director for five years after joining MAPA as a volunteer.

Keith and Brian recently returned from the Democratic Convention in Chicago where along with Lee Casstevens, MAPA intern, they set up a 75 yard banner representing through its length the size of the US military budget in relation to domestic spending programs and the military budgets of other nations.