Re-posted from votenopreferencema.org — We are Uncommitted Massachusetts. We will not vote for genocide and we are not alone.
With less than a week left before the U.S. elections, Israel’s attacks on Gaza have reached new depths of cruelty. The UN’s top humanitarian official has warned that the “entire population of Northern Gaza is at risk of dying.” Israel has cut off almost all humanitarian aid to Northern Gaza, burned patients alive (again), detained the medical staff of Northern Gaza’s last functioning hospital, and is expelling Palestinians en masse. Biden threatened “implications” for future weapons transfers unless Israel “reverse[s] the downward humanitarian trajectory,” to take effect 10 days after the Presidential elections. Israel has since only intensified its unlawful attacks. We call bullshit.
We, the leadership of the Massachusetts Uncommitted, like millions of people across the country, pledge to vote third-party unless Biden and Harris implement an immediate arms embargo against Israel. Given the choice between genocide and fascism, we choose neither. We are not alone.
In September, Uncommitted Movement leadership formally urged supporters not to vote third party. Their statement lulled the Democrats into a false sense of security. But that position is not reflected at the party base. Last week, hundreds of demonstrators rattled Harris at a rally in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Grassroots coalitions and Uncommitted chapters in the key swing states of Pennsylvania, Georgia, and Wisconsin have committed to withholding their votes unless Harris commits to an immediate arms embargo against Israel. Muslim leaders–including the American Muslim Election Taskforce, Muslim scholars, and more than 50 Black Muslim leaders– also urge voters to support third-party presidential candidates who support a permanent ceasefire and arms embargo.
There’s still time for Harris to pivot and endorse an arms embargo. The move could mobilize supporters, while the narrow window would also likely spare the risk of substantial backlash which would harm her chances. It also happens to be the right thing to do, and what voters want.
The Israeli assault on Gaza has been unpopular with the US public since November 2023, when 2 out of 3 Americans and even a majority of Republicans supported a ceasefire. A June CBS poll showed that 61% of Americans and 77% of Democrats opposed sending more weapons to Israel. A recent national poll showed that if Harris embraced a suspension of U.S. arms shipments and diplomatic support for Israel “until there was a cease-fire and withdrawal of forces from Gaza,” her support would grow from 44% to 49%. But Harris has repeatedly asserted that she will not support an arms embargo.
Those of us committed to ending the genocide are more than ordinary voters. We have spent the last few months organizing our communities, workplaces, schools, universities, and congregations. In just five days, our volunteer-powered effort in Massachusetts turned out over 60,000 people to the polls to vote “no preference” in the primary, ultimately securing a delegate. The Uncommitted movement mobilized hundreds of thousands of voters in the spring, and ultimately united 300 “ceasefire delegates” (10% of delegates) at the Democratic National Convention, to support our cause. Our unprecedented mobilization could turn out voters to help Democrats win a tight race. Instead, the Harris-Walz ticket risks losing a high-stakes election for ignoring the base of the party.
Democratic Party operatives will accuse us of helping Trump – but it is Harris, Biden, and the rest of the party leadership who put their victory at risk by ignoring the calls of the overwhelming majority of their base for an end to the genocide. We recognize the profound damage a president can cause by spouting authoritarianism and unabashed racism from our nation’s highest office. Another Trump presidency could bring another wave of discriminatory policies, and anti-Black, anti-immigrant, anti-Muslim hate-mongering. We must organize opposition to violent and discriminatory policies regardless of which administration is trying to enact them. We must also ask ourselves what it means to say “never again,” as our tax dollars aid and abet what the International Court of Justice calls a “plausible” genocide. Dare we vote for the ongoing decimation of an entire society in the name of “the lesser evil”?
As the dehumanization of Palestinians in Gaza reaches unfathomable depths, we urge the Democratic Party to take heed. Opposing genocide is not a “single issue.” The experience of witnessing a genocide on social media has galvanized Americans of all stripes–especially those who have experienced some form of oppression. We have seen the tears of Dr. Abu Safiya, the director of the last standing hospital in North Gaza before it was forced to close under Israeli siege, as he explained that his staff could no longer care for patients and that he was forced to bury his own son in the hospital yard. We have seen the bodies of adults and children, shredded with weapons supplied by our own tax dollars. We have seen Israel’s torture camps and Israeli officials defend soldiers accused of gang-raping a Palestinian prisoner. We have seen stone-faced Vice President Kamala Harris, explain that it’s normal to have “strong feelings” about genocide and that many people “who care about this issue” also “care about bringing down the price of groceries.”
Gaza cannot be disconnected from the other issues that Americans care about. Just days after hurricanes devastated the southeastern US, FEMA announced a $8 billion dollar shortfall on hurricane relief. On the same day, Israel received $8.7 billion of military funding from the US. As a new report shows, our government has spent a record 17.8 billion in military aid to Israel in the past year.
Instead of funding death and destruction, we should be paying for education, healthcare, and a sustainable future. We stand on the brink of an escalating war that President Biden and Vice President Harris say they have been “working around the clock” to stop. The Harris-Biden administration expects us to believe that the most powerful man in the world can’t stop a genocide for which he supplies 70% of the weapons.
Whether or not we live in a democracy is up to us, the citizens. Democracy does not begin and end with elections between Democrats and Republicans. We must devote ourselves to a long-term project that builds power in our communities and workplaces, laying the groundwork for an independent, working-class political party. We must also build a movement to reduce the stranglehold of the two parties on our elections by implementing reforms like open or nonpartisan primaries, ranked-choice voting, and electing our President by popular vote by eliminating the archaic Electoral College, which a majority of Americans support.
Regardless of who wins the election, we are here for the long haul. Democracy is at stake. The planet is at stake. For over 10 years, nearly 2 out of 3 Americans have agreed that it is time for a third party. It’s time to build the future we wish to live.