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      Kamala Harris’s speech was the test of her political life. She passed, but there will be others – not least Gaza | Arwa Mahdawi

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      On 22 August 1964, a Black activist called Fannie Lou Hamer gave an iconic speech at the Democratic national convention (DNC), taking the party to task for its failure to support equal voting rights. Hamer did not get what she wanted that particular night in Atlantic City, but she helped pave the way for a new generation of American leaders.On the 60th anniversary of that historic address, Kamala Harris stood centre stage at the DNC in Chicago as the Democratic party’s candidate for president and gave the most important speech of her life. The buildup to Thursday night was intense; Harris had been prepping furiously for this pivotal moment, reportedly workshopping her speech “nearly line by line”.If the weight of history, and the pressure of the present, hung heavy on Harris’s shoulders she did not let it show. Ever since Joe Biden passed her the baton a month ago Harris has been a changed woman. Gone is the uncertain vice-president who didn’t seem quite at ease in her role. Gone is the often-awkward orator. Harris is in her element now and it shows. She’s spent the last month radiating joy. Electric and effervescent, she did not so much speak last night as sing.While joy has been a major theme of the DNC, Harris’s speech made clear she wasn’t just about good vibes, she was ready to get to work. “OK, let’s get to business,” she said repeatedly as an exuberant crowd greeted her entrance with seemingly endless applause and chants of “USA”.A key point of business? Unity. “I know there are people of various political views watching tonight,” she said looking directly at the camera. “And I want you to know: I promise to be a president for all Americans.”To underscore this promise, Harris presented herself as a regular American whose modest upbringing, unlike Donald-silver-spoon-Trump, many could relate to. She started by speaking about her early life and her brilliant, trailblazing, immigrant mother, who “taught us to never complain about injustice, but do something about it”. She talked about growing up in the Bay Area of California in a “a beautiful working-class neighbourhood of firefighters, nurses, and construction workers”. And she spoke about how she decided to become a prosecutor to fight for the vulnerable after a high-school friend told her she was being sexually abused by her stepfather.These stories weren’t just supposed to make Harris seem relatable, they were there to help her seem authentic. One of Harris’s biggest weaknesses when she unsuccessfully ran for the 2020 nomination was her inability to really define herself. Some critics called her a “cop” and a “bully”, others called her dangerously liberal. Back then, Harris didn’t seem entirely sure of what she stood for. Standing on the stage in Chicago on Thursday, however, Harris opened herself up. She owned her story.While Harris may have begun by speaking about her past, the real focus of her acceptance speech was the US’s future. She thanked Biden gracefully but also signalled that he was now in the rear-view mirror. “We are not going back, and we are charting a new way forward, forward to a future with a strong and growing middle class … building that middle class will be a defining goal of my presidency,” she said.Harris’s campaign hasn’t been very heavy on policy so far and this speech also stayed fairly surface-level. However this focus on the middle class echoed the populist economic policy agenda she previewed at a speech in North Carolina last week. In that speech she talked about bringing down the price of groceries, prescription drugs, and housing. Whether a Harris administration would actually be able to do all of this is up for debate, but it is certainly a message that resonates across all party lines.The substance of Harris’s vision for the future, however, wasn’t so much about a cheaper loaf of bread as a safer democracy. The vice-president spoke bluntly about the threat a second Trump term holds. “In many ways, Donald Trump is an unserious man. But the consequences of putting Donald Trump back in the White House are extremely serious,” she said. “Consider the power he will have, especially after the United States supreme court just ruled that he would be immune from criminal prosecution.”It was difficult not to consider, also, how much closer the US was to that terrifying possibility a month ago. With Biden at the helm, the Democratic party seemed on a course towards almost certain defeat. Now, while the race is still excruciatingly tight, the polls have turned in Harris’s favour. She has incredible momentum and, as her speech made very clear, she has what Biden sorely lacked: the energy to fight.Nowhere was the contrast with Biden more apparent than when Harris spoke about reproductive rights. The nominee spoke stirringly about how she’d travelled across the US and heard stories of “women miscarrying in a parking lot, developing sepsis, losing the ability to ever again have children, all because doctors are afraid they may go to jail for caring for their patients”. God was it refreshing to hear her talk about abortion like she really cares. One of Biden’s many weaknesses was that he could never seem to stop his personal distaste for abortion from coming to the fore; he always seemed half-hearted. He could not channel the visceral anger emanating from American women.“We’re not going back! We’re not going back!” That phrase, spoken by Harris, chanted by the crowd, rang through her speech. But despite the joy and the optimism it was difficult not to think back to Hamer’s speech. The activist, who was name-checked by the likes of Maxine Waters, member of the US House of Representatives for California, at the DNC, is celebrated by the establishment now, but when she was fighting for equality, she was reviled. During her testimony in 1964, then-president Lyndon B Johnson even called a news conference to try to divert attention from her; he was worried her speech would alienate white voters in the south from voting for Democrats. Today it’s clear that Palestinian-Americans, and people fighting for Palestinian rights, are similarly inconvenient to the Democratic party and its message of unity.While Harris paid lip service to the crisis in Gaza and called for a ceasefire, what she said about the issue in her speech wasn’t as important as who was not given a speaking slot at the DNC. Despite pleas from pro-Palestinian members of the party, the Democrats failed to give a Palestinian-American a slot on the main stage. “No one should be made to fight alone,” Harris said in her speech. “We are all in this together.” They were stirring words – but it is hard to feel that we really are all in this together. Harris has laid out an invigorating vision for America’s future. It is a shame the DNC chose to leave Palestinian-Americans behind.

      Arwa Mahdawi is a Guardian columnist More

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      Kamala Harris pledges to ‘chart a new way forward’ as she accepts nomination

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      Kamala Harris accepted the Democratic presidential nomination Thursday with a sweeping, pointed speech in which she vowed to prosecute the case against Donald Trump and carry the country to a brighter and fairer future.In an address that balanced optimism with scathing criticism of her opponent, Harris acknowledged her “unlikely” path to the nomination and extended her hand to voters of all political ideologies who believe in America’s promise. Harris would make history if elected – as the first woman, first Black woman and first Asian American woman to serve as president – but she instead focused on the history that the country could change in November.“Our nation, with this election, has a precious, fleeting opportunity to move past the bitterness, cynicism and divisive battles of the past, a chance to chart a new way forward – not as members of any one party or faction, but as Americans,” Harris told thousands of Democrats in Chicago.She then said to roaring applause: “On behalf of everyone whose story could only be written in the greatest nation on Earth, I accept your nomination for president of the United States of America.”The speech came just one month after Harris launched her campaign, following Joe Biden’s withdrawal from the presidential race. With the president’s endorsement, Harris was able to quickly consolidate Democrats’ support and secure the nomination. Harris has enjoyed a wave of enthusiasm since entering the race, as most polls now show her pulling slightly ahead of Trump in the key battleground states that will determine the outcome of the election.Throughout the speech, Harris implicitly and explicitly contrasted herself with her opponent, warning that Trump’s return to the White House would resurrect the “chaos and calamity” of his first presidential term. She condemned Trump’s efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, blaming him for the January 6 attack on the US Capitol, and reminded voters of his many legal battles since leaving office.“Consider the power he will have, especially after the United States supreme court just ruled that he would be immune from criminal prosecution,” Harris said. “Just imagine Donald Trump with no guardrails and how he would use the immense powers of the presidency of the United States – not to improve your life, not to strengthen our national security, but to serve the only client he has ever had: himself.”Harris then led the crowd, packed to full capacity in Chicago’s United Center, in a chant of “We’re not going back!” The chant has become a recurring feature of Harris’ campaign rallies in the past month.The speech represented Harris’ most significant opportunity yet to define herself in the eyes of voters. Although Harris served as vice-president under Biden for four years and as a US senator from California before that, polls suggest voters’ opinions of the new nominee are not set in stone. Trump has already tried to define Harris as a “radical” Democrat, mocking her as “Comrade Kamala,” but he has struggled to land successful attack lines against his new opponent.Addressing a national audience, Harris presented herself as a “realistic” and “practical” leader who would lean on her background as a prosecutor to govern based on common sense and equality. She credited her sense of justice to her mother, Shyamala Harris, a scientist who emigrated to the US from India when she was 19.“She was tough, courageous, a trailblazer in the fight for women’s health, and she taught Maya and me a lesson that Michelle [Obama] mentioned the other night,” Harris said. “She taught us to never complain about injustice, but do something about it.”In an election that has often been characterized as personality versus policy, Harris attempted to intertwine the two. After discussing her record as a prosecutor fighting for “women and children against predators who abused them,” she turned her attention to the women whose lives have been jeopardized due to a lack of abortion access.She shared stories of pregnant women getting sepsis and miscarrying in parking lots, and placed the blame for their pain squarely on Trump’s shoulders, as he nominated three of the justices who ruled to overturn Roe v Wade.“This is what’s happening in our country because of Donald Trump,” Harris said. “And understand he is not done as a part of his agenda. He and his allies would limit access to birth control, ban medication abortion, and enact a nationwide abortion ban, with or without Congress … Simply put, they are out of their minds.”View image in fullscreenHarris was at times light on the details when it came to policy, as when she pledged to build “an opportunity economy” and “end America’s housing shortage”. She was arguably most forceful when it came to discussing foreign policy, as she promised to “stand strong with Ukraine” and accused Trump of aligning himself with autocrats.“I will not cozy up to tyrants and dictators like Kim Jong-un, who are rooting for Trump because they know he is easy to manipulate with flattery and favors,” Harris said. “As president, I will never waver in defense of America’s security and ideals – because, in the enduring struggle between democracy and tyranny, I know where I stand and where the United States of America belongs.”In one of the most highly anticipated portions of her speech, Harris outlined her stance on the war in Gaza. Harris condemned the Hamas attacks against Israel on 7 October and mourned the “many innocent lives lost” in Gaza since the start of the war, but she vowed to “always stand up for Israel’s right to defend itself,” in an apparent rejection of recent calls for an arms embargo.“President Biden and I are working around the clock because now is the time to get a hostage deal and ceasefire done,” Harris said. “President Biden and I are working to end this war such that Israel is secure, the hostages are released, the suffering in Gaza ends, and the Palestinian people can realize their right to dignity, security, freedom and self-determination.”The call for Palestinian self-determination was met with robust applause in the convention center, but it is unclear whether that rhetoric will appease ceasefire supporters, thousands of whom took to the streets of Chicago to protest the war this week.Harris will likely need those voters’ support in November, as the presidential race remains a toss-up despite her recent gains. The coming days will show if and how Harris’ speech might expand her lead. More

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      Democratic convention fails to meet uncommitted delegate deadline for Palestinian speaker

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      After a daylong sit-in, uncommitted delegates entered the United Center to take their seats among their state delegations on the Democratic national convention floor.The Democratic convention failed to make a 6pm CT deadline that the ceasefire delegates had set for a final decision on allowing a Palestinian American to speak from the main stage.At a press conference outside the convention, movement leaders said they do not plan to disrupt the events inside the convention Thursday. They did say they are calling for Kamala Harris or senior members of her team to meet with the uncommitted movement in Michigan to talk about a ceasefire and arms embargo. They set a 15 September deadline for a meeting.Abbas Alawieh, a leader of the uncommitted movement and an uncommitted delegate from Michigan, denounced the convention’s failure to listen to their demands.“The scandal is that there are forces within Democratic party leadership who do not want us to talk about Palestinian human rights,” he said. “They’re out of step with the majority of the Democratic base, the majority of Democratic voters who believe that Palestinian human rights are a priority.”Ruwa Romman, a Georgia state representative who wrote a speech for the convention to consider, read her speech to the crowd gathered outside. Earlier on Thursday, Mother Jones published the text, which began: “I’m honored to be the first Palestinian elected to public office in the great state of Georgia and the first Palestinian to ever speak at the Democratic national convention.”“Let’s commit to each other, to electing Vice-President Harris and defeating Donald Trump who uses my identity as a Palestinian as a slur,” she said in her speech. “Let’s fight for the policies long overdue – from restoring access to abortions to ensuring a living wage, to demanding an end to reckless war and a ceasefire in Gaza.”The group held an impromptu sit-in on Wednesday and Thursday after weeks of attempts to get a speaker on the main stage at the convention. The movement had first requested that Dr Tanya Haj-Hassan, a doctor who worked in Gaza, and a Palestinian American leader take the stage, and then streamlined the request to a Palestinian American leader.About a dozen of those in the movement stayed overnight on the pavement outside the United Center, catching whatever sleep they could. The police did not attempt to get them to leave.A group of delegates have fought using the Democratic party process to demand change internally, while protesters have also demonstrated across Chicago this week in separate actions.Outside the convention perimeter, anti-war protesters gathered for the second March on the Democratic convention after a week of demonstrations around the city that at times ended in arrests.Thousands of pro-Palestinian activists left Union Park in Chicago to march past the convention center, where Harris is expected to accept the Democratic nomination Thursday.Protesters holding flags and signs calling Harris “Killer Kamala” demanded an end to US military aid to Israel. Michael, who said his family was Palestinian and Irish, said that he was marching to “demand that the US stop funding genocide” and said that Harris “needs to listen to us and empathize with ordinary Palestinians”.“Right now, we’ve been locked out and exiled,” he said.The protesters chanted: “Antifada! Revolution!” “End the occupation!” “It is right to rebel! Democrats go to hell!” “Just like 1968! Nothing here to celebrate!”Hundreds of police officers, some in riot helmets, lined the protest route near the United Center.Protest organizers estimated Thursday’s March on the DNC drew about 11,000 demonstrators and that Monday’s march saw 20,000.“The final impression of this week is that a combined 30,000+ people from communities the Democrats claim to represent marched on the DNC to demand a stop to the genocide and an end to all US aid to Israel,” said Nadiah Alyafai, member of the US Palestinian Community Network.The Uncommitted National Movement launched in Michigan in the Democratic primaries as a way for voters who disapprove of the US policies on the Gaza war to register their discontent with the Biden administration. From Michigan, it spread across the states, with more than 700,000 people casting some version of an uncommitted vote.These voters won 30 uncommitted delegates to the convention. Those delegates have worked to build their power by convincing Harris delegates to sign on as “ceasefire delegates” who agree with demands of a ceasefire and arms embargo.Supporters, including members of Congress, union leaders and Democratic organizers, underscored the speaker request, saying the convention needed to change course.James Zogby, the founder and president of the Arab American Institute, was the last Arab American to speak from the main stage of the Democratic convention, in 1988. He told the Guardian the convention’s decision to deny a Palestinian American speaker an “an unforced error, a kind of a bonehead move that is going to cost them votes and didn’t need to”.“This is what’s called a real stupid, boneheaded mistake, to end up literally dumping on your own story that ought to be about the convention and Kamala Harris and hope and joy and all that. And instead, we’re talking about a dumb mistake made by consultants to exclude Palestinian voices,” Zogby said.According to Waleed Shahid, a progressive strategist and member of the uncommitted movement, the Harris campaign senior staff made “a lot of different offers to get this to end, none of which had to do with getting a Palestinian American on stage”.“They gave us mid-level staff, they gave us senior staff. They gave us random senators, random members of the House. They were like, this member of the House is inside. They’ll meet with you,” Shahid said.Democratic party officials said “tonight is going to be vice-president Harris’s biggest speech of her life, and it needs to be about her. But we have given them two months, and we had Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. So we did not put them in this position,” Layla Elabed, a leader of the uncommitted movement, said. More