Will the pro-Palestine protests at the Democratic National Convention make a difference?

Day after day this last week, a crowd rallied and marched in Chicago’s Union Park, less than a mile from the Democratic National Convention headquarters at the United Center. They carried signs and banners calling for a ceasefire in Gaza and depicting President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris as the enemy.

One night, protesters turned their attention to the Israeli Consulate, 500 W. Madison St. in the West Loop, where violent clashes between demonstrators and Chicago police ended with dozens of arrests.

By the end of the week, the Chicago Police Department reported 74 arrests overall. However, for the most part, the events were peaceful and caused little disruption.

So now comes the question: will these protests matter?

“In a word, no,” said University of Chicago Political Science Professor Paul Poast, with regard to the war on Gaza.

However, he said, there is some potential for these protests to make a difference in the outcome of the US presidential election.

“People who are part of the Palestinian demonstrations are most opposed to US policy and have made it clear they are not voting for Harris,” he said, noting that the White House has criticized the Israeli government’s actions in Gaza but has “not gone as far to say we are going to cut off Israel.”

“Trump is more forcefully supporting Israel… so for Palestinians, at the end of the day, it doesn’t matter who is in office,” he explained.  “They are willing to stay home or vote for a third-party candidate. Enough people with that mindset could have an impact in swing states.”

And speaking of enough people, why weren’t the protests as large as predicted nor rose to the level we saw at the 1968 convention in the midst of the Vietnam War?

“The protests in ‘68 were notable because people had skin in the game,” he said. “People didn’t want to be drafted.”

In the case of the war on Gaza, unless you have family there, are from there, or you care about the area, Poast said most people will go on with their daily lives. “People feel bad about the war, but it’s a detached issue,” he said. “It’s all about what’s in it for me and why foreign policy issues do not resonate with people.”

Mixed reviews

Protest organizers and other demonstrators offered mixed reviews of the week’s events.

“We’re happy because we’ve united a lot of people around these demands for Palestine,” said Faayani Aboma Mijana, a representative for the Chicago Alliance against Racism and Political Repression which collaborated with nearly 300 other groups for the March on the DNC Monday and Thursday.

Alex Nelson, political lead for IfNotNow Chicago, had attended demonstrations all week and said the atmosphere felt more tense on the last day because the DNC declined to feature a Palestinian speaker. “I don’t know if they aren’t hearing us or if it’s just a collective lack of political courage,” she said. IfNotNow calls itself “a movement of American Jews organizing our community for equality, justice, and a thriving future for all: our neighbors, ourselves, Palestinians, and Israelis.”

Anna Schiefelbein, Co-Chair of the Illinois Green Party, came out “to be with like-minded people,” she said.  “Events like this bring back hope.”