This Monday, thousands gathered in Chicago’s Union Park to voice their opposition to the ongoing war in Gaza. The protest was the first event in a week of planned demonstrations coinciding with the Democratic National Convention, being held at the nearby United Center on the western side of the city.

Music poured from speakers attached to a temporary stage erected on one side of the park as demonstrators arrived, many holding signs that expressed outrage at the United States’ continued military support for Israel. The diverse crowd included protesters of all ages – younger children wore earplugs, and a few elderly attendees adorned their walkers and scooters with Palestinian flags. Many demonstrators wore black and white keffiyeh, the traditional Arab headdress that has become synonymous with the resistance effort against the Israeli occupation.

Monday’s demonstration was organized by a broad coalition of over 200 social justice organizations, including advocates for immigrant rights, reproductive justice, and L.G.B.T.Q. rights. Over the course of several hours, dozens of representatives from the coalition took to the stage to address the crowd, linking their organization’s missions to the conflict in Gaza. Singer and poet Jamila Woods, who is based in Chicago, performed a brief set, and independent presidential candidate Dr. Cornel West delivered a rousing speech drawing a connection between the Black Power movement and Palestinian liberation. 

Several speakers tied the protests this week to those that rocked the Democratic National Convention in 1968. Student activists were integral to the anti-Vietnam War demonstrations in Chicago’s Grant Park that year, and students are once again some of the most vocal critics of the Biden administration’s involvement in the conflict in Gaza.

Rama delivered a short speech in which she explained the motivations for the protests this week:

Rama: We all stand here today to march on the DNC in Chicago, remembering the DNC back in 1968 also in Chicago back then, people were protesting the same thing we’re protesting today, which is US imperialism.

Rama decried Vice President Kamala Harris for “fueling this genocide,” and criticized her refusal to support an arms embargo to Israel.

Khalid Hamu, a student at the University of Denver and a member of the campus’ chapter of Students for a Democratic Society, rallied the crowd with a fiery condemnation of the convention.

Khalid Hamu: These corporate Democrats are unwilling to enact the change that people have so sharply struggled for, helping approve 20 billion worth of weapons to the occupation – shame! We need money for education, not for genocide and occupation.

Hamu, who was one of the leaders of a 22-day encampment at the University of Denver this spring, also underscored the connection between the student protests that erupted across the country during the semester and the resistance efforts in Gaza.

Hamu: Our detriment as students leads to the detriment of the Palestinian people. The Palestinian struggle is the student’s struggle. The Palestinian struggle is your struggle. The Palestinian struggle is our struggle.

According to Rama, campus protests will continue this fall as students place further pressure on their universities to publicly call for a ceasefire and divest their endowments from companies that are supporting Israel’s war effort.

Rama: Until we achieve an arms embargo, an end to the unconditional aid to the Zionist entity, a permanent ceasefire and a liberated Palestine. We will remain in revolt, both on our campuses and in the streets.

Following the rally, the demonstrators marched westward to Park #578, just a few blocks north of the site of the convention itself. Officers from the Chicago Police Department lined the pre-approved route, but rarely intervened against protesters. There was a brief skirmish with agitators unaffiliated with the march who sought to redirect the protest through a restricted area. Dozens of police officers converged on the group, and at least six people were detained.