AOC’s DNC Speech Was a Betrayal of the Gaza Movement

Twenty sixteen was the start of a monumental political shift on the American left. Bernie Sanders’ promise of political revolution electrified a disaffected generation of voters yearning for a complete overhaul of the status quo. The ensuing movement went on to elect a handful of members of Congress as well as hundreds of similarly inspired democratic socialists across state and local governments. None were able to capture the movement’s frustration with the Democratic Party and the political establishment, or the hope of creating something new, more than Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

Her victory in 2018 had a profound effect on the democratic socialist movement. Groups like the Democratic Socialists of America swelled in size, with thousands of new organizers hoping to replicate the success of her victory in New York. The game plan seemed clear: While the left pushed for change in the streets, Ocasio-Cortez and her allies would bring the priorities of the movement to the halls of power. She proved how effective this strategy could be with her famed sit-in in Nancy Pelosi’s office with the Sunrise Movement. Ocasio-Cortez also used her newfound clout to help expand the Squad and back progressive challengers to the party status quo—including Sanders.

Ocasio-Cortez is a once-in-a-generation political talent. She has an innate ability to communicate with a broad audience about the struggles working-class people face, and to link those struggles to a movement for institutional change within the Democratic Party. Now, though, it’s hard to escape the sense that her partnership with the movement that carried her into office is fading.

This shift was on full display on Monday night, when Ocasio-Cortez gave a rousing speech in support of Kamala Harris at the Democratic National Convention. The crowd, many of whom might have viewed her as a mortal enemy just a few years ago, cheered wildly for her. And the speech was tailored to please as broad an audience as possible.

References to Medicare for All, Green New Deal, and taxing the rich were virtually absent. The brightest burst of populism came when she tore into Donald Trump as a “two-bit billionaire union buster.” Though the speech was powerfully delivered and contained encouraging vestiges of radicalism, the contrast with the Ocasio-Cortez of earlier years was palpable.

But the biggest, most dismaying indication of the widening gap between Ocasio-Cortez and the democratic socialist movement might have been the way she chose to handle the issue of Gaza in her speech.

Her only reference to Gaza was a line in which she credited Harris with “working tirelessly to secure a ceasefire in Gaza and bring the hostages home.” The moment was quickly clipped and posted to TikTok by the Harris campaign—a clear attempt to use one of the most popular young, left-wing politicians in the country to win over younger, left-leaning voters concerned about Gaza. “💙 @Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez,” the campaign account commented.

But Ocasio-Cortez’s statement was simply not true. There have been no indications that Harris is playing a central role in any ceasefire negotiations. And there is mounting evidence that those negotiations are more fantasy than reality.

Moreover, while Harris may have called for a ceasefire, the actions of the Biden-Harris administration have consistently enabled genocide. Just last week, as famine in Gaza continued and the reported Palestinian death toll rose to over 40,000, the Biden-Harris administration approved an additional $20 billion in military aid for Israel. The administration has placed practically no limits on acceptable behavior for the Israeli regime and has used stronger language to condemn campus protesters than the blood-soaked Netanyahu government. Harris has not distanced herself from any of these decisions.

Given that reality, any Democratic politician who claims this administration is meaningfully working to end this conflict is either misinformed or lying.

It would have been galling to see anyone engage in this fiction. But to see Ocasio-Cortez—a movement politician and a self-described democratic socialist—do so was a genuine blow. Worse: It was an outright betrayal.

Reasonable people can disagree about the value of Ocasio-Cortez’s decision to work a more inside track within the Democratic Party. There are undoubtedly benefits to having someone like her moving up the ranks, and she could very well help elevate a whole host of progressive causes.

But Gaza is not just any cause. It is a red-line, defining issue of our time, and Ocasio-Cortez has found herself on the wrong side of it.