Should Democratic candidates for office in 2026 be held to a litmus test of acknowledging the genocide in Gaza?
Scott Weiner in San Francisco is a notable example.
https://mondoweiss.net/2026/01/the-shift-the-democrats-litmus-test-on-the-gaza-genocide/
@evan Yes, but they'll also need to acknowledge that federal forces are being used illegally to enforce fascism rather than the law, and that congress has a responsibility to use all of its powers to stop that.
@evan yes, it's one of a few litmus tests. Others include equal rights, action on the environment, willingness to fight hard against fascism, action to urgently address wealth inequality, and others. I don't think those are too much to ask.
Edited 33d ago
I have a strange feeling that the fewer people respond to one of my polls, the more important it is that I ask the question.
@evan sure, but once elected they’ll go back to walking the tightrope between shifting public opinion and cowtowing to AIPAC.
@evan There's no excuse for not voting against this administration.
None.
@evan actually worries me that ~26% didn't outright say yes, even if a qualified yes.
@evan if someone doesn't acknowledge the genocide in Gaza, they are a genocide denier, and therefore an enemy
A quote that resonates with me every day is historian Robin DG Kelley, who said "The ground zero of a liberated world is Palestine." I feel like it's the hinge issue between a decolonialized world on the path to reconciliation and justice, and a fascist world of industrial-scale savagery. And it doesn't feel like there's any middle ground.
@evan Yes, but considering a good part of the party is pro-Israel, I'm not sure such a candidate will be able to win.
77% of Democrats polled call it a genocide.
https://poll.qu.edu/Poll-Release?releaseid=3929
"Fifty percent of voters think Israel is committing genocide based on what they know about the situation in Gaza, while 35 percent do not think Israel is committing genocide and 15 percent did not offer an opinion.
Democrats (77 - 11 percent) and independents (51 - 34 percent) think Israel is committing genocide, while Republicans (64 - 20 percent) do not think Israel is committing genocide."
@evan That is true, but it still feels like the party as a whole (at least the politicians, party leaders, chairs, etc...) still feels pretty pro-Israel to me. At least that's the vibe I get from the party these days.
I know a lot of people feel like politicians can fight Trump and still support a genocide. I don't think it's possible, even if it weren't unconscionable.
@evan every time an RDGK quote appears in my timeline, an angel gets its wings. Spot on!
@arod yeah, but I wish he'd chosen a better metaphor than "Ground Zero"!
@evan makes a lot of sense in the context he was writing in, right after 9/11
@evan there's a part of me that wants to reject caring about Gaza until there's some real attention paid to the hell on earth that is Sudan, which is ten times the scale, but the people being tortured and killed are black. So no one cares. I know it's possible to walk and chew gum, care about both. But the white supremacy of it all... The fact the West has debates about Palestine, I promise people wouldn't care so much if they weren't basically white.
@quinn you should tell that part of you to stop being a genocide hipster. You've internalized whataboutist propaganda. Shake it off.
Genocide is a crime against humanity even if the people being killed aren't black enough.
Palestine is colonially occupied land.
Colonialism does not always break down on white-black lines.
Whiteness is a social construct and it is contextual.
People like me and my family are considered disposable because we are Orientalized and othered.
@quinn there are some really good books on Palestine that might be helpful.
The Hundred Year War on Palestine is very good.
The World After Gaza is also good.
My cousin wrote a book about her experience and about our family. It's called Find Me at the Jaffa Gate, Michaela Sahhar.
@evan have you spent some time looking into what's going on in Sudan?
@quinn no, as a Palestinian, I need to keep my focus on the genocide at hand.
@evan it's horrific, and it really goes back to the Janjaweed and the genocides going back to the late 80s. Whole towns have have vanished, replaced be giant piles of bodies. In some places every woman has been raped, even children. The RSF policy is to wipe out the Sudanese with rape, so all of the next generation will be the children of Janjaweed forces. Wiping people off the face of the Earth with total rape. UAE is funding them to get cheap gold from wildcat mining.
No one cares.
@evan I wanted to vote in this poll, but I don't think I have enough knowledge to give a good answer
@evan I am. (Specifically of the U.S.)
I haven't paid much attention to that war other than: Israel got violently attacked by Hamas and Israel has been violently retaliating for a while; and R's focused on the former while D's focus on the latter.
Next election cycle, I might have to go more into depth on this issue when researching candidates.
@evan I wonder if he has zionist inclinations himself, or is worried about alienating some valuable zionist constituents? It’s utter bullshit, genocide is inexcusable.