#Ruwa Romman

[padawan-historian]

Her name is Ruwa Romman and her words shake the foundation of this lovecraft country of ours . . .

[thekeypa]

“Saying that the word Nakba is antisemitic is like saying the term Trail of Tears is racist.”

[odinsblog]

HILLARY CLINTON has a long track record of being on the wrong side of almost every major foreign policy decision in American history. Once a jingoistic warhawk, always a jingoistic warhawk, I guess.

Ruwa Romman is right.

And to be super clear: Hillary Clinton is dead wrong about not allowing even a ceasefire, because according to her, halting the genocide and not killing even more Palestinian children would somehow hurt Israel.

The best thing that the Democratic Party could do would be to get rid of all traces and any influence of the Clintons.

[pearwaldorf]

You may remember Ruwa Romman as the representative from Georgia who would have given a speech at the DNC if the Harris campaign had not its head up its ass.

I read this and cried a lot. I so very desperately want this country to be worthy of the faith she and other Palestinians place in it.

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Abdallah Fayyah at Vox:

The Democratic National Convention (DNC) was on track to closing out with little controversy until yesterday, when the Democratic National Committee decided to reject pro-Palestinian delegates’ efforts to get a Palestinian American speaker on the main stage. As a result, “uncommitted” delegates — representing a Democratic primary campaign that encouraged voters to choose “uncommitted” over President Joe Biden to express their discontent over the president’s handling of Israel’s war in Gaza — staged a sit-in outside the convention hall. Now, “uncommitted” delegates and their allies have launched a last-minute pressure campaign to get a speaker on the last night.

One of the potential speakers that Uncommitted National Movement organizers put forward was Ruwa Romman, a Palestinian American and a Democratic member of the Georgia House of Representatives. She told me that she and the “uncommitted” delegates had felt optimistic about getting a speaking slot because up until yesterday, the Democratic National Committee had still been in discussions with the group and hadn’t said no to their request. On the surface, it might seem obvious that the Democrats wouldn’t want a speaker criticizing the Biden administration over its handling of the war. But Romman, who had prepared a speech just in case convention organizers tapped her to come on stage, had no such intention. Instead, she simply wanted to highlight the human story behind Palestinian suffering. Her draft speech urges people to support the Harris-Walz ticket and criticizes former President Donald Trump for using the word Palestinian as a slur.

That’s why the Democrats’ refusal to elevate a Palestinian voice to the main stage, despite giving a speaking slot to family members of an Israeli American hostage, is rubbing many voters the wrong way — especially those who hoped that Harris would have a more sympathetic approach to Gaza compared to Biden. The group Muslim Women for Harris-Walz, for example, promptly disbanded after news broke that there would be no Palestinian speaker at the convention. And for Romman, the fact that the party welcomed Republicans on the stage and not her felt like a slight, not just to her but to Palestinians more broadly. “When I saw [Republican former] lieutenant governor Geoff Duncan on that stage, knowing that the party rejected me — a member of the party and a Democratic elected official — frankly, it was just too much,” she said.

This episode is yet another roadblock to softening the opposition Harris is facing from Arab and Muslim American voters, as well as others who view the Gaza war as a major concern. After Biden dropped out, Harris has had an opportunity to distance herself from the “genocide Joe” rallying cry that became common in pro-Palestinian protests. And by requesting a speaking slot, the uncommitted movement had offered her an olive branch — a small gesture to show that she’s listening. But by rejecting that offer, the Harris campaign is risking fracturing an already fragile coalition.

[...] It also seems like giving a Palestinian American a speaking slot would not necessarily be as risky as the party appears to think, especially among the Democratic base. Some members of Congress and other Democratic officials have been pushing the party to host a Palestinian speaker at the convention, and groups like the United Auto Workers union endorsed the idea as well. And Israel’s actions in Gaza have been deeply unpopular among Democrats, with polls showing that a majority of Americans disapprove of Israel’s handling of its war. [...] The problem for the Democratic Party is that while it pitches itself to be a big tent, it’s now falling short of actually walking the walk. It’s safe to assume that not every speaker up on that stage in Chicago represents Harris’s views or policy objectives, and even official party platforms don’t represent everything that a president will push for while they’re in the White House. So even if a Palestinian speaker were to say something that the Harris campaign disagrees with, that’s not the end of the world — after all, that’s what a big tent looks like.

Not giving a speaker spot to a Palestinian like Ruwa Romman will be the biggest blemish of the 2024 DNC, along with not including a trans speaker.

See Also:

The Guardian: Democratic convention fails to meet uncommitted delegate deadline for Palestinian speaker

[eretzyisrael]

by Corey Walker

Arguing that anti-Zionist activists are part of a long tradition of “freedom fighters” and “liberators,” Hill implored the US federal government to revoke all economic and diplomatic assistance to Israel, including support at the United Nations Security Council. He also argued that defeating Zionism is a necessary stepping stone on the path to ultimately dismantling capitalism.

“Stop it! Tell the truth! Stand up for freedom!” he said. “Do the work of liberation! Until Palestine is free, until Sudan is free, until Congo is free, until Haiti is free, not one single one of us free! Free Palestine, from the river to the Motherf—king sea!” Hill said, triumphantly pumping a balled fist in the air. 

“From the River to the Sea, Palestine shall be free” — a popular slogan among anti-Israel activists — has been widely interpreted as a call for the destruction of the Jewish state, which is located between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea.

The Algemeiner asked the panelists why there was no mention of Oct. 7 or Hamas when discussing the causes of the ongoing war in Gaza. The outlet also asked whether the panelists believe Hamas should surrender in exchange for the sake of preserving Palestinian life.

“I feel like we have this reflexive take in American media politics where we have to say, ‘What about Hamas?'” Hill said in response in a mocking tone, adding that invoking the terrorist group is “unnecessary” and “excessive.”

“Hamas hasn’t surrendered because they’re still under brutal occupation. Hamas hasn’t surrendered because Israel has never given the Palestinian people one minute, one moment of self-determination, freedom, or liberation,” Hill said. 

“And so, when you talk about Hamas, when you talk about Oct. 7, you [should] also talk about Oct. 6. Because, history didn’t start on Oct. 7,” he continued.

Hill went on to say that although it is against his “moral code” to maim, rape, and slaughter thousands innocent civilians or abduct hundreds of innocent bystanders, as Hamas-led Palestinian terrorists did on Oct. 7, he believes that it is not his “job to tell people how to liberate themselves.”

“The question presumes, and it is undergirded by a kind of orientalist, white supremacist idea that Palestinians are these unyielding, barbaric, uncivilized, premodern people that are incapable of negotiation.”

The academic then defended Hamas as a “democratically-elected organization that has been systematically undermined.” He urged the audience not to talk about Hamas “like they’re some irrational crazy people,” arguing that the Islamist group’s actions are motivated by a “backdrop of Israeli settler-states that sexually abuse people, that steal land, that kill people.”

“Let’s have a real conversation about Hamas, not the neoliberal, dishonest, orientalist conversation about Hamas,” Hill concluded. 

Hill has a long history of peddling anti-Israel narratives and calling for explicit violence against the Jewish state. In 2018, Hill was fired from his position as a CNN contributor for calling for “free Palestine from the river to the sea,” a phrase which according to critics implies a genocide or mass expulsion of Jews from Israel. He has also voiced support for the boycott, divestment, and sanctions movement (BDS), an initiative which seeks to isolate Israel from the international community as the first step toward its eventual destruction. The pundit additionally praised antisemitic Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan — a hate preacher who has referred to Jews as “termites” and called Nazi leader Adolph Hitler “a very great man.” In 2019, Hill skewered mainstream media outlets as “Zionist” organizations, a nod to the antisemitic conspiracy theory notion that Jews control the media. The progressive activist also pushed an unsubstantiated claim that Israel is “poisoning” Palestinian drinking water.

Following the panel, The Algemeiner was pulled aside by a pair of individuals connected to the event and grilled about the publication’s position on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and whether it supported “black solidarity with the Palestinian community.”

[mental-mona]

Democracy is a verb that you're constantly doing.

- Ruwa Romman

[booasaur]

And it's also not even just people souring on Trump, this is the makeup of the Black population in the US:

And Latino/Hispanic:

The people are already there, but those states have disenfranchised their marginalized communities.

And that's why I was excited to see the Harris campaign deploying volunteers in Florida, where abortion is on the ballot this fall, and there are local seats we want to pick up.

It's these local elections that let in Republicans who then disenfranchise voters who then end up keeping the state red. So if you can, don't just donate to or boost Harris, but also the down ballot races. And in turn, those can help up ballot races, by doing the local door to door campaigning.

For example, in 2020, Georgia was a great get. But that wasn't on accident. People, including Stacey Abrams, worked hard for it!

If you want to donate to her directly:

If you're an American who's felt panicky about November and can't donate much, there are lots of ways to help in all kinds of races. One of those ways might absolutely be to knock doors or phonebank to get people out to vote in states or races they wouldn't have normally bothered with, like in Florida.

I've been hearing anecdotal reports from people that Republicans they know are planning to vote for Harris because Trump has gone completely off the deep end.

I'm also seeing YouTube comments from people saying they're Republican and plan to vote for Harris. (Though admittedly, a lot of YouTube comments have to be taken with a grain of salt.)

But - also - a bunch of conservatives turned out for Harris in Florida:

Democratic National Committee (DNC) chair Jaime Harrison said on MSNBC's The Weekend on Sunday, "The Villages is a ruby red—there were 500 golf cart seniors riding around, and probably voted for Donald Trump, previously, supporting Kamala Harris.

So if you're in a red state, don't assume for one minute that your vote won't mean anything. Trump's gone too far for many conservatives, and many of them will be voting blue this election.

[gwydionmisha]

Why Progressives Are Bad At Organizing (with Rep. Ruwa Romman!)

[hatikarat]

i get that ppl are angry and sad and feeling despair so you tend to want to blame someone for it but when you're like 'you told the democratic party that you're taking your vote away from its candidate and so it's your fault that the party ignored you', look at this white guy whose job was to speak on the humanitarian crises around the world and advise the US government on how to mitigate those problems talk about being silenced on palestine in particular. I would say that palestinian americans and arab americans were desperate to get harris's ear because there is a systematic attempt at silencing voices sympathetic to palestinians so they adopted certain strategies to have their voices heard but they were ignored time and again because it is simply the policy of the biden admin and consequently harris as vp to not show even a smidge of empathy towards palestinians lest they will be viewed as turning their backs on their best bud israel.

[thekeypa]

“My speech urged us to unite behind Harris, criticized Trump, and spoke about the promise of this moment. The only reason we’re doing this is to save the soul of our party and prevent bad actors from using our pain in an ongoing voter suppression campaign.”

[meetsthebones]

this speech is outlining some really horrifying policies and no one at the dnc gives a fuck theyre too busy chanting usa im so disturbed right now

its so fun libbing out until they start talking about foreign policy 🤦 glad she specified she supports palestinian right to self-determination but at the end of the day like fuuuuck these guys

[papasmoke]

My name is Ruwa Romman, and 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. My story begins in a small village near Jerusalem, called Suba, where my dad’s family is from. My mom’s roots trace back to Al Khalil, or Hebron. My parents, born in Jordan, brought us to Georgia when I was eight, where I now live with my wonderful husband and our sweet pets.

Growing up, my grandfather and I shared a special bond. He was my partner in mischief—whether it was sneaking me sweets from the bodega or slipping a $20 into my pocket with that familiar wink and smile. He was my rock, but he passed away a few years ago, never seeing Suba or any part of Palestine again. Not a day goes by that I don’t miss him.

This past year has been especially hard. As we’ve been moral witnesses to the massacres in Gaza, I’ve thought of him, wondering if this was the pain he knew too well. When we watched Palestinians displaced from one end of the Gaza Strip to the other I wanted to ask him how he found the strength to walk all those miles decades ago and leave everything behind.��

But in this pain, I’ve also witnessed something profound—a beautiful, multifaith, multiracial, and multigenerational coalition rising from despair within our Democratic Party. For 320 days, we’ve stood together, demanding to enforce our laws on friend and foe alike to reach a ceasefire, end the killing of Palestinians, free all the Israeli and Palestinian hostages, and to begin the difficult work of building a path to collective peace and safety. That’s why we are here—members of this Democratic Party committed to equal rights and dignity for all. What we do here echoes around the world.

They’ll say this is how it’s always been, that nothing can change. But remember Fannie Lou Hamer—shunned for her courage, yet she paved the way for an integrated Democratic Party. Her legacy lives on, and it’s her example we follow.

But we can’t do it alone. This historic moment is full of promise, but only if we stand together. Our party’s greatest strength has always been our ability to unite. Some see that as a weakness, but it’s time we flex that strength. 

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. 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. To those who doubt us, to the cynics and the naysayers, I say, yes we can—yes we can be a Democratic Party that prioritizes funding our schools and hospitals, not for endless wars. That fights for an America that belongs to all of us—Black, brown, and white, Jews and Palestinians, all of us, like my grandfather taught me, together.

I want to be clear,” Romman said. “We’ve been in negotiations for days. This did not just come up…We’ve been talking about this for at least a week. In addition, the campaign told us that not getting a ‘no’ [initially upon first hearing the request] was a really good sign. For them to give us a ‘no’ the same day that Geoff Duncan [a Republican from Georgia] was on the stage—especially when it was my name—was just absolutely a slap in the face.”

[takami-takami]

The Uncommitted Movement and Uncommitted Delegates have been petitioning to have just one Palestinian-American speak at the DNC for months; among a sea of speakers, including a random border patrol agent, Trump voters, and the CEO of Uber.

They were told three words and no other explanation: "It's a no."

The delegates and Palestine protesters have been working tirelessly to get the DNC to rescind this decision on the last day of the convention and apply pressure. There is only one ethnic background that is not allowed to speak at the DNC, and that is Palestinians.

Georgia State Representative Ruwa Romman is at the top of the list of Palestinian democrats that were offered— of which the Uncommitted Movement and delegates generously offered the DNC to take their pick.

In case they don't let her speak, this is her speech.

"My name is Ruwa Romman, and 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. My story begins in a small village near Jerusalem, called Suba, where my dad’s family is from. My mom’s roots trace back to Al Khalil, or Hebron. My parents, born in Jordan, brought us to Georgia when I was eight, where I now live with my wonderful husband and our sweet pets.

Growing up, my grandfather and I shared a special bond. He was my partner in mischief—whether it was sneaking me sweets from the bodega or slipping a $20 into my pocket with that familiar wink and smile. He was my rock, but he passed away a few years ago, never seeing Suba or any part of Palestine again. Not a day goes by that I don’t miss him.

This past year has been especially hard. As we’ve been moral witnesses to the massacres in Gaza, I’ve thought of him, wondering if this was the pain he knew too well. When we watched Palestinians displaced from one end of the Gaza Strip to the other I wanted to ask him how he found the strength to walk all those miles decades ago and leave everything behind. 

But in this pain, I’ve also witnessed something profound—a beautiful, multifaith, multiracial, and multigenerational coalition rising from despair within our Democratic Party. For 320 days, we’ve stood together, demanding to enforce our laws on friend and foe alike to reach a ceasefire, end the killing of Palestinians, free all the Israeli and Palestinian hostages, and to begin the difficult work of building a path to collective peace and safety. That’s why we are here—members of this Democratic Party committed to equal rights and dignity for all. What we do here echoes around the world.

They’ll say this is how it’s always been, that nothing can change. But remember Fannie Lou Hamer—shunned for her courage, yet she paved the way for an integrated Democratic Party. Her legacy lives on, and it’s her example we follow.

But we can’t do it alone. This historic moment is full of promise, but only if we stand together. Our party’s greatest strength has always been our ability to unite. Some see that as a weakness, but it’s time we flex that strength. 

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. 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. To those who doubt us, to the cynics and the naysayers, I say, yes we can—yes we can be a Democratic Party that prioritizes funding our schools and hospitals, not for endless wars. That fights for an America that belongs to all of us—Black, brown, and white, Jews and Palestinians, all of us, like my grandfather taught me, together."

[titleknown]

Blogging this because, I sighted on my dash a reblog of this absolutely head-up-ass post saying "Maybe if the uncommitted Movement weren't so mean and anti-electoral we would listen to them >:( "

But, if you actually fucking read what they want to say and their willingness to make concessions, it's pretty fucking reasonable. doubly so when you remember a lot of them have family members that're being murdered in this fucking genocide.

And like, I think that's the general problem I have with how people've handled the Uncommitted movement. They've they've used the "proper channels" and exerted what levers conventional politics gives them, by all accounts they have engaged with electoral politics right, and for some Very Respectable People it's still not enough.

Like, at that point, you shouldn't blame leftists for driving people to anti-electoralism, you should look in the fucking mirror.

And, as an aside, if you're one of those people who were previously talking about "Russian chaos agents" but now are making mealy-mouthed excuses and justifications for the DNC silencing them because "Oh, they can't acknowlege them because they have AIPAC's hand straight up their ass," I see you you rank fucking hyppocrites.