Today House Democrats voted on who would become Foreign Affairs Committee chair, now that Rep. Eliot Engel has been ousted from congress. They picked New York’s Gregory Meeks over Texas’ Joaquin Castro in a 148-78 vote.
On Thursday, Democrats elected Rep. Gregory Meeks to chair the House Foreign Relations Committee beating Texas’ Joaquin Castro by a vote of 148-78. Castro’s candidacy was seen as a long shot but earned progressive support as a result of calling for troops to be withdrawn from Afghanistan, ending U.S. involvement in the war on Yemen, conditioning military aid to Israel, and saying he would bring Palestinian voices to the table if elected.
Ending US military funding must be a crucial pillar among the broad array of progressive movements demanding change. The intersecting struggles against climate change and militarism is an important point of collaboration for the Palestine movement in the push against a Biden administration.
Talking to Josh Ruebner About Trump and Biden Josh Ruebner is the Senior Principal at…
Michael Arria talks with Palestinian-American Democratic Party activist Zeina Ashrawi Hutchison about the 2020 election, the state of the Palestinian struggle within the Democratic Party, and what to expect in the coming years.
Next week, House Democrats will elect leaders for vacant committee chairmanships, including the House Foreign Affairs Committee. Rep. Joaquin Castro is in the running and has spoken out on one of the most urgent foreign policy issues before us: Palestinian rights and ending U.S. support for Israel’s human rights abuses.
Michael Arria is on vacation this week, and Phil Weiss is filling in on trendspotting.…
Columbia undergraduates voted by 61 to 27 percent to divest from companies profiting from Israeli apartheid, and school president Lee Bollinger dismissed the vote as no guide for investment. Bollinger’s statement reminds Rashid Khalidi of what Trump said during the first debate, when he refused to say that he would respect the result of a democratic vote on November 3, thereby confirming his contempt for the democratic process.
Emgage USA says that it “seeks to empower Muslim Americans through political literacy and civic engagement.” But former Emgage employee Olivia Cantu says that, “instead of being a vehicle for empowerment and change, it has become a tool to undermine and suffocate American Muslim political power.”
A group of Muslim leaders and organizers say the organization Emgage USA has repeatedly disregarded the legitimate interests of Muslim communities in the United States to the detriment of the constituencies they claim to represent.