On Aug. 21 protesters with the Coalition for Justice in Palestine, took part in the second major March on the DNC. (Photo: Grace Del Vecchio/City Bureau)
Editor’s Note
Welcome to Newswire — your weekly guide to Chicago government, civic action and what action we can take to make our city great, featuring public meeting coverage by City Bureau’s Documenters.
Quote of the Week
“The blood of every single martyr in Gaza is on the hands of our politicians.”
— Rama, an organizer with National Students For Justice in Palestine, during a speech at the March on the DNC.
The week of the Democratic National Convention saw many disruptions. From marches on the DNC, which boasted over 15,000 participants, to bird-dogging politicians on the way into events, rallying outside (and inside) fundraisers and disrupting Nancy Pelosi’s “The Late Show” appearance — pro-Palestine protesters made their mark.
As the DNC finally arrived in Chicago, it was preceded by an onslaught of attacks in Gaza that experts say amount to genocide. The 10 months of violence has resulted in at least 40,000 deaths, and one estimate puts the figure at over 180,000.
Activists said they intended to make the weeklong convention “great like ’68,” alluding to the anti-war demonstrations that took place during the 1968 DNC.
At the start of the year, we posed the question: When it comes to responding to public dissent in Chicago, what will Mayor Brandon Johnson’s legacy be?
Last week, Johnson praised the Chicago Police Department’s response to unrest during the DNC, saying, “the City of Chicago has just displayed some of the best policing in America,” at a press conference the morning after the last DNC hoorah. “If the 1968 convention went down in history as the example of police brutality, then the 2024 convention will go down as the example of constitutional policing,” he added.
But when 1968 is the Chicago DNC standard — which has been held as a historic example of police brutality and political repression in response to dissent — the only way to go is up.
Outside the security perimeters of the convention sites, the police presence was immense — at smaller demonstrations, officers often outnumbered protesters four to one, City Bureau observed. The National Lawyers Guild, which provides pro bono legal support for people arrested while protesting at the DNC, reported 76 arrests, which included three reporters, citing numerous acts of police brutality resulting in injuries and hospitalizations.
Protesters alleged police used tactics of intimidation, also saying officers would give orders of dispersal without clear or safe ways to do so.
Inside the DNC perimeter, uncommitted delegates held a nearly 24-hour sit-in outside the United Center, demanding a Palestinian-American be allowed time to speak at the DNC — a request originally made months in advance. Meanwhile, the parents of an American hostage held by Hamas were given time on stage.
Ahead of the DNC, it was impossible not to spot the similarities between the conditions surrounding the conventions of 1968 and 2024 — anti-war protests, a change to the Democratic ticket late in the election game, and an increasingly divisive political landscape.
And while dissent at the DNC and the police response to it didn’t descend into chaos compared to 1968, it was another significant chapter in Chicago chronicles of dissent.
A version of this story was first published in the August 29, 2024 issue of the Newswire, an email newsletter that is your weekly guide to Chicago government, civic action and what we can do to make our city great. You can sign up for the weekly newsletter here.
Have thoughts on what you'd like to see in this feature? Email Editorial Director Ariel Cheung at ariel@citybureau.org.