Reckoning With the Left’s Many Failures

Adapted from remarks delivered at the 2024 New York City Democratic Socialists of America convention.

In assessing the current political moment, one basic fact is very clear: we on the Left have failed.

We have failed to achieve freedom, dignity, or equal rights for the Palestinian people. We have failed to secure Palestinian statehood or self-determination. We have failed to stop the United States from supplying weapons for offensives in Rafah or Southern Lebanon. We have failed to establish an arms embargo, achieve a cease-fire, or halt settlement expansion.

We failed to reelect Jamaal Bowman and Cori Bush or secure even three minutes of speaking time for a Palestinian American at the Democratic National Convention (DNC). And we have failed to shift the overall direction of Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, or Democratic Party leadership.

This past year has brought some of the toughest setbacks our movement has faced in the growth of the Left since Bernie’s 2016 campaign — setbacks that are not just political, but also weigh on us spiritually and ethically.

My own family is divided over this election. My father and many older men I know may vote for Donald Trump in large part because of Gaza. My mother is likely to vote for the Green Party’s Jill Stein. We are witnessing a historic realignment among Arab and Muslim communities, with some moving toward Trumpism, others toward third parties. How could Trump be worse than this, they say?

The normalization of Trumpism that the Democratic Party leadership’s alignment with Benjamin Netanyahu breaks my heart. It’s a desperate response to a system that has continually failed us — a response that benefits figures like Elon Musk and right-wing megafunder…