Where is the “Unemployed” movement going now?

But the non-committal movement itself, based in Dearborn, Mich., is figuring out where to go from here, now that delegates have cast their protest votes and Harris has officially become the nominee without changing her policy stance on Israel.

Although Layla Elabed, founder of Uncommitted National, previously told Business Insider that Vice President Kamala Harris is “a little more sympathetic and empathetic to the plight of the Palestinians” compared to President Joe Biden, her policies largely mirror those of the president. Both are calling for a ceasefire and have called for an arms embargo.

At the convention, the unemployed delegates represented nearly 700,000 people who voted “abstain” during the Democratic primaries to protest the Biden administration’s handling of the Gaza war. They held sit-ins, panels, and unsuccessfully pushed for a Palestinian-American speaker.

“I thought it was a moment that was lost in the party, a missed opportunity,” Dearborn Mayor Abdullah Hammoud said of the decision not to allow a Palestinian American to speak. A Democrat, he was in close touch with the leaders of the non-committal movement as well as other organizing groups.

Recently, fissures have emerged among activists, with some claiming Uncommitted National leaders are too lenient with Harris. One former supporter told Notus that the organizers were “missing the mark” and “playing around”. For its part, Uncommitted National has always sought to work from within the Democratic Party.

“We’ve been clear from the beginning that this is a move by Democrats who want to unite the party in the best way possible to defeat Trump,” Waleed Shahid, senior adviser to Uncommitted National, told Business Insider. “We’ve been very clear that Donald Trump and third parties are not the way to go. It’s been true since we launched.”

One of the movement’s co-founders, Abbas Alawieh, recently told the Washington Post that he will vote for Harris in November. Despite Uncommitted National’s clear message about working with the party, both Shahid and Hammoud acknowledge that there is disagreement between organizing groups — the Abandon Harris Campaign, for example, claiming to operate outside the Democratic party.

“These are obviously Democratic delegates using the tools available to them as Democratic delegates to advocate for change. So it’s definitely a cross-party play to move the needle,” Hammoud said before drawing an analogy to the Civil Rights Movement. “What you need is a multitude of fronts – you need those who believe in the Martin method, where you work within the system to try to advocate for change, as well as the Malcolm method, those who try to disrupt the system and protest. the system”.

Shahid told Business Insider that Uncommitted National will meet in the coming weeks to discuss next steps, but said leaders have requested a meeting with Harris to discuss the use of US weapons in Gaza. They hope to meet with the vice president before September 15.

Meanwhile, Shahid said the move is “focused on realigning the Democratic Party by organizing political pressure to reduce AIPAC’s influence in the party.” He pointed out that organizers have built relationships throughout the Democratic Party, which they plan to mobilize to change policy.

As Uncommitted National lays out its next steps, Hammoud said leaders from all organizations tend to agree on the importance of voting, just not on the candidates themselves.

“All the organizers are advocating for people to vote,” he said. “Ultimately you still want to document your vote, record your vote to record your vote, even if it’s a protest vote.”