Driving events

Marginalised but strategic US communities gained notice and ballot-power ahead of the 2004 US presidential and legislative elections which were tighter than ever before. Voters of Arab and Muslim backgrounds were fixated on the outgoing Biden administration’s policy on Israel’s war on Gaza and Lebanon. Voters from the First Nations (mistakenly called “Indians”), who originally inhabited the US, were mainly energised by poverty and the lack of essential services in their reservations but were also driven by events in Palestine.

Arab and Muslim voters focused on foreign affairs due to the ongoing conflict in this region and anger and resentment against President Joe Biden. He undermined Vice President Kamala Harris’ chances of winning the top job by giving unstinting political and military backing for Israel’s deadly and devastating war on Gaza and Lebanon and attacks on neighbouring countries.

In a poll conducted by the largest US Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the Green party’s Jill Stein had a narrow lead with 42 per cent. Harris garnered 41 per cent and Trump secured 10 per cent. CAIR’s August poll had Harris slightly ahead of Stein while support for Trump was 11 per cent.

Stein justified her bid by saying she seeks make elections more responsive to the public. Over the past year the Greens have been the sole party to call for a ceasefire in Gaza and, recently, Lebanon and for an immediate halt to US weapons deliveries to Israel.

Stein gained on Harris even though casting ballots for Stein amounted to a protest vote as she cannot win the presidency. The US retains a restrictive two-party system. Other parties are also runs which have in the past generally taken away votes from Democrats.

Democratic party voters who defected to Stein knew that this could result in victory for Trump whose intentions for this region are far worse than promises given by Harris. Four more years of Trump will compound the damage he did during his first term. Arabs and Muslims who either boycotted the election or cast ballots for Stein were motivated by anger, bitterness, and a desire for revenge rather than good sense.

There are 3.5 million Muslims in the US of whom 2.5 million are registered voters. Of the 3.7 million citizens of Arab background, 40 per cent have roots in Lebanon and 63 per cent of them are Christians. Many Muslims and Arabs live in the key swing states of Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. Since their votes would contribute to the outcome of the tight race against Trump, Harris visited Michigan 16 times during the campaign.

To make matters more difficult for Harris, millions of young voters from all backgrounds joined Arab and Muslim anger and rejection of the Democrats due to Harris inability to distance herself from Biden’s policies. After Democrat Hillary Clinton was defeated by Trump in 2016, the party blamed Stein for the loss of key swing states Michigan and Wisconsin.

Frist Nation – or US Native communities – have concentrated on the domestic front where they are noticed every four years when their votes matter but are ignored the rest of the time. As they inhabit swing states Nevada and Arizona, their votes became precious this year. They have generally supported Democrats and were well aware that as few as 10,000-15,000 of their votes could decide the race in Arizona, in particular. While they have the numbers to swing elections, the politicians they elect do not tackle poverty and the lack of paved roads, electricity and running water on Native reservations. High unemployment has driven most of the young to seek jobs off the thinly populated, vast arid lands which have been turned into Native reservations.

Native US citizens have long seen parallels between what happened to them in the past 500 years and the challenges faced by Palestinians today. Israel’s evacuation orders which have driven Palestinians from their homes, lands, and communities in Gaza have been compared to the “Trial of Tears.” This was the evacuation of 100,000 Cherokee, Creek, Chickasaw, Choctaw and Seminole men, women, and children, from rich cotton lands east of the Mississippi river to designated areas west of the river. Some 15,000 were estimated to have perished during this journey. After arriving at areas allocated to them, these and local tribes were eventually rounded up and consigned to reservations on just two per cent of US land.

This scenario has been revived, revisited and commemorated by Indigenous families who suffered the privations of a long walk under guard of US troops. Native activists have joined Muslim and Arab citizens by taking up Palestine as a foreign policy issue in addition to their domestic agenda.

US Native backing for Palestine began in the 1970s when The Native American Movement and the Palestine Liberation Organisation campaigned together to reclaim their stolen rights and lands. In 2016, Palestinian activists joined Natives sporting Palestinian keffiyehs in protests at Standing Rock in North Dakota against oil pipelines that would destroy Indigenous religious and cultural sites and pollute underground water. Indigenous people joined Palestinian demonstrations during Israel’s 2021 assault on Gaza and have participated in this year’s university campus protests against Israeli’s all-out war on Gaza. However, Indigenous activists have criticised pro-Palestinian “immigrants” to the US from Europe, Asia, South America and this region for failing to recognise the parallels between Native and Palestinian experiences.

In April this year, the Native American and Indigenous Studies Association “condemned in the strongest possible terms the Israeli genocide in Gaza and the ongoing settler colonial elimination targeting Palestinians.” The Association called for an immediate ceasefire, access for humanitarian aid, an end to US military aid to Israel, investigations into atrocities, an end to the Israeli occupation and recognition of the right of return of refugees. “Indigenous peoples best understand what it means to be subjects of settler states that deny, conceal, or attempt to erase their complicity in genocide and colonialism,” the Association stated.