The point is: the die hard left has one enduring rapturous dream, and that is to recapture the full frisson of the 1960s anti-war protest “Movement” and collateral efforts like the repeated urban riots across several years. There have been several attempts at a sequel over the years, such as on behalf of Communist Nicaragua under Reagan, or the “Code Pinkers” during the Gulf War under President George W. Bush, but that was a tougher sell as the second Gulf War occurred after the 9/11 attack on America, and as such it was hard to get much mass enthusiasm for our enemies beyond certifiable loons like Ward Churchill. Occupy Wall Street gave it a go, but that too was pathetic and unsustainable. The closest the left has come to matching the scale and destructiveness of the 1960s protest left was the BLM riots after George Floyd’s death, but that did not sustain itself as long as the 60s protest movement. But the Israel-Gaza War might provide the fuel for a sustained leftist outburst over the coming year, especially if Israel occupies Gaza after the fighting ends, or if the war spreads to Hezbollah in the north.
To repeat for the umpteenth time the apocryphal Mark Twain remark that “history doesn’t repeat itself, but it rhymes,” there are some pretty clear parallels between the 1960s Vietnam War protest and the anti-Israel protests today. First, it divides the Democratic Party. Remember the popular chant—”Hey hey LBJ—How many kids did you kill today?” The rough equivalent is the moniker the pro-Hamas left has devised for President Biden: They are calling him “Genocide Joe.” And guess where Democrats are having their convention next year? That’s right: Chicago. There’s certain to be a platform fight about Israel, which the party establishment will ruthlessly squash. That could well fuel a street riot.
[One can only hope. That is only going to happen if Joe Biden can’t answer the bell for the 2024 nomination for some reason. If Biden’s still the nominee next summer, Democrats will keep the convention buttoned up tightly — and by that time, the war in Gaza will likely be long over. Hayward’s right about the rest, though; this is nothing more than a pretext for the Marxists to foment revolution … again. — Ed]
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