West, an American intellectual who self-identifies as a democratic socialist, was appointed to the Democratic platform committee by Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont.
PHILADELPHIA — Efforts to further the Palestinian cause were objectively defeated by surrogates of Hillary Clinton in Democratic Party Platform negotiations, Cornel West, a platform committee member, told The Jerusalem Post on Monday.
West appeared at a rally at City Hall here in Philadelphia, on the periphery of the Democratic National Convention, where protesters are rallying against Clinton, the party’s presumptive presidential nominee.
“I don’t feel like we lost– we did lose,” West said, on the sidelines of the rally. “We got defeated. But we’ll bounce back, though.”
West, an American intellectual who self-identifies as a democratic socialist, was appointed to the platform committee by Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont. He has declared support in the general election for Jill Stein of the Green Party.
While West was lobbying for the platform to recognize Israel’s “occupation” and “settlement activity” in historic Palestinian lands, neither term was adopted by the committee. The party did, however, add new language on the need for the establishment of a sovereign new state allowing Palestinians to live in “dignity.”
“The Palestinians will be free, brother,” West added. “Ain’t no doubt about that.”
As reported by The Jerusalem Post