I Will Not Be Voting for Kamala Harris

Trump is a Disaster President, but Harris a Genocidal Executive

Yesterday, by way of an Instagram post, I shared my position on the 2024 US Presidential Election.

Through three key points, I stated that: (1) I will not vote for Kamala Harris; (2) I will actively encourage voters, particularly in swing states like my home-state Michigan, to mobilize against Harris; and (3) that I will cast a vote for Jill Stein, not as an endorsement, but as a first step toward building a viable third party option for a non-genocidal future.

Below, I articulate these three points more closely.

#1 - Harris was Vice President throughout the duration of the genocide and now the siege in Lebanon. When given opportunity to distance herself from Joe Biden, she has done anything but. In fact, she has doubled down, prefacing virtually any and every question about Gaza or the region with "Israel has a right to defend itself" or leading with October 7th.  Concern for the genocide in Gaza has been frivolous, banal, and riddled with doublespeak aimed to vainly placate concerned voters.  

In short, I pray that Harris not only loses this coming election, but is one day prosecuted at The Hague for enabling Genocide, Ethnic Cleansing, and War Crimes.  Endorsing Harris, let alone voting for her, is either: 1) tactic endorsement for Biden/Harris policy in Gaza and Lebanon; 2) an admission that these matters are secondary to you as election issues; or 3) surrender to a "lesser of two evils" that capitulates to the binary status quo that gridlocks American electoral politics.  

Even the third, especially during a time of genocide, is just as unethical as it is politically flacid. 

#2 - A Vote for Harris perpetuates genocidal policy in Gaza, Lebanon, and the broader Arab World. If the last 12 months have conveyed anything, it is that this neoliberal iteration of the Democratic Party is a collaborator in Netanyahu's vision of Greater Israel.  Not complicit, but collaborative. Biden and Harris have, at every step, funded, facilitated, and fueled the Genocide in Gaza and now the Seige in Lebanon.  These are only the first phases of a broader campaign that Harris/Biden are proven conspirators to, which will expand and spiral more violently if she is elected.

We must Punish Harris for Genocide, and encourage voters - especially in swing states - to Not Vote Harris. Especially in states including Michigan, Wisconsin, Georgia, Arizona and Pennsylvania, home to sizable Arab and Muslim voters.  Gaza and Lebanon can determine this election, and demonstrate to the Democratic and Republican Parties that Genocide is Not Negotiable. 

Trump may be a "disaster president," but Harris will graduate from Genocidal Second Executive to Genocidal President in waiting if elected. While there are myriad domestic policy concerns and interests that are favorable with a Harris presidency, the mass killing of as many as 180,000 Palestinians and 3,000 Lebanese in 5 days creates an Urgency that real lives - Palestinian, Lebanese, Arab and Muslim Lives - cannot afford to sacrifice ourselves for the betterment of domestic policy.  

However, I encourage everybody to go out and vote.  I am against a protest vote, particularly given critical races and questions Down the Ballot.  

#3 - I will vote for Jill Stein in the spirit and strategy of gradually building a viable Third Party Option. This Genocide should serve as an alarm to invest in, expand, and build a bona fide third party option.  2024 will not deliver Stein to the White House, but Gaza, Lebanon, and the future of averting more genocide of Palestinian, Lebanese, Arab and Muslim peoples at a time when our Lives Matter None to the Democratic or Republican Parties demands us, right now, to work toward cultivating that option for the future.  

A future that, for 185,000 Palestinians and Lebanese civilians, will not see because of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.  I will not be voting for Kamala Harris.

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Khaled A. Beydoun is an author and law professor, who shares his insights daily on social media @khaledbeydoun