Orlando DSA expresses its profound frustration and concern regarding the treatment of Nadia Ahmad, a DNC delegate and fellow Orlandoan, at the Democratic National Convention last week.

The Islamophobic attack on Ahmad carried out by five members of the Laborers’ International Union of North America (LiUNA) – an attack perpetrated on the convention floor against a peaceful protest of Israel’s ongoing genocide of Palestinians in Gaza – was nothing short of a bigoted display of power, and a flagrant disregard of Ahmad’s rights to freedom of speech and peaceful assembly.

For the Florida Democratic Party to then withhold Ahmad’s credentials, as well as the credentials of other Muslim attendees and delegates, is a cruel display of institutionalized anti-Muslim bigotry and demonstrates a lack of moral character, empathy, and human decency.

We stand with Nadia Ahmad in her call for the Democratic National Committee to formally condemn the attack, implement disciplinary measures on those involved, establish procedures to protect Muslim delegates at future events, and investigate the discriminatory practices of the Florida Democratic Party. We also call on LiUNA to issue an official statement condemning the actions of the perpetrators – including the president of LiUNA Brent Booker, secretary Michael Sabitoni, Vice President Michael Hellstrom, LiUNA local 261 president Oscar De La Torre, and regional organizing director Scott Gustafson – and remove them from the organization immediately.

We cannot stand by as this brutal violence, in defense of an ongoing genocide, is allowed to go on unchecked in a public forum of supposedly progressive individuals. Orlando DSA is committed to fighting Islamophobia, as well as anti-Arab and anti-Palestinian racism, by any means necessary. We echo the Boycott, Divest, and Sanction (BDS) Movement’s demand for the prosecution of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris for their crimes in Gaza, and we encourage the community of Orlando to understand the inherently right-wing and anti-worker nature of the Democratic Party, nationally and in the state of Florida; to demand comprehensive, lasting policies that actively work to combat discrimination and bigotry; and to stand with Nadia Ahmad in her advocacy against Israel and in support of Palestine and the Palestinian people.

Signed,
Orlando DSA
Palestine Solidarity Committee
August 28th, 2024