Anti-voting campaigns - waste of time?

Just been thinking about this, do people feel that their is any point to anarchists running anti-voting campaigns, or is it just a waste of time, resources, and propaganda space.

I can't really see that it's an aspect of our politics that we should really be pushing, I think it's more of a personal choice than a political position.

I don't think setting out purely to try and stop people from voting is even slightly productive.

:)

Quote:

the obvious argument that needs to be made at election times is that politicians stop caring about working class problems as soon as they get elected.

With a big "don't vote" campaign, you're reinforcing the 4-5 year cycle - if this is the only time people see anarchist propaganda (which if it's a poster/leaflet campaign around polling booths or whatever might well be), it'll simply be an amusing diversion from the rest of the political circus, but still very much a part of it. Unless that translates into sustained political activity the rest of the time, then what's the difference between a tory turning up every 5 years saying 'vote for me', and some anarchist saying 'no, don't, he's a bastard' if they both disappear once the elections gone?

Are all political parties as bad as each other from a working class perspective?

But in the first world, there's just no excuse.

Can't remember if I've commented on this thread already. But yeah I think they're a waste of time, though elections do get everyone talking about politics, so they're a good opportunity for "outreach". I think it would be a good opportunity to do something like push the everyday manifesto ( www.everyday.org.uk ) if it was more complete, and do things like put up posters in windows instead of saying vote for someone saying "organise" or get involved in some local campaign or whatever. Stressing that real political change comes about through us working together, not electing politicians...

The Green Party:

In the south of Ireland there is a general election

on May 17th. Anarchists are mounting a major

anti election campaign which includes thousands

of leaflets, the text of one is below

PDF file of leaflet

http://struggle.ws/wsm/pdf/leaf/ele02choice.html

Text of the leaflet follows

Call this choice?

What they say

In their election campaigns all the parties say

the same things. They are all for a "properly

funded health system", "affordable housing", a

"modern and efficient public transport system",

"investment in schools" and so on. They present

us with a set of wild promises for achieving

these goals, supported by vague and implausible

plans. Then four years later they're back with

the same policies, the same promises and the

same problems.

After years of economic boom we are left with a

disastrous health system, a chronic housing

crisis, an underfunded, demoralised education

system and gridlocked transport. Still, all of

the major parties continue with policies which

are virtually identical. Their only real

disagreements are on trivial differences in

their vague spending promises. Supposedly, we

live in a democracy and in a democracy, the

people have the power. But what power do we have

when the only say that we get in how our society

is run, is a choice between a few nearly

identical parties every five years?

It's only in the personalities of individual

candidates, or on local issues, that we can see

any difference between the 'choices' in front of

us. But even these minor differences are more

imaginary than real. In this contest of

personalities and rhetoric, those who can ensure

the most sympathetic media attention win. Voting

in the election is no more empowering than

voting for 'popstars' - whoever puts on the best

show wins - they're all selling the same thing.

No matter who we vote for, we have no say in any

of the major decisions that affect our lives. We

have no say in how our workplaces are run, we

have no control over the distribution of our

society's wealth. Elections are supposed to be

how the ordinary person has a say in the running

of society. Yet it seems that somebody else has

already made all of the important decisions -

without asking us.

What they do

Over the last decade in Ireland all of the major

parties have been in government and they all

pursued nearly identical policies. If you

noticed any major differences in the way the

country was run during the last two governments,

you must have been smoking something strong.

Their policies are largely dictated by the needs

of global capitalism and its international

institutions like the EU, IMF, World Bank, NATO

and G8. Whichever government gets in after this

election, you can be sure they'll happily

continue this neo-liberal agenda and continue to

keep corporate tax low, keep wages down,

privatise whatever they can and try to make

people pay for essential services such as water

and bins.

Even on the relatively minor issues where we can

see some difference between the parties, our

vote is hardly that powerful. We have no control

over those who we vote for and there is no

guarantee that they will do what they say. There

are thousands of recent examples of politicians

'changing their minds' as soon as they get a

sniff of power. For example, in their manifesto

for the 1997 election, Fianna Fail stated: "We

oppose Irish participation in N.A.T.O. itself,

[and] in N.A.T.O.-led organisations such as the

Partnership for Peace". Two years later they led

Ireland into Partnership for Peace.

If you think that we can solve our problems by

voting and waiting for politicians to sort it

out, you are fooling yourself. Politicians look

after themselves and their powerful friends. If

ordinary people want to have any say in the

running of society, we need to get active,

organise and fight for ourselves.

Take the power back!

Real power in our 'democracy' does not lie in

the hands of the people. The bosses of the media

companies and other large corporations wield the

power. In Ireland, Tony O Reilly has more

influence over important decisions than hundreds

of thousands of ordinary people combined.

Unfortunately, changing this is much more

difficult than simply going out to vote every

few years.

If you want to have any hope of taking the power

back, you have to get active. This means

organising with those around you to take on the

power of the corporations. It means organising

in such a way that everybody has a say over the

decisions that affect them. It means refusing to

accept what the government tells you to do and

taking direct action instead. Whether you

participate in a protest, help to produce an

alternative news service, or disobey an unjust

law, you are taking the power into your own

hands, not waiting for somebody else to do it

for you. Although our tiny voices of protest can

seem insignificant in the face of the might of

global capitalism, we are not alone. In the last

few years a global movement has emerged which

has seen hundreds of thousands take to the

streets all over the world to oppose the summits

of the global elite. One of the slogans of these

protests has been "think global, act local" and

this is exactly what we need to do.

Want To get Active?

Here are some good places to start, campaigns

and groups supported by anarchists:

Workers Solidarity Movement - Irish Anarchist

organisation involved in a range of struggles

for a free, socialist world. 087-7939931 or

http://struggle.ws/wsm.html

Campaign against the bin charges - Opposing

unfair double taxation. For info on groups in

your area phone: 087-6277606.

Gluaiseacht - Organising in a non-hierarchical

way around environmental and social justice

issues. They have organised a number of protests

against Sellafield. http://www.gluaiseacht.org/

Reclaim the streets - Reclaiming public space

for the people to party! 087-9425422 or

http://www.indymedia.ie/rts

Indymedia - An international network of

alternative news services, against the corporate

monopoly of media: http://www.indymedia.ie/

Residents Against Racism / Anti-Fascist Action -

anti-racist groups email:

Residents_Against_Racism@ireland.com /

afa@ireland.com

Cork Peace Alliance - Organising against war and

imperialism The CAZ, 4 Knapps Square, Cork.

Anarchists & Elections

The famous anarchist Emma Goldman once wrote

"participation in elections means the transfer

of one's will and decisions to another.."

This sums up neatly one of the main reasons why

anarchists argue against taking part in

parliamentary elections. The very act of going

into a polling booth and putting a number beside

someone's name is in itself an act of

disempowerment; it is an acceptance that someone

else has the right to make decisions on our

behalf.

When a decision has to be made there are

essentially two basic choices - either the

people directly involved make the decision for

themselves or someone else makes it for them.

Anarchists argue that, rather than choose who

should make decisions for us, we would be better

off spending our energies in attempting to build

a new society in which we can make those

decisions for ourselves.

One of the best examples of this is the issue of

local authority service charges. A campaign is

now under way throughout the country aimed at

the abolition of service charges (refuse

charges). Householders in Dublin, Cork and

elsewhere are refusing to pay what is rightly

seen as an unfair double tax. Not one single

candidate in the last local elections actually

wrote in his/her manifesto that he/she was in

favour of the imposition of this tax. Yet it has

been introduced by politicians, and PAYE

taxpayers are expected to pay up yet again -

while at the same time the rate at which tax is

levied on the profits of big companies such as

the banks continues to be reduced.

Given the level of opposition to the tax, the

obvious way to defeat it is simply not to pay.

If everyone stands together and refuses to give

in, the Councils and the government will

eventually have to give in. Just as we defeated

the water charges over 4 years ago, so we can

also win on this issue by standing together in

solidarity. We don't need to vote for anyone to

win on this issue - what we do need is simply to

stand shoulder to shoulder with our neighbours

in our refusal to pay.

On a wider basis, what we need to do as a

society is to look to developing ways of

tackling the 'democratic deficit'. All of us are

aware of the fact that politicians are totally

out of touch with the needs of working class

communities. We are also aware that we have

absolutely no mechanism for ensuring that the

politicians that we vote for actually carry out

the promises for which they are elected.

Anarchists want to develop a system of true

direct democracy, which will ensure that these

issues are tackled. That is why we reject

participation in the sham of parliamentary

elections.

Ideas and Action

Irish Anarchist Gathering - Dublin

- May 18th - All welcome

>From Resistance to Change

Saturday May 18th, 11.am, Central Hotel,

Exchequer Street, Dublin 2

1. The Anti-Capitalist Movement - Think Global,

Act Local

Speakers on Anti Bin Charge Campaign, Save the

Old Head of Kinsale Campaign, Critical

Mass/Reclaim The Streets

2. The North - the challenge of building a broad

successful anti-sectarian movement. Speakers

from WSM and other anarchist organisations.

3. Sellafield - From Protest to Closure -

Speaker from Gluaiseacht, and a speaker on the

successful anti-Carnsore campaign

4. The anarchist solution and organising to

achieve it

For further details or if you are travelling

from outside Dublin and will need accommodation

contact us at wsm_ireland@yahoo.com Phone/SMS

087-7939931

The election web page contains lots of

background articles on Anarchism and the

Elections. It is at

http://struggle.ws/election.html

PDF file of leaflet

http://struggle.ws/wsm/pdf/leaf/ele02choice.html

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