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Smash The Vote Campaign
Fri, 2014-02-28 08:12
#1
Smash The Vote Campaign
Fri, 2014-02-28 10:36
#2
Your visuals are more pleasing.
But Harper Crew is much better at this.
Fri, 2014-02-28 10:55
#3
alan smithee
Yes...let's not vote and lket Harper win another majority.
Brilliant.
Fri, 2014-02-28 11:38
#4
It's clear that partisan politics doesn't solve anything. To say lets all vote instead for Mulcair or Trudeau constitutes yet another abandonment of our problems to the common problem, which is to the charades posing as politics. Under the circumstances, voting is a dereliction of our collective dignity and agency. The act of voting is to make it possible for the subjugation of the entire population beneath this masquerade, to lessen ourselves as human beings in relation to an inhuman construct. Stand up and be counted by being counted out. Let's lift our heads in dignity for a change by refusing the queue to nowhere. The differences between the current cast of brigands in Ottawa are insignificant. If immorality is said to exist, then voting is an immoral act.
Fri, 2014-02-28 11:44
#5
lol.....and what would we be replacing our corrupt elected officials with?
Fri, 2014-02-28 11:45
#6
I agree. A ridiculous and humiliating exercise in futility..
Fri, 2014-02-28 11:48
#7
lol.....and what would we be replacing our corrupt elected officials with?
There is no replacing of officials with un-corrupted ones. Where did you get this idea that elections are put at our disposal for this purpose?
Fri, 2014-02-28 12:00
#8
Very often we lose ourselves down in the stinking weeds of Capitalist subterfuge, until we become part of the intrigues, becoming integral to the back and forth that only cements us in place, where we're left to agonize over a multitude of specifics while losing sight of the agony that constitutes the whole.
Fri, 2014-02-28 12:11
#9
Pogo
Aren't you just playing into the right wing strategy of disuading people from voting. Perhaps you could get funding from the Conservative Party for your campaign.
Fri, 2014-02-28 12:16
#10
See post #3. Forget about the conservatives, the NDP and the Liberals. This is a no cost campaign and doesn't require funding.
Fri, 2014-02-28 12:25
#11
Pogo
I agree with a lot of the sentiment. We in no way should look at voting as the solution. It is simply one avenue for acheving goals.
Fri, 2014-02-28 12:38
#12
I think the correct procedure is to vote for the party you consider least bad, rather than not to vote at all. Others may differ.
Fri, 2014-02-28 12:45
#13
It is simply one avenue for acheving goals.
Yeah, the goal of senate reform, or the goal of conducting a review of ATM fees, or the goal of connecting pipelines, where all that needs figuring out is if they'll run north to south, or west to east. It is only an avenue to achieve the already given, plus more of the same. It wouldn't be necessary to adopt such a position if voting changed anything other than the imprint of the asses in the decision making chairs.
Fri, 2014-02-28 12:46
#14
Yes, well, let us beg to differ.
Fri, 2014-02-28 13:10
#15
More than one-quarter of the 7.5 million eligible voters who reported they did not cast a ballot in the May 2, 2011 federal election indicated they did not do so because they were not interested in voting. Another 23% said they were too busy to vote.
So the goal of this campaign is to try and increase the percentages listed at bars one, two, three, five, six, seven and eleven on the graph.
Fri, 2014-02-28 13:13
#16
I certainly don't believe in people sitting back between elections and then passively putting their trust in any party - not even Québec solidaire, which is pretty damned good. And mass action is historically more determinant. However, I don't think there is "no difference" at all between those parties, especially between the NDP, actually one of the less-tainted social-democratic parties in the world, and the two parties of big capital. Moreover, under Harper, the forces of ecocide and petrostate authoritarianism have taken a qualitative turn.
Fortunately I have a more than decent NDP MP to vote for. I'd have more trouble voting for Mulcair, I admit, especially over muzzling MPs about Israel-Palestine.
But I work alongside activists who are anarchists or "communistes libertaires" on a daily basis, in my tenant association and the neighbourhood assemblies created by the Québec spring. They do a lot of good things.
Fri, 2014-02-28 14:03
#17
I don't believe 'not voting' is a solution to anything, but I did get a laugh from this '22 minutes' bit:
NOTVOTINATOL
Fri, 2014-02-28 14:09
#18
..i came to the conclusion some time ago that the political/electoral/economic system is corrupt, undemocratic and beyond reform. that includes the ndp powers that be. i continually press for a ground up approach to managing our lives. a direct democracy. how/when that will occur is being worked out and in many instances practiced as we speak. for now i'm retired. the ndp have campaigned on doubling the pensions. that is what i will vote for.
Fri, 2014-02-28 14:37
#19
Fri, 2014-02-28 15:19
#20
Is this a campaign? It looks like it's just a link to a wikipedia page.
Fri, 2014-02-28 17:11
#21
Is this a campaign? It looks like it's just a link to a wikipedia page.
And a cool graphic with Emma Goldman I'm glad to say. A great pic from epaulo as well!
Sat, 2014-03-01 10:03
#22
Government is the servant of corporate power, voting only reinforces their power by participating in the illusion that voting makes a difference. It reinforces the delusion that we live within a democracy.
I suggest that those who seek political power are the least capable of excising it with integrity and that we would be better served by educating all citizens as to the role of government and then by lottery choosing a government.
Sat, 2014-03-01 12:08
#23
you mean the lottery isn't rigged?
Sun, 2014-03-02 12:42
#24
just not voting is no solution, though I totally agree the representational political system in Canada is totally corrupt.
I see 2 possible strategies...one is to erect a political movement based on fundamental principles to challenge the system, political economic and authoritarian cultural....which brings to mind the attempt by a number of principled people of the federal greens of the late 80`s early 90`s, an experience I still highly cherish...only to be taken by opportunists wishing to gain political poiwer within the system...that is the problem working within the system, the rules always support the people believing in the system.
How you avoid that potential is beyond me....
The second strategy is to develop a system of parallel power, something which my friends here in the mountains of Guatemala are attempting, and which brings to mind the rhetoric in the heyday of the youth movement Vancouver BC, with our naive attempts...
but just to vote no...is not sufficient
Sun, 2014-03-02 15:46
#25
... which brings to mind the attempt by a number of principled people of the federal greens of the late 80`s early 90`s, an experience I still highly cherish...only to be taken by opportunists wishing to gain political poiwer within the system...that is the problem working within the system, the rules always support the people believing in the system.
Rules are designed by and for those who derive maximum benefit from the system. Otherwise, many of the not so fortunate believers in the system, the voters that is, are the ones who are left feeling short changed the most because their perennial expectations are always left unfulfilled. As a result some of them bounce around from party to party in a futile attempt to locate a way out, but with each election they usually wind up as jaded automatons shuffling forward to perform their singular duty at the polling booth, as if it were an involuntary action made possible through the sheer force of habit. The reality is that it amounts to nothing more than doing the system a favour by legitimizing everything, in the name of the voter.
How you avoid that potential is beyond me....
The best that can be done is to de-legitimize it.
The second strategy is to develop a system of parallel power,
Empowerment, not power. We already have a relationship to power, and it's a thoroughly detestable and abusive one.
but just to vote no...is not sufficient
It's a start at least, arguably more of a step forward than the dead end circumstances of the present.
Tue, 2014-03-04 14:20
#26
..txs slumberjack. i agree fully with your assessment.
With no public explanation, City Hall has quietly made radical changes to the scheduling of Public Hearings in March. Normally they have started meetings at 6 pm on weekdays, but suddenly, we discover some are scheduled to start at 12 noon and 2 pm and there is even a backup date at 9:30 am. This is another step in a slippery slide towards a municipal government that can be vulnerable to corruption. This is all connected to the nasty civic cycle of power in Vancouver today. These new hours create winners and losers — and the public is in the latter category. Read on for details....
Wed, 2014-03-05 04:13
#27
Here's a perfectly good and timely example of why voting is pointless. On a critical matter such as imperialist aggression and the present ramping up of this in the Ukraine case: Here's 3 different parties with no difference between them:
"'It's really important for me right now as a Canadian MP outside Canada in a country which is in grave jeopardy to present a united front with the government. So there's no dissent between me and the Liberal Party and the prime minister and the foreign minister on Ukraine right now.' (Freeland MP)
Since Putin's occupation of Crimea the opposition parties have presented a united front with the government on Ukraine. Harper consulted with NDP Leader Tom Mulcair over the weekend and Mulcair was spotted entering Harper's office late Tuesday.." etc etc.
I don't wish to derail this thread, there's 2 others discussing Ukraine, my point is what's the point of voting - for opposition parties that DON'T OPPOSE?
The only person who can truly represent you is you.
Wed, 2014-03-05 08:34
#28
I'm not voting for anyone, I'm voting against Harper. The riding I live in is one of the key swing ridings that the Tories currently hold and I will be campaigning in my riding to get people to vote against the current regime in Ottawa, on behalf of my local Community Action Network. I'm working with anarchists, labour activists, Original Peoples, activists of all stripes. I'll talk to anyone who opens the door to me and will leave a flyer with those who don't, all with anti-Harper messaging.
Voting is easy and doesn't fundamentally change anything in a system so irredeemably flawed. Real change is hard work, exhausting, often frustrating, but totally possible.
Wed, 2014-03-05 10:32
#29
It's a start at least, arguably more of a step forward than the dead end circumstances of the present.
....from Slumberjack......
No I can`t agree. Voting no firstly is disempowering, blowing in the wind, drowned by the herding of people to vote for the least evil....
It`s an act of individualism...what we need are movement type collective acts!
A collective political movement to contest the elections and the system is worthy, if it is based on a binding constitution of principles...but of course nothing is guaranteed and can be swayed by corruption...ïf only we drop this plank, we`ll get more votes and be in a position of power...etc¨......
But what is crucial is a system of parallel empowerment if you like, where we build our own economics and finances, work in our autonomous communities, boycott the fascist power base, the corporations, create our own forms of organization.....
A collectivist strategy is essential!
Voting no could be a powerful tool, to be used in conjunction with such parallel alternatives...but just to vote no?
Kills the effectiveness of such boycott strategy....
Wed, 2014-03-05 15:55
#30
..i see not voting as a tactic. if we do it this x will happen or this x is what we can do instead. that is not what is being offered here. what we see from the ndp today is nothing new. they have collaborated with capital and empire for as long as they’ve been the ndp. but you can’t say there are no differences between the parties just because in the present moment they agree with the other parties on ukraine or any other aspects.
..what if what you ask was to happen. where great numbers refuse to vote except the right. how does that help seniors who are living in poverty when there was a chance that if they voted ndp their pensions would increase. even if it isn’t doubled. even if in the end it's all a big lie. what i’m trying to say is that it’s not enough to make the argument that they aren’t fundamentally different. it needs to be in conjunction with a real alternative. where is the alternative?
Wed, 2014-03-05 16:03
#31
The only person who can truly represent you is you.
And here I thought I was the only libertarian left on the board.
Wed, 2014-03-05 17:12
#32
alan smithee
Harper pissing in his pants laughing reading this thread.
Wed, 2014-03-05 18:12
#33
Harper pissing in his pants laughing reading this thread.
Yes I'm sure it would furnish people with happy thoughts to let Tom and Justin have a turn at that.
Wed, 2014-03-05 18:26
#34
The alternative would come from somewhere out of the proposition, or at least that's the assumption. I don't have an answer for what form that might take. Alternatives by definition would be something many are unfamiliar with anyway, such as mass uprisings, or representative bureaucracies. At the same time it shouldn't be implied that social responsibility will require inventing from scratch. Otherwise, it would require a substantial investment of optimism to take promises of turning back neoliberalism into account.
So the futile act of voting would be replaced by the futile act of non-voting, and we would be left with the status quo-- hoping that mass uprisings would finally include the masses.
Instead of "vote to hope for change", it is "don't vote, and hope for change".
Wed, 2014-03-05 18:54
#35
To put it another way, a suggested course of action or configuration is not on offer here. I don't know, someone else may have an idea? The basic concept is that given the current situation, we shouldn't be voting for the Tom, Dick and Justin's of the world anymore.
Wed, 2014-03-05 19:03
#36
..what if what you ask was to happen. where great numbers refuse to vote except the right. how does that help seniors who are living in poverty when there was a chance that if they voted ndp their pensions would increase. even if it isn’t doubled. even if in the end it's all a big lie. what i’m trying to say is that it’s not enough to make the argument that they aren’t fundamentally different. it needs to be in conjunction with a real alternative. where is the alternative?The alternative would come from somewhere out of the proposition, or at least that's the assumption. I don't have an answer for what form that might take. Alternatives by definition would be something many are unfamiliar with anyway, such as mass uprisings, or representative bureaucracies. At the same time it shouldn't be implied that social responsibility will require inventing from scratch. Otherwise, it would require a substantial investment of optimism to take promises of turning back neoliberalism into account.
..this seems backwards slumberjack. you must do the organizing first and from there you choose the tactics. as did the indignados when they called for a boycott of the "socialist" party at election time. consciousness comes from building and being part of movements and that in turn influences direction and tactics.
..there seems to be a consensus that harper must go but that is where it stops. there is no consensus as to the direction we need to be going in after that. that work needs to be done. that consciousness for a new path other than capitalism needs to be raised. maybe the coming social forum will provide a vehicle for which to do this.
Wed, 2014-03-05 19:34
#37
..this seems backwards slumberjack. you must do the organizing first and from there you choose the tactics. as did the indignados when they called for a boycott of the "socialist" party at election time. consciousness comes from building and being part of movements and that in turn influences direction and tactics.
I agree that the building of alternatives does require a starting point. This is what is being argued.
..there seems to be a consensus that harper must go but that is where it stops. there is no consensus as to the direction we need to be going in after that. that work needs to be done. that consciousness for a new path other than capitalism needs to be raised. maybe the coming social forum will provide a vehicle for which to do this.
Or perhaps mass defection as a vehicle for generating social consciousness, that includes open deliberation. Social forums shouldn't entirely disassociate themselves from the social by ruling things out. We often overlook the fact that there's already substantial buy-in with the idea of not voting, even as reasons may vary. The already existing lack of popular undertaking in that regard should be enough to dispel any concerns about being seen as part of the social fringe.
Wed, 2014-03-05 20:11
#38
slumberjack
..i'm hoping that this time the forum will adopt the proposal that we organize ourselves using assemblies that begin at the community level. from there direction and tactics would follow. this is what i was referring to when i mentioned the coming social forum. not that it or i was rejecting anything.
Wed, 2014-03-05 20:28
#39
alan smithee
Harper pissing in his pants laughing reading this thread.Yes I'm sure it would furnish people with happy thoughts to let Tom and Justin have a turn at that.
The difference is that Tom and Justin NEED the votes....Harpo relies on apathy and pea brained 'strategies' such as don't vote.
The lunatic right take voting seriously and it's a big reason they've been in the driver's seat for 30 years.
Wed, 2014-03-05 20:47
#40
Harpo relies on apathy and pea brained 'strategies' such as don't vote. The lunatic right take voting seriously and it's a big reason they've been in the driver's seat for 30 years.
The brainier approach is to suggest that the left maintain cadence with the right until everyone is out over a cliff?
Wed, 2014-03-05 21:04
#41
alan smithee
Harpo relies on apathy and pea brained 'strategies' such as don't vote. The lunatic right take voting seriously and it's a big reason they've been in the driver's seat for 30 years.The brainier approach is to suggest that the left maintain cadence with the right until everyone is out over a cliff?
No,but not voting achieves nothing.
First you create apathy by championing not voting,soon that apathy spreads..Name one protest movement that has achieved anything in the last 30 or 40 years.
Most who are apathetic to voting are apathetic to manifestation.
You can't change the system from the outside...This is Canada,not South America....No chance of a coup taking place in this country.
Wed, 2014-03-05 21:09
#42
Your visuals are more pleasing. But Harper Crew is much better at this.
Sad but true as the saying goes. Truth for us is nothing more than the revelation of one unpleasant spectacle after another, in series or all at once. Hence the reason why the public lie operates and repeats as often as required, as an anesthetic that inexplicably manages to keep people calm even as they suspect everything is fabricated.
Wed, 2014-03-05 21:18
#43
The electoral juggernaught is unmatched in its ability to create apathy.
Thu, 2014-03-06 07:36
#44
..Name one protest movement that has achieved anything in the last 30 or 40 years.
Unions members can still hold sway when they put their minds and bodies to the task, and when power considers that it's ultimately cheaper to agree to whatever terms are being demanded than shutting down production. This is indicative of the problem with respect to the approach of the social aggregate these days. Everyone has something to complain about, and justifiably so, but at the same time everything hums along as if every outrage and lie were nothing. This is partially why FN protests can still garner the attention they do when other protests go begging for media exposure of the concerns, because in several instances they typically, and justifiably imv, impact the flow of production wherever they occur.
You can't change the system from the outside...This is Canada,not South America....No chance of a coup taking place in this country.
There is no outside of this bubble we're all contained in. It's a matter of what we're doing on the inside and how we're going about things. A coup could be something as socially unobtrusive as the election of bona fide political representatives un-affiliated with political parties, considered as a turning away from the cast of seedy characters and parties within the existing establishment. No one is talking about exchanging one dictatorial system for another. Granted, a thorough house cleaning is long overdue, but my suggestion merely involves a wholesale withdrawal of confidence from the system we have now, without necessarily gainsaying other motions to that effect.
Thu, 2014-03-06 07:38
#45
The left choosing not to vote will just help reinforce the Conservative hegemony.
Thu, 2014-03-06 07:41
#46
It's being accomplished anyway, with the assistance of the leftist voter.
Thu, 2014-03-06 09:53
#47
from Cassia...The left choosing not to vote will just help reinforce the Conservative hegemony.
The problem with not voting is that we need a political forum to deligitimize the so called political options.....
The left?? The left?? where is this left? the NDP?
Surely a major job to deligitimize is to delegitimize the value of the NDP, just a slightly more benevolent form of fascism...
.....until of course their masters the corporations through their bought off unions start making some noise, then watch them scurry for cover! Double pensions? Suely no one thinks they will do anything other than continue to bail out the corporations as they cry help from the collapsing financial system?
The left? Have we not learned anything from the Obama catastrophe? That anyone will say anything to get into office and then do as they are told and enjoy the perks! Unless of course we can create a political movement that has deep uncompromiseing principles to offer!
There is no such thing as a left that supports globalization and capitalism, not to mention the surging growth and international fascism!
No a fundamental job is to deligitimize such as th NDP and the CBC...
and as far as building a political movement from the local community? Municipalism? Bookchin type?
Have people not realized how totally controlled the regional governance system is?
No there can be no other option than building a parallel system with a political voice!
Thu, 2014-03-06 10:23
#48
lmao........ 'harper's helpers' lumping the CBC with the NDP was a dead give away. guess there's nothing harper won't do to suppress the vote
Thu, 2014-03-06 12:06
#49
Build your parallele system iyraste1313; I shall continue to vote during its formation.
Thu, 2014-03-06 12:27
#50
alan smithee
I don't know about everyone else but this not voting idea is great...I'm going to grab my bong,go to sleep and magically wake to a progressive country
Thu, 2014-03-06 12:47
#51
I don't know about everyone else but this not voting idea is great...I'm going to grab my bong,go to sleep and magically wake to a progressive country
Ripped Van Winkle? or The Toker Awakes?