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thank you Serbia (thelemmy.club)
submitted 2 days ago by to c/curatedtumblr@sh.itjust.works
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Post by tumblr user "lizardsfromspace": "People still doing 'do you think voting can fix this' memes when the answer to the question 'when did voting last end an authoritarian regime' is 'two days ago'"
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[–] 25 points 1 day ago (17 children)

This is basically why I’m cynical about voting. People will post stuff like this and ignore the 2+ years of street action that got them there.

AKA. I would be a lot more confident going into these USA midterms if my fellow Americans had been going on rowdy strikes the last two years.

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  • [–] 23 points 1 day ago (8 children)

    But voting doesn't counter the street action, it's not a zero sum game. At the very least people should vote for the right people, even if that's all they do. And if they wanna do more, like protest, then that's great because it's really needed. But in the end I'm of the opinion that you can't complain about how bad it is and then refuse to vote. If you vote and then your candidate is shit, you have a reason to complain. If you vote and it turns out they meddled with it, then you can complain. And obviously you can also complain if half of the country voted for some douchebag. But people who encourage not voting are actively lowering the chances of the right people to win, even in a system where the vote is rigged. The more people vote for change, the harder it is to cover up

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  • [+] -8 points 1 day ago (6 children)

    But voting doesn’t counter the street action

    it does suck the energy out of street action. every time someone is out door-knocking or phone banking, they're not organizing non-electoral resistance.

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  • [–] 7 points 1 day ago (4 children)

    Non-electoral resistance usually requires a higher risk tolerance from the individual engaging in it, so not everyone doing door knocking or phone banking would be willing to do what you are thinking anyway.

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  • [–] 0 points 1 day ago (3 children)

    food-not-bombs, skill-shares, and other community-building is an important facet of resistance, and takes essentially no risk tolerance at all. but every time you grab a clipboard and start collecting signatures, you're not spending the time building community.

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  • [–] 7 points 1 day ago (1 child)

    I've done both. I don't think local community building is worthless, it can be potent, but it really depends on what region we are talking and it requires you to stick around to build rapport. There are some places where its just a cultural wasteland of ignorant chuds and rightwing nutcases. And it only has of course a local impact. Its not on par with the importance of national politics.

    As someone who essentially grew up lacking roots in any particular place and doesn't care for much of the people in my local area it also isn't really something I care to engage with anymore.

    Other than the fact that I already work for a small local non-profit, though I've been seeking to get out of it as soon as possible as I kind of just don't believe in it as fully anymore after 2024. Private sector pays a lot better anyway. I'm going to start working for me, not a local community that seems to think I'm some kind of Leftist Autistic LGBT freak.

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  • [–] 3 points 1 day ago

    this wasn't an indictment of you, personally. i'm indicting the energy-sink that is electoral politics. all that energy, just to lose half the time and have to build a new campaign for a new candidate every 2 or 4 years could be spent building something that actually helps us resist our oppression.

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  • [–] 0 points 1 day ago

    additionally what HalfSalesman@lemmy.world fails to realize is electoral compaigning isnt perfectly safe either, theres recent precedent of a politician putting up campaign signs being sexually assaulted. of political opponents being raided. of voters for whatever opposition party having their name and location information recorded if not openly accessible online for targeting. putting your name on a clipboard is insecure and opens you up to harmful actors, both those who scam you for your time and money and those who hate you because you voted "the other guy". meanwhile you dont have to put down any name or even have people know who you are for things like FnB, skill shares, mutual aid, etc. and the whole goal of other things like direct action often times is to never even be seen or noticed.

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  • [–] 1 point 23 hours ago

    Maybe, but people will post stuff about not voting and then also not do 2+ years of street action. So by your logic we should also be cynical about non-voting.

    In fact, more people don't vote than vote, or especially that vote for the person that would do the least amount of harm, so again by your logic it's even more on the shoulders of non-voters to change something.

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  • [–] 16 points 1 day ago

    I don't think they are ignoring it. This is a direct response to the people saying voting is pointless. Sure, the years of street action are important but if people didn't vote then it would just be noise.

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  • [–] 5 points 1 day ago (4 children)

    And yet it was the voting that worked, not the street action. Strikes, rallies, and everything else like them primarily produce change by convincing people to vote. And for that reason, they are important! Doing those is great, but doing those and not voting and then expecting change is nonsensical.

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  • [–] 8 points 1 day ago

    That's insane.

    No that's not why strikes work. Strukess work because workers force their employers to give them better rights. Democrats are better on labor compared to Republicans but people don't only strike around election time.

    The street action in Minnesota didn't force ice out because some dude won an election. They forced ice out due to organized street action.

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  • [–] 1 point 1 day ago (2 children)

    You are like a child looking at a dinner table, declaring the food is there because you put on the tablecloth

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  • [–] 0 points 15 hours ago (1 child)

    Explain how I'm wrong then. The causal chain was action --> voting --> results; action is important as one of the causes of voting, but if they only did direct action and did not vote, they would not have seen results. Is this incorrect?

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  • [–] 2 points 12 hours ago

    The action led to the government having to accede to demands. That the government is elected is not the reason it felt the need to accede to the demands. Without voting the results would still happen. Without action there would be no results.

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