Subject: anarchists & voting (was: where has all the Sarin in Baghdad gone?)
Date: Thu, 20 May 2004 12:18:13 -0500


My take on voting is: for those who feel inclined to vote yet recognize
problems with voting, just make sure you do at least as much work to counter
the ills of voting as you do in casting your vote (akin to the idea of
cleaning up after yourself).

I got on the bandwagon of "hold your nose and vote for Kerry" for about half
a day until I was reminded that Bush will take Texas so a vote for Kerry
here is truly wasted.  To ease my conscience over voting, I was planning to
implement a "none of the above" voting campaign with an associated
counterinaguration.

We are constantly put in "damned if you do, damned if you don't" positions.
Sometimes we compromise in hopes of getting something very slightly better;
sometimes we stand firm on principle and get crushed by overwhelming force.
As Goat implied, I think we should respect one another's choices on just
which path of damnation we choose.

We probably have some obligation to make sure that one another knows the
information we need to make informed choices, but we have to leave the
choices up to them.

I think it would be great for any of you to post a brief explanation of why
you think voting (for Kerry, or otherwise) is a bad thing or a good thing or
whatever, and specify how your reasoning relates to anarchist thought.  Much
more useful to exchange ideas than to just say "you're not a real
anarchist."  But I empathize with Mike P. in that we are supposedly the
cutting edge of political ideology and yet we often devolve into
conversation more typical of center-left "liberals."

[then, as if to convince you that I'm not one of those center-left liberals,
I continue with...]

My wife and I been up all night trying to get 5 comrades out of jail who
locked themselves down and poured fake blood on themselves at the
Halliburton shareholder's meeting yesterday.  The protest drew about 500
peeps and got lots of media attention.  The bail was $5000.00 a piece.  The
jailors & such gave us plenty of hassle - no doubt due in part to the fact
that Halliburton is based here and brings TONS of cash into local hands.
One of our anarchist comrades (female) decked a HPD officer on a horse.  The
cop hit her too.  (Media showed the cop hitting the anarchist chick but not
her hitting him!)  Cop arrested chick; fellow protestors de-arrested chick!
(just yanked her away from the cop).

So fuck the police, fuck the army, fuck Uncle Sam, fuck all corporations,
fuck the flag (except maybe a black flag), fuck John fucking Kerry, fuck god
and all his houses, and fuck the myth that democracy consists of flipping a
lever once every 4 years.

"A good song should make you wanna tap your foot and get with your girl. A
great song should destroy cops and set fire to the suburbs. I'm only
interested in writing great songs." -Tom Morello, RATM

-m