Early at the beginning of this year, when we announced that we were organizing a Women's (peace) March on the Pentagon for October 21st, I received many panicked messages from loyal Democrat voters that we couldn't do that because it's "too close" to the midterm elections and we would "harm" the chances of the Democrats.
First of all, if you think that a peace march is going to harm your party, maybe that's a hint that you need a new party. However, if peace is not your thing, like it's apparently NOT the thing of the bourgie Women's March, then you wouldn't come to our march, anyway.
Secondly, if this millennium of rigged voting, purges, and hanging chads has taught us anything, it's shown us that voting is at best compromised and at worst useless. This quote has been attributed to many people, so I won't attribute it to any specific person, but it rings truer than ever: "If voting changed anything, they wouldn't let us do it."
Finally, there are many ways to "vote," and we at Women's March on the Pentagon are literally choosing to vote with our feet.
When we gather to march on the Pentagon in about seven weeks from this writing we are choosing to GOTV for:
A country and planet free from US imperialism;
A country and planet free from patriarchy;
A country and planet free from environmental devastastion;
A country and planet free from economic terrorism and inequality;
A country free from police state oppression, etc.
A vote at the ballot box for a member of either party of the duopoly is a vote in favor of war, patriarchy, environmental devastation, economic terrorism and police state oppression, period.
We USAians have voting shoved down our throats from an early age as the way to be involved in "our democracy" and as the way to "change" things if we don't like them. How has this essential American myth worked out for us? Politicians from both sides of the aisle are owned by special interests that are not our own and are so far away from us in geography and reality that voting is the lowest common denominator for our participation in democracy.
Vote with your feet and your commitment to human decency and positive core values by joining us for the Women's March on the Pentagon on October 21st. No worries if you cannot make it to WashedUp, DeCeit---you can organize a solidarity activity in your own community---even if it's you and your kids holding signs on the corner.
Go to: Women's March on the Pentagon for more information.
(WE ALSO NEED DONATIONS)
Right on!
ReplyDeleteOne of the best round ups! Let's go!
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