Elections aren’t going to fix everything, not even close. But I think it is an important part of a complete strategy. Getting voters basically comes free with building community and messaging anyway, no reason not to vote a few of your guys into power to run interference on any substantial attempts to crackdown on the main work you are doing.
People who say not to vote are either idiots or conservative trolls wearing masks
People who say not to vote are either idiots or conservative trolls wearing masks
One of the most successful anarchists projects, revolutionary Catalonia, was done by people that actively campained for voting boycotts. Calling those people idiots in an anarchist community is a choice. But its also concerning to me that this comment is the most upvoted currently…
This is like looking at a red car smashing itself flat into a wall and thinking that if only you paint your car red you can go that fast too (nevermind the crash). Perhaps you should focus less on the red paint (taking civilian government positions by force rather than election) and more on dismantling the wall before you get going (dismantling the fascists’ power) so you don’t crash (battle of ebro).
Yeah sorry your analogy doesnt make any sense to me.
Also
taking civilian government positions by force rather than election
This has nothing to do with anarchism
But it has everything to do with Catalonia! Because that is what they did. It was quite successful for a few years. It is unfortunate that it didn’t last longer.
The analogy isn’t that important if you don’t get it, basically I’m arguing that Catalonia was cool but it wasn’t flawless and if you try to perfectly replicate an autonomous state that was crushed within 3 years then you will also be crushed in 3 years or so.
Still not agrreing with calling those people idiots, but i get where you are coming from. Of course we should learn from the past, we shouldnt repeat unnecessary mistakes
With the knowledge they had at the time I don’t know if I would call them idiots, I’m not enough of a historian to know. In modern times though I think it is clear that you should vote too. Abstaining from voting gets you nothing.
Electoralism means more than just voting, its about using elections, representative democracy and the state as means to influence the world. It means using elections and the current goverment as primary focus of your activities.
I rarely meet anarchists that do something like that. Many vote, many dont vote, but really only a few actually embrace electoralism.
I am against in the way, that I dont want to participate in it and dont want to work closely together with groups / people that do.
Against.
I will do it because it’s not a big deal, but I don’t think it’s fixing anything. At best I may get a less worse outcome, which is still not desired.
People that seek power are those that generally should have none. That said, if others are going to force you to be subject to it. There’s no reason not to make your voice heard. Working to keep the worst possible candidates from office. All while working to abolish electoralism ultimately.
Against, but I’m more against debating it, especially in anarchist spaces. As of writing this it hasn’t exploded into arguments here, but debates on electoralism have a habit of reactivating liberal tendencies, in particular the notion that the system has a chance of saving you, and the emotional baggage that liberalism drills into our heads about how the current election is the most important thing ever and you’re a monster for not giving the system your time and attention.
100% agree. Great example are the influencer “socialists” (cough cough hasan) who basically spend 90% of their day discussing electoral politics and watching CNN.
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Eh, not really.
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I only started voting because of the facists.
Voting, or electing populist leaders?
Just voting. Electoralism has a poor track record.
Voting doesn’t really stop fascists whatsoever. But it’s a good tool when not balloting populists.
Really depends on for what purpose and what are the means of control afterwards. Overall against it, but not purist about it.
I will always blame the polititians and who treat them like cult leaders. I don’t have problem with people who vote and people who don’t. If politicians abandonned certsin people, tbose people can’t be blamed for not voting
Against.
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To be quite honest, after going through an entire year of being gaslit that there wasn’t a genocide occurring… yeah I’m not going to vote anymore.
This is more of a “I haven’t read theory enough ” kind of post.
The neolibs showing up uninvited the last few threads did so because they are ready to kill the last few anarchists left.
![[Discussion] Are you pro or against electoralism?](https://lemmy.dbzer0.com/pictrs/image/b7c0fe4f-d4ea-490b-9a1f-fdb7cb2de72b.webp){kind=link}