MI VOLAS HALTIGI DE ELEKTI ! AKTIVA SINDETENO !

-> Voting Changes Nothing

-> the other campaign 2010
A RADICAL, WORKING-CLASS INITIATIVE IN RESPONSE TO PARTY POLITICS AND ELECTIONS…

The Other Campaign 2010 was initiated by Liverpool Solidarity Federation.

The aim is to build a loose network of anti-capitalist, libertarian groups and individuals who believe that:

1. Politics must be liberated from the rotten influence of politicians and bureaucrats. As individuals we must take back control over our lives and not allow power to be exercised on our behalf.

2. The anti-working class agenda of our corrupt political elite (such as the imminent wave of public sector cuts) will not be defeated through the ballot box, but on the streets and picket lines.

-> http://cnt-ait.info/article.php3?id...
The dominant ideology, that is of the Power, want us to believe by force that electoral democracy would be the highest expression of popular sovereignty, that elections would give the Power its legitimacy.

However, the Iranians have just made this lie burst. The Iranian elections, such as all the elections, are only a joke. Elections are acceptable for the Power only when they go in its interests. People can give their voice as long as they say what the Power desire them to say. When it is no longer the case, the Power uses all the means at its disposal, any frauds and subterfuges, to keep its dominant position. Elections are only an alibi for the Power. In Iran, it is a result declared to the opposite of reality. In Europe since 2005, the Power has reiterated ballots until the results to the referendum were in conformity with the Power’s expectations (and even some time it passes directly its projects without new electoral play...).

-> don’t vote: organise!
Often when we ask each other, “Who are you going to vote for?” , the reply can be varied. Some people aren’t too bothered, or don’t really care — others reply that they don’t know enough about politics. Why is this? The process of voting is meant to be the foundation of our democracy, the only time we have a say in our affairs, yet clearly, voting is totally ineffective and too far removed from our everyday realities to make any direct results on our lives.

-> http://cnt-ait.info/article.php3?id_article=924
We are calling for a national campaign to take advantage of this election year to emphasize the power of direct action and to present direct democracy as a viable alternative to representation. This campaign will include literature distribution, postering and stickering, demonstrations, educational events, and other forms of community outreach, both in our own communities and around the Democratic and Republican National Conventions. It will culminate in a nationwide day of direct action on November 2, election day.

-> http://news.infoshop.org/article.ph...

Karl Marx once wrote that history repeated itself, first time as tragedy, second time as farce. The left in Britain seem intent on proving him right. How else can we explain the attempts to create yet anothernew party to challenge New Labour at the polls?

It is like 1997 has been decreed as year zero for Marxists. The history of the labour movement is happily ignored while the SWP and assorted other sects repeat the tactics which worked so unsuccessfully in the past. Blair did not appear from nowhere. He is just the latest in a long line of Labour politicians who, upon gaining office in the capitalist state, promoted capitalist policies.

This is not surprising. The state is the instrument by which minority classes use to maintain their power and privileges. It can never used to destroy them. What is surprising is that Marxists seem to forget this, urging us to vote for radicals at election time and get outraged when they defend the interests of the few rather than the many.

-> http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/artic...
IN MY neighborhood, the Mission, many tenants, working people, desperate housing activists and even a few self-styled anarchists are elated by Tom Ammiano's surprisingly strong showing in the Nov. 2 election.

Ammiano's popularity is clearly a function of The City's catastrophic housing crisis. When compared to Downtown Willie Brown, Ammiano appears to be a pro-tenant candidate and a friend of working people. Ammiano has even pledged that as mayor he'll declare an all-out war against gentrification, which is destroying the unique character of this city.

By all accounts Ammiano is a decent human being, especially when compared to the other mayoral candidates in the November election. He is also an excellent stand-up comedian.

But working and poor people who trust Ammiano in particular and electoral politics in general operate under a staggering number of illusions. As a Democratic Party politician, Ammiano is not an ally of working and poor people.

-> http://flag.blackened.net/revolt/ws...
about "http://blog.jeveuxarreterdevoter.in..." from Kevin Doyle.

A spectre (to paraphrase Karl Marx) was haunting the ruling class of most European countries in the aftermath of the French revolution in 1798. That spectre was democracy. The "problem with democracy" was that if it was conceded then the ordinary poor people, being much more numerous than their rulers, would surely swamp them.

-> http://www.spunk.org/texts/groups/b...
While historically anarchists assiduously avoided any involvement with electoral politics, in more recent times, at least in the united states, some anarchists have advocated voting. The arguments these voting anarchists put forward are generally the same as those put forward by other leftists who are unable or unwilling to completely sever their connection to the political process. They argue that voting for their candidate, usually described as a lesser evil and usually (if not always) a Democrat, is necessary to prevent united states aggression against some favored revolutionary state (like sandinista nicaragua), is some sort of self-defense against the more conservative candidate, or is merely better than "apathy," as some describe abstention from voting. While one could argue against voting simply because it rarely, if ever, accomplishes any of the goals its advocates claim it can, there is a more fundamental reason for anarchists to oppose voting: voting in government elections is an inherently authoritarian activity, and authoritarian means never yield libertarian results.