I saw this old ‘anti-statist’, flowchart meme on my prolefeed again recently and it gave me pause for thought.
Followers of this blog will know that after many years of refusing to participate in party politics (beyond taking the piss out of it all), I was finally persuaded to vote for the first time ever during last year’s general election.
Broadly, I was persuaded by the work of Caroline Lucas, Jeremy Corbyn and others. I wrote extensively about my angst-ridden decision making process at the time.
I used to see the world as simplistically as this meme puts it. “If you vote, you’re a statist”. End of.
Maybe it’s my age showing, but I take a slightly more nuanced view now…
Not trying to persuade anybody, just sayin…
The way I see it now, if I’m going to go to the trouble of campaigning, marching, demonstrating, protesting, occupying, blockading etc etc, it can’t hurt to tick one of their fucking little boxes every few years or so. Minimal effort for potentially significant grains of sand up the old mountain. Mutual aid for comrades like Lucas and Corbyn, who have consistently been there on the frontlines of so many struggles with us.
Anyway, I couldn’t really give a fuck if you vote or not, or who you vote for…(though I would have to question the morals of anybody who votes Tory or UKIP….). Whatever you’re doing, (or not doing) to unfuck the planet, keep it lit and be excellent to each other.
IF YOU’RE ABLE, please consider making a contribution,cheers.
The Extinction Symbol represents extinction. It is quite important to raise awareness of the 6th Mass Extinction, particularly as corporate power invests so much pretending that it isn’t really happening…
Since holding my nose to register and receiving my polling card, I’ve arrived at a few personal realisations about the spectrum of activism I now find myself occupying.
For a long time, I’ve understood that voting versus protest versus direct action are all false paradoxes. Voting and protesting are appeals to power (or demands from it), while direct action takes power back. Clearly, none of these forms are by any means mutually exclusive from each other. In fact, separated from each other they are all extremely limited methods of influencing change.
What I’ve come to realise is that the limitations of all these forms might only be overcome by practising them all at once.
People have argued this case with me forever, but I could never abide our hopelessly corrupt electoral system. They were frustrated by my unwillingness to participate in elections and I was frustrated by their willingness to follow a narrative controlled by the establishment.
I could never accept party politics because it never seemed like a feasible way of influencing actual change before. Parliament is (was?) too corrupt – tightly controlled by crude but effective hypnotists, (‘spin doctors’) on behalf of greedy, opportunistic psychopaths (‘masters of the universe’).
It’s terrifying that the kind of changes a Corbyn Government promise only seem possible now because they are so desperately overdue…
The sorts of changes we need to mitigate the effects of the various converging catastrophes around the world are monumental. I’ve been earnestly, relentlessly campaigning for these sorts of changes for a decade and a half now.
For a long time I signed petitions and protested, marching from point A to point B, but eventually I stopped wasting my time. Power either ignored, marginalised or suppressed all these forms. It felt like direct action was the only game in town if you really wanted to influence positive change.
I came to see parliamentary democracy as beneath my contempt. An elaborate spectacle to distract, divide and disempower us all.
So, instead of writing letters and occasionally ticking a cross in a box, I focused all my efforts on supporting small and increasingly large scale grassroots movements and direct action groups. (including campaigns to reclaim, unlock or otherwise Occupy Democracy).
Without fully realising it, I have been enduring the cognitive dissonance of campaigning outside the system for systemic changes. My only involvement in party politics has been cheering the few heroic exceptions and booing the many villains. Almost meaningless (except for the lulz…).
Unless we all actually negotiate with power, we can’t achieve the scale of change that’s necessary in time. (It’s already too late).
Until very recently, it felt like we were fighting an inexorable descent into unimaginably horrific dystopia. Then, from out of nowhere, Corbz has somehow managed to turn things around.
Where just a few years ago, our hopes and dreams were branded either naive utopianism or dangerous Thought Crime – they are now considered respectable, realistic and necessary.
Followers of this blog will be familiar with my longstanding position on fake democracy. I actively campaign for a real democracy but I’ve never registered to vote; ‘I don’t negotiate with terrorists’. ‘I refuse to legitimise a rigged game’. ‘Don’t vote it only encourages them’. ‘Whoever wins, we’ll still get corporate governance’,…(and other snidey one-liners).
I believe real democracy should be practised daily with our families, friends and the communities we share. If parliament conducted itself with the actual democratic rigour and discipline that most occupations, squats and protest camps do, it would be in a much better state than it currently is.
Each time the electioneering machine starts up, I stand on the sidelines terrified by the effect it has on everybody, voters and non-voters alike. It’s horrible. You can’t just turn it off, because it effects (infects) everybody. We’re all supposed to have black and white opinions on things which aren’t black and white and which otherwise wouldn’t interest us in the slightest…we’re supposed to pick a ‘leader’ and a ‘party’…(or snipe and heckle from the sidelines…)
I have expressed my cynicism about the state of electoral politics in this blog and elsewhere ad nauseum.
I’ve also discussed the paradox of the ‘diamonds in the rough’. Principled politicians who actually speak truth to power, offering us hope for a better world. Idealists, in an environment where we must hesitate before using the word ‘idealist’, or ‘idealism’. When did ‘idealism’ become an insult? Idealism should be a virtue but it is generally conflated with naivety….why?
I’m still deeply uncomfortable about participating in this coming General Election. I like Corbyn a lot, but Liebore are infested with backstabbing Blairite scumbags. Such a shame we don’t have a real democracy. ‘Voting’ is a massively overrated means of influencing change. Your daily life choices and spending habits carry far more weight than participating in Wastemonster’s BS pantomime…
Still, I fully respect the Greens so here’s some memes wot I made…
Right-click, ‘save as’ to download and share if these speak for you too.
Square (Profile pic):
Fedbook Banner:
Twitter Banner:
A4 window poster (Colour):
A4 window poster (Black and White):
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Many voters are planning to ‘vote tactically’ this general election in order to remove the Tories from power. Despite Jeremy Corbyn and Tim Farron officially rejecting calls for such a progressive alliance, some local constituencies are making the necessary preparations already.
In order for Corbyn’s insurrection to really succeed, it is important to remember that the Labour party is infested with Blairite double agents. Blairites are politicians who support the so called ‘centrist’ neo-liberal nightmare of former Prime Minister and war criminal, Tony Bleurgh.
If you choose to participate in this year’s General Election, be sure not to accidentally vote for a Blairite!
You can identify Blairites by checking their voting record.
For example, this is a list of currently serving Labour MPs who voted for the Iraq war.
Adrian Bailey, Kevin Barron, Margaret Beckett, Hilary Benn, Clive Betts, Ben Bradshaw, Nick Brown, Chris Bryant, Andy Burnham, Alan Campbell, Ann Clwyd, Vernon Coaker, Ann Coffey, Yvette Cooper, Jon Cruddas, Jim Cunningham, Wayne David, Geraint Davies, Jim Dowd, Angela Eagle, Maria Eagle, Louise Ellman, Paul Farrelly, Frank Field, Jim Fitzpatrick, Caroline Flint, Mike Gapes, Barry Gardiner, Roger Godsiff, David Hanson, Harriet Harman, John Healey, Mark Hendrick, Margaret Hodge, George Howarth, Lindsay Hoyle, Alan Johnson, Helen Jones, Kevan Jones, Gerald Kaufman, David Lammy, Chris Leslie, Ivan Lewis, Fiona Mactaggart, John Mann, Rob Marris, Gordon Marsden, Steve McCabe, Siobhain McDonagh, Steve Pound, Geoffrey Robinson, Joan Ryan, Barry Sheerman, Andrew Smith, Angela Smith, John Spellar, Gisela Stuart, Mark Tami, Gareth Thomas, Stephen Timms, Derek Twigg, Stephen Twigg, Keith Vaz, Tom Watson, David Winnick, Rosie Winterton.
This is a list of the 66 Labour MPs who voted to bomb Syria.
Adrian Bailey (West Bromwich West), Alan Campbell (Tynemouth), Alan Johnson, (Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle), Alison McGovern (Wirral South), Angela Eagle (Wallasey), Angela Smith (Penistone and Stocksbridge), Ann Coffey (Stockport), Anna Turley (Redcar), Ben Bradshaw (Exeter), Bridget Phillipson (Houghton and Sunderland South), Caroline Flint (Don Valley), Chris Bryant (Rhondda), Chris Leslie (Nottingham East), Chuka Umunna (Streatham), Colleen Fletcher (Coventry North East), Conor McGinn (St Helens North), Dan Jarvis (Barnsley Central), Emma Reynolds (Wolverhampton North East), Frank Field (Birkenhead), Gareth Thomas (Harrow West), Geoffrey Robinson (Coventry North West), George Howarth (Knowsley), Gisela Stuart (Birmingham, Edgbaston), Gloria De Piero (Ashfield), Graham Jones (Hyndburn), Harriet Harman (Camberwell and Peckham), Heidi Alexander (Lewisham East), Helen Jones (Warrington North), Hilary Benn (Leeds Central), Holly Lynch (Halifax), Ian Austin (Dudley North), Jamie Reed (Copeland), Jenny Chapman (Darlington), Jim Dowd (Lewisham West and Penge), Jim Fitzpatrick (Poplar and Limehouse), Joan Ryan (Enfield North), John Spellar (Warley), John Woodcock (Barrow and Furness), Keith Vaz (Leicester East), Kevan Jones (North Durham), Kevin Barron (Rother Valley), Liz Kendall (Leicester West), Louise Ellman (Liverpool, Riverside), Luciana Berger (Liverpool, Wavertree), Lucy Powell (Manchester Central), Margaret Beckett (Derby South), Margaret Hodge (Barking), Maria Eagle (Garston and Halewood), Mary Creagh (Wakefield), Michael Dugher (Barnsley East), Neil Coyle (Bermondsey and Old Southwark), Pat McFadden (Wolverhampton South East), Peter Kyle (Hove), Phil Wilson (Sedgefield), Ruth Smeeth (Stoke-on-Trent North), Simon Danczuk (Rochdale), Siobhain McDonagh (Mitcham and Morden), Stella Creasy (Walthamstow), Stephen Doughty (Cardiff South and Penarth), Susan Elan Jones (Clwyd South), Tom Blenkinsop (Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland), Tom Watson (West Bromwich East), Tristram Hunt (Stoke-on-Trent Central), Vernon Coaker (Gedling), Wayne David (Caerphilly), Yvette Cooper (Normanton, Pontefract and Castleford),
The Blairite response to the snap election was to sharpen their knives in preparation for yet another chicken coup attempt.
You can identify Blairites by checking their voting record at theyworkforyou.com
REMEMBER!
Voting is only one, extremely limited way of influencing change. Your daily life choices have a more significant influence on the world around you. Your attitude, behaviour and spending habits carry more weight than our broken democracy.
If you must participate in party politics, be sure your candidate reflects your values, principles and ideals. If there is no candidate doing this in your constituency, lobby your least worst candidate on the issues that matter to you, or consider running yourself.
All power to those trying to repair Parliament, inside and out.
Whether you choose to participate or not, stay strong.
Don’t allow this broken system to break you.
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ALL Ann Narkeh’s doings are created and offered to the interwebz for FREE!
If you’re able, please consider making a contribution, thankyouplease.
The way I see it now, if I’m going to go to the trouble of campaigning, marching, demonstrating, protesting, occupying, blockading etc etc, it can’t hurt to tick one of their fucking little boxes every few years or so. Minimal effort for potentially significant grains of sand up the old mountain. Mutual aid for comrades like Lucas and Corbyn, who have consistently been there on the frontlines of so many struggles with us.
