#even if you cant bring yourself to vote for biden (which i understand. i really do)

[theygender]

Washington Post: Trump and allies planning militarized mass deportations, detention camps - February 21 2024

I really think people have forgotten just how bad things were under the Trump Administration. Literally every day there was news about some service being cut or someone terrible appointed somewhere they shouldn't be or what have you. He constantly flirted with WW3 and military dictatorship. It was such a blur of badness that there aren't big standouts for people to point to to make him "the XYZ president." it was everything. all the time. Why do we not remember this.

[pixeljade]

Finally. Someone I can actually respect on the other side. But here, you're misrepresenting our side, so let me try to explain:

Hi. I'm (like you) a frontlines activist. Have been for nearly 20 years now, protesting every injustice you can think of during that time, organizing unions, call campaigns, even action I cant speak of in public. I've also read tons of theory, including radical stuff like the works of Marx, Malatesta, even the EZLN proclamations. And I agree that voting will never bring about meaningful change! Biden will never dismantle the systems which enrich him and the rest of the liberals and conservatives. Not to mention that he's actively funding this horrific genocide, even going around congress's back to do so. He's fucking disgusting and I hate his guts.

And I'm still in favor of voting for him.

Because here's the thing: you, and all the activists like you, are treating voting 1) like its an endorsement of his actions, and 2) like its a zero-sum game. Like an action is only useful if it brings about mass change. And 3) like voting is some major intrusion into the other activities we've both listed, and can both agree are infinitely more effective most of the time!

Regarding issue 1, it's simply not true. I understand how people view it as an endorsement, you're saying "hey i want this guy to be president!", right? But you're actually not. Elections are more complex than this, you could be voting AGAINST someone moreso than you're voting FOR someone! When its a two-party election, this is ALL the more true. You have two options for who becomes president, really, and if one guy loses, it means the other guy wins. The other guy in this case being Donald Trump who has not only been incredibly pro-Israel himself, but has *openly stated he is planning to punish any dissenters under his administration if he wins*! Now ask yourself, how much fucking use do you think your protests will be when all of you are in fucking jail? Point is, voting against Trump is in itself a form of activism. And considering that our two-party system suppresses third parties, voting for one of those would be effectively meaningless. Yeah, you could do it as a protest vote, or abstain in protest maybe, but those options have been done by countless people every election in recent memory. I'm sorry, its simply not going to work.

For point 2, I urge everyone to look what Biden HAS done that's good. None of it makes up for genocide! Let me repeat that: Joe Biden is a fucking bastard for all time and he could suddenly grant us all free healthcare and give us the stimulus money he promised and even give us each a free pony and it would still not make his genocidal actions okay. Nobody is saying that. But what we are saying is that he HAS done things which have been ENABLING WORKER POWER and EASING THE DIFFICULTIES OF THE POOR constantly since he took office! Which, if you think strategically, and again take into account who our other option is, then it's worth it simply because it makes it marginally easier for us to organize. So combining with point 1, our narrative becomes: its a choice between a military dictatorship and a man who will make things slightly easier for us to organize.

Point 3, though, is what this whole thing has been about mostly! Your side saying that its far more useful to do things like protest and whatnot, and our side saying its better to just vote. And I'll admit the "firebombing a walmart" example is a gross reduction of your side's options, but I think that comment is illustrating our actual point: that an action which IS truly capable of as much change as voting during the actual election day is unlikely. See, look at the summary at the end of point 2. We're not just making it marginally easier to organize by voting for Biden, we're also preventing it from getting MUCH MUCH HARDER! Of course, voting wont solve all our problems, and anyone who says it does is a neolib dumbfuck, but it DOES solve the problem of "Whether Or Not We Go To Jail Just For Tweeting Against The Will Of Trump"! Now, that's gonna be USELESS if we don't protest and even maybe RIOT while we've got Biden in office, but that's why I say your side is misrepresenting mine: NONE OF US (at least anyone left of Hillary Clinton) ARE SAYING TO JUST VOTE! Look at me! I vote on that one day (and it really only takes one day, even at worst), and then I get out and organize to not only limit this vile genocide but also to tear down the very system which enables it all. THAT'S the thing is, unless we are going to jump out there and firebomb a walmart, starting the revolution in a blaze of glory (which lets be clear here, is a ridiculous fantasy), ALL of the work we do will be incremental. Any protest will be a small step, just like voting will be. But when Trump's on the ballot? Its a way to keep that from being a step BACKWARDS. THAT'S what my side is saying. Not some bullshit apologism for Genocide Joe, not some claim that voting will somehow save us all, it is simply saying that its a good idea if we dont want to fall back into black bloc, fighting nazis who are marching with tiki torches in the streets and *literally killing protestors and getting away with it*. As someone who was there, on the streets during all that??? Who had several people I know die from Trump's actions???? Fuck anyone who thinks this Biden era is the same shit. Biden's nowhere near as bad as Trump.

So look. I know we all hate Joe Biden. I sure as fuck do. But I'm gonna go vote for his vile genocidal ass not because I think he's okay, but because THE OTHER GUY IS SO SO SO MUCH WORSE. So PLEASE consider that its worth it to choke down our pride for one day and vote for the lesser evil, and for gods sake please stop acting like those of us who say stuff like this are apologists. I dont think thats fair to us, and if you stop then I'll stop the "walmart firebombing" thing. Is that a deal?

Frustrates me to no end seeing people say “what’s your alternative to voting blue? Stage a revolution right now? This second? Get real, you’re posting on your computer instead of firebombing walmarts.” I don’t think that you understand what people are actually doing. I know for myself, I’ve been reading more history and theory than I ever have before. I’ve been marching. I’ve been getting involved with labor activism. I’ve been doing strategic research. I’ve tried to archive and share resources. I’ve watched other people do WAY more than I ever have or probably could. I’ve seen people occupy arms manufacturing sites and hold wildcat strikes and disrupt daily life as much as possible. We’ve all seen this happening at unprecedented levels for months now. And most of all, I’ve seen Palestinians telling us, rightfully full of anger, do not ever go back to how things were before. Do not turn away from what’s happening and your own complicity in it.

This is not something that we can vote our way out of. Our state is built on the same violence being inflicted on the people of Palestine. We helped to build Israel. We are still arming it and funding the “war” right now. Even the most half hearted measures from international bodies like the UN to take the bare minimum of a stance against genocide are quashed by the US. As they always have been, our power and resources are used to reinforce imperial and colonial hegemony. That remains the same no matter who is sitting in the Oval Office. And so does our own struggle for liberation. Meaningful change is never, ever going to come from within. We force the change to happen, as we always have.

If you can understand intersectionality, then surely you can understand this: we are not going to free ourselves by sacrificing colonized people. You may vote blue, and for you it could be a matter of life and death. Believe me, as a poor disabled person in a red state who almost killed myself over medical debt, I know the stakes. But I think you have to own the fact that you are empowering perpetrators of genocide and breaking solidarity with colonized people, not even to liberate yourself, but just to bargain with the oppressor for your life. That Palestinians and everyone else who we have harmed are going to be angry and they are more than within their rights. Instead of deflecting by just assuming that no one else is capable of putting their money where their mouth is and actually trying to lay groundwork for change, just do whatever you feel you have to do and sit with the reality of the situation.

Palestine will be free, we will be free, the whole world will someday be free. But for now, this is where we are, and we won’t free ourselves by operating like crabs in a bucket. Get organized, take care of each other, commit to solidarity. Empower yourself and each other rather than the state.