18
Voting is Not Harm Reduction – An Indigenous Perspective
(www.indigenousaction.org)
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I'll start by saying that I don't totally disagree with your points. I think a simple blanket statement like "don't vote" is wholely harmful, and only serves to perpetuate apathy and further oppression.
That said, the message here is plainly more than calling for people to abstain from voting. Its a call for militant direct action, which electoralism serves to pacify.
I don't think I can express it more eloquently than the author, and I don't think that a particular excerpt can do justice to the point, but this part seems salient.
One person devoting their time, energy, and organizational capacity to liberation can do more to help their community than any number of people voting for a lesser evil chosen by the oppressors.
The point is not to dissuade leftists from voting, it's to persuade them to take action. In the case of Indigenous Action that isn't a vague call to action either. There's active resistance in need of material support on Turtle Island currently.
I am on-board with taking multiple strategies, any political strategy that categorically ignores electoralism or militant direct action are likely making some kind of strategic error. However, this zine does not take that position. Some more context around the quote you provided, first it is under a heading:
The surrounding context of the quote:
They are saying we shouldn't ignore the problem that voting is supposed to reduce harm from, but directly address it with direct action. It is not saying we should still vote and participate in electoralism. Nowhere in this zine is it implied voting is any form of legitimate political action, and everywhere it implies it is 1. unhelpful and 2. wrong.
For example:
Even if I agree that voting won't undo colonialism, white supremacy, patriarchy, and capitalism it is clear that voting can reduce the harm of this system by avoiding some electoral outcomes and prioritizing others. This zine would be in a much stronger position if it were willing to take a slightly more nuanced position that voting should merely not be the top priority or focus for political action, which seems exceedingly reasonable and well grounded, but instead it argues the absurd position that voting and participating in electoralism can show any benefit or lessen any harm.
I can understand frustration with liberals and the dominant prevailing political culture in the U.S. which makes voting seem like the only legitimate form of politics, and so perhaps they feel the need to exaggerate or take a more extreme position as a counter-weight, but it needlessly weakens the position and will only effectively work as rhetoric for insiders who largely already agree and who will simply entrench themselves in symbolic positions like this against good sense, which primarily fractures the left and makes coalition-forming more difficult. I'm not calling for blind, authoritarian left-unity but politics are too important to not be smart and strategic, and I don't see arguing for not voting as the zine encourages helps on any front. The value and necessity of direct action can be demonstrated adequately without making a case that voting cannot reduce harm.