And just when I've discovered the joys of anarchy!
I didn't vote yesterday. My name is not registered as one who went out of their way to endorse the current system. I do democracy every day - publishing the Street Newz, organizing radio shows for CFUV, updating this blog (not that anyone reads it anyways), supporting my activist friends who climb trees, march in rallies, organize peaceful non-violent protests to express our outrage at the massive expensive elitist party next year in Whistler. I buy local, organic, non-corporate, and vegan. I chose not to endorse the dominant political scene because I'm tired of being disappointed, I don't like the rage and hatred it evokes in me and, most importantly, I do not want to be on record as one who endorses the current system.
The current system is founded on theft and murder. Plain and simple. Colonialist ancestors, not unlike those now invading Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan etc., moved to this land, decided the people here weren't doing it right, went about torturing and killing them, and then established a system of government designed to ensure their right to murder and steal , legitimizing their reign of terror.
Yesterday, I refused to endorse that system.
Nay-sayers will argue that people died for my 'right' to participate. Did they? I say that people died alright, but not for my right to change anything. They died, and continue to die, for a system rooted in, and which hasn't swayed far from, sanctioned theft and murder. Marking a piece of paper every four years, to endorse that system, does not a democracy make.
It's not democracy at all, in fact. It's a hierarchy - hierarchies are inherently undemocratic. It's a cult - cults insist on 100% participation, and denounce anybody who doesn't join as evil.
If i had time/resources, I think I'd create a documentary about why so many increasing people around the world refuse to participate. Are they just lazy? Don't they care? Or are they, like me, aware that it's all a farce, a trap, a way to ensure complicity in their imperialist game?
If we end up with compulsory voting, I'll likely end up in jail. I do democracy every day. Go climb a tree in an unprotected forest, blow the whistle on what's happening inside BC Hydro, organize a Health Cooperative, lobby for publically funded schools, and I'll do whatever I can to support you. But I will not sanction a structure founded on theft and murder.
