Excepts for the anti link nerds

PARIS—“Do I really have to answer that question? I’m certainly not voting for the person leading the Republican Party.” That was the response of communist icon Angela Davis when a journalist asked about her intentions for the 2024 U.S. election at the festival of l’Humanité, the newspaper of the French Communist Party, this weekend.

“When Obama was elected, that was a very important victory,” Davis said when asked about the advance of Black political figures in the U.S. “It was not a victory in relation to what he actually accomplished during his presidency, but rather what was significant was that young people organized and accomplished something that was considered to be impossible.

“When we engage in electoral politics, it can’t be just because a particular individual is running for office,” Davis told the crowd, “it is to enlarge the terrain of mass struggle, to guarantee a space for the trade union movement to win victories, for the women’s movement to win victories, for people of color to win victories, for working and poor people to win victories.

“That’s why we urge people to vote, isn’t it?” she asked before turning to the audience with a smile and saying, “You know that here in France for sure.”

Referencing the struggle to save democracy from Macron and Le Pen, Davis said of the French people, “You—especially you—understand the necessity of pushing back against the ultra-right.”

Davis emphasized the historical importance of Harris being the Democratic candidate. “Black women are so marginalized in society that Kamala’s candidacy means something spiritually to Black women.

“But when you reach that level,” nominee of one of the two major parties, “you have to be the face of capitalism, militarism, and neo-colonialism.” Harris, Davis warned, “has told us she will be that face, that she will build the most lethal military apparatus ever.”

As dangerous as that reality is, however, Davis said, “There’s more to think about: Harris is not a fascist, and the other person running for president is.” That’s why she said there’s “no question about who progressive people should vote for” in the U.S. election. Trump, whom she never mentioned by name, must be defeated, but getting Harris into office isn’t the end of the road.

“It’s not just about electing Kamala Harris,” Davis again said, “it’s about opening space for those of us who are more radical than Kamala Harris to put the pressure for change, especially in the first place when it comes to the genocide in Palestine.”

When the black panther goat becomes a “vote for genocide” lib kitty-birthday-sad

    • HamManBad [he/him]@hexbear.net
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      2 months ago

      Right, but the movements and organizations capable of fixing anything don’t really exist yet, so organizing outside of electoralism requires a level of faith in “the party that is to come”, which is hard for most people (even well-read Marxists!)

      The only thing keeping me going is my experience dealing with exponential growth. The movements that do exist might not seem to be growing fast enough, but I know that at a critical moment the exponential growth will pay off, and they will rapidly begin to meet the scale of the problem. But most people looking at socialist and working class movements in the US right now might conclude that it’s hopeless, and that trying to create anything new will take too long.