NEW IN ENGLISH & SPALabor, Nature, and the Evolution of Humanity: The L

Tuesday, August 28, 2012

"The need to support Obama because of the historic development his election represented"

A current example of [half-hearted] support for an imperialist U.S. president based upon identity politics:

I am firmly opposed to lesser-evilism and voting for the candidates of the two imperialist parties (while respecting that many in the African American community feel the need to support Obama because of the historic development his election represented).

Elections don't bring about radical social change; that happens in the streets. I think it is fine to vote for a socialist or progressive Third Party candidate if you want to. In that case I would choose Peta Lindsey [sic] of PSL.

More urgent, though, is the need to build a real alternative to the bourgeois electoral system. I urge you to check out the National Call for a People's Power Assembly, which we will be building at the RNC and DNC protests.

[Source]

The "Peoples' Power Assembly" sounds, given the lack of a general rise in the tempo of working class resistance, like the utopia of a party [Workers World Party] which felt unable to run a candidate, but realizes they must intervene in bourgeois elections in some way at this late date.  Examining the list of endorsers for the "National Call To Create, Build & Multiply People's Power Assemblies" reveals all are political allies pf Workers World Party or actual party members signing the petition on behalf of their unions or WWP Popular Front-type groups.

Still, it is hard to dispute this:


Regardless of what button or lever is chosen in the elections, the primary factor in ensuring change is action and struggle. The eight-hour workday, Social Security, Civil Rights, the right to vote, unionization, Unemployment Insurance — every pro­gressive law or right was won and secured through struggle in the streets. In this period, the Occupy Wall Street movement opened the door, but it's just the beginning. More is necessary to widen and sustain the rebellion against the 1%'s "take no prisoners" war on the rest of us.

A higher level of organization is called for: a block to block, neighborhood to neighborhood, city to city, state to state, region to region approach; a national network of ­People's Assemblies — assemblies designed to empower at every level, that take up the interests of working people, especially the most disenfranchised, assemblies that defend our rights and fight for real democracy, assemblies where the least of us is made whole by a deepening social contract that puts working people's needs and rights before the interests of the wealthy, corporations and financial institutions.

Such an organization would be the highest expression of democracy. The People's Power Assemblies are the vehicles through which we struggle, whether it is defending a home -owner from eviction, occupying a school from being closed, seizing vacant property, fighting against racism, sexism or LGBT oppression.




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