Tuesday

A post-election confession from an unrepentant and disgruntled anarchist

As the recent presidential election has now (finally!) drawn to a close, I believe it is time to discuss the recent events to better understand what collectively happened. After the election results, it became very clear that a majority of Americans were ready for different leadership in the White House. The unfettered war in Iraq, Afghanistan, and (in light of the recent findings by The New York Times) other secret locations, the global state of the economy, and the sense of despair after the reign of the Bush regime, most people were ready for different leadership. The new darling dandy of the liberal and progressive Left in this country is a former state senator from Illinois, who happens to be African American.

As an activist, scholar, and an anarchist, the spectacle of the U.S. elections caused me nothing more than serious despair over the entire process. When I informed colleagues and friends that I would not be participating in this year’s electoral madness, I was met with funny looks, glares, gasps, and general puzzlement. The idea that someone would choose, willingly, to not participate was akin to committing a grievous crime against democracy. This is doubly true as my role as a social studies educator here at the Warner School. However, I want to include a quote by David Blaine, an anarchist from the U.K., in a recent list-serv discussion on the election of Barack Obama:

I really don’t get how the blatant co-optation of black/working class/’grassroots’ struggle as a means by which to accumulate huge (State) power over the (US and international) working class can be anything other than a huge cause for despair. Those TV images of the public cheering in the street just made me realize how far we are from a society organized around (collective) self-determination; and how easy it is for the state to switch personnel and suddenly for everyone to be in love with it again. And to be honest, I really don’t see how anarchists can find some source of hope in the whole ridiculous spectacle…

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