Anarchists around the country are voting for Kerry and against war

Anarchists around the country are voting for Kerry and against war

While there are many anarchists who maintain the traditional line of refusing to vote arguing that voting both legitimizes and strengthens the state - there is a growing number of anarchists who are voting and engaging in electoral politics on local, state and national levels. Right now there are anarchists around the country working in swing states and preparing to get out the vote in an effort to defeat the neocon agenda and send a message to the world that the people of the US do not support the policies of the Bush Administration. This is a sample of recent essays from long-time anarchists Utah Phillips and Starhawk as well as two recent essays that I wrote. Starhawk and I are both strongly encouraging anarchists and left/radicals around the country to either decide to vote and vote Kerry or change their vote from Nader and vote Kerry. In swing states, the race is so close that 200-500 anarchists and radicals voting or changing their votes from Nader to Kerry could change history.

**Voting for the First Time**
A Conversation With Utah Phillips
From the Nation
by Carolyn Crane

Utah Phillips is a folk singer who tours the United States, delighting audiences with his outlandish stories and challenging them with the ruthless honesty of his insights. A veteran of the US Army who served in Korea, he rode the trains for years after coming home in despair from what he'd witnessed overseas. He met Ammon Hennacy in Utah at the Joe Hill House for Transients and Migrants and discovered anarchy and pacifism.

http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20041025&s=crane

**Be the Wind: On the Upcoming Elections**
by Starhawk

The stakes are really high right now. And the future is very unclear. It seems likely the outcome of the elections will be a cliff hanger until the very end. Bush could win. Kerry could win. Bush could try to manipulate, steal, or subvert the outcome. His forces could manufacture a last-minute surprise—unearth Bin Laden, say, or stage a terrorist attack. They could even try to postpone or cancel elections altogether. After all, this particular gang of thugs has for decades plotted, planned, schemed, manipulated and murdered to consolidate their power—why should they let it go for anything as simple as a fair election?

http://www.starhawk.org/activism/activism-writings/election_04.html

**For a Democratic Vision to Fight Empire**
by Chris Crass
from Left Turn Magazine #14

How do we use the Presidential election to not only advance our politics and build our organizations and movements, but also deliver a measurable blow to US imperialist power? This is the question I hear over and over again.

http://www.leftturn.org/Articles/Viewer.aspx?id=559&type=M

**Beyond Voting: anarchist organizing, electoral politics and developing strategy for liberation**
by Chris Crass
From Clamor magazine

Presidential elections are often the terrain on which radicals and anarchists debate the merits of electoral politics. This election season is no different. Social movements around the world and in the United States are declaring Bush's defeat at the ballot box a top priority. As radicals, we have consistently opposed the policies of the Bush administration and have mobilized our opposition repeatedly to the wars on Afghanistan and Iraq. We know that the Democratic Party shares the majority of the Republican Party's platform. Both candidates represent ruling class worldviews and institutions of domination. What do we do?

http://colours.mahost.org/articles/crass17.html

Many of us are also working to build for Nov. 3rd actions as well
beyondvoting.org