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Jack Graham

Jack Graham writes and podcasts about culture and politics from a Gothic Marxist-Humanist perspective. He co-hosts the I Don't Speak German podcast with Daniel Harper. Support Jack on Patreon.

9 Comments

  1. Lucy McGough
    May 17, 2014 @ 9:07 am

    FWIW I was planning to vote Green too.

    Also, I worry about you. If everything and everyone is so awful, what makes it worth fighting for?

    Reply

  2. Gavin Burrows
    May 17, 2014 @ 12:49 pm

    “but my disbelief in the power of the vote is also why I disbelieve in the power of the non-vote”

    I think that's it's the fetish over the vote that finds its mirror in the fetish of the non-vote. The vote is so often raised as a prima facie proof of our “freedom”. (Even though, in my experience, the very people who make that argument will tell you seconds later they've never voted themselves and can't stand any politicians.) Which often leads to the counter-claim that the vote is an integral part of our oppression, the suggestion that people who vote are akin to collaborators and so on. I probably tended towards that sort of thinking in my younger days, sad to say.

    These days its more important to me that people see the vote for what it is than whether they then go and exercise it or not. At no great surprise to anyone, I'm going to argue that power lies with a political class rather than any specific building or institution. Clearly, Cameron's background would bestow power on him, irregardless of anything that voters did or didn't do. After that, voting becomes merely a tactical question.

    Personally, I'd have to say I don't really bother much with voting. I just can't see it achieving all that much. (Despite having one of the country's few sensible MPs, the Greens' Caroline Lucas.) But its not like I imagine non-voting is somehow going to bring the rotten system crashing down. There are more important things to do than voting. But then the same goes for non-voting.

    While criticisms of democracy largely focus on the paltry choice between parties, the process itself seems part of the problem to me. Its individualising to the point of alienating, the very opposite of a neighbourhood getting together to deciding what they'd like to see done. Voting is often even expressed in terms of consumption, like you're purchasing a party's services. The bad content and bad form go together.

    Reply

  3. Tallifer
    May 17, 2014 @ 6:50 pm

    If Green stands alone, and there are five Rightist parties, it sounds like the Left is more united and less divided. Looks good for the Left.

    Reply

  4. Gavin Burrows
    May 18, 2014 @ 6:52 am

    Well it can work that way. Some years ago, when the British National party were gunning for a breakthrough, the National Front developed a policy of running 'spolier' candidates against them. Sometimes your enemies do just decide to fight each other, and you can have a nice sit down and a cup of tea.

    But, this time, despite the bewildering array of these Rightist parties, with their endless variety of euphemisms for 'white', I don't think that will happen. Firstly, UKIP is such a front-runner among them that the others won't really make a dent. And, as is common, the problem with UKIP isn't their sweeping to power. It's the 'mainstream' parties simultaneously denouncing them while swiping their stances. (You have to say stances. You can't really describe UKIP as having policies.) Labour say things on immigration now that are almost interchangeable with UKIP.

    Reply

  5. Matthew Celestis
    May 18, 2014 @ 8:11 am

    I suspect the Greens would become a lot more neo-liberal if they achieved any more success.

    Even as a Tory, I sympathize with your disgust. I'm appalled by the way my party panders to the xenophobia and disguised racism of UKIP.

    I think part of the problem seems to be that Labour has shifted so far to the right that the Conservatives feel they have to move right-ward. I rather wish Labour would move to the Left, so we Tories can move back to the centre a bit.

    Reply

  6. varalys the dark
    May 19, 2014 @ 9:31 am

    Since moving to Macclesfield, a constituency that has remained Tory for nearly 100 years, I find myself unable to bother voting. The right wing paries do seem to be out in full, having been left alone by all parties for the eight years I have been here, UKip have stuffed several leaflets through my letterbox, which of course went right in the bin unread. I realise that as a woman, the spectre of Emmeline Pankhurst scolds me for my apathy, but lacking a extreme leftist candidate to vote for as I have in the past, I just have finally reached the "whats the bloody point" stage of political disenchantment.

    Reply

  7. Anonymous
    May 19, 2014 @ 12:11 pm

    I ended up choosing Green over Liberal Democrat, when I decided to look at their published policies regarding Europe to decide, and only the Green party website actually had their raw policies in some easy to find location.

    I tend not to pay quite so much attention to the left-right spectrum, even though it's clearly incredibly important, because economics is incredibly complicated, so my confidence in any opinions I have about it is low. Whereas on issues like Middle East wars, drug prohibition or national ID registers which put the last Labour government amongst my enemies, things seem very clear. But that might be an over-privileged position, worrying about ID cards when some people are losing their ability to feed themselves just because the latter is a more difficult problem and it's not right in my face personally.

    Reply

  8. Anonymous
    June 10, 2014 @ 5:26 am

    Voting Green

    Fuck the Greens. Fucking NuLabour 2.0

    Reply

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