Angela Davis: Electing Harris will open space for more radical struggles
www.peoplesworld.org
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.

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

  • Riffraffintheroom [none/use name]@hexbear.netEnglish
    73·
    2 months ago

    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.”

    How is she not saying this sarcastically? How can this not be received sarcastically by French communists whose elected party just got ratfucked?

  • miz [any, any]@hexbear.netEnglish
    57·
    2 months ago

    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.”

    yeah and what happened? electoralism got a right wing PM appointed by Macron. this is pathetic garbage, Davis really fell off. no Marxist should be using “save democracy” rhetoric about a bourgeois state. just worthless

    • Sodium_nitride@lemmygrad.mlEnglish
      5·
      2 months ago

      I seriously don’t understand anymore what liberals think fascism even is if not this. And I used to be lib myself.

  • FunkyStuff [he/him]@hexbear.netEnglish
    47·
    2 months ago

    hesitation-1

    “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.”

    To what end? To continue the brutalization of Africa, South America, the Pacific, etc. under the new shining sun of a Black president?

    “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."

    Funny she should say that Kamala L3Harris would enlarge the terrain of mass struggle. Maybe starting WW3 and helping Israel annex Lebanon and Syria are enlarging the terrain of mass struggle? Lenin told us to turn the imperialist conflict into class conflict, and Davis is being incredibly myopic not to see how the imperialist rhetoric here does the opposite, distracting the American masses from their exploitation by aligning them against America’s geopolitical enemies, the workers of exploited periphery nations.

    It’s shameful that someone so respected is missing the forest for the trees so hard. Kill your heroes.

    • ReadFanon [any, any]@hexbear.netEnglish
      14·
      2 months ago

      Don’t vote for people who Huey would have shot, don’t vote for people who would have Huey shot.

      It’s pretty simple. How does she not grasp this?

  • Infamousblt [any]@hexbear.netEnglish
    36·
    2 months ago

    I kinda agree! Electing Harris will make the world a worse place than it would otherwise be, which will force people to engage in more radical struggle!

  • miz [any, any]@hexbear.netEnglish
    36·
    2 months ago

    what was significant was that young people organized and accomplished something that was considered to be impossible.

    lol yes I’m sure the fact that the CIA wanted their man Barack in the white house (as Bush cratered in his second term and people wanted accountability) had nothing to do with it. what a rube

  • Lenins_Cat_Reincarnated@hexbear.netEnglish
    26·
    2 months ago

    Honestly it takes constant work to not get sucked into the lib hole because it’s just so dominant in every part of our culture. I struggle with it too.

    • HamManBad [he/him]@hexbear.netEnglish
      13·
      2 months ago

      Also, the fact that there’s no actual left party with any sort of popular base makes it hard to avoid the gravitational pull of the most “left” party allowed to us by capital. People want to support an actual organization without doing third party crank shit, it’s a hard position

        • HamManBad [he/him]@hexbear.netEnglish
          6·
          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.