If Voting Made Any Real Difference, They Wouldn’t Let Us Do It
Liberal Bourgeois democracy, often celebrated as a bastion of freedom and equality, is a facade that conceals systemic exploitation and inequality. The West masquerades as champions of human rights and democracy while perpetuating imperialist violence, death, and destruction. Liberalism, at its core, is an economic system of deregulation and privatization controlled by a wealthy few (the ruling class).
The idea of Western liberal democracy and its values—rooted in imperialism, genocide, enslavement, and the plundering of indigenous land—is the engine that drives U.S. and European support of Israel’s settler-colonial project. The truth is that "Israeli democracy" has been a lie justifying occupation and the brutal theft of Palestinian land since 1948, precisely as the US justifies the land theft from indigenous peoples by European colonizers on Turtle Island. Zionism, as an extension of liberalism, relies on anti-Palestinian racism, Islamophobia, and white supremacy to sustain its colonial imperialist project. This underscores the extent to which liberal values underpin and justify ongoing settler-colonialism and imperialist violence globally.
Voting in the U.S. gives legitimacy to an illegitimate system. The U.S. electoral system exemplifies these contradictions. Rather than representing a true democracy, it serves as a mechanism for maintaining the power of oligarchs and kleptocrats. The Electoral College and the barriers faced by third-party candidates ensure the preservation of the status quo, effectively silencing dissident voices and reinforcing existing power structures. This illusion of choice distracts from real revolutionary community organizing, compelling anti-imperialists to waste so much energy debating which candidate to support, ignoring that true revolutionary change remains unattainable through electoral means.
Celebrities are complicit in this illusion, endorsing politicians who uphold the imperialist system. Figures like Taylor Swift, Beyoncé, and Bad Bunny become pawns in this political theater, using their influence to normalize the oppressive status quo. Their involvement is not a progressive force but a pacifying tool that makes systemic violence more palatable to the public under the guise of diversity and inclusion. This "intersectional imperialism" attempts to disguise genocidal policies with diverse faces, masking the imperialist actions behind a veneer of progressiveness. Celebrities are tools of the ruling class. They are pawns used to distract us from the US-funded genocidal crimes. Just as these politicians pay lip service, saying they are for the people and that they are for justice, celebrities must not be looked up to as role models. They provide cultural cover for the horrors of imperialism.
Voting in the U.S., whether for the lesser of two evils or third-party and independent candidates, is a containment strategy designed to convince people in the U.S. that imperialist violence can be stopped by voting. This notion is misguided. Thinking that these parties can reform a system built on blood and genocide is pure political theater, providing false hope and integrating dissent into the system rather than challenging its foundations. By voting, you're saying you accept the current system. Abstention is a legitimate political stance to take in the face of such overwhelming collusion and corruption.
Politicians are not saviors. No savior is coming to save the people. It is now, and has only ever been, the people who can save themselves. As Che Guevara said, "Liberators do not exist. The people liberate themselves." We must abandon the savior complex and the need for “heroes” to “save us.” Revolutionary community organizing is far more powerful and will bring about far more change than any type of vote. It’s time to focus on building power and operating outside the system. This includes speaking out publicly and loudly against imperialism wherever it rears its ugly head, transferring your money out of criminal banks, boycotting corrupt institutions, abandoning celebrity culture, and even eating locally and organically is a revolutionary act. The less energy we give into the system, the less influential and effective it becomes.
The reality is that no matter who gets elected, these politicians are bought by the ruling class and pledged to keep the fascist police state in power. Western society is stuck on a never-ending loop, still believing that voting will change the system. If voting made any real difference, they wouldn’t let us do it. The imperialist system cannot be reformed, and revolutionaries have a personal responsibility to move outside the system and dismantle it.
International institutions, such as the United Nations and the International Criminal Court (ICC), extend this hypocrisy on a global scale. These bodies, products of liberal Western democracy, selectively enforce human rights, targeting non-Western leaders while turning a blind eye to the atrocities committed by Western powers. The ICC's focus on leaders from Africa and adversaries of the West, while ignoring the crimes of Western vassals like Israel, highlights the biased and imperial nature of these institutions. The ICC has been unable to enforce international law and put an end to the genocide, proving their impotence for real liberation. ICC prosecutor Karim Khan even admitted, “This court is built for Africa and for thugs like Putin,” underscoring the selective justice these institutions dispense.
Hamas did not start a revolution against the Zionist occupation by voting, just like we do not need to rely on elections to bring about the downfall of the murderous U.S. empire. Change is not coming from the top down; it happens from the bottom up. Instead of worrying about elections, challenge yourself to join a principled organization, get out into the streets, and take direct action against imperialists and their institutions. It’s time people realized that we have power and that we don’t need politicians to use it.
The Bronx Antiwar Coalition rejects the reformist path of electoralism and embraces revolutionary community organizing and direct action. We must organize our communities to resist imperialism and foster self-sufficiency. This involves radical political education and the normalization of armed resistance against imperialism. Our critiques are not limited to liberalism but extend to all ideologies that support imperialism, including progressivism, conservatism, anarchism, and “democratic socialism.” Each of these ideologies, in their own way, sustains capitalist-imperialist power structures.
Martyred Hamas leader Yahya Al-Sinwar poignantly stated, "Life under occupation is nothing but a permanent prison." This reality extends beyond occupied territories to life under capitalism and imperialism, especially for working-class and non-white communities. These systems create an environment of perpetual oppression and exploitation, akin to a permanent prison for those trapped within their confines.
The global spread of liberal values, wrapped in consumerism and individualism, is another tool of imperialism. By imposing a monoculture that prioritizes egoism and hedonism, Western liberal democracy seeks to maintain global hegemony. This cultural imperialism is enforced through censorship and the persecution of anti-imperialist voices, ensuring that dissent is stifled and control is maintained.
Zionism is a genocidal death cult, and Zionism is Western liberal democracy. They are the same and perpetuate global inequality and oppression. As revolutionaries, we must challenge this system at its core by focusing our energies on revolutionary community organizing and direct action while advocating for a multipolar world.
