Anarchist Group asks ‘Why bother voting?’

national | politics / elections | press release Wednesday June 03, 2009 15:11 by Workers Solidarity Movement

Anarchist organisation, Workers Solidarity Movement (WSM), has claimed that voting in Friday’s local, European and by-elections is a waste of time.

Anarchist Group asks ‘Why bother voting?’

Anarchist organisation, Workers Solidarity Movement (WSM), has claimed that voting in Friday’s local, European and by-elections is a waste of time.

Claiming that it is impossible to bring about any meaningful change in society through the electoral process, WSM’s national secretary Gavin Gleeson said ‘The top 1% of the Irish population owns 20% of the wealth. This will still be the case no matter who gets elected.”

“All of the main political parties have economic policies that are virtually identical,” Gleeson continued. “None of them has any intention of doing anything about the huge gap in wealth. And even those parties on the left who claim to be in favour of wealth re-distribution know that it is impossible to do so without a fundamental shift in the power relationships that currently exist. Worldwide, the shots are called by big business and the wealthy elite – and they’re not going to give up their privileged position just because the rest of us vote for them to do so.”

“What is important is not who is elected to govern us but how governable we allow ourselves to be. If we are to bring about real change, we need to organise for that change.”

The Workers Solidarity Movement has produced a series of stickers and posters with their anti-election message which are downloadable from their website www.wsm.ie. Among the slogans featured on the stickers and posters are ‘If elections changed anything, they’d be made illegal’ and ‘You don’t need an election to tell who really runs this country’.

“It’s clear we have an extremely unpopular government,” Gleeson concluded. “But rather than electing a different crowd of politicians to rule over us, we’d prefer to see people getting involved in campaigns and protests against government policy, and taking back some of the power over our own lives. Direct Action is what’s needed, not meaningless elections."

ENDS

For further information contact Workers Solidarity Movement National Secretary Gavin Gleeson on 085 1368737.

Note: The Workers Solidarity Movement is an anarchist organisation with branches in Dublin, Belfast and Cork and members in several other areas around Ireland. WSM produces a bi-monthly newspaper ‘Workers Solidarity’, distributing 10,000 of each issue, and a magazine ‘Red & Black Revolution’. WSM members are active in a wide range of trade union and community campaigns. Visit our website www.wsm.ie to find out more about us.