It’s 2008, and the writing is on the wall–it’s “vote or die” as we enter the “most critical election year in recent memory.” Everywhere we turn, we are told to vote for a candidate that has made a litany of grandiose (or not so grandiose) proclamations and promises. We’re told to fall behind a particular candidate–often chosen by the media before the people even get a voice–to bring about the ever elusive “change” that we all know is needed. Stale and poorly written “policies”–reducing lives to numbers–by candidates hand-picked from the elite who will never address the oppression that so many of us face in our daily struggles.

Unfortunately, if we stop and think about it–it’s pretty unlikely that one candidate is going to bring about a major change in society. In a world plagued by systemic problems–war, poverty, racism, sexism, and homophobia–it is unlikely that a candidate is going to address any of these issues. And, deep down, we know they won’t. For decades–despite the millions of dollars and hours spent on the presidential elections–things have been getting progressively worse. Yet, every four years we do the same thing, we reduce our politics– and what we hold in our hearts–into a choice between two–maybe three–candidates for president.

We’ve put an extraordinary amount of energy into elections. We’ve put our faith and energy into checking boxes and pulling levers, reducing our idea of political involvement to just voting. However, the inefficiency of voting is clear. We can vote once, twice, maybe three times a year–but we can organize within our communities and act anytime–anywhere. Moreover, as a tactic that is relied on almost exclusively–voting has not been particularly successful. The history of social struggle in the United States teaches us that major victories–from the labor movement to the Civil Rights movement–were won in the streets, not at the ballot box. We’ve forgotten the innumerable and creative ways that we can change the world and in the process have forgotten that voting by itself is not activism. Radical change comes from struggle, organizing, and movement building–it comes from the grassroots, not from politicians.

This year, it’s time to break out of the ballot box. Let’s push ourselves in new directions. But first, let’s be clear that we’re not telling you not to vote–and we’re not telling you to vote, either. Instead, we’re asking you–as an individual, as part of a community, as part of an activist group, or as someone who just has a hunch that things need to change drastically–to think about how we can transform ourselves, our communities, and our world for the better. With so much focus on the elections, how can we encourage folks to get involved beyond simply voting? Can we strategically use popular movements to pressure candidates and demand more? How can we build a new world? Is it even possible for our current system to incorporate all of our ideas for change–and do we even want it to?

These questions–along with countless others–are on our minds. ACTIVATE–as a group of folks who have been involved in organizing around the Iraq War for nearly two years–is thinking about how we can strategically use the election year to expand the idea of participation, achieve real change, and build a movement infrastructure that exists well beyond the so-called “campaign season.” We’re open to ideas, thoughts, and criticism–and we’ll say more about our plans in the future.

For now, let’s all remember that our dreams will never fit in their ballot boxes.

In Solidarity,
- ACTIVATE (Grand Rapids SDS) – www.activategr.org