It is urgently important to prevent a Republican administration under Romney/Ryan from taking office in January 2013.
The election is now just weeks away, and I want to urge those whose values are generally in line with mine — progressives, especially activists — to make this goal one of your priorities during this period.
Uzakwethu oyisishoshovu muva nje uthe kimi: “Ngizwa ukuthi weseka u-Obama.”
Ngethuka, ngacasuka. “Usekela u-Obama? Me?! "
"Angilahlekelwa yithuba esidlangalaleni," ngimtshele ngokucasuka, ukukhomba u-Obama njengethuluzi laseWall Street, indoda ehlukunyezwayo futhi isabambe iqhaza kukho, umbulali we-drone, umuntu osungule impi engqubuzana nomthethosisekelo, esekela ukuthumba nokungapheli. ukuvalelwa ngaphandle kokuquliswa kwecala, futhi useshushise ababizi abaningi njengami kunabo bonke omongameli bangaphambilini behlangene. “Ungakubiza lokho ukwesekwa?"
Umngane wami wathi, “Kodwa qhubeka Intando yeningi Manje you urged people in swing states to vote for him! How could you say that? I don’t live in a swing state, but I will not and could not vote for Obama under any circumstances.”
Impendulo yami yayiwukuthi: ukuphatha kukaRomney/Ryan bekungeke kube ngcono - akuhlukile - kunoma yimaphi amacala abucayi engisanda kuwabalula noma yini enye, futhi kungaba okubi kakhulu, kubi nakakhulu, ngenani lezinye izindaba ezibalulekile: ukuhlasela i-Iran, ukuqokwa kweNkantolo Ephakeme, umnotho, amalungelo abesifazane okuzala, ukuhlinzekwa kwezempilo, inethi yokuphepha, ukuguquka kwesimo sezulu, amandla aluhlaza, imvelo.
I told him: “I don’t ‘support Obama.’ I oppose the current Republican Party. This is not a contest between Barack Obama and a progressive candidate. The voters in a handful or a dozen close-fought swing states are going to determine whether UMitt Romney noPaul Ryan bazosebenzisa amandla amakhulu ezepolitiki iminyaka emine, mhlawumbe eyisishiyagalombili, noma cha."
Njengoba uNoam Chomsky esanda kusho, “Inhlangano yeRiphabhulikhi namuhla iyingozi kakhulu, hhayi nje kuleli lizwe, kodwa emhlabeni jikelele. Kufanelekile ukusebenzisa umzamo othile ukuvimbela ukuphakama kwabo emandleni, ngaphandle kokutshala imibono ekhohlisayo mayelana nezinye izindlela zeDemokhrasi. "
Ngemva kwalowo mqondo, watshela owayebuza imibuzo lokho umngane wami angizwa ngikusho ku-Amy Goodman: “Ukube bengingumuntu osesimeni esishintshashintshayo, bengizovotela uRomney/Ryan, okusho ukuvotela u-Obama ngoba ayikho enye indlela. .”
The election is at this moment a toss-up. That means this is one of the uncommon occasions when we progressives — a small minority of the electorate — could actually have a significant influence on the outcome of a national election, swinging it one way or the other.
The kuphela indlela yama-progressives namaDemocrats ukuvimba u-Romney esikhundleni, ngalolu suku, iwukuba ukunxenxa abantu abanele abasezifundeni eziguquguqukayo ukuthi bavotele u-Obama: not stay home, or vote for someone else. And that has to include, in those states, progressives and disillusioned liberals who are at this moment inclined not to vote at all or to vote for a third-party candidate (because like me they’ve been not just disappointed but disgusted and enraged by much of what Obama has done in the last four years and will probably keep doing).
Kufanele bancengwe ukuthi bavote, futhi bavotele u-Obama endaweni yempi hhayi omunye umuntu, naphezu the terrible flaws of the less-bad candidate, the incumbent. That’s not easy. As I see it, that’s precisely the “effort” Noam is referring to as worth expending khona manje to prevent the Republicans’ rise to power. And it will take progressives — some of you reading this, I hope — to make that effort of persuasion effectively.
It will take someone these disheartened progressives and liberals will listen to. Someone manifestly without illusions about the Democrats, someone who sees what they see when they look at the president these days: but who can also see through candidates Romney or Ryan on the split-screen, and keep their real, disastrous policies in focus.
It’s true that the differences between the major parties are not nearly as large as they and their candidates claim, let alone what we would want. It’s even fair to use Gore Vidal’s metaphor that they form two wings (“two right wings” as some have put it) of a single party, the Property or Plutocracy Party, or as Justin Raimondo says, the War Party.
Noma kunjalo, iqiniso lezombangazwe likhona kukhona amaphiko amabili ahlukene, futhi omunye mubi kakhulu kunomunye ngokwethembekile, okwamanje kubi kakhulu jikelele. Ukuphika noma ukwenza ngokunganaki lelo qiniso kusiza kuphela ukunqoba okubi kakhulu okungenzeka kuseduze, kodwa okugwemekayo okwamanje.
I-mantra yendabuko yomuntu wesithathu, “Kukhona cha umehluko omkhulu phakathi kwamaqembu amakhulu” kufana nokuthi: "AmaRiphabhulikhi awabi kakhulu, ngokuphelele.” And akunangqondo lokho. It constitutes shameless apologetics for the Republicans, however unintended. It’s crazily divorced from present reality.
And it’s not at all harmless to be propagating that absurd falsehood. It has the effect of encouraging progressives even in battleground states to refrain from voting or to vote in a close election for someone other than Obama, and more importantly, to influence others to act likewise. That’s an effect that serves no one but the Republicans, and ultimately the 1%.
It’s not merely understandable, it’s entirely appropriate to be enraged at Barack Obama. As I am. He has often acted outrageously, not merely timidly or “disappointingly.” If impeachment were politically imaginable on constitutional grounds, he’s earned it (like George W. Bush, and many of his predecessors!) It is entirely human to want to punish him, not to “reward” him with another term or a vote that might be taken to express trust, hope or approval.
But rage is not generally conducive to clear thinking. And it often gets worked out against innocent victims, as would be the case here domestically, if refusals to vote for him resulted in Romney’s taking key battleground states that decide the outcome of this election.
To punish Obama in this particular way, on Election Day — by depriving him of votes in swing states and hence of office in favor of Romney and Ryan — would punish most of all the poor and marginal in society, and workers and middle class as well: not only in the U.S. but worldwide in terms of the economy (I believe the Republicans could still convert this recession to a Great Depression), the environment and climate change. It could well lead to war with Iran (which Obama has been creditably resisting, against pressure from within his own party). And it would spell, via Supreme Court appointments, the end of Roe v. Wade and of the occasional five to four decisions in favor of the Constitution and Bill of Rights.
The reelection of Barack Obama, in itself, is not going to bring serious progressive change, end militarism and empire, or restore the Constitution and the rule of law. That’s for us and the rest of the people to bring about after this election and in the rest of our lives — through organizing, building movements and agitating.
In the eight to twelve close-fought states — especially Florida, Ohio, and Virginia, but also Colorado, Iowa, Michigan, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Wisconsin — for any progressive to encourage fellow progressives and others in those states to vote for a third-party candidate is, I would say, to be complicit in facilitating the election of Romney and Ryan, with all its consequences.
Ukucabanga ngalokho njengokunxusa abantu abasezindaweni eziguquguqukayo ukuthi “bavote onembeza babo”, ngiyakholwa, kuyiseluleko esidukisa ngokuyingozi. Ngingasho kumuntu othuthukayo ukuthi uma unembeza wakho ukutshela ngoSuku Lokhetho ukuthi uvotele omunye umuntu ngaphandle kuka-Obama endaweni yempi, udinga umbono wesibili. Unembeza wakho ukunika iseluleko esibi.
Ngivame ukucaphuna umugqa kaThoreau owaba nomthelela omkhulu kimina: “Faka ivoti lakho lonke: hhayi umugqa wephepha nje, kodwa ithonya lakho lonke.” Wayebhekisele, kuleyo ndatshana, ngokungalaleli komphakathi, noma njengoba ayibiza ngokuthi, “Resistance to Civil Authority.”
Kusasho lokho kimina. Kepha lona ngunyaka lapho kubantu abacabanga njengami - futhi labo, ngokungafani nami, abahlala ezifundeni zezinkundla zempi - ukuphonsa umugqa wephepha nakho kubalulekile. Ukusebenzisa wonke amandla akho kule nyanga ukuze wenze abanye benze lokho, kube nomphumela omuhle kakhulu, kubaluleke kakhulu.
Lokho kusho kwabathuthukayo emasontweni ambalwa ezayo - Ngaphezu kwalokho emibuthanweni, emibhikishweni, ezikhungweni zezikhalazo, ekunxenxeni abantu (ikakhulukazi ngokumelene nezinqubomgomo noma imigomo kaMongameli Obama, okuhlanganisa nesabelomali sokweqisa ngenyanga ezayo), ukwakhiwa kwenhlangano kanye nokungalaleli komphakathi okudingekayo unyaka wonke nonyaka - kusetshenziswa izwi lomuntu kanye ne-e- ama-mail nama-op-eds kanye nenkundla yezokuxhumana ukukhuthaza izakhamuzi ezisezifundeni ezinyakazayo ukuthi zivote ngokumelene nokunqoba kwe-Romney ngokuvotela okuwukuphela kwendlela yangempela, u-Barack Obama.
Daniel Ellsberg is a former State and Defense Department official who has been arrested for acts of non-violent civil disobedience over eighty times, initially for copying and releasing the top secret Pentagon Papers, for which he faced 115 years in prison. Living in a non-swing state, he does not intend to vote for President Obama.
I-ZNetwork ixhaswa kuphela ngokuphana kwabafundi bayo.
Nikela