Democracy

Voter Suppression Has Haunted The United States Since It Was Founded

August 23, 2020 Amy McKeever, National Geographic. Educate! 2020 Election, Democracy, Voter Suppression, Voting Rights

In 1787, the Founding Fathers wrestled over how to address suffrage in the U.S. Constitution. At the time, voting was restricted to wealthy white landowners. The framers debated whether it should be extended to commoners who had joined arms with them in the American Revolution, but who might overrule their interests. Ultimately, the question was punted to the states in Article I, Section 4, of the Constitution, which declares: “The times, places and manner of holding elections for Senators and Representatives, shall be prescribed in each state by the legislature thereof; but the Congress may at any time by law make or alter such regulations.” By not giving U.S. citizens an explicit constitutional right to vote, the Founding Fathers effectively decoupled voting rights from citizenship and denied those whom states barred from voting any recourse through the federal government.

Bolivia: The Scream Of Áñez Out!

August 18, 2020 Ángel Guerra Cabrera, La Jornada. Resist! Bolivia, Democracy, US coup, US Imperialism

Áñez Out is the main demand of the current popular protest mobilization in Bolivia. Barely a week ago the demand was: Elections, now! That was calling for September 6, agreed date by the political organizations and the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE), for the elections to be held. That was at the time against the new postponement of the elections for October 18 adopted by the TSE, which was the third one, with the excuse of protecting the population against the coronavirus, without having carried out any consultation with the political forces and the popular movement. Áñez proclaimed herself “interim” president, in violation of constitutional law, on November 12, 2019. The United States and the local right-wing carried out a series of actions, before and after the October 2019 elections, to make a part of the urban population believe, through a delirious national and international media campaign, that the elections would be fraudulent and to encourage anti-indigenous racism in the urban middle classes and, consequently, demonize the leadership of Evo Morales.

‘Dialogue’ Called by Añez In Bolivia Failed; New Election Date Set

August 11, 2020 Ultimas Noticias. Educate! Bolivia, Democracy, Elections, US Regime Change

After more than five hours of dialogue between the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE), the Central Obrera Boliviana (COB) and the Bolivian social movements, a consensus was not reached to define a new intermediate date for the general elections, which would bring political and social stability in the country run by an interim government, Xinhua reported. “There was no agreement and Salvador Romero, president of the TSE, did not accept an intermediate date, our fight is with the Electoral Tribunal,” said the executive secretary of the COB, Juan Carlos Huarachi, leaving the meeting. He explained to journalists that he was considering setting up a new “intermediate” date, which was not accepted. The leader left responsibility for the situation the country is going through to the TSE appointed by the de facto government of Áñez. He reiterated the validity of the resolution of the council of his sector: indefinite general strike with mobilizations demanding elections on September 6.

How Socialists Won Our Democratic Rights

August 10, 2020 Adam J. Sacks, Tribune Magazine. Strategize! Democracy, History, Socialism, Working Class

The myth of modern democracy is that it was handed down from on-high. In fact, the ruling class resisted extending the franchise at every turn – and it was socialists who fought them for the right to vote. Since the advent of the modern state, ruling classes have tried to restrain the voting power of workers and those not “well-born.” Contrary to the mainstream story that capitalism naturally gave rise to democracy, establishment powers in nineteenth-century Europe restricted the vote for as long as they possibly could. Only when faced with mass mobilization — or when continent-wide war wiped out working-class males en masse — was it clear that the franchise could no longer be withheld.

US Contracts Out Its Regime Change Operation In Nicaragua

August 6, 2020 John Perry, Council on Hemispheric Affairs. Educate! Democracy, Nicaragua, US Regime Change, USAID

Masaya, Nicaragua - An extraordinary leaked document gives a glimpse of the breadth and complexity of the US government’s plan to interfere in Nicaragua’s internal affairs up to and after its presidential election in 2021. The plan,[1] a 14-page extract from a much longer document, dates from March-April this year and sets the terms for a contract to be awarded by USAID (a “Request for Task Order Proposal”). It was revealed by reporter William Grigsby from Nicaragua’s independent Radio La Primerisima[2] and describes the task of creating what the document calls “the environment for Nicaragua’s transition to democracy.”

A Poll Tax By any Other Name

August 5, 2020 Dana Sweeney, Facing South. Educate! Alabama, Democracy, Elections, Voting Rights

Robert Peoples remembers when African Americans won the right to vote in Alabama back in 1965. Though he was only 13 years old at the time, he had grown up in Mobile with a front-row seat to history as it was forged by a generation of ordinary Alabamians who won extraordinary political changes during the Civil Rights Movement. He knows how much was sacrificed and how much was gained, but that was another day. Today, more than 50 years after the passage of the Voting Rights Act, Robert Peoples cannot vote in the state of Alabama.

Reclaiming Public Health: The Communalist Healthcare Model

August 3, 2020 Justin B. Gifford, ROAR Magazine. Create! communalism, COVID-19, Democracy, Healthcare

During the Spanish Influenza outbreak of 1918, Alfred W. Crosby, a Professor Emeritus of History, Geography, and American Studies wrote that nurses were more important than doctors during this period: “[N]either antibiotics nor medical techniques existed to cure influenza or pneumonia. Warm food, warm blankets, fresh air, and what nurses ironically call TLC — tender loving care — [kept] the patient alive until the disease passed away.” When Voltaire said that nature cures the disease, I like to think of him referring to care workers’ TLC.

US Launches Brazen Interventionist Plan to Overthrow The FSLN

August 3, 2020 Wiston López. Radio La Primerísima. Educate! Democracy, Nicaragua, US Regime Change, USAID

An orchestrated plan financed by the United States to overthrow the democratically elected Nicaragua government during the next two years was leaked in a document from the US embassy and presented July 31, 2020, by Nicaraguan journalist William Grigsby on his political analysis program "Sin Fronteras", and as an article on Radio La Primerísima website. Grigsby says the new destabilization plan is in response to the fact that the US realizes President Daniel Ortega will win the November 2021 elections. The 18-page document is RFTOP No: 72052420R00004, with the title RAIN or Responsive Assistance in Nicaragua. It is a “Terms of Reference” contract used to hire a US company (like the descendants of Blackwater) to take charge of the plan. The company will direct local actors to disrupt public order and carry out other [violent] actions before, during and/or after the 2021 elections. The funds to implement this plan were allocated through the International Development Agency (AID) which is also the US institution that has provided the most money openly in recent years to the Nicaraguan opposition for coup-related activities.

‘We Are On The Cusp Of Something Great’

August 2, 2020 By In These Times. Organize! Black Lives Matter (BLM), Defund the police, Democracy, Rebellion2020

Since the nation erupted after the May 25 police killing of George Floyd, Black organizers and community members have been working around the clock to channel mass protests into tangible victories. Nikita Mitchell, 26, is national coordinator of The Rising Majority, formed in 2017 by the Movement for Black Lives, a coalition that includes Black Lives Matter. Rising Majority is led by Black people and people of color, and brings social movements together in an anti-racist, anti-capitalist Left for radical democracy.

Bolivia: Stop State Repression And Violence, For Free And Fair Elections

July 29, 2020 The Andean Information Network. Educate! Bolivia, Democracy, US coup, US Regime Change

Four days after the Interim Bolivian Government suspended elections again, Harvard Law School’s International Human Rights Clinic and the University Network for Human Rights (UNHR) released a report on the gross human rights abuses carried out under Bolivia’s interim President, Jeanine Áñez. The report documents one of the deadliest and most repressive periods in the past several decades in Bolivia as well as the growing fear of indigenous peoples and government critics that their lives and safety are in danger. “We have identified very troubling patterns of human rights violations since the Interim Government took power. These abuses create a climate where the possibility of free and fair elections is seriously undermined,” said Thomas Becker, an international human rights attorney with UNHR and 2018-2020 clinical instructor in HLS’s International Human Rights Clinic.

Preparing For A November Surprise

July 29, 2020 Maria J. Stephan, Candace Rondeaux, and Erica Chenoweth, Political Violence at a Glance. Strategize! 2020 Elections, Democracy, Donald Trump, Nonviolent Action

Nationwide protests against police brutality following George Floyd’s murder are the broadest and most persistent in US history. They have laid bare the racism that pervades American society—and demonstrated the willingness of Americans to take to the streets and resist oppression, even in the midst of a pandemic. Americans must continue demanding an end to white supremacy and follow the lead of Black organizers to galvanize a similar flexing of civic muscle to help ensure democratic continuity come November. With elections four months away and the rule of law under steady attack, people power could prove decisive in ensuring a constitutional transfer of power without violence. Analysts have developed a number of doomsday scenarios for November. The election could be postponed or canceled. A state of emergency could be declared and polling stations shut down.

Venezuela Moves Toward Elections: US Seeks To Undermine Them

July 28, 2020 Venezuelanalysis. Educate! Democracy, Nicolas Maduro, US Regime Change, Venezuela

Venezuela’s National Electoral Council (CNE) has kickstarted proceedings for the upcoming December 6 National Assembly (AN) elections. A number of events have taken place in recent weeks that appear to open the way for a path out of the current political crisis and towards new conditions of stability in the country. The roadmap has several democratic and electoral elements, which dovetail with decrees handed down by state institutions. The government’s strategy is, in broad strokes, to create a new democratic framework on the basis of several recent developments that we will examine. While this roadmap is rife with constitutional inconsistencies and arbitrary maneuvers, it is the only viable political solution in the current context of economic crisis and US-led international siege. It also paves the way for a presidential recall referendum in 2022, which President Nicolas Maduro has recognized as an option.

Killing Democracy In The United States

July 28, 2020 By William J. Astore, Tom Dispatch. Educate! Afghanistan, COVID-19, Democracy, Wars and Militarism

I fear that it either can’t or won’t end because, as Martin Luther King, Jr., pointed out in 1967 during the Vietnam War, the United States remains the world’s greatest purveyor of violence -- and nothing in this century, the one he didn’t live to see, has faintly proved him wrong. Considered another way, Washington should be classified as the planet’s most committed arsonist, regularly setting or fanning the flames of fires globally from Libya to Iraq, Somalia to Afghanistan, Syria to -- dare I say it -- in some quite imaginable future Iran, even as our leaders invariably boast of having the world’s greatest firefighters (also known as the U.S. military). Scenarios of perpetual war haunt my thoughts. For a healthy democracy, there should be few things more unthinkable than never-ending conflict, that steady drip-drip of death and destruction that drives militarism, reinforces authoritarianism, and facilitates disaster capitalism.

The GOP’s ‘Southern Strategy’ Shows How White Supremacy Fuels Class Exploitation

July 20, 2020 By Peter Montague, Truthout. Educate! Democracy, Racism, Southern Strategy, White Supremacy

Starting in the early 1970s, the Republican Party began to draw voters away from the Democrats by appealing to racism and racial anxiety in the electorate; Republicans called it their “Southern Strategy.” By 2000, with the presidency of George W. Bush, the Republican Party (and the U.S.) had been taken over by people who celebrate and emulate the Old South plantation system of social control — a rigid hierarchy featuring dominance of whites over people of color, of men over women, of humans over the natural world, and of violence and militarism over relationship-building and negotiation, with rich white men asserting unquestioned authority. Republicans then drove moderates out of the party. Why would white working-class and small-business people (some Tea Partiers, for example) vote against their own interests to keep billionaires in charge? It’s a fair question because the difference is stark between what the U.S. population wants and what Republicans in Congress aim to deliver.

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