Voting is Not Harm Reduction
An Indigenous Perspective
February 2020 – www.indigenousaction.org
Zine format printable PDF download: Voting is Not Harm Reduction Zine-FINAL-PRINT (9.8MB)
"When proclamations are made that “voting is harm reduction,” it’s never clear how less harm is actually calculated. Do we compare how many millions of undocumented Indigenous Peoples have been deported? Do we add up what political party conducted more drone strikes? Or who had the highest military budget? Do we factor in pipelines, mines, dams, sacred sites desecration? Do we balance incarceration rates? Do we compare sexual violence statistics? Is it in the massive budgets of politicians who spend hundreds of millions of dollars competing for votes?
Though there are some political distinctions between the two prominent parties in the so-called U.S., they all pledge their allegiance to the same flag. Red or blue, they’re both still stripes on a rag waving over stolen lands that comprise a country built by stolen lives.
We don’t dismiss the reality that, on the scale of U.S. settler colonial violence, even the slightest degree of harm can mean life or death for those most vulnerable. What we assert here is that the entire notion of “voting as harm reduction” obscures and perpetuates settler-colonial violence, there is nothing “less harmful” about it, and there are more effective ways to intervene in its violences."
Thats my friend! He's really like that all the time and is genuinely compassionate and wholesome in every aspect of his life.
He volunteers on a local community radio show each week called The Pedestrian Show where he advocates for better biking infrastructure in the city. He's like actually involved in city council meetings and breaks down the proposed development plans on the radio in simple terms so people can understand what's happening in the city without reading 50 pages of legalese.
Also, he's really good at ping pong haha.