Direct Action Versus Electoralism (tags)
Anarchists engage in direct action as opposed to voting. This anti-electoralism (or anti-parliamentarianism) may seem strange and even perverse to many. After all, virtually the whole left believes in the importance of voting. In the US, liberals and state socialists have voted for the Democrats with a steadfastness that is almost religious, even as the Democrats have steadily moved to the right. In Western Europe, they have voted consistently for the Socialist or Labor Parties (social democrats), or Communist Parties, or, more recently, ex-Communist Parties.
In the past 12 months or so taxpayers have footed the bill for the Government's inhumane treatment of asylum seekers to the tune of more than $100 million. Refugees have been paying with their liberty, dignity, families and lives. The drowning last week of 353 mainly Iraqi refugees bound for Australia has been used as a political football by both Liberal and Labor Parties.