FAQ
Q: why not organize and stop treating the bus as a legitimate entity? why aren’t you working to stop the bus?
A: do both. cut the fuel line. break windows. put oatmeal in the gas tank. but maybe your efforts don’t succeed this election cycle. and if so don’t fucking throw away your vote if it can help your neighbors fucking survive. “harm reduction” is not a political strategy for action. it is a last minute, end of the line decision to save lives, after all other resources have been exhausted.
It is when not voting risks harming people
https://www.indigenousaction.org/voting-is-not-harm-reduction-an-indigenous-perspective/
"I'm punishing the system by not voting" is still working within the system.
no one said they were punishing the system by not voting
This article is such an interesting case given that it somehow has achieved nearing 100% SEO coverage for “voting harm reduction” on all search engines since its publication and my first reading of it in February 2020. I don’t know why that is. While I do appreciate the dedication and values that go into it, unfortunately I find the output of this organization in general to be exceptionally and painfully polemical such that the arguments put forward are incredibly hard to find compelling. I don’t expect anyone to adopt my opinion on this; this is only my personal perspective.
That said, I do want to share this article by an Indigenous legal scholar, Ashley Courchene, which tends to be more balanced in my view: https://policyalternatives.ca/publications/monitor/election-2019-moving-beyond-“-vote-or-not-vote”
I'll try to finish it this week.