Over the last few days, people in our community have reached out to us for our assessment of the election. Many people are scared right now. They want to know that tomorrow will be safe. They fear for themselves, but more often they fear for the lives of their loved ones.
We cannot offer any reliable predictions of the future. Tomorrow is a mystery. A fascist demagogue seeks electoral power. The response from the ostensibly labeled opposition party is to tack as close to him as possible by recruiting his former allies, allies who largely support his policies if not his goals. All this while our nation perpetuates a genocide along with several wars and conflicts across the globe, some that we won’t know the full impact of until it is too late to avoid the blowback. All while our leaders brag about how many barrels of fossil fuels they extracted from the planet.
All we can offer in comfort is that if you feel uncertain, or worry about what will happen to our community, you are not powerless. Your power comes not from a single discreet act of a vote cast for whichever capitalist party seeks to manufacture your consent, but from organizing with others in your community. It comes from talking to your workers about your job, and how we can make it better. It comes from talking to your neighbors about your landlord and how much easier it would be if rent was cheaper. It comes from volunteering for projects to foster mutual aid. It comes from joining with other working class folks to build something that can withstand the institutions that seek to harm us.
After tonight, no matter who wins, there will be people in our community who are abandoned by the parties who claim to represent their interests. No matter who wins, there will still be a need to build that working class power. If you feel anxious today, we encourage you to join us tomorrow, the next day, and the day after that. Until we’ve built the world we deserve, until we’ve broken free of the chains of war and exploitation that harms us all.
In solidarity,
Quad Cities DSA Steering Committee