Know Your Enemy

UNLOCKED: Voting: What Is it Good For? (w/ Astra Taylor, Olúfẹ́mi Táíwò, & Malcolm Harris)

Nov 1, 2024

01:05:22

Snipd AI

Astra Taylor, a filmmaker and co-founder of The Debt Collective, joins authors Malcolm Harris and Olúfẹ́mi Táíwò, a philosophy professor, to delve into the complexities of voting in the upcoming election. They discuss the moral dilemmas of supporting candidates like Kamala Harris and the effectiveness of third-party alternatives. The conversation critiques the political landscape shaped by extremism and highlights the necessity of grassroots organizing, especially in response to social justice issues, emphasizing that civic engagement goes beyond casting a vote.

AI Summary

AI Chapters

Episode notes

Podcast summary created with Snipd AI

Quick takeaways

The podcast explores the moral complexities of voting for candidates like Kamala Harris, particularly in relation to their controversial policies.

Participants debate whether strategic voting can facilitate future organizing efforts versus the need for accountability against harmful policies.

The discussion emphasizes the importance of balancing electoral engagement with grassroots activism to challenge systemic injustices effectively.

Deep dives

The Voting Debate Among the Left

Discussions surrounding voting, particularly for Kamala Harris, reveal a deep divide within the left regarding the two-party system and the moral implications of electoral choices. While some see voting as a strategic necessity to counter the greater threat posed by Trump, others struggle with endorsing a candidate linked to policies they oppose, particularly with regards to foreign policy and issues like genocide. The conversation highlights the complexity of aligning moral values with political realities, emphasizing that the urgency to make a pragmatic choice can feel conflicting with deeper ethical concerns. This tension leads to broader questions about the efficacy of voting within an electoral system many view as flawed and unrepresentative.

Intro

2min

Navigating Political Dilemmas: Voting and Solidarity

19min

Navigating Political Organizing in Turbulent Times

2min

The Implications of Trump's Victory: A Shift Towards Extremism

2min

Organizing for the Future: Politics and Activism

13min

Confronting American Imperialism: The Struggle for Peace and Justice

3min

Strategies for Palestinian Political Activism

12min

Beyond the Ballot: Rethinking Political Engagement

13min

If you're on the left and you've spent time on the internet in the past few weeks, you've probably observe or participated in debates about the strategic value and moral status of voting in the 2024 election: Is it okay to vote for Kamala Harris even though her administration is complicit in a genocide? Is voting an exercise in signaling one's moral convincetions and identity? Or merely a tactical decision calculated to create better or worse terrain on which to organize in the future? Or is it something else altogether?

Perhaps these debates have stimulated you; perhaps they've filled you with despair; or perhaps (like Sam) they've driven you nuts. The intention of this conversation — with three of my favorite writers and thinkers — is to help us see further: past the stale categories and tendentious arguments that leave us, on the left, feeling frustrated and mistrustful, rather than mobilized and oriented toward a future beyond November 5th.

Our guests include: Astra Taylor, filmmaker, writer, organizer, and cofounder of The Debt Collective; author and organizer Malcolm Harris; and Olúfẹ́mi Táíwò, author, political philosopher, and co-editor of Hammer & Hope — a new magazine of black politics and culture.

Further Reading/Viewing/Listening:

Malcolm Harris, Palo Alto: A History of California, Capitalism, and the World, (2023)

Olúfẹ́mi Táíwò, Elite Capture: How the Powerful Took Over Identity Politics (And Everything Else), (2022)

Astra Taylor, The Age of Insecurity: Coming Together as Things Fall Apart, (2023)

— "What is Democracy?" (Zeitgeist Films, 2019)

Josie Ensor, "They voted Democrat for years — but the war in Lebanon changes everything," The Times, Oct 25, 2024.

"Arizona Palestinian, Arab, Muslim, and Progressive Democrats and Community Leaders Statement on Presidential Election," Oct 24, 2024.

KYE, The Uncommitted Movement (w/ Waleed Shahid & Abbas Alawieh), Sept 4, 2024.