Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Method 17: Mock Elections


Okay, so, today we’re going to look an Method Number 17: Mock Elections. 

Now, in the book “Methods of Nonviolent Struggle”, by Gene Sharp, which is excellent and you should buy it, by the way, the examples of Mock Elections were very serious things!

(I know that “Mock” is kind of a funny word: “Oh, you’re mocking me!”…”Oh, you’re meawking me!”…”Stop it!”…”Schma-pit!”  Right?  But the Mock elections in the book were actually very serious things.)

Back before the Civil Rights Act of 1964, blacks “supposedly” had equal citizenship, but in the southern states, there were all these voting laws, that made it so that only like 43 percent of the state’s adults could actually vote, and that 43 percent wasn’t the black folks!  So essentially blacks couldn’t vote! 

So back in the sixties in Mississippi they did mock elections to show people that if black people were allowed to vote the politicians would be completely different. 

(I know that I’m a big white bear so people might think I’d be more sympathetic to the whites – but come on!  Bears are fair!  I’m cool with black bears and grizzlies, and even koalas – even though they aren’t even bears.)

I’m off topic…so how would you do an effective mock vote for the climate movement?

Gee, let’s think.  What is the one giant segment of American society that has zero political participation?  Hmmm…..

Young  people!  Hello!  We could do a mock election for young people.  Just have one question: Should we do something about climate change?  I think you’d have have an overwhelming “Yeah!”  A landslide! 

Instead, the people in power make no accommodations for young people at all, it’s all about “How can I help my rich contributors today?”  “How can we make sure people don’t have to pay taxes today to protect the future?”  And lots of adults are just kind of like falling in line with that, “Yeah!  It’s all about today!”  A**holes.

So a mock election for young people would be cool. 

Or how about a new tactic…a focus group election.  So you get a focus group together and ask them “Hey, vote on how serious it is that we act urgently on climate change.”

And you could even do it by tiers “Oh, we really need to do something”, “Oh we sorta need to do something”, “I don’t really know about it”, “It’s not worth doing something” or “F*** you, go to hell, I don’t even believe it exists.”  Right?

And then show them the worst case scenarios of how bad climate change can be – just the basic scientific facts – it could unravel like this. Which it could!

Then you also include with that the mounting evidence that not only could it happen, but it’s kinda likely it’s gonna happen.  And then do a re-vote.  I bet you the numbers change!  (Except, of course, for the “f*** you” people.)

Anyway, that’s Method Number 17: Mock Elections.  Tomorrow: Method Number 18: Display of Flags and Symbolic Colors.  Can’t wait!



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