Colombia: Revolutionary Organizations and Activists Launch Campaign Against the Electoral Farce
We hereby share an unofficial translation of an article published by Nueva Democracia on the 21st of June.
Featured image: Revolutionary organizations hang banners denouncing the reactionary elections in one of the plazas at the University of Antioquia. Photo: Nueva Democracia
Amid the current national situation, in which representatives of the ruling classes are vying for control of the old landlord and big-bourgeois State, the people have been bombarded with rhetoric of terror and false promises designed to undermine the masses’ morale and confidence in their own strength, so that they will place their faith in false leaders who hide behind their backs the dagger with which they will attack them in the future. Thus, the ruling classes, through their monopolistic media outlets are spreading disinformation, have sought to drive a broad sector of the masses to the polls, caught between the illusion of improving their living conditions and the panic instilled in them by one candidate or another.
Against this backdrop, in which the rhetoric of the candidates aims to demoralize the masses, to entangle them in the paths of fear and nihilism—the “no future” and the resignation to the “lesser evil”— the revolutionary organizations and activists have launched a campaign to promote the path of revolution as the only true path for the people to win their rights, to transform their living conditions, and achieve their liberation.
These activists and organizations have called for discarding illusions in the old State and its institutions and preparing for a popular, independent, and combative struggle; They have launched a propaganda campaign in which they have denounced the electoral farce as a tool of the ruling classes to divert the people from militancy and conceal the class struggle, while at the same time calling on the people to organize and fight for a New Democratic Revolution, raising the banners of anti-imperialism, the struggle against semi-feudalism in our nation, and the struggle against monopoly capital.
Using posters and banners, they have spread their message and mobilized activists to organize the publicity campaigns carried out at the University of Antioquia and online.
Similarly, on Wednesday, June 17, they held a successful event—a talk titled “Down with the Electoral Farce, Up with the People’s Struggle. Elections No, Revolution Yes”—which brought together various grassroots activists, including students, workers, and teachers, at the University of Antioquia, at the same time that President Gustavo Petro was delivering a speech in one of the university’s main plazas.
First, a member of the Marxist Research and Education Circle gave a presentation in which he outlined the anti-electoral stance and the pro-big landlord, lackey nature of imperialism of the current government and both candidates in the upcoming presidential election. Among the conclusions of his presentation, he stated that an active, militant, and revolutionary electoral abstention contributes, first and foremost, to strengthening the oppressed, in that: 1. It seeks to dispel illusions in those in power and place hope and trust in the people’s own strength; 2. It channels their energy into the long and difficult—but only viable—path of organizing and mobilizing in a combative and independent manner for their rights and the revolution. And second, it contributes to weakening the ruling classes, in that: 1. It prevents them from alleviating their crisis of governance; 2. It delegimitizes the oppressive State.
The second part of the discussion consisted of a friendly and democratic debate in which organizations, activists, and other participants presented their views. From proposals for a critical vote against De la Espriella to arguments in favor of active abstention, all voices were heard and respected, and despite differences in analysis, all voices converged on the need to reach out to the masses to advance a combative, independent struggle and the need to tear down this rotten system in order to build a new society for the working classes. Several participants highlighted the importance of the event and how significant it was that different activists and people’s fighters had gathered to discuss the democratic and revolutionary path and what the correct tactics should be for the people to carry out the revolution—all while the government was holding a public event just a few meters away.
Finally, we’re sharing a video showing the activists carrying out one of their propaganda campaigns.
