why the biggest election in the world doesn’t even matter.
The U.S. elections are scheduled for November 4th. While the Democrats have tried to fashion Joe Biden as the ultimate antithesis to Trump, the truth is that Biden is little different from his possible predecessor. He has a racist legacy and has lectured Black people on their parenting abilities. He is against universal healthcare and helped the Bush government fund its wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. He has even refused to ban fracking. In fact, he has—in his own words—stated that “nothing would fundamentally change” if he came into power. In light of this, the question of who wins becomes moot.
What does it matter who wins, if what actually happens to people does not alter?
What we do know is that Trump’s elevation to America’s highest position has charted the ascendancy of right wing ideology and groups. Biden’s rule will bring with it aggressions towards China and North Korea as well as the continuation of some of Obama’s worst policies—policies that Trump built his own legacy on. Working class people, people of colour, disabled people, queer people, those in the Global South who are always under threat from the American empire, these people remain in terrible peril no matter who takes power.
A multitude of outcomes exist for those who live on the margins: most of these are grim. Despite transnational protests against police brutality, the mass incarceration of predominantly Indigenous, Black, and Latinx people is certain to continue under either governance. Both Trump and Democratic VP running mate Kamala Harris co-sponsored the 2018 sex trafficking act that made it harder for sex workers to work safely, especially trans sexworkers. The campaigns of both parties have received funding from fossil-fuel interests, suggesting any commitment to a sustainable, greener future is a farce.
This farce was in full show in Australia this week, as we have witnessed the destruction of yet another Indigenous sacred site with the bulldozing of the Djab Wurrung direction tree in Victoria. The systematic erasure of First Nations peoples through the prison system and incarceration of children persists. A recent bill proposed by One Nation's Mark Latham calls to prevent the teaching and discussion of issues experienced by transgender people in government schools. Where Australians look to scrutinize the U.S. for it's inhumane functionings, we must continue to pay attention to and work towards the full liberation of all marginalised peoples that exist within the settler colony of these lands we now call Australia.
image source: @instagram
The roots of these fundamental flaws that exist within the United States of America and most Western nations are structural. Oppressions employed through electoral systems allow for the proliferation of the imperialist, capitalist and patriarchal standards they were built on. As electoral politics continue to fail those who need representation the most, it is necessary to focus on community and solidarity building. Indigenous and communal ways of living must be prioritised as these are the spaces in which we can reshape our own structures. Transnational solidarities are needed across the Global South and marginalised people in ostensible developing countries.
We must continue to advocate, fight, and build solidarity to work towards this radical future without dismissing the material impact that the election will likely have on those living in America. We must continue to critique and demand better from these candidates in all capitalist, patriarchal societies. Building transnational solidarity requires us to remember that there are poor, disabled, Indigenous, Black and Brown folk living in America.
As we face the rise of right wing nationalism, militarism and fascism, we must invest in radical communities and a radical imagination that will propel us to create our own futures outside the ones imposed.