The "Two Americas" in Contention Today - Kathleen
Chandler -
October 27, 2020.
Protest in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania against police killing
of Walter Wallace Jr. in that city days earlier.
The 2020 U.S. elections to be held on November 3 are
presidential elections, as well as elections for the entire House of
Representatives of 435 people and one-third of the 100 Senators. The
elections are occurring in conditions of unprecedented crisis for what
is called "the greatest democracy in the world:" - more than 220,000 people have
died of COVID-19 and more than 8 million people have been infected;
- a few billionaires increased their wealth by $930 billion in the last
six months during the COVID-19 pandemic;
- close to 62
million people have lost their jobs;
- some 98,000 businesses
have permanently closed;
- more than 12 million people have
lost employer-sponsored health insurance;
- 22 million people
reported not having enough food; and
- one-sixth of all
renters reported being behind on rent.  More than 20
million people have been engaged in a continuous protest movement
demanding accountability and redress since May 2020 when George Floyd
was killed by police. The broad and persistent resistance, fighting to
block racist police violence and for justice, equality and
accountability has brought forward a profound questioning of the
existing justice system, or as many call it, the injustice system.
There is broad recognition that the existing policing, courts and mass
incarceration are racist to the core, are unequal and incapable of
holding policing agencies accountable, whether at the local, state or
federal level. Demands are not limited to securing the firing of a few
police, but that far more significant change is needed, with control by
the people a central element. Meetings and debates are already
occurring to re-imagine safety and security that include issues like
poverty and rights to housing, health care and jobs, especially in
COVID-19 conditions. There are organizing efforts focused on budgets
and people having a say in how public funds are being spent, whether
for policing, militarization, incarceration, wars, health care and
housing.
People are not fooled that elections are
an avenue for change. Blocks to participation in elections reveal that
it is not the people who elect whoever is brought to office. Blocks to
participation include having to register to vote, with large numbers of
those qualified unable to do so. African Americans have long been
especially targeted for exclusion on this basis. Each state has
different requirements for registering, different requirements for
running for office, different requirements for registering a political
party, and so forth. The entire process is undemocratic and unequal.
Even so, where conditions permit, anti-war candidates or third-party
candidates are running for office to give expression to the people's
drive for empowerment. Media coverage focuses on
opinion polls and speculation on who is going to win the election. Or,
put another way, who will the people vote for? We can say with
certainty that the ruling class will win the election. We can also say
that the people will continue to organize and fight, finding the ways
and means to counter the pressure to be silent on issues of police
impunity, injustice, impoverishment, inequality, the environment and
war and peace. They will continue speaking out in their own name;
expressing their concerns and demands. The heroic
resistance movement has been carrying on without let-up despite the
violence of federal, state and municipal forces pitted against the
people, who are undaunted by their criminalization and the
criminalization of their various forms of participation in the affairs
of the polity. The battle of "Two Americas" is not between the vision
of Biden and the vision of Trump -- both essentially the same. It is
between the vision of the people and the vision of the rulers. These
are the "Two Americas" in contention today. One is
of the rich and their war economy and war government with its violence
and brutality, and the other is the vision of the people who uphold the
rights of all on every front as they oppose inequality, police violence
and impunity. In the discussion about the U.S.
election, the issues raised by the corporate media constitute
diversion, meant to divide the people and line them up behind one
faction of the rulers or the other. Investigation and debate are
instead needed on what a modern democracy that empowers the people
would look like. How is equal membership in the polity sorted out? How
can we have relations that put individual and collective on a par?
These are some of the questions which require answers today to fulfill
the striving of the people's movement for empowerment.
This article was published in
Volume 50 Number 42 - November 1, 2020
Article Link:
The "Two Americas" in Contention Today - Kathleen
Chandler
Website: www.cpcml.ca
Email: editor@cpcml.ca
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