electoralism

This zine is a collection of essays I have submitted to Transit Dialog, a Facebook platform where people who write in English can have their pieces published. I would like to thank them for inspiring me to write freely (although there’s a length limit). I also thank the unnamed graphic artists who added life to my words by creating visuals.

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Bongbong Marcos is set to win the 2022 Philippine presidential election. If and when he wins, it will be ultimate proof of democracy in action, that democracy works. “Democracy in action” gave us Duterte, Trump, Thatcher, Nixon, Bush Sr. and Jr., heck Hitler too. “Democracy in action” also gave the world the Biden presidency as the so-called “harm reduction” candidate yet Biden kept the concentration camps open and allowed conservatives to assault the rights of Queer people and women. “Democracy in action” is precisely the problem.

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Whenever libertarians and anarchists such as I discuss our complex interaction engaging in electoralism, such as the situation now in the Philippines, we always face the criticisms that we are “disconnected to the masses,” “unaware of the material conditions that people face” or even worse “politically illiterate” as a part of our society.

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Kapag ipinamamalas ng mga libertaryo at anarkistang katulad ko ang aming maselan na pagpili sa pakikilahok sa mga tipong kampanya halalan tulad ng nagaganap ngayon sa Pilipinas, lagi pinaparatangan ang mga bagong radikal na “diskunektado sa masa,” “walang alam sa materyal na kundisyon ng tao” o masaklap pa, “walang alam sa pulitika” sa lipunang kinabibilangan namin.

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This is an edited anthology of collected notes from comrades critical of Halanan 2022, the 2022 Philippine General Elections. “KonTRAPOlitiko” is not an organization, nor is it our collective name. Rather, KonTRAPOlitiko is the name we give to our anger: “Kontra” meaning “against,” “TRAPO” meaning “traditional politician,” and “politiko” meaning politician. Thus “kontra-politiko” could be translated as “anti-politician.” We the authors are not all anarchists, but we are united in our anger and contempt of the politicians. Because this is an anthology of sorts, certain themes in some theses are repeated in others, but on a whole we have tried to curb repitition and arrange these in a thematic way.

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