“The Case for Not Voting”: Debate Night Conversation Featuring Andrew Lee and Andrew Zonneveld

Announcing a livestreamed event hosted by Firestorm Books in so-called Asheville, NC, featuring Andrew Lee and Andrew Zonneveld.

We’re told that the future of democracy hangs in the balance. But as another most-important-election-ever draws near, many U.S. progressives are facing the fact that their values are not on the ballot. And while that may be a new experience for some, anarchists and others have long held that representative democracy is incapable of producing anything but capitalism at home and imperialism abroad. With both U.S. ruling parties committed to genocide, ecocide, mass incarceration, and deportations, what is our relationship to the ballot?

On Tuesday, September 10th at 7pm ET, Firestorm Books is inviting you to skip the debate between your aspiring rulers for a conversation with two inspiring comrades! Andrew Lee, author of Defying Displacement, and Andrew Zonneveld, co-editor of Why Anarchists Don’t Vote, will explore the rich history of left wing voter abstention, critiques of voting as a democratic practice, the use of the ballot as a tool of colonialism, and the alternatives to voting and representative government.

Register in advance to participate via Firestorm’s website or watch the livestream on the co-op’s YouTube channel, where it will also be archived for viewers who can’t join in real time.

About the Speakers

Andrew Lee supports grassroots social movements as managing editor for The ARD and Dismantled Magazine and his work has previously appeared in Yes! Magazine, The New Inquiry, Teen Vogue, and ROAR Magazine. On his new blog In Struggle, he recently published “Why to not vote. A free civic disengagement guide.”

Andrew Zonneveld is an independent scholar from Atlanta, Georgia. He is the editor of The Commune: Paris, 1871 and To Remain Silent is Impossible: Emma Goldman & Alexander Berkman in Russia. With Nani Ferreira-Mathews, he co-edited Why Anarchists Don’t Vote: Radical Criticisms of Representative Government.