Rock the Vote

I am more than a little ticked off whenever someone tells me I can’t speak on political issues because I don’t vote. As if the fact that I refuse to stamp an X next to the lesser of two evils makes me somehow less qualified to comment on what is gong on in my own country than someone who rolls out of bed every five years and dips his finger in some ink. As if your duty towards nation ends with this act, or your other contributions are negated by not performing this rite.

I am not ashamed to say that I have never voted in my life. As a matter of fact, no person in my circle of friends who is under the age of thirty-five has ever voted either. If they have, they are too embarrassed to admit it. This seems normal considering that upwards of 50% of 18 to 35 year olds didn’t vote in the 2002 election, according to an analysis of the EBC information that is available.

Not that the people I know are a reflection of the general population, but I know for a fact that voting does not necessarily go hand in hand with lack of patriotism or lack of concern about issues of governance. As a matter of fact, the non-voters in my life all make productive contributions to our society in one way or another. Why then are they not exercising their “civic responsibility”?

One friend told me she would never dip her finger in “Babylon ink”. This was an expression of her disdain for the trickery and corruption of the political structure. To vote would be, in her mind, a validation of the useless electoral process. This resignation is so commonplace. Youth in general seem to be disgusted with or disconnected from the leadership of this country, who don’t even feign relevance to this non-voting demographic.

An activist I know said once that he doesn’t understand the point of voting as long as existing structures of governance are in place. The underlying problems must be fixed first. His entire life is dedicated to the reform of these structures and he does work to mobilise, educate and motivate young persons towards this end. Here is proof that you don’t need to vote to do what you think is best for your country.As for myself, my conscience could never allow me to support nepotism, tribalism, corruption and thievery. This is why I cannot vote for either of the two parties with which I am presented at election time. This in addition to the fact that neither of them in my mind deals effectively with the issues that I consider most urgent. They are in no way a representation of my interests or values. I would rather vote for crazy Man-man from Naipaul’s Miguel Street than for someone aligned to either of the existing major political parties. In spite of this, I devote the majority of my waking hours to the service of my country.

Given that our political options are limited, I am comforted by the efforts of those in my generation who are grooming themselves and others to take up leadership positions in the future, and to do away with the failed institutions that people are still hopelessly clinging to. I refer not to those who are following blindly in their parents’ footsteps, continuing the ‘us versus them’ mentality and inheriting their party cards. These persons have disappointingly been unable to shed the limited frameworks that have been handed down to them. When I was on campus it was they who ensured that guild politics was a microcosm of the farce that was national politics.

I refer instead to the new voices: those with a vision for viable political alternatives; those who are taking the time to understand the untold history of this land; those who are engaged in struggle alongside their countrymen rather than trying to understand struggle by reading text books; those who work towards more equitable, just and inclusive ways of arranging our institutions. These are the ones who will rescue our sinking society and they will do it outside of our comfy, familiar, colonial, two-party, clannish political order.

Of the 975,000 persons that make up this year’s electorate, approximately 45 per cent are between the ages of 18 and 35. If the dominant trend continues, half of these will stay away from the voting booths and the other half will cast their vote for one of the limited number of choices. I suspect that new political entities will capture a significant percentage of the youth vote simply because they offer an untried alternative. I dream meanwhile of the day when masses of empowered young people will come out on Election Day to scream for real leadership in the way that only they can.

Shivonne Du Barry