Voting Is Not Democracy
How to exercise your right to vote every day
When I told people I would never vote again unless I truly believed in what I was doing, I provoked a tsunami of reactions.
The comments revolved around me being irresponsible for not exercising my right to vote while my ancestors had fought for it fiercely. And did I get how privileged I was, as so many people around the world still did not have that right.
I do get it.
3 reasons I do not vote anymore
I come from a place where we didn’t have democratic elections until the 90ies, and then manipulation, corruption, and fraud became the main electoral tools to gain and maintain power.
After becoming a French citizen I couldn’t wait to honour my right and privilege to vote. I truly believed it mattered in changing the country for the better.
It didn’t.
Presidential candidates’ campaigns were as manipulative and saturated with populistic rhetoric as the ones back home. Each consecutive election winner made things worse for the people while serving the interests of the big money. Democracy seemed to be limited to the day of elections and the act of casting a ballot…
