Great post Maha. We are having political “turmoil” and elections here and though they are nowhere as serious as in Egypt, the rhetoric is similar. For the first time in my whole life I didn’t vote in the last election here. My whole life I’ve been on the “wrong side” of things, often discouraged but always FOR some elusive potential–for instance there’s a party in Alberta who’s politics I don’t like but the leader is an extremely intelligent person who may be dangerous but seems unable to lie about her intentions. For that reason, foolish or not, I sense I’d have a “voice” with her in power while all the rest seem to speak from a mind supplied to them that speaks in party slogans and are unapproachable.

In the previous election I voted against her, thinking I had a choice in another who turned out to be a false hope and had to quit for incompetence. And now the idea of choosing has me thinking that the whole thing is an illusion of control and I need to stop voting and go back to actual participation. In many ways, voting seems the least effective form of participation that still has a sense of activity. At the same time it acts as proof of interest through a gesture that indicates a symbolic faith it a system that runs without out anyway.

It’s not that most people don’t believe in the concept of voting but it seems to have become a substitute for doing something positive for society. Democracy should be more than selecting others to do things for you–it should include you.