by UNAC, November 6, 2024
In the 2024 Presidential elections, neither candidate spoke for peace. The election was held while there was a US/NATO war with Russia in Ukraine and a US/Israeli genocide in Palestine and an ever-expanding war in West Asia. The election was held at a time that the US is militarily encircling and threatening China and North Korea and intensifying sanctions against Cuba and some 42 other countries around the world. But there was almost no mention of this or of peace during this campaign. The US electoral system failed the people by not providing a choice for peace or a choice on other issues that are essential for the people in the US or the people of the world. Instead, we heard racist rhetoric and name calling.
The wars and the massive military budget which feeds them will continue while food prices, rents, and the costs of other essentials will rise. More and more adult children are moving in with their parents as job opportunities disappear and higher education is out of reach for most. Addressing these issues along with the worsening climate crisis could have made a difference. The campaign could have been used to mobilize people around these issues and the results might have been different, there could have been an advance for humanity. But instead, it was the people of the US and the world who lost this election no matter who won.
But this is what we expected. The two capitalist/imperialist parties that are the only two that are allowed to seriously contend in federal elections could never mobilize people to struggle for peace and human needs. By definition, they are for increasing profits for the obscenely rich which means exploitation of working people in the US and around the world.
So, what do we do now?
This election, perhaps more than any other in the recent past shows us that we will not get our needs met through the 2-party electoral system. All gains we have won in the past have been through struggle, whether for the right to join a union, the women’s right to vote, abortion rights or other women’s rights, civil rights, LQBTQ+ rights or peace. This is still the only way forward. We must continue to build our movement and harness the power of millions of people demanding their right to peace, justice, freedom and the right to thrive. This will be a movement against these Capitalist parties and their billionaire backers. UNAC, as a peace coalition, is working to build such a movement. You can join UNAC by going here: https://www.unacpeace.org/join.html.
We must accelerate our movement against this new right-wing government by staying in the streets, organizing against the genocide in Palestine and joining with UNAC and others who will be building for a demonstration in DC and around the country during Trump’s inauguration. Join us.