Kamala Harris is by far the lesser of two evils. If elected, Donald Trump would be catastrophic for the future of the world.
Pay attention, even if you aren’t American. Unfortunately, the U.S. presidential elections have an impact on the entire world, shaping global governance, influencing survival, and affecting freedom struggles everywhere. Whether we like it or not, the U.S. remains one of the most influential countries in the world, and its election outcomes send ripples across international systems and affect billions of lives.
The six survival threats the world is facing will be heavily impacted by those elections: Climate change, artificial intelligence, wars, dictatorship, pandemics, and poverty. With Kamala Harris in the White House, we have an infinitely better chance at solving them. For example, a Harris administration would continue to stand against Russia’s invasion and war on Ukraine. The same cannot be said for Trump.
To be able to tackle those survival threats, all countries and peoples must work together and collaborate, and the United Nations is the only place in existence to do so despite all its shortcomings (such as the fact that five countries - including the US - have veto power). Trump’s hostility and disregard for the UN puts humanity’s chance at achieving peace and security further in jeopardy. Just remember, “The last time Trump held office he took an ax to funding for the U.N. Population Fund, the U.N. Program on HIV/AIDS, its Relief and Works Agency for Palestine, and the World Health Organization. He later moved to withdraw from the WHO completely.” Last but not least, even if 250 years too late, it’s time for a woman to sit in the Oval Office.
However, when it comes to upholding basic human values systematically, both Harris and Trump have a horrific track record. Just think of Israel’s ongoing and widely documented genocide of Palestinians, invasion of Lebanon and attacks on other countries. While Trump's pro-Zionist stances are even more extreme, Harris is part of an administration that has for example provided Netanyahu’s government with over 17 billion dollars in weapons only last year, almost systematically vetoed UN efforts to stop Israel’s war, and attacked efforts by the International Criminal Court to issue arrest warrants against Israeli officials. Unlike what some try to argue, this is not a side issue that can be overlooked amidst everything else. When a country is the biggest arms provider and supporter of a regime massacring human beings, and shields it from justice, you cannot overlook it. The US and its current government are complicit in some of the worst war crimes ever committed.
So while we hope that Kamala Harris wins this presidential election, regardless of the results, we all need to mobilise worldwide the day after to ensure that the US (and all our countries and intergovernmental organisations):
- Support freedom struggles and an end to grave crimes systematically, not based on whether the oppressor is an ally or not.
- Uphold international law, which looking at Israel means supporting a permanent ceasefire, implementing an arms embargo, stopping shielding Israel from justice and working toward an end of apartheid and occupation.
- Support global collaboration instead of undermining it, including by accepting the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court
- Pass policies to quell the biggest threats the world faces, from climate to wars (good news, we have clear policies on how to do this https://www.atlasmovement.org/issues)