If anyone is producing hipper, more lively Get Out of the Vote videos than the Department of Peace, please let me know who they are! An art collective geared toward creating consciousness-raising content and aiming to inspire young people to engage politically, The DoP urges both community-oriented action and electoral participation.
Today, the collective released a new video with the help and blessing of legendary badass Joan Jett riffing off her feminist anthem “Bad Reputation” to hammer home the point that Republican victories this election day will threaten what many consider basic freedoms and rights. In 2013, there were more laws passed limiting women’s reproductive rights than in the entire previous decade combined. That is sure to be accelerated if the GOP does well in next week’s midterm elections.
Many women in New York City, from where I write, have access to reasonable health care, but women’s rights shouldn’t depend on a zip code. The most regressive, anti-woman, anti-voting, anti-equality laws are being passed on the state level. This is why the midterms are so important nationwide.
Polls open 6 am in each state next Tuesday, November 4. Check out canivote.org for info on your polling place and registration status.
