baboon2004
Darned cockwombles.
I didn't really know what thread to put this in, but I watched this documentary the other night, about Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and other of the 'new Democrat' candidates who challenged the Democratic establishment in the midterms of 2018:
https://www.netflix.com/gb/title/81080637
I've switched off a bit wrt US politics recently, so part of the story was new to me, and incredibly inspiring (the swing for AOC was monumental - 30 points down only weeks before the vote [surely I haven't recalled this correctly?], and then winning by 15) - especially the fact that this was all so well planned on a structural level, by Justice Democrats and Brand New Congress - creating a grassroots left-wing movement to challenge incumbent Democrats, finding candidates who would never really have thought of going into politics, but who in many cases have all the attributes of natural politicians/inspiring speakers etc. And with very clear, simple messaging about not taking corporate dollars, etc
Two questions really:
(i) Is this the model for the Left to use to eventually win? Obviously small scale at the moment, but it seems such an effective strategy - and critically all coming from veterans of the 2016 Bernie Sanders campaign, which seems a tale of how to actually apply lessons from defeat, which the Left seems so incapable of doing so much of the time.
(ii) This documentary is on Netflix. Netflix knows there is money to be made from mass interest in progressive issues (see also the docu on Cambridge Analytica). Its motive is profit of course, but that's almost immaterial if they support a progressive message getting 'out there'. See also Nike and support for Kapernick (obviously in so many ways Nike is morally problematic). So can the chasing of the left wing dollar by such companies become a genuinely if cynically progressive force in terms of opening up information to more and more people?
[Obvs this is a vast simplification, but I'm sure there's an interesting conversation to be had]
https://www.netflix.com/gb/title/81080637
I've switched off a bit wrt US politics recently, so part of the story was new to me, and incredibly inspiring (the swing for AOC was monumental - 30 points down only weeks before the vote [surely I haven't recalled this correctly?], and then winning by 15) - especially the fact that this was all so well planned on a structural level, by Justice Democrats and Brand New Congress - creating a grassroots left-wing movement to challenge incumbent Democrats, finding candidates who would never really have thought of going into politics, but who in many cases have all the attributes of natural politicians/inspiring speakers etc. And with very clear, simple messaging about not taking corporate dollars, etc
Two questions really:
(i) Is this the model for the Left to use to eventually win? Obviously small scale at the moment, but it seems such an effective strategy - and critically all coming from veterans of the 2016 Bernie Sanders campaign, which seems a tale of how to actually apply lessons from defeat, which the Left seems so incapable of doing so much of the time.
(ii) This documentary is on Netflix. Netflix knows there is money to be made from mass interest in progressive issues (see also the docu on Cambridge Analytica). Its motive is profit of course, but that's almost immaterial if they support a progressive message getting 'out there'. See also Nike and support for Kapernick (obviously in so many ways Nike is morally problematic). So can the chasing of the left wing dollar by such companies become a genuinely if cynically progressive force in terms of opening up information to more and more people?
[Obvs this is a vast simplification, but I'm sure there's an interesting conversation to be had]
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