if there’s anything the UK and US elections are really hammering home this year, it’s the incredible power of mass media to manufacture consent at a nearly incomprehensible scale
this doesn’t necessarily imply that the war against this media must necessarily be fought with counter-media of a different kind
but it does really emphasize that media manufactures reality and that you can’t sales-pitch-on-the-doorstep someone out of that particular reality
but it does really emphasize that media manufactures reality and that you can’t sales-pitch-on-the-doorstep someone out of that particular reality
capitalist media is pretty clearly and effectively able to cement a contrived reality in most people’s heads. left strategy must be able to dislodge someone from a comprehensive worldview.
i don’t see a world in which canvasing gets us there.
i don’t see a world in which canvasing gets us there.
“biden won virginia without a single field office” doesn’t mean organizing/ground game doesn’t work
but it might mean that canvasing, which is (incorrectly) treated as synonymous with the above in american politics, is incredibly inefficient/low rate-of-return
but it might mean that canvasing, which is (incorrectly) treated as synonymous with the above in american politics, is incredibly inefficient/low rate-of-return
the way that people change is in relationship. i strongly believe we can beat media by organizing, but i think it’s going to take actually organizing — being in deep relationship with people over time — not canvassing, to do so.
this from @CosmonautMag comes to mind. i thoroughly believe a ground game on the scale of the bernie campaign can take this country to socialism. but what if, instead of knocking every door in a weekend, it was trying to build durable communal structures?
bernie is by no means out for this election. this is far, far from over. and this doesn't mean give up on your plans, or that the work put in has been useless.
but we also have to seriously consider what the most effective use of our time and effort is, and virginia is loud rn
but we also have to seriously consider what the most effective use of our time and effort is, and virginia is loud rn
envision for a second that all of the fundraising and volunteering put into knocking almost every door in every state so far had instead been used to go into the most impoverished, most alienated, least organized communities and say:
"we're socialists [or "we're with the bernie campaign", take your pick], we want to know what is making your life most miserable, and we want to work with you to find the power to overcome it"
imagine what that could do. where even that would put us, come election season!
imagine what that could do. where even that would put us, come election season!
read “Beyond the Vote”
i want you to imagine that maybe the orthodoxy behind how to run a US election campaign doesn’t translate to a socialist effort and that maybe we should be trying to capture that time & money for something narrower but deeper
i want you to imagine that maybe the orthodoxy behind how to run a US election campaign doesn’t translate to a socialist effort and that maybe we should be trying to capture that time & money for something narrower but deeper
put simply, what the failure of the corbyn and bernie canvassing apparatus to sell voters their narrative (vs. mass media's) tells me is that:
we won't out-advertise them, but we can out-organize them.
maybe we should stop competing on their terrain and start competing on our's
we won't out-advertise them, but we can out-organize them.
maybe we should stop competing on their terrain and start competing on our's
