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Dec 2, 2020 14 tweets 4 min read Read on X
Fascinating, wide-ranging analysis by @jemgilbert on the strengths, weaknesses & challenges facing the contemporary Left, on both sides of the Atlantic.

Well worth reading all of it. (Summary below).

opendemocracy.net/en/we-lost-bec…
The professional political class, & the interests it represents (finance capital/Big Tech) have fought off a democratic assault by convincing affluent professionals that the Left is a threat to their most cherished values: meritocratic, individualistic, cosmopolitan liberalism.
"The world-view of older voters with low-education is heavily shaped by the power of the tabloid press & its ideological allies online in the UK; by the media constellation organised around Fox News in the US."
These institutions, & the ideologies they propagate, remain major obstacles for any project that would seek to actually address the fundamental social questions raised by the fight against structural racism (or against rampant economic inequality, or against climate catastrophe).
'A degree of basic economic protection for the poorest workers has been stripped away since the 1970s. For poor white workers, especially straight men, the decline in the value accorded to their cultural status has coincided with a decline in their economic & political power.'
This provokes resentment of a cosmopolitan political elite, driving support for the far-Right. In the UK & US, the second most powerful section of the mass media (after neoliberals at the @BBC & other major broadcasters) is committed to an ideology of authoritarian nationalism.
In 2019 voters didn’t believe that a Corbyn govt would be able to deliver its programme. The City of London, the BBC, the Murdoch press, the Right wing of the @UKLabour Party would have conspired to ensure that it failed, & the movement just wasn’t big enough to take them on.
‘Disaster nationalist’ politics thrives in the chaos of a society in permanent crisis, deploying nationalist tropes to win support for its aim: to prevent a coherent challenge to capitalist power. Platform nationalism deploys social media & digital platforms to further this end.
"Despite the electoral setbacks of 2019/20, the organised Left is larger and more dynamic in both the UK and the US than it has been at any point since the catastrophic defeats of the 1980s. Just 5 years ago it would not have been remotely plausible to make such a claim."
Corbyn & Sanders inspired & mobilised hundreds of thousands of younger activists who had never been mobilised before, to remake connections between electoral politics & movement activism, detoxifying the concept of socialism with many voters: an enormous historical achievement.
Millions of people are now experiencing the lived contradiction between the obvious power of both govts & people to act collectively in a highly-networked world, AND the complete failure of neoliberal capitalism to deliver on its promises of prosperity & autonomy for citizens.
We continue to enjoy relatively high levels of union density: 23% as of 2018, as opposed to 10% in the US. Pressuring unions to take a more active role in countering Right-wing propaganda is an obvious task for the Left for the foreseeable future.
One implication of Jem Gilbert's analysis is the urgency of developing propaganda, alternative media and political education resources aimed not only at working class citizens and young graduates, but at the middle-aged, middle-class voters.
The attempt by the populist Right to associate the Green New Deal with a middle-class & cosmopolitan culture, that they will portray as inimical to the values & interests of the White post-industrial working-class, presents a significant ideological and organisational challenge.

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More from @docrussjackson

Oct 10
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Let's not mince words.

A handful of selfish sociopathic billionaires and the populist politicians and media they fund have deliberately divided and radicalised millions of people across the world, solely to protect their wealth and power.
They claim to want to help “save children” while spreading distrust of experts, reputable journalism, climate science, and vaccines — which have saved over 100 million children since 1974.

By dividing the public, they protect their wealth and power.
Rather than justify how their wealth was earned, these elites cultivate scepticism of their critics and of expertise itself.

This deliberate erosion of trust shields their interests while undermining the science that saves lives and protects our planet.

Read 66 tweets
Oct 8
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Robert Jenrick closed his Conference speech with: “Let’s build this NEW ORDER. Let’s TAKE our country back.” Hitler's “New Order” was a vision for an Aryan-led Europe which involved exterminating or enslaving “undesirable” minorities.

Jenrick has a Jewish wife. He knew this. Image
Across mainstream platforms and parliamentary stages, an extremely dangerous rhetorical drift is taking hold.

I've written elsewhere about what Prof Ruth Wodak calls “the shameless normalisation of far-right discourse” in relation to British politics.

In Britain, a group of prominent MPs—including Nigel Farage, Lee Anderson, Rupert Lowe, Robert Jenrick and Suella Braverman—are normalising far-right discourse through three recurring frames/themes: invasion, scapegoating for cultural destruction, and demographic replacement. Image
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Read 31 tweets
Oct 6
🧵

Let's talk about chainsaw enthusiast, Musk buddy, and darling of the global free-market right, Javier Milei.

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Milei’s election as President of Argentina in November 2023 was met with enthusiasm from right-wing news media and populist politicians who praised his libertarian, anti-establishment platform as a model for radical economic reform. Image
Support was often framed in the context of Thatcherite principles, with Milei seen as a disruptor against "socialism".

1. Kemi Badenoch celebrated Milei as a "template" for her own potential Government, aspiring to be "Britain’s version of Javier Milei". Image
Read 38 tweets
Oct 5
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A global evangelical Christian ARMY linked to TPUSA/TPUK, "fighting for the Britain whose church missioned & colonised the dark, demonic, heathen world with light, truth & salvation", founded by a former British boy band member addicted to cocaine until he found God?

WTAF!🤯 Image
'The King's Army' is a non-denominational Christian evangelism and discipleship movement launched in the UK mid-2024 - a "spiritual army" of believers enlisted to combat sin, cultural decay, and "darkness" through aggressive street outreach, prayer marches and public protests. 🤪 Image
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It targets young men for recruitment, standing against issues like secularism and "immoral culture"! Image
Read 26 tweets
Oct 2
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Two people have died and three are in a serious condition following a suspected terror attack on a Manchester synagogue. Muslim leaders have condemned the attack. The suspect was shot dead by Police.

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The consequences are now spilling into the streets.
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Read 39 tweets
Sep 24
🧵

Ellison (~$390bn), Musk (~£385bn), and Zuckerberg (~$260): the three richest men on earth.

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Who is Larry Ellsion? Image
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Musk, Zuckerberg and Ellison are doing precisely this on steroids. Image
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Read 31 tweets

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