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   Lydia Conwell :mastodon: (lydiaconwell@todon.nl)'s status on Saturday, 05-Apr-2025 15:21:36 JST Lydia Conwell :mastodon:

   in reply to

   Speaking of strategies for the left:

   I saw a video of a protest at a talk for new students at Glasgow university. Some pro-Palestine, pro-#BDS protesters walked in chanting and holding up a banner and most of the potential future students just sat there looking blank.

   Then when the protesters started handing out leaflets some people didn't take them. The video ended then so it wasn't revealed how many people took the leaflets.

   But this is a problem I think the left has. When people protest, observers might see the propaganda taking place and either say "Fuck you! Don't tell me what to think!" or might go "Well, I don't know so I'll stay neutral."

   And it's like when you say to people you've deleted your WhatsApp. They just think "But I need WhatsApp to communicate with ..." and the notion ends there.

   This is one of the key things the left has to overcome in my opinion.

   It's about persuading and selling the ideas without eliciting hatred or revulsion, and making people feel they are not be propagandised, that they are choosing to support left politics.

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     Lydia Conwell :mastodon: (lydiaconwell@todon.nl)'s status on Saturday, 05-Apr-2025 15:21:37 JST Lydia Conwell :mastodon:

     I'm not sure how I feel about this article on left wing strategy. It just feels to me aimless, with the left being divided and weakened for it.

     The thing is, while there will always be divisions, I think the left probably can built a movement with some kind of consensus over most issues. There will always be some conflicting political beliefs, some that can never be reconciled, but I don't think a popular movement automatically has to become tepid and watered down.

     I'm also not big on the idea 'no cuts' is the best kind of slogan. I think what is needed is a movement that asserts solutions. Reform's popularity is based on them offering solutions. I think a strong left movement will be the one that tells people 'we know how to fix this'.

     The left has a PR problem in my opinion. I think they need to ditch talk of Marxism and workers in favour of a campaign that makes all working people realise they are part of the same struggle.

     I think probably appealing to a more middle class demographic would be the key to that. And the left need to stop relying on corporate own media, including social media. Corporate news always misrepresents the left, and I think the left are often trying to fit in to what those outlets want to hear. ...

     https://www.counterfire.org/article/on-strategy-how-do-we-stop-starmer/

     GreenSkyOverMe (Monika) repeated this.