Hello people in my screen. During my few years as a commie i've always noticed a flaw with the Communist movement in my country (Italy).
People, expecially young people (who are, not always, but most of the times the ones of higher radicalization potential) tend to spend copious amounts of time on the Internet. My mom used to read books, now she listens to them while doing stuff, i used to hang out with my friends IRL, now we play on discord and other boomer (although true TBH) examples.
The right is exploiting the Internet-space to a far greater extent than us (often in quantity and "relatability" and not quality), their propaganda is everywhere, with millions of eyes looking at it. It's sometimes veiled with a coat of "liberalism" and "progressivism" but, in the end, does nothing but promote the status quo, just by means of a different tendril of capital. (such is the case with an IG page I wont mention, who calls themselves a "liberal institute" and constalty post quotes by the likes of Thatcher, Raegan and similar demons, it has thousands of followers, mostly young people who think the state and the evil EU regulations are the reasons of their misery.)
Our Italian left-wing is doing a piss-poor job at exploiting the massive outreach opportunity the internet is, me myself am part of a student's org, our website has been offline for years now. People in the org know but don't particularly care. And looking at the spaces with the most eyes on them, the corporate social platforms, the situation is dire: The few people who try to engage with the "commoners" are either sick with the left-wing communism disease: euro-communists, leftcoms, anarcho-libs, people who are far too sectarian, or who focus on appearance more than substance, and actually relating to the mass and their grievances, making the fact of being a communist a status symbol or a lifestyle instead of an Ideology. Or well-meaning Marxists who, unfortunately, are shunned by the masses because they just don't get that the masses are largely de-politicised, they don't want/aren't ready to hear about complex theory concepts or things that are "too far" for them (you can't really go to the average worker and sing praises of Stalin, as much as me and you wished) Plus all content produced by these Comrades is infected with the oh-so-common TikTok plague. Sometimes an IG infographic, if it's not liberal in nature, can get the point across. But more often than not an in-depth analysis is needed, while still trying to keep it engaging and not too long. Nothing over +or- 20 min, ppl have stuff to do.
In fact there are exactly 0 communist channels to speak of on YT, all the content is on Instagram and TikTok, Short-form oriented platforms who, although very popular, don't really allow for the deep exploration some kind of topics deserve. can't really divulgate the whole history of the cold war, with all it's nuances, happenings and US... actions in 1min or less.
Now comes my idea: Filling the niche of Italian YouTube long-but-not-too-much form communist content for beginners, the majority of de-politicized people betrayed by electoral politics, and just people looking for entratainment and information.
I believe there's potential. People are betrayed on the daily and are looking for answers, and when they find them they're often finding them in not the best of places.
Instead of focusing on openly marxist content, the endless debates on the topics who always divide us, I'd rather talk about real-world issues the majority of people face and try to relate them to capitalism and it's tentacles. Think of something like "Second Thought" on YT. The current state of our communist movement is miserabe, people don't know who we are and what we actually want. I think that by making people understand that we aren't baby-eating freedom-hating monsters, but we actually agree with the masses on most issues, and by making them reflect on the fact all these separated issues are part of a "bigger picture" we can get somewhere.
I don't really expect much. Big Tech is notoriously allergic to politics let alone Marxism, and the people are brainwashed and propagandized since birth. But i hope to at least get somewhere. Is my idea stupid? Maybe. Will i try anyway? Yea.
I'm not fooling myself into thinking that "Breadtube streamers will bring about the People's Revolution" to be clear. I just want to get the few people i'll reach thinking and re-thinking about stuff.
Now come the questions:
What's the acceptable level of "far from my zone of comfort" for the average depoliticised person?
Which are the "universal" issues, which all (western) proles face, and are most suited to get the masses engaged and listening? (ties in with 1st point) I have a few topics in mind but they're all National/EUropean issues
In general, how to not "scare" people who have been told to fear us all their life?
OPSEC tips? I know a YouTuber who produced very good and informative content, which actually got me to think a lot, BayArea415, had to leave YT because he got doxxed... I use Linux, a VPN and Free Software for all steps of production. But if there's more i'm all ears.
And finally, if any of you has experience in the video sector, please share tips! i'd be glad.
These are just the questions who come to mind. Feel free to share everything you want!
Thanks.
Another map that i found so that our American comrades can undestand better (no offense, underfunded schools n all that, but the average American probably cant find ukraine on a map)
Ukraine is in blue, the parts occupied by Russia are in green and the "huge and glorious" ukrainian advance into Kursk is in yellow.