We're crowdsourcing: Who is Europe’s answer to Zohran Mamdani?

[europeanspodcast@mastodon.social]

@jon @sorenhave @Pepijn I think it has something to do with the proportional representation voting systems in so much of the continent that create such a huge spread of parties. The UK is the most obvious country where AOC/Mamdani/Sanders-esque candidates have emerged, and I think that's partly because of FPTP.

[jon@gruene.social]

@europeanspodcast @sorenhave @Pepijn But it *ought* to be possible in countries with mixed systems that are part constituency. And the UK has parties that drain the life from people really badly as well (I knew Chuka Umunna since he was 21, and what happened to him as a person was grim)

[a_denie@toot.io]

@sanityinc @europeanspodcast oh man, this turned out to be a well-timed toot

[sanityinc@hachyderm.io]

@A_denie @europeanspodcast Oh! Yes!

[m4lvin@goto.fiets.pizza]

@europeanspodcast For Germany you might want Heidi Reichinnek

[meuwese@mastodon.social]

@europeanspodcast great question! @LisaWesterveld and @barbarakathmann come to mind. They are also active here, and both really know how to make effective social media posts.

[kupfers@mastodon.social]

@europeanspodcast Heidi Reichinnek

[liaizon@social.wake.st]

@europeanspodcast Ferat Koçak of Berlin

[timitii@mementomori.social]

@jon @sorenhave @Pepijn @europeanspodcast hell no Stubb. He is a right wing politician. Li Andersson would fit much closer to description.

[magdalenahai@mstdn.social]

@timitii @jon @sorenhave @Pepijn @europeanspodcast yes, love from Finland to Li Andersson, she's awesome.

[hiljaisuus@piipitin.fi]

@jon @sorenhave @Pepijn @europeanspodcast

What? No, absolutely not. Stubb is an epitome of no substance, no morals, no personal integrity liberalism. There is nothing left-wing about him.

His background is comfortably elite and he has never shown any understanding of every day struggles of any working people. The only thing he challenges are his own personal sport results.

But I guess he does the social media pretty well if someone actually thinks otherwise.

[hiljaisuus@piipitin.fi]

@jon @europeanspodcast

Stubb is also actively enabling Finland’s current far-right* government who are dismantling every single thing that you may think Finland has going for it. Stubb is doing exactly nothing, despite constant racism and even pedophilia scandals.

* = technically the government is run by Stubb’s right-wing Kokoomus party, but they invited the far-right and allow them to do anything they want just to push the neoliberal agenda.

[jannepekkala@mementomori.social]

@hiljaisuus @jon @europeanspodcast actually, in Europe there is no “Mamandi” or AOC. Not because we are too right, but more about because our politics are not tied to two overgrown parties, that are more about oligarchy (both sides, power of the few elites, choose from the lesser evil, but vote like your family has reached). Instead we have actual democracy* with 5-10 parties from far-right to far-left, therefore there is no single radical person to shake the field (like Mamandi, AOC or Sanders). On the country level we have some party leads, who fulfill that role, but not in European level.

And yes, sadly there is some bad movements in Europe too, towards this, but it is still pretty far a way from the dying democracy you have there behind the pond. And that turnboil might actually push us back to unifying democratic Europe instead of populistic splintery there has been since brexit and MAGA (as now we see, at what those lead to).

Main problem we still have here is technical dept to Silicon Valley and hanging on the late western greatness, also known as 90’s USA. But on the other hand, we are also already started to move away (a bit too late) from that dying nation and towards China, which is future leader of global economics. Also, we have started to build up sovereignty of our own. Only hoping, that your countries break won’t cause a global war, just a small civil one.

So, I don’t think, we actually need a single “strong” leader in here Europe (we actually have our bunch of bad “great” leaders in the past, which we don’t want to repeat). Our strength is in real over the parties (and countries) co-operation and it will hopefully also save us, from the crash of the US (both financial and technical).

*) Multiparty system parliament (optimal 5 or more) force the co-op and dialogue between different views. When you have only two, you end up situation of Power of the strongest, tyranny of the weakest, which for my Yankee friends, is extremely close to move to dictatorship there just now. All it needed was a little push from a “friendly“ neighbour and some power hungry lunatics. But I have big wishes your midterms doesn’t not end in beginning of the civil war to nullify “bad” result.

[whangdoodler@piipitin.fi]

@jon @hiljaisuus @europeanspodcast ew wtf, Stubb is a disgusting, rubbery grinning opportunist neoliberal who gladly enables fascists and has his tongue up dictator asses.

[mika@mastodon.paahtimo.games]

@magdalenahai @timitii @jon @sorenhave @Pepijn @europeanspodcast Yes for Li! She checks all the boxes and in terms of popularity matches Mamdani. She got over 2x the votes of the 2nd voted MEP in Finland.

Results: https://vaalit.yle.fi/epv2024/tulospalvelu/en/

[vrtxd@piipitin.fi]

@whangdoodler @jon @hiljaisuus @europeanspodcast Yup. Look up a wheel of power/privilege, and you will find #AlexanderStubb at the very center of that. He is entitled in every single metric and – you guessed it – is not using that to help the less fortunate.

As pointed out in the other thread, #LiAndersson is a much closer match to Mamdani if we're looking for Finnish politicians. #AnnaKontula is also very interesting, but she is retiring from parlamentarism and going #collapsologist #degrowth.

[jon@gruene.social]

@timitii @sorenhave @Pepijn @europeanspodcast I know. But he’s still not a typical one. This isn’t a left right argument.