A gospel choir at the presentation, beautiful linen bags and naturally divided reactions about the name: Progressive Netherlands was born in March. A new left-wing hope is desperately needed. Yet, when I think of the left way up, I don’t think of a new name or the Left Story that is always being called for.
I’m thinking about erection pills.
The setting is the podcast The Adam Friedland Show and the guest is the newly elected mayor of New York, Zohran Mamdani. Before the conversation, in November last year, presenter Friedland looks into the camera and says: “I’ll interrupt the conversation with the mayor to tell you about Ro Sparks. For your erection.”
What follows is a minute-long commercial about how the Ro Sparks erection pills work – tagline: get hard, fast. Meanwhile, Friedland notes: “The mayor is watching.”
Mamdani’s PR team does not intervene – as if this is the most normal course of events for a (then) incoming mayor. The same goes for the rest of the messy and strange conversation. No neat America love or a message of decency from Mamdani’s side (Moving forward together!). Instead: jokes about hair transplants in Turkey, about cannabis sweets and about Mamdani’s obsession with Arsenal, the English football club that no one in the US really cares about. The result: the interview will be streamed millions of times.
It’s communication chaos. And it says everything about what has changed in politics over the past ten years.
Patronizing empathy
Mamdani is no exception. He fits a pattern that has taken over the political landscape: leaders with a personality that has not been smoothed over by rigorous media training. Messy leaders. They appeal to us, and it is clear why: their messiness is a response to the politician as we have known him for so long. One that sounds like a helpdesk employee.
Such politicians are always polite: ‘Very annoying for you.’ But you feel it’s scripted. Their empathy is patronizing, their dress coordinates with their advisors. This is what politics has come to feel like in recent decades: pretending.
Pretend you have remained ‘normal’. Pretend you’ve never done anything wrong. Pretend you can all go through one door in the party. Pretend you’re not vain. Pretend you believe a task force will solve something. Pretend you only care about the voter. Pretend your outrage isn’t rehearsed.
That is why a form of leadership has emerged in response that revolves around letting go of perfection. Who is insensitive to political mores. No PR talk. Unabashed. Such leaders speak messily, change their opinions and dare to improvise live. They do not hide behind working groups and reports, but have instinct.
This is where it becomes important for left-wing parties in the Netherlands, such as Progressive Netherlands. Because what is striking: you hardly have messy leaders on the left, but almost exclusively on the right. Milei with his ridiculous chainsaw. Wilders with his strange haircut. Trump with his endless, incoherent ramblings. Boris Johnson with his quotes from Ovid and clumsily dangling from a zip line. And yes, a left-wing exception: Bernie Sanders with his infectious sulkiness and his thick, knitted mittens.
Where the classic leader tried to gain trust by appearing perfect, the messy leader wins by being visibly human. Politics has become so rigid and scripted that only an unabashed voice still feels like an honest one. The fact that almost all examples come from the right says a lot. On the left, pretending continues to dominate – from individual politicians to party culture.
Anyone who grows up in a left-wing environment learns to make themselves smaller than they actually are
The cause? Fear. The left is ruled by fear. A contraction that consists of: don’t do anything wrong, don’t say anything wrong. Left-wing communication is about: is it responsible?, is it inclusive? Every position must be impeccable, tested in advance against all possible objections, agreed with everyone who might think something of it. Spontaneity is risk. Directness is danger. Charisma – that elusive, messy, human thing – is mistrusted as superficial. The left flees to safety: to cumbersome formulations, to endless coordination, to committees and reports. Anyone who does make a mistake is often punished more severely within their own ranks than by any opponent.
How come? Whether politicians are afraid or show courage largely depends on their environment. That is why it is important for left-wing parties to ask the question: what culture are you encouraging within your movement? One of fear or one of courage?
The right has built an environment where risk is rewarded. In pubs. In podcasts. In online communities. Spaces where messy leaders emerge – not from brainstorming sessions with communications strategists, but from the freedom to show who you are.
The left lacks such an ecosystem. Links organizes consultations. Tuning, not experimenting. Anyone who grows up in such an environment learns to make themselves smaller than they actually are. This is how you get politicians who behave as if they were programmed by a compliance department. And the voter sees right through that.
The left will have to let go of its fear. You cannot enforce such a culture of daring. You cannot push it through policy papers or advisory committees. You can only encourage her by creating an environment where things are allowed to be different. A culture where the reflex is not: can this be bad?but could this work?
Steak socialists
Now that a new broad left-wing party has emerged with Progressive Netherlands, this is important. A merger party in particular cannot afford to iron out every difference. The broader a party, the more fringes must be expected: the steak socialists who do not recognize themselves in climate activism, the rebellious activists who do not recognize themselves in compromise politics. This issue affects the entire left-wing movement. These times require you to learn to live with the frayed edges of your own movement.
Look at Mamdani again. He was criticized on his performance at Hasan Piker, a popular streamer who once said America deserved 9/11. Mamdani refused to denounce him. Yes, Piker’s statements were ‘reprehensible’ – but Mamdani explained why he went anyway: “Part of the reason Democrats have become a permanent minority is that we only want to talk to journalists, streamers and Americans with whom we agree Each. Individual. Point.”
Moments like that show me where the power of messy politics lies. It makes space. For a collective that is not only fiery, but also warm and open. For doubt, for learning, for a change of course and a healthy discussion.
I traditionally see messiness as a leftist trait. Jan Schaefer with his “you can’t live in bullshit”. The Amsterdam Gnome Movement that proclaimed their own state in 1970. Eberhard van der Laan who did not calm an angry Amsterdammer with a rehearsed ‘I understand your concerns’ but bit back with humor, honesty and fortitude: “Oh fuck off, I live in De Baarsjes, where do you live?
Messiness has always been the language of leftists. Let’s recapture that tradition.
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