Interesting new development in the US radical left

Submitted by sherbu-kteer on October 12, 2018

A hockey mascot is now the official creature of antifa and US radicalism.

See:

“Keep your Marxist hands off Gritty”: WSJ writer fumes over allegations that a furry mascot is antifa

Here is Gritty's pro-IWW twitter account, and here is Black Rose/Rosa Negra joining in on the fun

I think this is a sign that the revolution is imminent

mn8

5 years 5 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by mn8 on October 27, 2018

“Gritty belongs to Philadelphia, not to far-left activists."

They have a point. The mascot is there to promote a sports team and hence a brand, as a sports team tends to be associated with merchandise and promotion. It would be a weird thing for the left to actually just celebrate an NHL team's mascot. Of course, a lot of the US 'radicals' involved (eg. DSA) might just be reformist or liberal anti-Trump agitators, so they are already just a generic part of pop culture rather than being a real political current. I'm sure there are more meaningful leftist mascots than some brand's advertising ploy.

Reddebrek

5 years 5 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by Reddebrek on October 27, 2018

Well yes but the problem is that basically everything is a brand, you can buy plenty of things with every symbol of the labour movement slapped on it, often being sold by a large corporation that doesn't even use the excuse of "we're just selling pins and tee-shirts to raise funds" that some of the co-ops and publishers use.

We're all familiar with Che merch, but like in the Karl Marx museum it has a gift shop filled with Karl Marx merchandise with his face on everything.

I think you can correlate the popularity of a person or group based on the number of brands that rip it off.

This seems like the modern equivalent of Situ's Detournement, to me.

Khawaga

5 years 5 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by Khawaga on October 28, 2018

Yup, this has detournement written all.over it. The following freakout over it sort of proves how effective it is.

huli

5 years 5 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by huli on October 29, 2018

Well, that didn’t last long:
https://www.bostonmagazine.com/news/2018/10/26/gritty-picket-line/

R Totale

5 years 4 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by R Totale on November 12, 2018

I quite liked this: http://www.redwedgemagazine.com/online-issue/true-grit-from-weird-mascot-to-eldritch-revolutionary

Noah Fence

5 years 4 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by Noah Fence on November 12, 2018

RT, was it comradely of you to remind me of Red Wedge???
The absolute horror of it, just about every liberal lefty tool from the world of 80s pop indulging themselves in an orgy of mutual backslapping.
Weller, Somerville et al, plus of course the bane of all skateboarders and people with ears, Billy Fucking Bragg. Ew! I’ve come out in a terrible rash now thanks to you. I hope you’re pleased with yourself?

https://youtu.be/SaAK2xeHNVw