Storytelling for the Left 101
On post-truth, storytelling and imagination
Few will be surprised or argue that there are many issues with the modern Left, from an ideological fragmentation and a loss of identity to the ever drift to the right and their disappearance from the media.1 One of those issues is the lack of storytelling.
The Left is positioning itself against the Right by default. The Right is in the driving seat: they determine the political agenda, the topics of the ‘culture war’, the scapegoats, the direction of society,… and all the Left can do is be against all of it (or for it in some terrible instances).2 It is not just the Left who’s pushed around but the centre and, to an extent, the traditional Right - all trying to get their lunchbox back from the far-right bully.
All this aimless running around translates into a lack of political direction, citizens don’t get the Left and where it wants to take society, but they understand the project of the Right (even if not all agree with). The Right has a clear path, it is paved with lies and disillusions, but the narrative is coherent. Why couldn’t the Left steal this from the Right instead of their anti-migrants rhetoric?
Ni night little lefties, it's time to have some big ambitious dreams. But first, it is time to have a good story.
More than stories
Post-love, post-truth
Justice lays bound and black-bagged, ready for the guillotine
Humans have a natural tendency to tell stories, it is the way we transmit information and make sense of the world. “Story isn’t some jargony buzzword, writes Braden Dragomir in Forbes. It’s a complicated and meticulous process that involved making intentional choices about your characters and your plot.”. Storytelling is a powerful tool, a good story can change perception and influence actions, who doesn’t want to see themselves as the hero? It taps into our empathy, our craving to find patterns and to understand our ever-changing society. Storytelling is a powerful tool, especially in politics.
In politics, political narrative is the way storytelling shapes facts to steer our understanding of reality, it is a tool to establish a certain perspective of society and the environment. Political narrative relies heavily on pathos, the emotional and our ability to empathise, as opposed to logos which relies on empirical data and logic. It is how we agree on our reality.
I came across an insightful LSE review of The Art of Political Storytelling by Philip Seargeant.3 According to the review, Seargeant argues that the current conditions for political performances are set by technological factors, like the capture of attention or algorithms. “In this environment, fakery – and the outrage of those still adhering to a traditional view of truth – might simply be a strategy for audience captivation.” Thus politics becomes part of a flow of entertainment, an object of consumption. “The key premise for understanding politics is the realisation that it is ‘a concoction of the effects of modern media technologies, anti-establishment opinion and emotional conviction’, organised and channelled through political discourse.” Despite the substance of the message being rather empty and kitsch, the approach has proven rather effective in mobilising support and making sense, “an efficient post-truth political narrative allows one to access a deeper layer of meaning – the truth beyond the lie.”
The ability to tell stories is crucial in the post-truth era. Post-truth, as defined by the Cambridge Dictionary, is “relating to a situation in which people are more likely to accept an argument based on their emotions and beliefs, rather than one based on facts”. Post-truth, as put in The Guardian, refers to the concept of truth as being meaningless, irrelevant. Why bother with a boring, data-driven truth, when you could just make up a better story? To paraphrase Bones season 3 episode 13: “We’re past forensics. Now it’s about the story.” Politics has moved past the realm of facts, the logos, and is all about the story, the pathos. Not the Left though, no. The Left cosied up with facts and facts only, which is good for them but they lost their ability to relate.
Facts and truths are essentials, I am by no means saying the Left should go low and start lying, but it needs a damn good narrative, a story to tell the public about their project for society. We know the overall goals of their policies, the issues they plan to address: inequality, climate change, public services... But it lacks a path to lead to the destination, and even that destination is foggy. In the UK this is what is making Keir Starmer’s Labour government shake. The sheer lack of ambition, of a plan, of an actionable programme of the Prime Minister is flabbergasting - pardon my French. When your whole plan is ‘not the Tories’, you will be fats to lose support when it turns out you’re not that different either.
For example: it is not enough to say we need good public transport. While it may be obvious for many, we must assume it is not for most: “I have a car, I don’t see why we need public transport. We only need cheap fuel. X politicians of *insert Right-wing party* say they’ll make sure fuel remains cheap and they will scrap environmental policies because climate change is not real.” In three sentences we see how efficient the storytelling of the Right is. It gives citizens the impression that they understand what’s what, they can easily pick policies and get a grasp of how those policies will affect them. They get the story, it makes sense no matter how fake it actually is.
The capacity to project ourselves into someone else’s life, and therefore someone else’s needs, has diminished so dramatically that it is close to zero. While the Left is good at stating facts, using the correct words for everything and arguing about which words are the more correct, all of this is nonsense for a lot of people, and may even dissuade some to engage at all. Most people do not like being told off for an innocent miswording.4
Green party’s Caroline Lucas noted the gap, as reported by The Independent: “Those of us broadly on the centre and centre left need to get a hell of a lot better at telling stories, because at the moment storytelling seems to be the preserve of the right”. It is not just the stories the Left needs, it is a real programme and, instead of scrapping the barrel of the Right, find back its roots in the working class and their worries, and actually address them.
In favour of ambitious policies
Leaning towards the right will not work in our favour, it's time to be a little utopic in our narrative for tomorrow's society
Going back to our car example, the Right’s story and policies around it don’t only work because they’re easy but also because they follow a path we already know. In From What Is to What If, Rob Hopkins argues the importance of imagination and how it plays a key role in our vision of the future. Dystopian and retropia (projecting the past into the future “"it was better before, let’s go back”) as narratives thrive on the right. it is easy to imagine how bad it could get, so easy is almost lazy as Hopkins was told by James McKay. It is also easy to project a new vision of the past. Humans are storytelling creatures, “We tell stories that shape our sense of the world. We have strong cultural narratives, like the story that technology will save us. Or that everything is part of God’s plan.”
The Left needs to offer a new vision of the world. Having goals and ideas is good - and gods know how hard that already is – but people struggle to see how these will translate into their lives.
At the beginning of the book Hopkins narrates a day in this new world and when I tell you it ruined my day it really did, all I could think about was the ‘could be’. We could have walkable communities, we could have enjoyable, nature-immersed schools, we could have thriving arts and culture scenes and also an innovator-rich society thanks to the universal basic income, we could decrease stress and loneliness and increase job satisfaction with the four-day workweek, we could thrive in an equalitarian society freed from racism, sexism, any LGBTQ+ phobia,... We could defund the police and abolish prison, being a caring society rather than a punishing one, we could reattribute resources to end homelessness and famine… The list is terribly long but it is not terribly impossible.
What if tomorrow you do not need a car? No more sitting in traffic for hours, no more insurance and road taxes, no more worries about the constant increase in the cost of fuel. A simple trip to the store is no longer a headache trying to remember which roads are closed and where the temporary lights are. You could just hop on the bus or the tramway, and it’ll take you right where you need to be. No need to worry about a schedule, the investment in public transport has permitted the increase of frequency in all transport. Even better, you may be living in a place where everything and anything is a 15-minute walk or cycle ride away. Imagine walking a green street, with no car in sight, no sounds of horns or roaring motorcycle engines. The roads no longer flood and the summer heats are once again bearable, thanks to the amount of trees planted and the rewilding of our cities. Wouldn’t that be nice? We only have to dream.
We need to build a narrative, a common and ambitious project for the future. What the far-right and populist parties have successfully done, their narrative, although relying on misinformation and straight up lies, offers concrete solution to people. It gives them culprits and heroes, offers changes at the top (that will ‘trickle down’ to those who elected them), it is a comprehensive and readable story with a beginning, middle and a promising end.
We just need a story.
/ in parallel /
From what is to what if, Rob Hopkins, Chelsea Green Publishing co (2021)
The invisible doctrine, George Monbiot & Peter Hutchison, Allen Lane (2024)
“The study also highlighted the “symbiotic relationship” between far-right populists and “alternative” media. “Radical-right populists have been effective in creating and utilising alternative media ecosystems that amplify their viewpoints,” Törnberg said.
Those ecosystems were amplifying misinformation and shaping far-right populist movements, he said, strengthening their ideological messages, creating a sense of community among voters, and providing a counter-narrative to mainstream media.”
- Far-right populists much more likely than the left to spread fake news – study, The Guardian
The unhinged presentation of Muslims on GB News has been exposed. What will Ofcom do about it?, The Guardian
But believed thought stories are what shape this civilization. The only reason why power exists where it exists, why nations and their borders exist as they do, why money operates the way that it operates, why laws are written and obeyed, is because we’ve all agreed to believe a bunch of made-up narratives saying that these things are true.
-This Civilization Is Deeply Unnatural, Caitlin Johnstone
It’s straight from the Trump playbook: Labour is tearing up the machinery of government, The Guardian
“Part of the problem lies with the Greens’ social media strategy. Their presence is largely dire. Videos are mostly dull, badly shot, and frequently focus on parliamentary appearances that do little to engage voters’ interest. Where was their “Save Our Grannies” campaign over the winter fuel payment, with a short video offering emotional testimonies from struggling pensioners?”
- The Green party’s time is now, but it needs to stop being polite – and start picking some fights, The Guardian
How Trump and the new right came to ‘own’ the future – while apparently exploiting the past? The Guardian
Seriously, where are they??
Alright let’s put it down, yes it is more important to draw bridges than build walls but not for everything. Needless to say there should be ideological boundaries the Left refuse to cross, but within the Left itself we love to fight each other which has proven itself extremely counterproductive (see the state of the Left in France and what they accomplished when they put their differences aside and worked together - but this is for another article).
Full disclosure: I have not read the book yet, if any readers have, let me know how you liked it in the comments <3
I am not talking about the use of slurs or anything, but rather common mistakes or slips with no bad intentions. (see Ash Sarkar’s example of the lettuce dryer)