Novara Media

I don't know that much about El Salvador, but the impression I got is that Bukele's policies have 'worked' in as much as crime has reduced dramatically? So it's a challenge to the liberal left in as much as the liberal left often argues that tough-on-crime policies are counterproductive, don't actually reduce crime because other criminals take the place of the ones you've taken off the streets, when you eventually release the people you lock up they are more likely to be involved with gangs and commit serious crimes - Bukele has shown that if you brute force it, lock up enough people, get around the problem of what happens when you let them out by just not letting them out, then you can significantly reduce crime this way. And if the negative consequences of eliminating due process are concentrated on a specific 10% of society then that still leaves you with the support of 90% of the population.

Has Bukele's success in reducing crime been overstated? I know some have pointed out that crime was already falling before he took office and have accused him of secretly negotiating with gangs, but even his critics seem to acknowledge that what he's done has had a big effect. Or is his policy unsustainable, something that 'works' to reduce crime for a period of time but will eventually lead to negative consequences even for the 90% who aren't currently targets of the crackdown?

Only eight months before the election, the Legislative Assembly passed a reform that introduced a new method of counting votes. The D’Hondt formula is a proportional seat allocation system, which, for many analysts, implies favoring the majority parties. This could even go against the pluralistic system of political parties guaranteed in the Inter-American Democratic Charter because there is a high risk that Nuevas Ideas -Bukele’s party- will become the only ruling party in the Assembly, leaving out the political opposition necessary in any representative democracy.

erasing all opposition parties through dodgy electoral reform bills, mass arbitrary arrests - but at least crime is down. It shouldn't even require a 2nd thought to condemn this shit if you are the so-called liberal left.

of course the liberal left should condemn it, but if they condemn it and it's still wildly popular and their condemnation is entirely ineffectual then that's still a 'real challenge'

How can you know it is wildly popular when there is no electoral oversight, and a strongman leader who is getting rid of judges, doing away with the constitution. Making himself the only power.

Not entirely clear which ‘liberal left’ this is meant to be a challenge for, tbh. Is the expectation that external condemnation from people who can’t make a dent in their own political processes would have a meaningful impact on El Salvador’s? Is the ‘liberal left’ here meant to mean Biden and Trudeau, who have sort of ineffectually condemned bits of it? Is the idea that because it’s popular in a country that had a murder rate 100x that of the UK’s the same
could potentially apply here?

lol, I took it as meaning himself. I read that the Biden administration sanctioned them for bribing crime gangs to cut down on the homicide, lads.

Yep, basically they had a deal with the gangs to allow them to operate / have a degree of protection from extradition to the US in order to keep violence to a minimum - which hit a barrier, iirc because they were getting pressure to extradite one of the leaders, which led to the gangs murdering a bunch of people. After that, Bukele pretty much mandated arresting anyone who was loosely suspected of gang affiliation, including 1000+ children.

Whether the murder rate declining indicates that organised crime has decreased or if it has just been monopolised by the state / state-affiliated gangs who don’t need to murder their rivals if they’re all locked up is not completely clear.

"Bukele has shown that if you brute force it, lock up enough people, get around the problem of what happens when you let them out by just not letting them out, then you can significantly reduce crime this way."

Starmer fans are logging on.

Amazing if you can't see the problems with this.

now let's have a grown up discussion about the merits of imprisoning thousands of children without charge or trial, says I the self-proclaimed liberal lefty from Novara Media.

Many people mouthing off how bad things are now good without thinking through repercussions is a huge problem for the left. They must play catch up.

I think Bastani was going on about how deporting refugees who commit crimes is not necessarily good but definitely understandable and popular last week too.

I did manage to miss that..

I listened a Bastani interview with a total dickhead, a godawful ex-macroeconomist (whatever the fuck one of them is) podcaster with nothing insightful to say about anything. His schtick was "we used to live in unipolar world but since the collapse of the USSR it's a multipolar world" - wow, mind blown. It was just two horrible men talking over each other. Somehow I lasted an hour, but I was busy cooking and it was on in the background.

Guys is the quashing of human rights a bad thing if it gets the trains to run on time, I’m a “liberal leftist”

From late last year but found this interesting on Bukele and El Salvador, which filled me in a bit more on something I wasn't too familiar with

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dEI6gDJBCZ0

Its a bit more focused on what might happen next and likely directions than anything else, at least with 2 of the 3 guests. Probably old news but instructive for me at least

y'know, the word Strasserite is overused (by me) but

An interesting development

I’m a Christian. I think killing unarmed civilians is bad. That’s why I think Israel should be isolated like never before by the entire international community.

What they did was daft, yes. I said that and I believe it.

— Aaron Bastani (@AaronBastani) February 15, 2024

They haven't been on my timelines for a while

I think that’s a great way to raise kids, but it doesn’t mean it’s true!

— Michael Walker (@michaeljswalker) April 11, 2024

wtf is going on with these cunts. Bastani's been a lost cause for a while, now this guy's terfing it up, is this thew new RCP->Spiked pipeline or something?

I remember being surprised by Novara's low YouTube subscriber count before, given their profile booking by the BBC (250K subscribers didn't seem appropriate for something not entirely organic). I checked now and they've almost tripled to 732K which is a big move in 18 months and starting to at least be in the ballpark of respectable (great if not for their relative high media profile middling otherwise)

But then I checked Spiked. 97K subscribers, and their last video (on the topic of woke) got 14K views

aren't Spiked still funded by the Charles Koch Foundation? They can live with low numbers on YT

I presumed they were funded by someone like that, plus I assume still get the same promotional boost from the BBC that Novara does. Its just interesting that in both cases they don't really have any actual viewers of their own (though I'd say Novara's increase from looking last time is now pulling them out of that category).

That being said, the BBC or mainstream outlets that promote these kind of things probably don't have great viewership/readership figures either

not too surprised as walker never seemed like the most nuanced thinker in the first place. re the yt channel, i find the fox news editorialised presenting style (lots of rhetorical questioning to the viewer etc) v off putting. my partner and I were wondering what james butler makes of it these days.

it's embarrassing enough that Bastani keeps doing these sycophantic brownnosing sessions with Hitchens. He had this guest on called Gary Stephenson, who he introduced with effusive praise ... oh this guy is so insightful and amazing ... we had a zillion views last time he was on etc. He was a tedious mockney city trader caricature with nothing insightful to say about capitalism other than the bleeding obvious. Really annoying prettyboy who loves himself and has a book to plug. If it wasn't for Ash Sakar and Moya McLean I'd probably block this channel.

There's not much good news these but Spiked contributers regularly turning up on the BBC and Sky seems to be a thing of the past. I assume that's down to the advent of GB News and Talk TV.

I am writing this statement as unfortunately Novara Media have left me little choice. In light of the organization’s refusal to address the actions of one of its senior employees that led to the persecution of three young women of color and their ultimate conviction under the…

— Mohammed El-Kurd (@m7mdkurd) April 15, 2024

Lol @ Bastani is out of control

Statement in reference to tweet of 15 April. pic.twitter.com/TllW35rotT

— Novara Media (@novaramedia) April 17, 2024

doubling down on it while one of the women he helped get arrested is a Palestinian refugee who is now having her immigration status reviewed. An absolute fucking scumbag.

Acting and excusing themselves like any other company lol

My response to the recent tweet, and statement, made by Mohammed El-Kurd on 15 April. pic.twitter.com/6pn4WtMHBD

— Aaron Bastani (@AaronBastani) April 17, 2024

Aaron Bastani describes 1.3 million people legally migrating to the UK as a "catastrophic failure," using such fiery nativist rhetoric that even Philip Davies—who is widely regarded as the most far-right MP in the country—is taken aback. pic.twitter.com/zLF8DpWlOK

— Eyup Lovely (@eyuplovely) May 24, 2024

It feels like he wants right-wing respect and validation. I'm not a wooly liberal honest, I'm a street tough with rolled up sleeves like you guys we're the same in many ways. Dissidents telling like it really is

Genuflection to strong tough men that get out there and get things done

his grovelling interviews with P Hitch are excruciating (my fault for watching them lol)

I feel like there's a moth to flame psychoanalytical component to this that isn't explained by either grift or ideology, not to relitigate yesterdays stuff about the murkiness of motivation too much, something hierarchical and simple which is a cornerstone of conservatism, or at least social conservatism

A mixture of wanting to be the big man and wanting a pat on the head from the big man

i hope Bastani dies soon

Wanting an explanation to where one individual has arrived from where he was at is point missing. Nobody cares about that here.

The posts here track Novara's statements on political issues, and where left wing media is going xp

The novaraton window pic.twitter.com/Ssfb04V5gp

— Babble (@Babble____) May 26, 2024

Michael Wanker's right-wing controp post challenged by.. Tom Harwood.

Really hope they go bankrupt