AOC at TU Berlin
2026-02-18 04:01:19.994341+01 by Dan Lyke 0 comments
So much good stuff in this. Even more impressive that she's talking off the cuff. Rep. AOC Speaks at TU Berlin on The Future of U.S. Politics (YouTube video). Around 1:07:30 in response to an audience question:
One of the critiques that we have of capitalism is that it is its goal is isolation and one of the last frontiers that they want to commodify is human relationship and connection. They don't want your friend to drive you to the airport because they want you to give money to an Uber. They don't want you to care for your friend's children because they all of these things the fragmenting of community is where you can make money. And so when we defy that uh in small acts like driving your friend to the airport uh or in larger acts like what coming out and buying a vest and putting it on and blowing a whistle when they saw an ICE agent. All of this scaffolds on one another. Especially in a moment where right-wing populace populism is ascendant, it preys on communities not being in connection with one another. You can build suspicion of your immigrant neighbors or of your queer friend at school if people don't have those relationships. And one of actually the good news is that the fastest way that you can diffuse movements like that is actually building those social ties because then when you know these horrible caricatures are said in public, people say, "Wait a second, no, I know my friend that's like this and they're they aren't like that." And so it it is the kind of stuff that often gets taken for granted, but when you do it day in and day out, it becomes really important building blocks for safety in numbers.