Naomi Klein on Bernie Sanders viral meme: …

What a shame for artistic directors, stylists and directors. A lot of effort, taste, strategy, and money went into planning the semiotics of the inauguration. Joe biden. The concrete shadow of the violet of Kamala harris (Fuck Vogue and your ridiculous cover!). The selection of a small brand that manufactures in New York to dress Jill biden ocean blue (a way to support small businesses in the event of a pandemic!). The enormous weight of the golden dove brooch of Lady Gaga (The pleasure of the “Hunger Games”!).

And yet, all was in vain. Because in a sea of ​​perfectly matched chin straps, old and worn gloves Bernie sanders They overshadowed them all, instantly becoming the image of the historic moment that sparked more commentary, joy and confusion. What conclusion should we draw? Why have so many millions of people connected to the language spoken by gloves? Was this a pandemic illusion in which we all project our social isolation onto the person most isolated from the crowd? Is it sexism and racism, Bernie’s henchmen once again failed to recognize the subversive messages expressed in the dress of the glass-breaking women? Is it, as a friend told me in a text he texted to me as he wrote these words, “the world’s secret desire for Bernie to be our president”?

What does it mean, what is the guantology of all that?

As with many other things related to this new administration, it is too early to predict. Here are five possibilities.

1. Gloves as a reserved judgment

Much of the media attention has focused on the gloves themselves and their old-fashioned ’70s cross-country skiing style. Have them handcrafted in a mass-produced world. Its unpredictability and the fact that Bernie clearly didn’t dedicate a single neuron to decide to put them beyond “It’s cold.” They heat up ”.

The attitude of the wearer is just as important: the hunched posture, the crossed arms, the physical isolation from the crowd. The effect is not that of an excluded person at a party, but rather, let’s be honest, of a person who has no interest in joining.

In an event that was first and foremost a show of party unity, Bernie’s gloves represented all of those who were never included in this elitist consensus.

It was not a boycott of the occasion itself; no one wanted Trump to go more than Bernie. But he expressed an unequivocal reservation on what was to come. Those crossed arms were the gloves that said, “Let’s see what you do and then we’ll talk about unity.”

2. Gloves as a warning

But it was more than that. There was also, if you look closely, a woolly warning. The world went crazy over Bernie’s surly attitude at the inauguration because he kept alive the hope that there is still moral opposition to the concentration of power and money in the United States. , at a time when we need it more than ever.

At that moment, Bernie’s arms crossed and the dissonance in the way she dressed seemed to say, “Don’t let us down. If, after all this uproar, the Biden-Harris administration fails to deliver transformative measures to a dying nation and planet, there will be consequences. And unlike the Obama years, those consequences won’t take years, because the revolutionary spirit is already inside and wearing gloves.

3. Gloves as the conscience of “moderate progressives”

Bernie’s gloves weren’t just an obsession among the Senator’s base, those of us who had high hopes of seeing that rough chunk of wool draped over a Bible earlier this week. They have also been surprisingly successful among the “moderate progressives,” many of whom have spent the primaries publicly gagging at the prospect of a President Sanders (so strong, so brutal, so angry). And yet here they pass on glove memes and share delicious stories of how a teacher handcrafted them (skillfully!) Or this time Bernie loaned them to a cold health professional ( a story of “warming hands”!)

What is going on? Why is Bernie, the dangerous socialist, suddenly an adorable grandfather? In a way, it’s pretty straightforward: even as chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, Sanders is far less of a threat to them than as a presidential candidate who runs on the promise of redistributing wealth and cutting back. the profit of health care. In other words, it’s easy for the Democratic Party elite to like Bernie when he redistributes handmade gloves, as long as he doesn’t hit the billions of donors.

In some ways, it even helps to support a scruffy faction of the party precisely because the leadership is so far removed from its labor base. In this context, publicly endorsing Bernie on such a late date plays a role similar to the various pseudo-populist elementary school stunts, like eating fried foods you hate or wearing normal clothes in public.

Which brings us to a meaning related to the glove:

4. Gloves as a street image

In the media, Inauguration Week marked a dizzying throwback to the Obama era by treating members of the President’s family as celebrities of Davos’ elite. Does the Biden Peloton brand exercise bike pose a safety risk? Who Dressed Jill Biden? Have you seen Kamala’s sister’s feminist sweaters? This line of media coverage of the politician as a way of life had been largely inactive during the Trump era. Of course, the White House was full of skinny, wealthy people who wore and consumed expensive and enviable things. But they were proto-fascists and shameless crooks, so too much emphasis on Melania’s capes and Ivanka’s jewelry was a bad image.

Now it’s over. And yet, there is still a malaise in public relations. After all, we are in a global pandemic and hunger is on the rise, even as the ultra-rich have dramatically increased their wealth during this time of mass deaths. Let the gloves in. Clearly, some of the upper echelons of the Democratic Party understand that if they are to enjoy a glamorous return to neoliberal “normalcy”, a nod to reality is needed. The fact that Bernie was there, in his parka, gloves and disposable mask, was quickly adopted as the gesture.

But don’t be fooled. Because gloves have another meaning, which is more powerful.

5. Gloves as a demonstration of force movement

Gloves are like gloves themselves. But there’s also the gloves as a meme, an overload of symbolism that seems to have emerged seconds after they hit the scene. Before Gaga sang the national anthem and before Biden said “unity” nine times and “bond” three more times, Bernie’s gloves were flying around the internet. Within hours, it had been layered over thousands of iconic images, sandwiched in movies, and it was trending everywhere.

It’s critical to understand that all of this hasn’t happened because of everything Bernie has done, other than being himself the only way he can. Like much of its historic 2020 primaries campaign, the symbolic power of the gloves was the work of the ‘we’ in ‘not me, us’, a decentralized movement of movements representing thousands of grassroots organizations and communities. tens of millions of voters, and defends policies supported by the majority of Democratic voters, according to numerous polls, but which are still rejected by its elite. Health insurance for all, a Green New Deal, cancellation of student debt, free university, wealth tax and others.

On Biden’s Big Day, the movement that represents these policies and values ​​gave a pair of old gloves global significance. He did it because he could. It was a friendly little show of force with a not-so-friendly undertone. We’re still here, he said. Ignore us and we won’t be so peaceful next time.

* From the Spanish newspaper Public. Naomi Klein’s note was originally published in Interception.