BONUS - I Want My M(amdani)TV (Chapo Trap House)Over the holiday, Will and Chris caught up with Donald Borenstein, Andrew Epstein and Debbie Saslaw of the Mamdani media team to discuss how their video and online strategy helped win the campaign’s stunning victory. We look at their team’s success as the result of years of NYC organizing, how the candidate’s principles and policy informed the media strategy, the right and wrong lessons on political communication from their campaign, and the bizarre outsider art of Adams & Cuomo’s video output. PLUS: production, editing, color grading & gear talk for all you A/V heads.
https://soundcloud.com/chapo-trap-house/bonus-i-want-my-mamdanitvCP of Greece, Mass event at the Athens University of Economics and Business: Solidarity is our weapon–The people of Venezuela will win!Following the mobilizations that unfolded from the very first moment of the imperialist intervention in Venezuela, members and friends of the Communist Youth of Greece (KNE) from universities in Athens gathered on Thursday, 15 January, at the Athens University of Economics and Business for an event in solidarity with the people of Venezuela and, more broadly, with the struggles of the peoples worlwide. At the opening of the event, KNE members formed the slogan “Solidarity with the people of Venezuela” using pickets inside the packed amphitheatre where the event was held, while chanting slogans in solidarity with the struggles of the peoples. The event was attended by Themis Gionis, member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE).
https://www.solidnet.org/article/CP-of-Greece-Mass-event-at-the-Athens-University-of-Economics-and-Business-Solidarity-is-our-weaponThe-people-of-Venezuela-will-win/Toronto Is Segregating DissentThe mainstream media and political response to these incursions into a Jewish neighborhood was swift, framing synagogues as being targeted. This account omitted two critical facts: first, that protests targeted secular commercial real estate events held at dual-purpose spaces rented out by synagogues, not worship services; and second, that no demonstrators were charged with hate or violence-related crimes, whereas three counterprotesters faced assault charges, one of which was designated a hate-related assault. Encouraged by mainstream Jewish organizations, the City of Vaughan passed a “bubble zone” bylaw in June 2024 prohibiting “nuisance demonstrations” within one hundred meters of “vulnerable” institutions, including places of worship and schools. Critically, the bylaw’s threshold is not actual criminal conduct, but rather the subjective standard that a “reasonable person” hearing certain “views” would feel “concerned” for their safety. The Canadian Civil Liberties Association (CCLA) challenged the bylaw’s constitutionality, arguing that it is redundant given Canada’s existing laws and that its restrictions on Charter-protected freedom of expression are “breathtaking.” CCLA warned that marches would “be made more difficult, if not impossible,” effectively ring-fencing most of Jewish Thornhill beyond the reach of protest. In subsequent months, the cities of Brampton and Oakville followed with their own bubble zones. After a public consultation in which most respondents — including labor groups, constitutional lawyers, and Jewish advocacy groups — voiced their opposition, the City of Toronto passed its own bylaw in May 2025. Although somewhat narrower than Vaughan’s, it is likely unconstitutional, as it restricts Charter-protected expression, specifically “objection or disapproval” that does not meet the threshold of hate speech, which Canadian jurisprudence sets at “extreme detestation and vilification.” Unlike Vaughan’s blanket coverage, Toronto’s bylaw requires institutions to opt in. By the end of 2025, forty-six entities had done so, forty-two of which were Jewish institutions, accounting for 91.3 percent of bubble zones, while Jews account for 3.6 percent of Toronto’s population. These forty-two zones account for roughly 210 acres of Toronto’s geography — and counting.
https://jacobin.com/2026/01/toronto-protest-israel-free-speech