- Eleni Kyriacou
POLITICAL ACTIVISM | 2016 - 2020
After I campaigned for Bernie in 2016 I became a very close follower of the progressive movement in US politics. I have followed many of the key progressive independent youtubers from 2016-2020. This passion is what lent itself to a great degree to the last collection that I launched before the pandemic in November of 2019 Wear Your Beliefs.
When I launched that collection, it was at a time when the progressive movement had an incredible amount of hope and momentum and I was extremely optimistic about what would happen in 2020, and I think it came through in the collection.
For 3 months from the very start of the new year of 2020 up until early March (Super Tuesday) I volunteered full time for Bernie Sanders. I phone banked every day after finishing in the studio from around 5/6pm Greek time until the early hours. The time difference actually worked perfectly for calling the US. I called thousands of voters and helped to acquire many, many votes for Bernie. And after Nevada it looked as though the job was done. I felt so proud to be part of the movement and to have done my bit. However, after South Carolina and then Super Tuesday in such a short space of time, the entire progressive movement was completely crushed – or at least that was how it felt.
It was a very difficult period for me. I believed at the time that a Bernie Sanders US presidency was the last chance the planet had to transform in the way that scientists have been urging for decades in order to prevent irreversible destruction that threatens human existence. Scientists have told us we have until 2030, as an absolute final deadline, to completely transform. That’s just 10 more years. I don’t know what new path there can be now, what new strategy there can be where this deadline can be met.
