Manufactured Cynicism in the Bifurcated State
Widespread voter apathy and low turnout, especially in local elections, is not a sign of public ignorance but a rational response to a political system designed to make the “native” feel powerless. Mamdani’s work on how colonial power depoliticizes its subjects is key here. The entire political spectacle–the corrupt machines, the candidates who promise change and deliver gentrification–is a theater designed to produce cynicism and disengagement. This manufactured consent through managed disappointment is a more effective tool of control than outright coercion; it convinces the oppressed that their agency is an illusion and that all political options are equally corrupt. A Marxist analysis sees this as the alienation of political power. A feminist perspective understands this disillusionment intimately. The solution is not to beg people to vote for the lesser evil, but to build independent political organizations outside the machine that can demonstrate real power through direct action–rent strikes, workplace occupations, mass protests–proving that change comes from collective struggle, not from the ballot box. We must build a movement that makes politics relevant to survival.
