Aftias, Fidias and Mbappe all listen
Giorgos Aftias won 310,876 votes, way ahead of all other Greek candidates in the European Parliament elections. On Cyprus, 24-year-old YouTuber Fidias (Panayiotou) came out of nowhere – Kasselakis style – and, declaring that he knew nothing about Europe, took 20 percent of the vote. In France, top footballer Kylian Mbappe provoked the wrath of the leader of the extreme-right party when he urged voters to turn their backs on “the extremes” in the coming snap elections. Aftias, who ran with New Democracy, was not the only journalist, nor the only television personality among the Greek candidates. Fidias, an independent, was voted not only by people of his own age and younger, but also by many who had voted many times for the Cypriot parties and their dead ends. Mbappe (who was not a candidate in the elections) speaks for those who, like him, grew up in disadvantaged neighborhoods, with immigrant parents, who fear an extreme-right government. With more than 118 million followers on Instagram, with his fame, Mbappe’s voice counts.
The gap between citizens and inadequate political parties is filled by those who listen
The power of Aftias, Fidias and Mbappe is that they listen. For decades, on his shows, Aftias has focused on people’s concerns with their income, their pensions, their health. Fidias is an expert on today’s world of communications. He has worked hard and conscientiously to acquire 2.63 million followers on YouTube, and he is in direct contact with those who enter a dialogue with him. As he says, he does not know things, he has no solutions, but he is prepared to learn, to become “the best member of the European Parliament.” Mbappe was forced to intervene on the political scene when Emmanuel Macron suddenly called snap elections after his party lost in the European poll. For the French president, “cohabitation” with the extreme-right would be a political nuisance (and a black mark on his legacy); for others, it would change their lives. These are the people for whom Mbappe speaks.
For years now, the ease with which television stars and other celebrities are elected, at the expense of more suitable candidates, has highlighted the “crisis in representation” of our time. This gap between citizens and inadequate political parties is filled by those who listen and by those who pretend to listen, by new blood or by demagogues. For good or ill.
