In a seminar at USP, Maria Carlotto maintains that the problem is not in the algorithm, but in the absence of project
“The left communicates badly because it lost the horizon“The assessment is from sociologist Maria Carlotto, professor at (Federal University of ABC), who participated in this 3rd (13.MAI.2025) of the table“Communication as a left problem ”part of a series of seminars by FFLCH (Faculty of Philosophy, Letters and Human Sciences) of USP (University of São Paulo).
The table was attended by sociologists Jane Barros, professor at (Rio de Janeiro State University) and Ricardo Muse, from USP itself. The seminaries series, entitled “The future of the Brazilian left ”started on Monday (12.mai) and runs until Thursday (15.mai) in the University City, in the West Zone of São Paulo.
Participants of the table mediated by Camila Góes, from the USP Department of Political Science, stated that the problem of left communication is not technical but political. They pointed to the lack of a clear project and the difficulty in dialoguing with popular sectors.
Maria Carlotto criticized the common technical approach in communication debates. According to her, “It is not a video problem, algorithm, it is a project problem ”. The teacher said that the left has lost the ability to propose social transformations and mobilize with clear horizon. “What project are we offering? Where are we taking people? ”
Jane Barros highlighted how the right uses social networks not only as a technical tool, but as a means of basic organization. “They organize nuclei, armies, groups… and don’t have to prove what they say: it fell on the net, it became true ”he said. “The right communicates well because it has time, money and control of the networks. The left needs to recover their theoretical categories and use them to think communication ”he said.
Ricardo Mussse made a historical overview of the left press in Brazil. He recalled that, during the political opening, vehicles as In time e Versus helped guide the public debate. Today, according to him, “The left speaks to thousands; the right, for millions ”.
Programs were for this Thursday (13.mai) two more debate tables: “Social and popular movements: between the state and the street ” e “The left before the PT: past, present and future“.
