Too Big to Rig: Brazil and Serbia Beat the Autocrats. Israel Nearly Didn’t
Three elections in three weeks and three very different lessons. Omri, Benni and Daniela go through Brazil, Serbia and Israel and ask what actually worked. In Brazil, Lula went into the runoff behind and written off, then won it on the back of a digital campaign that grew a WhatsApp channel from 60,000 to 11 million subscribers in a month. Fan clubs, influencers and a lot of people donating their platform to the cause. In Serbia, the students’ list took an absolute majority, 140 of 250 seats, against two years of state capture, a captured broadcaster and a sound cannon. Daniela was there as an election observer. The part that is not getting enough attention is how they built the list, through student plenums and local citizens’ assemblies out in the villages. In Israel, Netanyahu lost his majority and then pulled every lever at once. A phone call with the chief of police the night before the vote. Arab party activists arrested on election morning. A security chief who called the election perfect, then announced a foreign funding plot and asked for the result to be cancelled. Pressure on the army to bomb Iran. Omri flew in to vote and out again the same afternoon. Too big to rig has been the theme of the year. Israel was small enough. Chapters 00:00 Intro 02:40 Brazil: how Lula came back 07:14 The WhatsApp masterclass, 60,000 to 11 million 17:56 Serbia: from the streets to the ballot sheets 25:01 Can you still win on Meta’s platforms? 28:55 What happens next in Serbia 33:29 Student plenums and village assemblies 36:41 Israel: into the dark swamp 42:05 Netanyahu’s 24 hours 52:43 Why Israel was small enough to rig 56:46 Autocrats’ days are numbered 61:05 Wrap This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thistimetomorrowpod.substack.com
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