Our system is based on trust to a large extent. And I don’t mean just monetarily. It is basically how “liberal society” functions right from daily life to the rationale behind systemic activities.

Yet, fake news is basically propagated everywhere with impunity. Facts are alleged and agreed on social media without any deference to proof that says otherwise. There are probably more such examples in media - Prashant Kishore said in his recent interview with Karan Thapar he cannot count on newspapers, he wants a recording of what he said (aside from the fact that this is laughable beyond measure), the fact that people are beginning to claim that newspapers (rather multiple) are not reliable is quite something even for the fascist timeline we are in.

Perhaps what has been most concerning has been the way in which the Election Commission of India has avoided all responsibility for the most basic repositories of trust, the general elections. It does seem like this point in our decay was a long time coming with the fascists in power and them dogwhistling any opposition’s efforts, but some of these effects will be long-lasting. I do not think the political system can recover from a compromised EC.

As leftists, how do we interpret this? What impacts does this have for the working class that is forced to sell its labour in exchange for participating in a trust based economy? We surely are placed more precariously but organising around this will require some acceptance of seemingly contradictory positions regarding the role of trust in a political system (IMO we have to make efforts around thinking of a system without trust in the same way it exists in liberalism and consequently, neoliberalism)