Trump’s Base! You Can Say That Again!! An Optimistic Deconstruction of Base Politics

An expansion of a presentation given at the annual meeting of the Canadian Association for American Studies in Montreal in 2019, prior to the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic and the 2020 US election, this paper playfully challenges the rhetorical idea of Donald Trump’s base political support (as unconditional and foundational) through Derridean-styled deconstruction, a line of critical inquiry that repeatedly keeps riffing and looping back on itself to undermine the authority and foundations of base support by playing with the homophonic significations of base/bass/ baise in an assortment of psychosexual, pop-cultural, and satirically philosophical ways.

The Paradox of Social Media: The De-democratization of Malaysia

Today, social media is perceived as the media. Blogs and bloggers have changed journalism; YouTube has discovered rare and raw talents; and the trinity (Facebook, Twitter, YouTube) have sparked revolutions. Focusing on end-users instead of producers and its interactive-ness are two paramount characters that permit ordinary people to engage in extra-ordinary activities. From the showbiz to politics, social media has left its marks. The World political events in recent years, in particular Arab Spring of MENA (Middle East and North Africa) have showcased positive link between social media and democratization. Malaysia has experienced quite a similar phenomenon to MENA in the verge of the 12th General Election (GE-12), held on March 8, 2008. The failure of the only ruling coalition, Barisan Nasional (National Front, or BN) to retain its two-third majority in the GE-12 is an empirical evident of people?s desire and aspiration for free and fair elections, good-governance, and democratization which are very different from race-based politics. At a glimpse, the results of the 13th General Election (GE-13) which was held on May 5, 2013 are quite similar to the GE-12. Yet, deeper analyses indicated race-base politics and �strong government� has made a comeback. Hence, this article explores the paradox when the state is not only interfering but also participating in social media. This exploration demonstrates social media is not only meant for the masses; and that by possessing money, machinery, and authority; the state is potentially dominant at social media. Keywords: Democratization, de-democratization, social media, general election AbstrakSaat ini, media sosial diterima sebagai media. Blog dan para blogger mengubah jurnalisme: YouTube menemukan bakat-bakat terpendam dan alami; serta the trinity (Facebook, Twitter, YouTube) telah memicu revolusi. Fokus yang lebih diberikan kepada pengguna akhir ketimbang produsen dan karakter interaktifnya adalah dua karakter penting yang memungkinkan orang-orang biasa terlibat dalam aktivitas-aktivitas yang tidak biasa. Dari pertunjukan ke politik, media sosial telah meninggalkan jejaknya. Peristiwa politik dunia dalam beberapa tahun terakhir, khususnya fenomena Arab Spring dari MENA (Timur Tengah dan Afrika Utara) telah menunjukkan hubungan positif antara media sosial dan demokratisasi. Malaysia mempunyai pengalaman yang hampir sama dengan fenomena MENA dalam Pemilihan Umum ke 12 (GE-12), pada 8 Maret 2008. Kegagalan dari satu-satunya koalisi yang berkuasa, Barisan Nasional (National Front, or BN) untuk mempertahankan 2/3 suaranya adalah bukti empiris bahwa rakyat berkeinginan dan mempunyai aspirasi untuk Pemilu yang bebas dan adil, pemerintahan yang baik, dan demokratisasi yang sangat berbeda dari politik berbasis ras. Sekilas, hasil Pemilihan Umum 13 (GE-13) yang diselenggarakan pada 5 Mei 2013 sangat mirip dengan GE-12. Namun, analisis yang lebih dalam menunjukkan bahwa politik berbasis ras dan pemerintah kuat telah kembali. Oleh karena itu, artikel ini mengeksplorasi hal yang paradoks ketika negara tidak hanya mencampuri tetapi juga berpartisipasi di media sosial. Eksplorasi ini menunjukkan bahwa media sosial tidak hanya dimaksudkan untuk massa; dan bahwa dengan memiliki uang, mesin, dan otoritas; negara berpotensi menjadi dominan di media sosial. Kata-Kata Kunci: Demokratisasi, de-demokratisasi, media sosial, pemilihan umum

Becoming a Force in the Zone: Hedonopolitics, Masculinity, and the Quest for Respect on Haiti’s Streets

This article explores neighborhood organizing among young men in urban Haiti as a vernacular enactment of sovereignty that involves both a hedonistic and a gendered logic. Under conditions of democratization and global governance, the urban block, or base, has become a key site for building political community and creating connections to those in power. Central to base politics are public outings that engender power and respect for the organizers by demonstrating their force not through violence but through masculine social pleasures. This article elaborates three key outings—a street party, a soccer tournament, and a beach day—organized by neighbors and supported by state, NGO, and criminal actors. By focusing on hedonopolitics, rather than on the common tropes of violence and death, this article extends recent work on the embodiment of sovereign power, while also showing that masculine pleasure represents an underanalyzed yet important dimension of sovereignty.