We live among fleeting headlines, videos competing for seconds and platforms with enormous power to shape what we see and discuss. In that stream, humiliating migrants can become entertainment; boasting about dodging taxes, a mark of success; and mocking pensioners, a punchline. Meanwhile, public services face pressure to privatise, labour rights are being rolled back, and working people have less say in how shared life is organised.
We also see Gaza’s destruction and civilian deaths broadcast until they risk becoming background noise. The UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry concluded that Israeli authorities had committed genocide in Gaza; read its statement and findings here. We refuse to let a people’s suffering become one more post that disappears with a swipe.
Culture helps organise power
Gramsci helps us see how common sense is made: power works not only through institutions or force, but by shaping which ideas seem natural, possible or unthinkable. That is why it matters which histories are taught, which are pushed aside and whose voices fill the feed. In 2019, the European Parliament adopted a remembrance resolution that addresses crimes by Nazi and Communist regimes within a shared framework; the official text is available here. We challenge historical and political equivalences that erase important differences. That does not mean hiding crimes or avoiding critical study of regimes that claimed to be communist.
In the scroll era, we cannot expect every young person to begin with Capital, the Prison Notebooks or a full history of Cuba and the Cold War. Not because they could not read them, but because the first step has to be within reach. A one-minute video can open a door; a short article, with free and legal sources, can invite people through it. A simple format does not have to flatten the ideas.
A clear position, without turning history into a saint’s card
WeTheComuna speaks from a committed, militant Marxist-Leninist position. We do not pretend to be neutral: we want to recover labour, socialist and communist histories that are too often sidelined, and to oppose racism and fascism. We do not treat their protagonists as saints or as interchangeable spokespeople. Every life has context, disagreement, limits and contradictions; telling those honestly is part of respecting them. We do not assign every figure our own politics or fit them into one label.
Milo, Marx, Gramsci and the rest appear in an animated style that is approachable and deliberately current. Putting them on a T-shirt or a mug is not meant to ridicule, simplify or trivialise the struggles, their martyrs or their achievements. The design invites people to recognise a name, start a conversation and learn more; it does not replace organising, reading or collective action.
Use the channels we have; sustain what we build
We do not pretend to stand outside the market: we use social platforms, short video and a shop — its own channels and codes — to bring these stories into spaces where people already are and sustain an independent project. Original illustrations make this world visible; a purchase helps fund research, design, animation and translation. Every quarter, the founder will donate 10% of the net profits of all of WeTheComuna to UNRWA: the shop, supporter contributions, content and music. This is the project’s commitment, not an automatic donation handled by Etsy. Learn about UNRWA’s work.
A T-shirt will not change the world on its own. But a story brought back into circulation can open a question, connect someone with a struggle and return forgotten history to the conversation. We will not surrender that ground, too.
Go deeper
- Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy — Antonio Gramsci, an open study of his thought.
- UN Commission of Inquiry — findings on Gaza.
- European Parliament — resolution on European remembrance (2019).
WeTheComuna is an independent editorial project. This statement sets out its political position; Journal articles provide context and sources to examine each episode on its own terms.