Politics are hell. Let’s change that.
Bending Hell is a little documentary about ordinary people who started organizing. Created by Julie Wilson and Margaret West, the film tells the story of Larry McKnight and Autumn Vogel’s successful campaign for Meadville City Council.
Bending Hell is organized as a “how-to” guide to help other ordinary people start organizing for political power in their own communities. Our current political system is broken. It does not represent, much less work for, most of us. Meanwhile, places like Meadville, Pennsylvania are left behind by our Wall Street-led global economy. If we want a better future, we are going to have to build solidarity in our communities so we can fight for, and win, the future we need. That’s what Bending Hell is all about.
Specifically, the Six Steps to Bending Hell presented in the film show how the Larry & Autumn campaign put into practice fundamental principles that are missing in mainstream politics:
- Cooperation: From social media to getting a job, there is too much competition in our society. Cooperative endeavors teach us solidarity and trust and help to repair the damage done by our current systems.
- Democracy: Democracy means the people rule. It means that ordinary people can work together to govern their lives in common. Democracy means we talk to everyone, and we involve everyone in politics.
- Organizing: We need to be organizers. While social media makes it easy for us to express political opinions, we need to do the hard but joyful on-the-ground work of building people power.
Bending Hell was made to inspire others to start organizing in their communities. If you’d like to schedule a screening/discussion or have ideas for using the film as an organizing tool, fill out this form, and we’ll be in touch:
Bending Hell 