The people with power have better tactics, sharper messaging, and clearer strategy than the people trying to hold them to account. I think we can fix that – and that’s what I write about in Subvrt, my newsletter. If you’re new to this site, start here.
I’m Mehran Khalili, a strategist based in Athens. I work on how movements build power: how they organise and run themselves, and how they fight campaigns. I started out at Andersen and in tech PR, and I’ve advised movements, NGOs and campaigns since 2008, including WWF and UNDP. I co-founded the strategy consultancy Clearcase, and I’ve run grassroots campaigns in Greece.
My main argument is that the left wins people over with material gains, not moral appeals.
For DiEM25, I work on strategy and produce and host public conversations between Yanis Varoufakis and guests including Hasan Piker, Naomi Klein, Jeffrey Sachs and Cory Doctorow. I also interview organisers from mass movements who have made a difference. My writing has appeared in the organising publication Waging Nonviolence, the Spanish newspaper El Salto, and elsewhere.
I’m also a black-and-white photographer, exhibited across Europe and published in LensCulture and Vice. The photographs illustrate this site.
Get Subvrt by email, follow @mk@mehrankhalili.com on the Fediverse, or use RSS. Reach me at mk@mehrankhalili.com.