The Dutch left-wing political parties should focus on building a large, active volunteer movement to improve their chances in future elections. According to Job van den Assem and Sandra Ball, founders of the Lowlander Project, the left needs to learn from successful grassroots campaigns in the United States, such as that of Zohran Mamdani, a socialist candidate for mayor of New York.

The authors argue that the left often overlooks the importance of volunteers and street-level visibility, instead focusing on television and algorithms. They believe this is a disadvantage because algorithms tend to favor far-right and hateful content over nuanced and hopeful messages.

Van den Assem and Ball highlight the scale of Mamdani’s volunteer effort, estimating that a similar campaign in the Netherlands would require around 106,000 active volunteers. They emphasize that this level of participation requires strategic thinking, dedicated resources, and time to build a strong volunteer force.

Inspired by Barack Obama’s successful organizing campaign in 2008, the authors urge the left to begin building a broad community of active volunteers in every municipality. They stress the importance of training volunteers to have effective conversations and building accessible leadership to empower them.

The Lowlander Project founders believe that a strong volunteer movement could be the key to the left’s success in the next elections, helping them to connect with voters and promote their vision of a fair, solidary, sustainable, and just Netherlands. They contend that by focusing on building relationships and having conversations about people’s concerns, the left can break through and resonate with voters.