The public can be won to progressive politics despite imperial power structures.

Evidence

Thus, the imperial matrix contains its own contradictions. If anti-Muslim racism is produced and sustained within the infrastructure of empire, it can also be resisted. The matrix is a heuristic device that can help us understand how the balance of forces at any moment shapes anti-Muslim racism. It is open ended and context dependent so that an input at one end from one of the boxes at the top of the matrix does not guarantee a predetermined outcome in the media and in public opinion. While power is held by elites, this power is not absolute. The box I call the “Public” consists of people who are pulled both by progressive and conservative politics. A majority in this box are members of the working class, who have been ravaged in the neoliberal era and have sought explanations both on the Left and Right. — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 762

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: The liberal public sphere is necessarily structured by power, not merely imperfect — Talal Asad, Formations of the Secular:…, 897; Politics mediates between elite and popular philosophy without eliminating hierarchy. — Antonio Gramsci, Selections from the Prison Notebooks, 1193; Progressive movements can push political figures leftward in the present

Broader Connections

• Progressive movements can push political figures leftward in the present #expands (0.90)
• Politics mediates between elite and popular philosophy without eliminating hierarchy. #complicates (0.75) — Antonio Gramsci, Selections from the Prison Notebooks, 1193
• The liberal public sphere is necessarily structured by power, not merely imperfect #qualifies (0.72) — Talal Asad, Formations of the Secular, 897