Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the last hope in global politics. The lady's not for turning*.

In 1981, For your eyes only, one of the James Bond installments starring Roger Moore, premiered on screens. In a script far removed from the luxurious vehicles the saga has accustomed us to, the agent can be seen at the wheel of a Citroën 2cv, dodging the onslaught of branches between olive groves, carob trees, and a mix of rather outlandish Iberian concepts. But even more outlandish is the caricatured appearance of the then-British Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher, at the end of the film. In the scene, a kind of homage to Lichtenstein's Pop Art, Thatcher is depicted in the kitchen of 10 Downing St. dressed in a blue skirt -the blue of grand occasions-, an apron, and yellow latex gloves which she removes to answer the phone ringing in the cereal box cupboard. The Prime Minister then picks up the red receiver through which a member of her cabinet informs her that, as she had requested, agent 007 is on the other end of the line. But instead of Roger Moore, busy with the young woman accompanying him in the 2cv, the British secret forces trick the astute Iron Lady with a parrot -the act of tricking the Prime Minister being quite improbable- while the latter, still glued to the phone, slaps her husband's hand as he rummaged in the dinner bowls prematurely. The scene is the hallmark of a world that still needed flesh-and-blood heroes in the collective imagination. The year For your eyes only premiered, Margaret Thatcher had been Prime Minister of the United Kingdom for two years, against all odds, and was forced to get into one mess after another. Margaret Thatcher came from a family of merchants and, despite the unfavorable context, managed to earn recognition both within the Conservative party and in English society, which was clearly dominated by men. She entered the House of Commons at only 24 years old, and at 27 she was already Minister of Education and Science. During the first three years of her mandate, her uncompromising profile led her to disastrous levels of popularity, until she reacted in '82, by overcoming Argentina's provocation in the Falklands War. Thatcher knew how to take advantage of the wave of patriotism awakened by the victory to clearly win her second election and, months later, placed Great Britain at the forefront of the world economy. Reviewing the character's trajectory, I have lamented the absence of digital channels in that period. I am almost convinced that Thatcher would have wanted to manage -if not always, then largely- her Twitter account: The lady's not for turning, she would have typed. She would have stirred up valleys of dust during the struggle with the unions and would have blown up her team's strategies with a selfie at Ronald Reagan's Ranch, or with her back to Lenin's mausoleum with Mikhail Gorbachev hooked by the shoulder.   Someone who, in contrast, has had and still has digital channels is Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the rising leader of the Democratic Party in the United States. Lovers of coincidences and zodiacal entanglements should know that Thatcher and Ocasio-Cortez were born on the same day. They are separated by 64 years and an abyss in terms of how they understand politics. Even so, the similarities are also notable. Ocasio-Cortez, only 28 years old, was born in the Bronx, a New York district and birthplace of a good part of New York City's taxi drivers, waiters, and sanitation workers, a traditional Democratic stronghold. Shortly before winning the primaries on June 27 of this year, she was still working at the Mexican tavern in Union Square, the bar where she had been serving drinks for 11 years, since her father died. Alexandria is a communication phenomenon on social media. Furthermore, the campaign of the new Democratic leader, with a budget 10 times smaller than that of her rival, the veteran Joseph Crowley, 56, has been financed through small donations from ordinary people -80% do not exceed $70-, explicitly renouncing contributions from large corporations and the consequent commitments to them. The young leader's style is devastating: transparent, direct, ambitious, magnetic. An advanced student of the Obama school, she surpasses the mastery of someone who will probably end up being her predecessor in the orbit of the Kennedy and Clinton party, and even at the head of the White House and global politics. It is no coincidence that Crowley, upon learning of his defeat, went on stage and, guitar in hand -a trademark gesture-, dedicated Bruce Springsteen's Born to run to her.

The path that awaits Ocasio-Cortez is full of obstacles, and the frankness and magic that emanates from her way of addressing people - I encourage you to follow her through channels and platforms such as Instagram, Twitter, YouTube - makes her so vulnerable that, perhaps for this reason, it makes one want to protect her and surrender to the cause. "The new politics has ceased to be left or right to become a duel on the axis of those above and those below," she states. Thatcher took the shortcut to lead Westminster and remained for 11 years. Despite the controversy of her policies, her determination changed the world and, to a large extent, made it lose self-esteem. Margaret Thatcher's world was flat and heavy as a slab. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's world, on the other hand, is expected to be original and aligned with the trend for change. She is, possibly, the last hope in global politics. May the force - and the courage not to turn back - be with her.

* The lady's not for turning. This is a well-known statement that Thatcher launched during her speech at the Conservative Party Conference on October 10, 1980. Thatcher, with this play on words, appeased the opposition's demands to dissipate the economic policies of recent months, which had caused a notable increase in recession and unemployment. The phrase became popular and, at the end, the speech unleashed a standing ovation of more than 5 minutes.

Featured image: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in New York on June 30, 2018. Photo by ZUMA Press, Inc. / Alamy Stock Photo