An international (English speaking) socialist Lemmy community free of the "ML" influence of instances like lemmy.ml and lemmygrad. This is a place for undogmatic shitposting and memes from a progressive, anti-capitalist and truly anti-imperialist perspective, regardless of specific ideology.
Serious posts, news, and discussion go in c/Socialism.
If you are new to socialism, you can ask questions and find resources over on c/Socialism101.
Please don't forget to help keep this community clean by reporting rule violations, updooting good contributions and downdooting those of low-quality!
0. Only post socialist memes
That refers to funny image macros and means that generally videos and screenshots are not allowed. Exceptions include explicitly humorous and short videos, as well as (social media) screenshots depicting a funny situation, joke, or joke picture relating to socialist movements, theory, societal issues, or political opponents. Examples would be the classic case of humorous Tumblr or Twitter posts/threads. (and no, agitprop text does not count as a meme)
1. Socialist Unity in the form of mutual respect and good faith interactions is enforced here
Try to keep an open mind, other schools of thought may offer points of view and analyses you haven't considered yet. Also: This is not a place for the Idealism vs. Materialism or rather Anarchism vs. Marxism debate(s), for that please visit c/AnarchismVsMarxism.
2. Anti-Imperialism means recognizing capitalist states like Russia and China as such
That means condemning (their) imperialism, even if it is of the "anti-USA" flavor.
3. No liberalism, (right-wing) revisionism or reactionaries.
That includes so called: Social Democracy, Democratic Socialism, Dengism, Market Socialism, Patriotic Socialism, National Bolshevism, Anarcho-Capitalism etc. . Anti-Socialist people and content have no place here, as well as the variety of "Marxist"-"Leninists" seen on lemmygrad and more specifically GenZedong (actual ML's are welcome as long as they agree to the rules and don't just copy paste/larp about stuff from a hundred years ago).
4. No Bigotry.
The only dangerous minority is the rich.
5. Don't demonize previous and current socialist experiments or (leading) individuals.
We must constructively learn from their mistakes, while acknowledging their achievements and recognizing when they have strayed away from socialist principles.
(if you are reading the rules to apply for modding this community, mention "Mantic Minotaur" when answering question 2)
6. Don't idolize/glorify previous and current socialist experiments or (leading) individuals.
Notable achievements in all spheres of society were made by various socialist/people's/democratic republics around the world. Mistakes, however, were made as well: bureaucratic castes of parasitic elites - as well as reactionary cults of personality - were established, many things were mismanaged and prejudice and bigotry sometimes replaced internationalism and progressiveness.
ID: photo of Martin Luther King Jr. waving at the crowd during the March on Washington, on it is his quote: "He who accepts evil without protesting against it is really cooperating with it."
Meanwhile: me sitting here frustrated to hell people actually still pick "the lesser evil" PROTEST THE LESSER EVIL TOO!!! ACCEPT NOTHING LESS THAN COMPETENCY!
I feel like it should be a normal thing to openly stand against fascism. If anyone has a problem with me because of that then they've proven themselves to be people I would never want to interact with in the first place
It’s still somewhat incredible to me that the label “Antifa” is used as a pejorative by some of these talking heads.
Uhh, last I checked we committed a whole bunch of boats and soldiers to literally blowing the brains out of nazi skulls on one particular Day…
Opposing fascism should be the default American stance, we’re just riddled with cancer/capitalism
Opposing fascism should be the default American stance, we’re just riddled with cancer/capitalism
And it's crazy, because, as someone who grew up in the 90s/00s, it always was. My public education did not shy away from shitting on Nazis and explaining the dangers of fascism. They started teaching that shit in elementary school.
The brain rot that has set-in over the past two decades or so has just been mind boggling and insane to watch.
somewhat incredible to me that the label “Antifa” is used as a pejorative by some of these talking heads
Incredible but not surprising. The talking heads use a word or a name as a pejorative for long enough, and the listeners internalize it.
There are more than two sides.
Great, dodecahedrons have 12 sides. What is your point? Pick any side you want that ISN'T FASCISM, and spread the word to your friends.
Looks like you got the point despite the poor comparison.
Complacency is complicity
"You shouldn't pay attention to politics it's unhealthy." - My "liberal" "centrist" family. "You should focus on yourself" they say, "It is what it is, can't do anything to change it, work on yourself" they say, as if the most enlightened and reasonable perspective is to put a blanket over your head and pretend that the monsters don't exist. They'd say "It's hard to take you seriously, maybe become a politician or economist" but when you give them reading material written by economists, politicians, as well as lauded minds like MLK Jr or Einstein, they roll their eyes and go "You shouldn't pay attention to politics it's unhealthy, focus on yourself."
I'm not American so I'm not in as desperate a situation as you might be. That said, I have had the same discussions with many people and I've learned a few things.
One, ignoring a problem and hoping that it goes away is a totally natural coping strategy that works more often than we care to admit. It's a perfectly appropriate coping strategy when you're waiting out winter, but it's maladapted to stopping fascists from knocking on your door.
Two, people only have so much bandwidth. Their jobs, kids, school work, and just existing takes up that bandwidth. When someone's bandwidth is maxed out the only time I've been able to reach them is when they're already thinking about something I have a very strong argument that aligns with their goals. Otherwise it's a waste of time, they're worried about getting their kids fed and in bed, they don't have the brain power to think about how they could help overthrow the oligarchy.
Three, when those opportunities arise patience is key. Listen way more than than I speak, always keep the conversation focused on what they're concerned about.
'Know when to hold em, know when to fold them. Know when to walk away, know when to run.'
"Always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented"
Quoted from his acceptance speech -
https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/peace/1986/wiesel/acceptance-speech/
Elie Wiesel was born in 1928 in the town of Sighet, now part of Romania. During World War II, he, with his family and other Jews from the area, were deported to the German concentration and extermination camps, where his parents and little sister perished. Wiesel and his two older sisters survived. Liberated from Buchenwald in 1945 by advancing Allied troops, he was taken to Paris where he studied at the Sorbonne and worked as a journalist.
You know, a lot of comments are bringing up voting like there was any chance of votes preventing this. A lifetime of gerrymandering, court stacking, propaganda, and general fuckery led to this, and the only question was when the religious right wing and oligarchs made their move
Voting? That's not shit.
What matters is real change brought by real people.
The people that didn't vote? That wasn't all protest non participation. Voter turnout has always been low because the average person just does not care.
Which means they won't care if the people that do care tear down the currently successful right wing revolution with a counter revolution. All you have to do is keep just enough comfort during transition, and nobody will lift a finger from that group. They will not give a flying fuck at all.
Frankly, even if they did care, they're also the segment least able to do a damn thing about any of it. They lack the will, the training, and the functional personal motivation to do anything but hunker down and wait, even if their comfort level does drop to the bottom.
I can't say that's good or bad, but it is what it is.
It's up to the people that care to make changes. Right now, the right seems to care a fuck ton more than anyone else, so they're pulling it off.
In a similar vein, anyone eligible to vote and chooses not to implicitly supports whoever wins.
lol no, I'm not going to get mad at my neighbors, I'm going to get mad at people who are actively trying to hurt them, not the ones accidentally doing it
The problem isn't that fascists were voted into the White House. The problem is that there are fascists in the White House. Anything that doesn't address that problem is equally implicit in supporting fascism. Arguing with your neighbors doesn't get fascists out of the White House. If history is anything to go by it has obviously done the opposite
I think they are linked. Democracy can only work and thrive with an educated and/or informed population who is willing and able to have public and civil discourse. The fact that the political climate is the way it is now, so divided and only engaging to act on petty revenges, allows for fascism to take root. We saw this in Germany prior to the second World War. When NSDAP began beating people up in the street who opposed their ideology, with little repercussions for such behavior, led to the beer hall putsch, and eventually the rise of Herr Hitler. I can see parallels with the modern day political climate of America. The issue is that we voted them into the white house; I think that might even be more jarring than them being in there itself. Democratically voting a fascist in power is a tell tale sign that our democracy is not working.