Welcome again to everybody. Make yourself at home. In the time-honoured tradition of our group, here is the weekly discussion thread.
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☭ Theory discussion group on /c/theory@lemmygrad.ml
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Thank you to the comrades in the EU that participated!
Today in thinking up new acronym meanings for USian agencies: CIA = Cartel of the Invaded Americas
I thought of it both because of CIA history of funding cartels and also as a way to flip from the bullshit claims about cartels being the reason that the US “needs to intervene” in certain countries. The US is the primary cartel and it’s the one that invaded the region in the first place.
Che Guevara
i suppose it’s cause i largely avoid western outlets but the amount of perpetual ‘China is Finished’ articles we’re getting in twenty twenty six are funny as shit
This is like coming dead last in a game of Mario Kart and telling the player in first they’re cooked when you don’t have a blue shell.
Doing research on the relations between Judaists and Samaritans, I came across this strange article:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samaritan_revolts
During the reign of Emperor Zeno (r. 474–475 and 476–491), tensions between the Christian community and the Samaritans in Colonia Flavia Neapolis (Shechem) grew dramatically. According to Samaritan sources, Zeno, whom the sources refer to as “Zait the King of Edom”, persecuted the Samaritans mercilessly. The Emperor went to Neapolis, gathered the Samaritan elders, and asked them to convert to Christianity; when they refused, Zeno had many Samaritans killed and rebuilt their synagogue into a church. Zeno then took possession of Mount Gerizim and built several edifices, among them a tomb for his recently deceased son, on which he placed a Christian cross so the Samaritans would be forced to prostrate themselves in front of the tomb.
Truly baffling. You would think that a Christian would be gentle with an actual Samaritan, of all people, but perhaps the preachers awkwardly skipped over that part.
Now, I don’t want to blandly exonerate these conquerors by questioning their faithfulness. It’s unproductive (and uninteresting) to try explaining away Christian atrocities by saying that the oppressors weren’t ‘true’ Christians. On the other hand, it would be hard for anybody to argue with a straight face that these oppressors were merely following J.C.’s advice either. What interests me, above all, is tracing where these adventurer-conquerors inherited their practices… and given the history of Roman proto-imperialism, I think that I might know the answer.
Time to do some sleuthing.
I had mentioned my passing desire to go on tour to the DPRK (since it’s not very far from where I am now). He had said that if given the choice he would rather be shot than visit North Korea. My response was “well that’s certainly a choice” hoping he would get how rediculous he sounded. Luckily my other friend pointed out that what he said was really dumb. I then had to tell them that they literally know nothing about North Korea and that they shouldn’t blindly fall for propoganda. The conversation moved on after that, but it was an odd thing to hear someone say.
Iol every single content creator would kill for a chance to visit the DPRK, meanwhile your propagandized friend would rather die? Lmao
Last week a work colleague used a new (new for me) word “collectivist” an umbrella term under which they placed socialist, communist, fascist & nazi. I don’t know where to even begin approaching this. It is like a pre-emptive dismissal of any rational discourse. :-(
I would like to know a single nation that does not fit into the “collectivist” definition in some shape or form. Capitalist countries prioritize the collective group of the capitalist class over the rest, socialist countries prioritize the collective working class over the capitalist class.
Idk the “collectivist” vs “individualist” worldview is pretty stupid and fundamentally incompatible with class analysis.
Classifying fascist ideologies as “collectivist” is a bizarre choice.
Fascism doesn’t have a collective. You’re expected to obliterate yourself for the state - sometimes literally. Blind, unwavering loyalty to the ruling class without exception. What on Earth is “collectivist” about being a proud slave?
The logic is this: Collectivism is when you have to prioritize the state over your own well-being. This describes both Nazi Germany and the USSR. Therefore Nazism and USSR are collectivist and that is why they were so bad.
This is the vibes based ideology of liberalism.
Fascist being collectivist is outside my typical understanding of the term. The fact that they used it in that way is wild. I mostly heard this term in my phycology class where they referred to the west as more individualist and Asia (including non-socialist countries) more as being collectivist. The implication was that in the west individuals are more likely to put themselves(and sometimes their immediate family) before society, but in the collectivist mindset, the individual was more likely to put themselves after society. This typically applied to duties, behaviour, and sacrifice when it was discussed in the class.
This is something that I need to interrogate since I haven’t really thought about it for several years since I was a lib in university. My initial thought now is that socialist society engenders solidarity with your fellow workers, allowing you to see the benefit in helping other people. Honestly though, I shouldn’t speculate too much without further investigation.
Ugh, my statistics professor sucks
I mean i want to like him, but he has such a goddamn ego about him. Our first and second classes were basically about the goddamn 13 page long syllabus, and we forgot literally 1 inconsequential thing in it and he’s like “I’m so disappointed i told you guys to read the syllabus.” And i know we don’t hate ai a ton here but he has such a goddamn insistence about using it that it bugs me.
But whatever, he’s the only professor for this class so there’s no use in crying about it
Has anyone gotten their friends into communism?
I’ve seemingly started a chain reaction within my online friendgroup of people turning into leftists and getting into communism. I first got my friend into it by just talking about politics and stuff, he even used to argue with me about “communism’s never worked” or “doesn’t North Korea do [thing].” Eventually he switched up and I actually got him to read theory like Marx. Then, me and the first guy got another friend into it and now he’s beginning his journey into theory and understanding. Today, I’ve just seen that 2nd guy sending another guy Principles of Communism.
It’s really cool seeing people start out, how they grow and change with it.
All of these people were liberals/left-aligned/not even really interested in politics before, so, it goes to show that liberals and the such aren’t always a lost cause and with some effort you can get them into it.
🫵 You WILL have hope, comrade.
I think everyone should know how to download webpages from the internet to keep as a mirror on their devices. Even if there’s nothing coming, it’s always good to have a backup of important information.
Wget is a tool on your computer which can download entire webpages onto your computer. It downloads and all links into files. Here’s a video on installing and using it, as well as a place to download it if you’re on Windows.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oe40pxcjPpM&list=PLCkxwA9NkiYcaldUslJPmRiVyaWLXrJ4K&index=47 https://eternallybored.org/misc/wget/
I have personally downloaded Kim Il Sung, Kim Jong Il, Mao, Lenin, Stalin, and the Black Panther’s entire Marxist Internet Archive pages. Everything from them on that site.
Let me know if there’s an even better place to put this
I found a YouTube link in your comment. Here are links to the same video on alternative frontends that protect your privacy:
If you’re reading this, you are now breathing consciously, feeling your tongue in your mouth, and remembering every time you saw a liberal think they’re smart by citing Umberto Eco’s Ur-fascism as a definition.
RIP Michael Parenti
Have a good week everyone, stay safe.
As always, communism will win.
Thank you comrade!
how does one approach ostensible commies/comrades doing the whole #freeiran bullshit, in the Netherlands a bunch of “pro-Palestine” orgs are outing themselves as zionist by either expressing support for “Iranian protesters” or doing a “both sides” thing where they say “fuck both the regime and the US” (whatever that means??)
should i still go to events even if the organizers parrot that imperialist bs, should one discuss it wherever possible, voice it until i get kicked out, etc
or should one boycott them and just involve oneself with the extremely few anti-imperialist orgs still present
should one discuss it wherever possible, voice it until i get kicked out, etc
That would be my instinct. Do it loud. Do it hard. Do it with planned talking points like “Free Iran like how they freed Iraq? How is Syria doing with all that freedom? America has never made anywhere better. All they ever do is steal, murder, and r pe. Even their own country is a shit hole because of the actions of their government. anyone who thinks a free Iran involves the USA or israel is a zionist fascist who belongs in Barbara pit mine.” and when anyone pushes back You say “Oh look a running dog for imperialism. Are you getting a paid by the CIA or are you a soulless monster for fun?” “anyone associating with these running dog of empire is not my comrade. I can forgive ignorant liberals but I expect comrades to know better than to support american interventions.”
The next best thing for the State Department, if they can’t get leftists to outright support imperialist intervention and regime change, is to get you to “both-sides” it.
They don’t need to get you to support imperialism if they can, for all practical intents and purposes, simply neutralize your opposition to imperialism.
There is absolutely no comparison between a global empire and a state defending itself from imperialist aggression and nefarious regime change operations.
If Iran’s government is toppled it will be subjugated again to the interests of imperialism as it was under the Shah, its resources extracted for Western profits.
How did the regime change in Syria turn out? How did it turn out in Libya? Are the people there better off now?
There is only so often that we can tolerate imperial core so-called leftists to fall for the same trick over and over again before we have to admit that maybe they’re not being tricked.
Maybe they are siding with empire over the victims of empire because it validates their chauvinism and advances their material interests.
You need to plan this out carefully, otherwise they will just deal with you, especially if you are alone, but you can agitate within the larger groups.
If their leaders censor your opinions uncritically, they lose legitimacy in the eyes of any potential turnover.
