I think we are talking past each other at this point.

The failure of Marxist movements elsewhere is not an excuse for China’s lack of action on Palestine. You can use my example of the conditions of why Brasil can’t meaningfully enact change on Palestine to other countries around the world and it would fit just as well because basically no country other than China right now have the material conditions to enact such change.

So, in this specific case, it doesn’t matter that we are failing, because even if we were not, and let’s say Brasil turns socialist tomorrow, it would still not be able to help Palestine in any meaningful way, because to reach such a stage it would take much more time than Palestine have left. Yet, China is at such stage right now.

capital’s penchant for war is not beholden to such rationalisations.

Yes, but the US has already tried some of the things I mentioned and ended up backpedaling once the consequences of such actions hit their economy and their dominant class. I’m not saying they won’t do it because of these rationalizations. What I’m saying is that if they do it, the scales are not in their favor, they will suffer the consequences heavily of their own actions. They are an empire in decline.

one is asking China and its peoples to burden the risk of war and escalation of aggression because Brazilians (in this context) have not managed to out organise the US to stop the genocide

What? We don’t have the power to do so. I wish we could just pressure our government to do something, but that’s materially impossible. We are a neoliberal country with a well spoken president, a vastly unprepared and unequipped heavily reactionary military and a heavily far right congress, all while having the Zionist Bolsonarismo ideology still being well alive in the population even if Bolsonaro himself has fell out of grace.

Yes, we are still extremely small as Marxists in Brasil. Yes we could be doing much better, but you can’t possible compare us and our situation to the US or China.

Even if we managed to do just what you’re saying. The moment us, a country with no nuclear weapons and a heavily unprepared army start doing anything against Israel on the ground, the US will immediately bomb our door to shreds. This is in no way comparable at all with what China can do and is actively failing to do.

Besides, you can use this argument for every single country on earth right now.

Just to be clear, I’m not saying we are also not responsible for letting the genocide happen. Like I said, no one is doing anything, everyone is complicit. We have been pressuring our government to stop trade with Israel, unfortunately with no success, even when Israel kidnaps Brasilians like it happened in the flotilla.

I have to ask, have you watched the video to see what exactly he has said about China and Vietnam? It is not like his criticism is any less scientific than your analysis. I get what you’re saying, but I fail to see how that can justify China’s position on the issue right now.

And sure, China could technically go directly to blockading the US since they are the source of the genocide, but that’s asking for direct confrontation from a country that does not do this kind of confrontation. Yet, doing something against Israel is a completely different story. This is not about going all in or not, and I don’t think anyone expects them to do that.

But here’s the thing. Like comrade Jones has said in the video, Palestine cannot wait for China to turn internationalist again. We are talking about a literal genocide here, that the whole world is watching and letting happen, and China is not a poor country anymore still figuring things out, they are the second largest economy on the planet and constantly rising by all metrics. The same way that you question this criticism of China from the perspective of what it might take to run such a state, we can question how can they let this genocide happen when they have the power to do more, specially when they know very well what is like to be on the receiving end of colonization. Your arguments are important and completely valid, but there’s a bigger issue at hand, the erasure and ethnic cleansing of a whole nation.

If we were talking about why don’t Cuba or the DPRK help Palestine, that would be a completely different issue and I would agree with you here, but it is China we are talking about.

I also think you are not factoring in what the US can actually do against China. They can’t tariff China, they can’t blockade China, they can’t wage open war against China, to do so would just be a colossal bullet to their own foot, they don’t have the industrialization needed to fuck around with China, and they are not gonna reindustrialize anytime soon. Not only that but the US is already heavily involved in two armed conflicts at the moment (Ukraine-Russia War, Palestine genocide) and aiming for a third one (Venezuela invasion), all while also facing internal turmoil and increased polarization with the Trump administration.

Has he / his organising won power, though, ie a dictatorship against capital?

Brasil is still capitalist, so no, but I don’t get how that is relevant to the issue at hand. His work or criticism does not become lesser just because he’s not in a position of power or burdened by such difficult decisions. I don’t expect anyone that is not Brasilian to be knowledgeable on his work, nor do I need to run defense for him, but if I’m not misunderstanding your intention with this question, this doesn’t seem fair, as it would mean only those in such positions can do this type of criticism. Like I said, he has done and is still doing a lot of work as a Marxist in Brasil. For reference, you can even find him quoted in this very site’s tagline sometimes:

Marxism is a science. It does not matter how good our intentions are or how powerful the enemy is, when we fail we must understand why and how, and then re-strategise with a dialectical and scientifc lens on how to succeed.

I agree completely with that. I think the issue here is that the Palestine cause is also a failure that needs to be factored in, after all, we are internationalists.

More right wing than Kautsky.

You mean Mamdani or Jones? That wasn’t clear to me. I will guess you mean Mamdani since you linked your comment about him. And mostly what you talked there is the exact same opinion from Jones in this video actually. Maybe I didn’t do a good job in the text body to present that, but he has no illusions with Mamdani, knowing full well that he’s a socdem and talks specifically about that, about how western “socialists”, specially those in the US, like Bernie and AOC, are not anti-imperialist and basically only care about the well-being of those living in the empire, which from that comment is your exact take too.

For your second linked comment. I haven’t watched the video linked there yet, but I have read your comment before, and I cannot fully agree with it. You are dismissing actual criticism by calling the people that do it “armchair dictats”. Going by that, Jones himself is then more than qualified to make that criticism he is doing here since he is a very prominent figure that constantly go to and help organize protests, doing multiple activities weekly all over Brasil, and constantly having Marxism reaching more people here, specially by destroying right-wingers in debates that tend to have a shit ton of views, while also writing theory and analysis himself.

Still, we can acknowledge that countries like the PRC are not inactive in the Palestinian cause, while also acknowledge that they are not doing enough. Personally I don’t think saying the US will simply drop nukes is a good excuse at all, it’s not like countries opposed to the US doesn’t have nukes too which deter them from doing such thing.

Nah, he’s wrong about Xinjiang and Ukraine. Also he’s not only queerphobic but ableist too.