this post was submitted on 17 Apr 2024
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Lefty Memes

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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!

Rules

Version without spoilers

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.



  1. Absolutely no posts or comments meant to relativize(/apologize for), advocate, promote or defend:

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[–] MareOfNights@discuss.tchncs.de 3 points 7 months ago (3 children)

So basically mob-justice.

Because witch hunts have never gone wrong and were always justified.

"This man loves other men, that's weird, let's kill him." - apparently no one ever

Also relevant meme: 4f16b8fa-df8d-4462-8eaa-c8e526a647fb

[–] db0@lemmy.dbzer0.com 22 points 7 months ago (1 children)

"justice is not handed down from above and is therefore unfair" < words of the utterly deranged

[–] MareOfNights@discuss.tchncs.de -5 points 7 months ago (1 children)

You mean the process, that is democratically decided by elections with a bunch of checks and balances in the process?

[–] db0@lemmy.dbzer0.com 22 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (1 children)

Just lol. Is that why there's billionaires hoarding all the wealth while billions starve? Is that why Palestine is being genocided? Is that why we're headed full-steam for a climate apocalypse?

There's no "democracy" nor "checks and balances". There's only a sad farce.

[–] MareOfNights@discuss.tchncs.de -1 points 7 months ago (3 children)

Yes, because the democratic nations have democratically decided, that we want to consume more than is wise, that we want to retaliate for Oct 7 and that private property is cool, even if a few have more.

I agree, that mob-rule would remove billionaires, but how would it stop climate change, if there are no regulations against emissions?

Palestinians idk. In nationless anarchy it would not be a structured military, but let's not pretend there wouldn't be massive amounts of bloodshed.

[–] db0@lemmy.dbzer0.com 9 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (1 children)

None of that is "democratically elected". Those elections are a farce and I would go as far as to argue that no democracy which decides to kill 30.000 children and perform genocide is legitimate.

And nobody is talking about "mob rule". We're talking about anarchism.

[–] MareOfNights@discuss.tchncs.de 0 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Idk, what to tell you m8, but your idea of what's happening in the middle east seems way off.

Among Jewish interviewees, 88% give a positive assessment of the performance of IDF forces in the war until now.

source

The majority of Israelis want the war.

[–] db0@lemmy.dbzer0.com -1 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

Which is why this "democracy" is a farce. Thanks for proving my point.

[–] LadyAutumn@lemmy.blahaj.zone 8 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (1 children)

Half elected officials with power are appointed not elected. The Supreme Court took away women's bodily autonomy. There was no popular vote for any of them not a single one. Also just because I vote someone in doesn't mean I agree with everything they do. Wouldn't it be more expedient to just use direct democracy so I can actually have a say?

"Your options are conservative A or B, and whatever actions they take are necessarily ones you voted for and agree with!"

[–] MareOfNights@discuss.tchncs.de -2 points 7 months ago (1 children)

OK, that's some US issues.

But if enough people want something, it'll happen. It's just that 50% of the US hates the other 50% and vice versa.

Abortion has long been a contentious issue and will probably be a big part of the election. Republicans are currently shooting themselves in the foot with that.

[–] LadyAutumn@lemmy.blahaj.zone 6 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (1 children)

If enough people want something it'll happen... how? Like no seriously how? Is there some reason that the people shouldn't be allowed to directly vote on things? Are you saying that elected officials are reliable in implementing the needs of their constituents? Why is politics so contentious then?

[–] MareOfNights@discuss.tchncs.de 1 points 7 months ago

I don't think there is a moral reason against direct democracy. You just need enough people to get on board with the idea. But in america the Republicans would loose a lot of power, so they won't vote for it.

Elected officials are relatively reliable. Maybe not for needs, but for wants. Biden for example made increasing demands of Israel, as popular opinion (of his voterbase) shifted. Sadly nobody cares about smaller issues, so there isn't really pressure to change e.g. right to repair. Maybe on local level smaller stuff can change.

Politics is so contentious, because the algorithms feed us different realities. If I was reading conservative news 24/7 I might also start thinking that climate change doesn't exist, the gays are coming for my children etc.

There is similar stuff on the left, just not as widespread. Democratic voters are on average moderate CNN-watching boomers.

No idea how to fix this. Similar issues are starting here in Germany, but a bit less. I think the "Tagesschau" and similar news are probably a big reason Germany is relatively moderate compared to others.

[–] anarchrist@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 points 7 months ago

Yes, because the democratic nations have democratically decided, that we want to consume more than is wise, that we want to retaliate for Oct 7 and that private property is cool, even if a few have more.

Which party is against this? I live in a blue state in America and will gladly vote for them.

[–] ZILtoid1991@lemmy.world 3 points 7 months ago

Homophobia comes mainly from the will to govern over other people, by shaming their natural and harmless sexual behavior, and is often dictated by some religion. As power structures like to cooperate, be they corporations, states, or churches; sometimes they like to push each others.

Before you ask: yes, some corporations are doing pride shit to appeal to a wider audience and legitimize their power in the modern world. But others like Xitter are helping state and church powers, as they have a common interest in keeping and expanding their own power.

If you also ask: many churches flourish when the state defunds social safety networks, as they can step in to replace them with church-based charities. I work in a state-owned retirement home, and I can first-hand experience it. Secularism is very compromised as churches had to step in to donate stuff, but that was never a charity, as they demanded the secular state of the institution to slowly eroding, because "religion provides comfort to the soul", and thus mental health care gets the axe first.

Authoritarians in general are excel in giving simple answers to complicated questions. Science? No, god did it. Our economical system is inherently flawed? No, a cabal of evil Jews that don't want to go back to the holy land did it. An anti-authoritarian project failed due to complicated reasons? No, they simply weren't authoritarian, and didn't have a good tyrant to stop the bad tyrants.

[–] Worx@lemmynsfw.com 2 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Which would you rather? One king/governed/whoever that says being gay is bad, or a majority of the population that says being gay is bad?

At least in the second example, you have >50% of the population being happy. And more likely >80% would be happy otherwise you'd just have the 49% fight back and make life miserable for everyone.

[–] db0@lemmy.dbzer0.com 7 points 7 months ago (1 children)

If you had 50% saying stuff like that, you wouldn't even have an anarchist society anyway.

[–] Feathercrown@lemmy.world 2 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Exactly. We have ~50% saying that now, whoch is why I think an anarchist society on a large scale isn't feasible to transition to anytime within the next few decades at least.

[–] db0@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 points 7 months ago (1 children)

There's years in which nothing happens, and then there's weeks in which years happen. Don't underestimate how quickly radicalization can happen.

[–] Feathercrown@lemmy.world 4 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Historically, most revolutions have been a new upper class replacing an old one.

[–] db0@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Yeah well we're not trying to do that, so 🤷‍♂️

[–] Feathercrown@lemmy.world 1 points 7 months ago (2 children)

Who's "we"? <1% of the population? Good luck enforcing your views, we can't even enforce democracy with a majority (debatably) that believes in it.

[–] db0@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (1 children)

An anarchist revolution won't happen until we have enough people doing anarchist praxis anyway. My point is that material circumstances quickly radicalize people. I don't necessarily think there's much hope for the US to avoid civil war at this point, but in any case if the radicalization happens to be towards anarchist praxis, then you won't get another leader on top.

I don't know what you tell you mate, I don't have an answer to your nihilism. Either perform and agitate for an anarchist praxis to avoid a new dictator, or passively vote and wait for the inevitable fascist decent. It's your choice in the end.

[–] Feathercrown@lemmy.world 3 points 7 months ago (1 children)

First paragraph: Agree, except I believe anarchism is unstable and will lead to another leader eventually anyways.

Second paragraph: That's a false choice and you know it. There are so many possibilities for political organization-- see, for example, every country in the world. I'm not interested in arguing with someone who makes bad faith arguments like this.

See also:

[–] db0@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 7 months ago (1 children)

I'm not arguing in bad faith, nor am I passively waiting for "society to collapse". You project your own behavior onto me and then complain about it.

[–] Feathercrown@lemmy.world 1 points 7 months ago

I'm sure if you take a moment to analyze your behavior in this thread with an unbiased view, you'll come to agree with me. If you cannot do that, you should learn how-- not a dig, it's unironically very useful for finding holes in your views.

[–] explodicle@sh.itjust.works 1 points 7 months ago (1 children)

So then the social order we get depends more on economic forces than it does on what the majority wants.

[–] Feathercrown@lemmy.world 1 points 7 months ago

It's a bit of both