Actually, this town has more than enough room for the two of us
He/him or they/them, doesn’t matter too much
Marxist-Leninist ☭
Interested in Marxism-Leninism, but don’t know where to start? Check out my “Read Theory, Darn it!” introductory reading list!
Failing to have a coherent understanding of how imperialism works. A lot of westerners seem to think they live in developed countries developed purely by their own industry, while not realizing how financial capital continues to plunder the global south.
You need to educate and agitate and organize. It isn’t an either/or situation, you need both so that theory and practice sharpen and reinforce each other. Ignoring one weakens the other.
These misogynistic movements are filled with incels. Just casting them as misunderstood and cast-off from society is horribly inaccurate. This political division is large and climbing:
Rampant femicide and violence against women is huge and growing to epidemic levels. The fact that there is forced conscription for men is another avenue of misogyny in a way men are also harmed, forced conscription serves as a way for men to collectively have a shared millitarized experience and separate them from the rest of society. It also harms men, yes, but is ultimately a part of the way society is increasingly divided, and is used as justification for violence against women.
Long story short, Europe was slightly ahead of Africa in terms of development when they began to really interact, around the time Europe found out about the Americas they had a bunch of new land from genocide of the natives and needed manpower Europeans could never hope to fulfill, so the slave trade started in earnest.
Europeans would only trade their goods for slaves, which started the slave industry in various African nations that wanted these goods, which stalled development in Africa while dramatically increasing development in Europe, widening the gap until the colonial era. Over time, this gap began to increasingly be seen as its own justification, and Europeans became increasingly racist towards Africans.
It isn’t about inherent evil. Europe was beginning to become capitalist while the most developed nations in Africa were developed feudal kingdoms, and the geography of Africa and Europe had more to do with that than any genetics could ever hope to cover. The narrow gap was exploited by Europeans and widened until the modern era of imperialism and neocolonialism.
I highy recommend How Europe Underdeveloped Africa by Walter Rodney. We’re doing a readalong over in Hexbear.net if you want to join!
I’m referring to the incredibly misogynistic movements in the ROK that are largely far-right and hate women. Femicide is huge in the ROK, as well as systemic sexual assault, which women protest and these groups attack said women.
Socialism has existed on a large scale for over a century. The USSR was the first, and now we have countries like Cuba, Vietnam, the PRC, etc, all economies where public ownership is the principle aspect of society. I’m not arguing from an “ideal,” I’m speaking purely about existing material reality. Using the PRC as an example, the large firms and key industries are overwhelmingly publicly owned:
The PRC did introduce Reform and Opening Up after struggles within the Cultural Revolution and the Gang of Four. These reforms didn’t change that public ownership is still the principle aspect of the economy, though. Private and cooperative ownership existed even under Mao, and economic growth was positive under Mao, just unstable, which the market reforms and introduction of special economic zones helped make stable and regular:
Pre-Reform and Opening Up
Post-Reform and Opening Up
You didn’t bring any facts to the table or any analysis, you just said “no” then insulted me. It"s insulting and utterly insufficient for proving your claims.
To the contrary, socialism can only work at scale. Small-scale cooperation exists, yes, but isn’t really “socialism” as we understand it. A business cannot be “socialist,” socialism is a descriptor for an entire mode of production, not a quantum unit of an economy. Socialism is a mode of production where public ownership is the principle aspect, and regularly is proven to be superior to capitalism. The largest economy in the world by PPP is socialist, the PRC, and it’s a broad, diverse, multi-ethnic society of billions.
I think you’d do well to research more on socialism. “Human tribalism” is more of a response to immediate conditions within capitalism, a system dominated by private property. It isn’t some eternal genetic fault in humans, over time we have become increasingly interconnected and interdependent. Socialism is the natural evolution from that point now that capitalism has already centralized the broad majority of production, meaning coherent and deliberate planning of the economy is more feasible.
The worst is when they erase the immense famines in Tsarist Russia, China under the Kuomintang, etc, pretending that socialism caused the famines they experienced, when socialism gradually erased famine and hunger in both Russia and China.
People want to feel morally righteous for condemning socially percieved evil, even if it isn’t real. People also generally “license” themselves to believe in that which they believe materially benefits them.
Essentially, people’s capacity for changing their mind on something is less about the facts at hand and more about their readiness to accept an alternative viewpoint, which is driven by reaction to external circumstances.
Socialism doesn’t “come with the same assholes,” socialist states have made dramatic and comprehensive strides for the working class while oppressing the capitalists.
Organizing, which is far more important, and it isn’t close. Voting is less than the bare minimum.
The system isn’t formed based on the wills of individuals, nor is there an inherent “nice” or “mean” quality to people. If we all decide we want to live in a perfect utopia, that still won’t take form, because that’s not how societal progression works. We live in capitalism, because capitalism emerged from preceding modes of production like feudalism. It wasn’t a choice people made, but an economic progression on the basis of private property and free-moving capital, which leads us to today where a tiny handful own the lion’s share of production.
Capitalism is riddled with contradictions, however, and these contradictions sharpen over time. We move onto socialism by organizing, where we can actually take control of production and run it along a common plan to suit the needs of the people.
Edit: figured it’s a good chance to plug my introductory Marxist-Leninist reading list, if what I said makes sense to you!
It’s constantly bubbling. Women’s rights in the ROK are really bad, and there’s a huge incel movement as well. The ROK in general is like trying to force a lid on a bubbling pot.
The best and most comprehensive resource I have seen so far is Qiao Collective’s Xinjiang: A Resource and Report Compilation. Qiao Collective is explicitly pro-PRC, but this is an extremely comprehensive write-up of the entire background of the events, the timeline of reports, and real and fake claims.
I also recommend reading the UN report and China’s response to it. These are the most relevant accusations and responses without delving into straight up fantasy like Adrian Zenz, professional propagandist for the Victims of Communism Foundation, does.
Tourists do go to Xinjiang all the time, yes. You can watch videos like this one on YouTube, though it obviously isn’t going to be a comprehensive view of a complex situation like this.
There’s a strong feminist movement in the ROK right now, a part of that is bringing up cases where women have been victims yet punished for fighting back. This is one such case.
Neither is true, nobody is siding with you. Simple.
Yep. The huge advancements in technology brought about by colonialism and capitalism in Europe compelled their naval supremacy, which allowed Europe to dominate trade routes, leapfrogging India and China who were still more of a developed feudal-sort of stage. This led to the Opium Wars, colonization of India and China, and eventually their independence movements that propelled China into socialism and India into its own capitalist system (which is a whole other discussion).