General Discussion Thread - Juche 114, Week 39
Welcome again to everybody. Make yourself at home. In the time-honoured tradition of our group, here is the weekly discussion thread.
☭ Matrix homeserver and space
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☭ Theory discussion group on /c/theory@lemmygrad.ml
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☭ Find theory on ProleWiki, marxists.org, Anna's Archive, libgen
Went to sleep at a friends house who is a history buff. Woke up underneath a huge portret of Lenin. Felt good.
They're coming for Portland. I don't know what to do.
Stay safe.
Thank you.
I had a bad feeling about Gustavo Petro and it seems that he has a mixed performance.
Which is above my expectations.
Most of the anti-ICE organizers I know in my American city are anarchists who are opposed to anything that isn’t “spontaneous” or “autonomous” and try to discourage people from joining or allying with any parties or organizations that try to organize against ICE. They complain that any higher level of organization “co-opts” or “saps energy” from the movement and limits anti-ICE activity to peaceful protesting. If they made these criticisms and then did more themselves then I could get on board with it but when I sat with them during their attempt to blockade a garage that was being used by ICE vehicles I watched as they literally got up and moved the barriers out of the way every time a vehicle needed to pass through. They have bragged about supposedly getting into physical fights with cops during an anti-ICE protest but it seems like that didn’t ultimately make any difference for immigrants. The only other actions I see them encourage are small unaffiliated peaceful protests originating within immigrant communities or documenting and monitoring ICE. I never see them try to grow this baseline into anything that could effectively drive ICE from the city or stop the kidnappings. WTF do I do here. What Is to Be Done. I feel hopeless.
Pretty much what @cfgaussian said. I'm in a similar boat as well.
One of those "grit your teeth" moments where you still try and make friends the best you can in the simplest way of putting it. I always liked meeting newer members and even if they fell out it was good to still keep in touch with some people.
WTF do I do here.
The only thing you can do. You continue to educate, agitate and do your best to try and organize. Organization is the most powerful tool that the proletariat has at its disposal in the class war. Political natural selection will take care of the anarchists and their obstinate refusal to organize. Effective strategies that can demonstrate success will win the support of the masses while those tactics which go nowhere will fail to win support and will remain irrelevant.
Being prescribed new meds
RIP Assata
Saw some news article from my hometown of a guy making a website about our local language/dialect. He wants it to be preserved as fewer people speak it on a daily basis now. In the state of Northern Brabant we have our own dialect but the dialect from my hometown is even more different and, imo, pretty unique. Other people from Brabant would have difficulty to understand me, for example.
You're supposed to speak proper Dutch if you want others to understand you, of course, and that's why fewer people speak it. It's kinda looked down upon as lowly educated / trash, which is sad. My dad still speaks it on a daily basis. He never got the opportunity to go to school so never learned further than the dialect lol. I can speak and understand it though living abroad and with my gf from another part of The Netherlands, there's no use in speaking it. But reading the website I agreed with him and I feel like I should just speak it when at home. Would be a shame for things like that to disappear.
There are days when dealing with capitalism feels like a parody version of real life. The fuckton layers of parties involved in any given process, the underpaid CS who don't have enough time to read what you're saying and/or are too constrained to give more than boilerplate answers, the technological systems that are badly designed or go in and out of maintenance whenever. There's so much convoluted nonsense. And this on top of it being in the US, a country whose power brokers are actively pulverizing it for their short term ends.
Dead Internet Theory is one thing, but some days, it feels like capitalism resembles something like what I might call "Dead Management Theory" - like nobody is actually in charge, in a meaningful capacity that can smoothly operate what actually needs to occur. I'm exaggerating of course (just as I don't literally believe in Dead Internet Theory), obviously some things continue to function, but it feels very empty at times in terms of organization and clerical efficiency. I don't think it's that management is literally missing exactly, but it's like there's this molasses effect on the process, due to all the layers of bullshit, that if something is a little off, it's a way bigger deal than it should be? Like for a fictional representation, when Peter Gibbons forgets about TPS reports and gets reminded about it by eight different bosses. It feels sorta like that. Like there's more organizational going through the motions than there is practical functionality.
See this a lot in my job which focusses on unemployment benefits. An application has to go through at least three different orgs and can take up to two months or more to be completed. And if something goes wrong between the instances, good luck. Sometimes it seems like nobody can fix it then and it's all finger pointing. For what it's worth it drives us employees insane too. Like driving a car with square tires: you can't move forward.
Makes sense that it would bug the employees as well. I'd imagine you want to be able to solve problems for people, so struggling to be able to due to processes that are multi-layered and unwieldy, I can see how that'd be frustrating.
The word you are looking for is "Kafkaesque." I've only read The Trial but he really nailed that feeling down.
I feel like living in western society at the moment is a mashup of 1984, The Trial, and Dr. Strangelove.
Interesting, I've never read The Trial, but now I'm curious. I have definitely seen Dr. Strangelove though. I think the most unrealistic part of Dr. Strangelove is the idea that the US president has good intentions lol. But the general circus act absurdity of it, yeah. In the US, the health secretary being anti-vax definitely feels like parody writing (though since it's real, it's less funny and more just ridiculously dangerous).
Slight chance emerging of me moving back to The Netherlands. Communism coming soon.
Which org would you join if you were to move back?
That's a good question and I'm not sure yet. I believe the most serious commie movement is Rood but I also believe they are more trotskyist in nature. To my knowledge there are no other serious marxist or ML options, I think? Suggestions would be welcome.
It also depends on where I will go. It will probably be in the Amsterdam region (kidney for sale btw) and that would give me more options than Hendrik-Ido-Ambacht or wherever of course.
Just saw the UK's speech at the UN general assembly and its the one who contained thr most time and emphasis tqlking about AI... i am left to wonder how much Nvidia money is in the UK government.
Robert help
Robert, I am shitposting on niche Marxist-Leninist internet board Lemmygrad
Hello everyone. Hows it going.
Going alright, only got 3 and a half hours of sleep last night though so work is going to suck. How about you?
Vladimir Putin tried to sell me some drones behind the Albert Heijn
Someone's gotta do something about him! I caught my kid with a hypersonic missile the other day and he wouldn't tell me where he got it but I just know it was that good for nothing Putin.
Check it out:
What's the "most communist" image you have on your computer right now?
Mine is this picture of a golden statue of Oh Chi Minh surrounded by gold star on red and hammer and sickle flags:
Probably this attempt someone made at creating a Brazilian communist flag. I think it's badass.
I don't have that many communist images on my computer. This is the most communist one I could find
Edit 1.
Almost forgot to add this banger:
I'd say this is the best I've got.
after a short look this is the best I have.
Or maybe this one:
I’m on my phone currently but probably the flag of the Spartacus League
Not an image, but the first communist related media that I found when scrolling through my phone gallery
hello friends, I'm new :3
I've got my driver's license parking exam in 3 days so hopefully that goes well!!
Hey everyone, I'm also new so thank you for having me!
There's a crazy amount of learning when you accept that capitalism doesn't hold the answers. It's overwhelming at times, but we must remember that we deserve better and keep going.
I'm not quite sure how to word this but I got threatened at the place I work at.
It's weird, because I can't quite say that it was a direct threat.
Basically what happened is that two kids walked into the store asking for a lighter. Age restriction. I don't give a fuck and actually give them some recommendations on some places that could possibly serve the needs they want in terms of a 2 dollar fucking bic lighter. Instead, they beg me for it, before asking me if I heard of what happened to the neighboring 7/11.
Mind you, the neighboring 7/11 got raided by multiple kids ranging from the age of 14-20. Ironic number, because I know one of the ones who is a regular who is 20 that is obviously connected to the two that came in later.
The two asked me if I heard of "Lee" who got his head cracked with a vase at the counter. I promise you, genuinely, because I thought they were shooting the shit after me telling them about the neighboring places that they could get "goods" from (oh shit, fed activity), I responded by showing them my 10 inch karambit and telling them I wasn't worried about it. (didn't flick it/show blade, didn't try to brandish it as in "hey I'll hurt you", just simply like "hey i'm good, no worries")
It wasn't until they left immediately after "brandishing" that I realized they were trying to threaten me with that 7/11 comment. I genuinely had no idea. Now, I wonder if I should get a autism diagnosis. Only because I asked two people who came in afterwards if it sounded like a threat and they agreed. What do you all think? I honestly feel like an asshole for "brandishing" a weapon towards some kids who were literally talking about someone cracking a head at the neighboring gas station and me showing that I can defend myself; not even in a "fuck you way" but like "hey, I"m alright".
I dunno, do I get a lawyer after this?
Nah dude I think yer fine. They wont tell anyone you threatened them because snithces get stitches. They are gonna tell the other kids that they shouldn't fuck around while you are on shift.
In their eyes you didn't even flinch when they were threatening you. You basically told them you are prepared to open a clown up without acting like you cared one way or another. They think you are cold as ice.
lol that's awesome, wasn't tryna go john-wick. I appreciate the insight tho.
was hoping they weren't rich-shits.
I see hundreds of people every day and as soon as the weather drops to 10-15 degrees it is a non stop infection risk. Fucking sucks to get sick on a regular basis because of it.
Zinc help, but it must be taken as a preventative measure
So do y'all think the Republican (and to an extent Democratic) politicians are actual Christians or is it just a tool to relate to the masses? Like, do you think they really believe in God and whatever?
Bit of A, bit of B. When it's such a useful tool for hegemony, even the "true believers" end up swept by that too. They mutually reinforce each other and form a "politician's Christianity."
There are probaly like one or two true believers. There are a few who believe in god and have chosen conciously to be on the devils side. and there are a bunch that just cynically use it as rhetoric.
As a collective whole? Con artists who don't believe a word they preach.
As specific individuals? Varies; some are true believers that genuinely think they're abiding by the will of God, some are frauds who just tell people what they want to hear, some really believe but are ignorant hypocrites who can't see it.
The parties as parties are charlatans but the individual members of those parties are understandably far more diverse.
What's the best way to read Gramsci in English? He's not on marxists.org and I've never found another way to read the prison notebooks for free. Buying isn't an option where I live.
I can't comment on the quality, but you can find translations of his prison notebooks on Anna's Archive
Thank you!
Already made a post in the freechat community, but want to get some thoughts here as well. I’m currently going through the Prolewiki reading list for beginners, after I finish it I would love to read up on the Russian revolution. Not looking for a massive tome, but something in between being general but not overly specific and dense that I can’t get through in let’s say a month or 2. Thanks!
Red Star over the 3rd World by Vijay Prashad? Might or might not be what your looking for but I think its worth a read. Don't know if you can get it for free though.
Das lied vom Kompromiss by Ernst Busch is a goofy ass song.
Lol, yes it is, i bet people who don't speak German and try to read a translation are very confused. But it's still frighteningly accurate and applicable to present day German politics, just replace Ebert with Scholz. Written in 1919 but sounds like it's talking about the Groko of the 2010s or the Ampel.
Tomorrow I'll be going at a local news radio to talk about "religious freedom in China". I think I've prepared well, but any extra material is very welcome.
I wish you good luck. Moments like that might be important to whomever is listening.
This post might help a lot -> https://lemmygrad.ml/post/9155093
Basically, the post might help to add to the point that China wants to keep religion within healthy boundaries and prosecutes dangerous practices that will hurt people(such as the US evangelicals selling blessings for 1 000 USD).
Qiao Collective has a whole set of resources if you go to the topleft corner of the page, click it, and search around or use the search bar in the website:
https://www.qiaocollective.com/education/socialism-with-chinese-characteristics
Hey, here you go:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLsCaI-gsA29xVYzFI-kYWLcx2QhowNBCL
Here is a list to things you might need:
On Xinjiang and Uyghurs
Debunking John Oliver
How The Government Works
Again, On Xinjiang
I found YouTube links in your comment. Here are links to the same videos on alternative frontends that protect your privacy:
Link 1:
Link 2:
Link 3:
Link 4: