Don't fall for it
Plus, their path towards total outsourcing of domestic industry and talent to the imperial periphery, as far as manual labour is concerned, all for the goal of profit maximization through cheap labour exploitation is backfiring massively - not just economically, but also on Western society. The Western labour aristocratic population is hopeless. Just look at how consumerism is eroding the "handyman" and driving its kind to extinction, with everyone instead buying new commodities at a higher rate than ever, creating unnecessary waste and dependence on monopolizing firms. "Unnecessary waste" being a highly ironic key phrase given all the stupid greenwashing propaganda we see nowadays - watch this get co-opted by ecofascists by mass exporting future e-waste to "green transition" the "untermenschen" of the Global South once it gets discarded.
In the West, people literally cry about e.g. a 20 year old car being "too expensive to maintain and not worth it!" (artificial scarcity is a thing, yes - but it can be overcome!), whereas in Cuba for example, they drive old Soviet cars and American classics from the Batista era maintained through sheer ingenuity and improvised, collective craftsmanship. It completely defies these consumerist myths of "obsolescence" realized under late stage capitalism. Classic example of Gramscian cultural hegemony. It has left them with a useless FIRE economy. Basically, even imperialism struggles to offset the contradictions of the plague that is capitalism at this point. The chain is no stronger than its weakest link.
Hope for Palestinians finally being able to go to sleep without having to worry about being massacred? Indispensable. But as many keep pointing out, neither rules nor international law mean anything to the Zionist entity, so there's no knowing if this will just turn out to be all smoke and mirrors.
...and this is not on Palestinian terms, but entirely on imperialist terms aimed at their advantage. Surprise surprise. The US, its lapdogs, the UK and regional comprador states (Egypt, Jordan, Gulf states), and the Zionist entity aim for it to be managed like a colonial territory where Palestinians are being managed akin to past Western colonized territories, and they'd love to turn Gaza into a tax haven and money-laundering hub for billionaire war profiteering capitalists. An Eastern Mediterranean Monaco, if you will.
Ahh.. good, old fashioned class collaborationism. Capitalism's final defense mechanism before turning to fascism.
The US aside, this'll certainly also deal a huge blow to Europe's military industrial complex in the making.
Late stage capitalism. Also, "people" here applies mostly to the working classes in Western countries, and to an extent, some in the Global South with more significant levels of urbanization. Alienation under late stage capitalism and the US-led neoliberal world order leads to ever increasing precarity and desperation amongst the working class all over the world, as we face crisis after crisis, which is now worse than ever (and nothing new, obviously). In the imperial core, or the Global North (Anglosphere, Western Europe, North America), the dynamic is largely different than it is in the Global South, because every single aspect of life in these countries has become almost completely commodified and controlled by capitalist monopolies or duopolies alongside the death of "localism", in simple terms, sucking the joy out of life through profit maximization more than ever before. As fewer and fewer people control more and more wealth, in addition to costs of living skyrocketing through inflation, austerity measures, economic warfare (only to be worsened as far as the US goes following the latest stupid tariffs), leading to even more price gouging, this means that people need to take up an increasing number of jobs, or simply begin working longer hours (in addition to pension and other social security vanishing), leading to prolonged burnout and severe mental health issues, which also negatively impacts social lives through atomizing social structures. There's no doubt that this results in these "mental illnesses", though I've kind of observed that this term is often used in a very bigoted and ableist fashion that lacks nuance.
In the Global South, on the other hand, these dynamics occur differently. Many of us here have only known colonialism, imperialist destabilization, and exploitation in our countries, meant to stifle our socioeconomic development for the benefit of the imperial core, the same countries now suffering this perceived "social decay" the question concerns. We aren't living through "decaying" labor aristocratic capitalism, unlike the imperial core which attained its "high standards of living" through imperialist superprofits and exploitation, meaning slight breadcrumbs could be distributed to the working class in these countries to placate them and prevent them from gaining class consciousness by offering them a nice, mortgaged house, jobs in the service sector, consumerism derived from overproduction, etc. — instead, we're living under neocolonialism. This has an adverse effect at the same time, with the primary dialectic here being that, despite us still living under capitalism and thus still being vulnerable to its internal contradictions, we still retain degrees of non-atomized social structures more "free" of alienation, as well of subsistence-based lifestyles based on cooperation — in my country, for example, the informal economy is pretty much omnipresent.
It's not a binary. It's proof that capitalism needs to go. Basically, to summarize the above: You either live in a "developed" society where you enjoy temporary privileges and economic prosperity attained through imperialist superprofits that ever so slightly trickle down to you — but capitalist decay and crisis is inevitable and will only worsen for the working class which has no material interest in this mode of production (Global North / imperial core)
..or you live in poverty, IMF-imposed SAP austerity measures meaning zero social services (privatised and sold to imperialist financial cartels), and the economic dependence of your country on imperial powers (France, US, broader West) caused by the same force that leads to the temporary material privileges of the working classes in the Global North, yet your social structures aren't atomized (meaning no or less significant emergence of hyper-individualism in society, as seen in the West), because you're literally forced to cooperate socially as opposed to engaging in competition or wage slavery in the typical sense (the norm under capitalism) not to build a better world but to merely subsist (Global South / imperial periphery).
In both scenarios, though, there are no people in power looking after you - and most importantly, your class is not in power of the state.
Also, a relevant video video came to mind about this
Every major Palestinian political figure part of the resistance will remain jailed as all of this is, as always, on imperialist terms. Even if Hamas will try to bring negotiations to their advantage as much as possible, it will mean no more than minuscule concessions. An "erasure of Palestinian politics", to paraphrase Vijay Prashad. Regardless, "ceasefire", because it really is no more than that when we're speaking of settler colonialism and genocide. The Oslo Accords were always a joke, as history teaches us that you don't "negotiate", or "engage in dialogue" with oppressors; you resist and crush them. Yet watch the "international community" rhetorically invoke the "two state solution" again in 3....
I didn't, really. Barely ever used Reddit to begin with. I just wanted a platform to chat and engage with every now and then, and this federated, decentralized alternative is principally superior and is a historical necessity. The reason you "struggle" is because Reddit wants to keep you trapped in its ecosystem and addicted by centralizing online communication spaces.
Already wrote this somewhere else, but might well share it here: Reddit is a cesspool US deep state cut-out propaganda and censorship platform like all of these US-based platforms are, they answer to the US state dept and empire and we all know it. Doesn’t matter if it’s META, X or Reddit (and fuck, Google and YouTube obviously) - they all follow the same line. They’ll crack down on leftist subs, even r/russia due to the official US position, yet keep racist Western subs around (like r/europe) and other liberal shitholes of all kinds I don’t give a shit to even name or remember, even fascist subs and of course the genocide apologists on r/“israel”.
Trump says Israel and Hamas have 'both signed off' in first phase of Gaza ceasefire plan
Trump says Israel and Hamas have 'both signed off' in first phase of Gaza ceasefire plan
If we do the math with the official death toll so far into this genocide, it amounts to one Palestinian killed by the Zionist entity roughly around this minute mark every hour. But I don't think there's any place for an "or" in this matter, as injury is, let's be real, pretty much constant with the relentless destruction and massacre that the settler colonial Zionist entity constantly engages in. It also doesn't even take into account gradual injury due to disease, starvation, and lack of healthcare.
This is an incredibly naïve understanding of how branding and human cognition work. To claim a corporate logo is a "neutral placeholder" is to ignore the entire multi-trillion dollar industry of marketing and the last century of psychological research.
A logo is not a "placeholder" but instead it's the visual distillation of a brand's entire propaganda campaign.
Every commercial, billboard, and sponsored post you've ever seen for that brand has worked to create a subconscious association between that symbol and a set of feelings, aspirations, or identities (Nike = "achievement", Coca Cola = "taste", Apple = "innovation/creativity", and whatever other crap). Seeing the logo fires that neural pathway without the "prerequisite" for a full ad. The commercial already happened in our heads, across years. And it still constantly does under capitalism, hence commodity fetishism is a thing.
The primary goal of all advertising is not to make you buy something right now, but to ensure their brand is the first one you think of when you have a need. A logo constantly flashing in your visual field does exactly that. It's a maintenance ad, whether deliberate or not, keeping the brand's presence active in your subconsciousness.
It is a territorial claim on mental space, and by arguing that their symbols have a right to exist in our public and digital spaces "just for identification," corporations are claiming a right to permanent, free real estate in our minds.
It's almost like calling a national flag of any country "just a piece of colored cloth" because it ignores the immense weight of symbolic meaning, cultural conditioning, and ideological power that whatever given symbol carries. In this case, it's a flag that flies not for a nation or people but for the empire of capital. Even if it was a defunct company, it still once served this purpose, even if now "retired."
And it appears that some people act like this foolish ultra is redeemed because he points out the obvious.
This all boils down to one thing, and that's the phenomenon of controlled "opposition".
"...reformism, even when quite sincere, in practice becomes a weapon by means of which the bourgeoisie corrupt and weaken the workers. The experience of all countries shows that the workers who put their trust in the reformists are always fooled."
-Lenin, Marxism and Reformism.
They never tell you who this "freedom" is intended for. They just isolate the word and dilute it of its meaning.
It proves there's a difference between a war and a genocide, with said genocide being complementary to settler colonialism too.
The US working class has been subjected to opium addiction. The US ruling class is subjecting itself to copium addiction.
"Ween el Malayeen" (Where are the millions?), a Palestinian solidarity song from the first intifada, as performed on Libyan state television in 1990
Not really "Games" related, but besides well established Marxist channels like Hakim, Lady Izdhihar, and Yugopnik, as well as news outlets like Breakthrough news, Mintpress, Grayzone, Mondoweiss, etc.. Some of mine but far from all:
Indie Nile is pretty good. A Palestinian drag artist who makes videos talking about Palestine, the Zionist entity and Western double-standards.
This guy is very informative when it comes to the perspective of the former eastern Ukraine which were liberated, particularly Mariupol and countering Western propaganda regarding the proxy war. Not explicitly a leftist but still enjoyable to watch.
DPRK Explained for learning about the DPRK.
A channel uploading old radio broadcasts mostly from West Asia and North Africa, but also others including Cuba The Libyan Jamahiriya uploads are of particular interest, and there are also ones from various SSRs.
Channel archiving and preserving Jamahiriya-era Libyan revolutionary media, very important.
Mostly shorts-content based news channel focusing on the AES Sahel states recommended for those wanting to keep up with the news there. Not perfect but provides a good overview for further reading.
It's difficult to say right now exactly what will happen, but all that's for certain is that the Ukrainian state as we know it has no future. Drowning in debt, depopulation, and mass privatization - the entire country being sold off to the highest bidder already, piece by piece. It's a tool for war profiteering of NATO and the broader US empire, to be discarded when it can no longer be used, and initially intended to be a tool to destabilize an adversary of Washington and Brussels, Russia, through the Maidan coup in 2014 which has failed miserably - as did a similar "escapade" proving Western incompetence in Afghanistan. A cog in the forever war machine that might serve as one of their final bastions of hope for the rotting corpse that is Western unipolarity.
Ukraine and its NATO puppet masters are facing precarity and desperation more than ever before if we speak of so-called "victory" (tbh a term that becomes vague if the entire dialectic of prolonged profiteering isn't omitted. "Winning" for the bourgeoisie can just as well mean profit maximization, obviously, which they're achieving), with Ukraine now resorting to kidnappings of random civilians on the streets for enforced draft. Russia has practically achieved most of its primary goals, and has de facto annexed and liberated eastern regions which are undergoing rapid urban renewal and restoration of vital infrastructure by Russia, gradually leading to better living standards than they ever saw under the decay and stagnation offered by Ukraine. This, combined with an end to linguistic repression (most of them are Russian native speakers), will undoubtedly be a PR boost for Moscow from the inhabitants too. Though an end to the entire proxy war is not something Russia nor Zelensky's Neo-Nazi comprador regime in Kiev can at all achieve on their own - it all rests on the core beneficiaries who orchestrated this entire ordeal to begin with: Washington and Brussels. Comprador Zelensky acts on their behalf, as we all know. With recent developments, such as the seizure of Russian assets for redistribution towards the Ukrainian war machine by Europe, and the new wave of Russophobic fearmongering campaigns in Europe intended to manufacture consent for continued war (surrounding all the drone nonsense in particular), the writing is already on the wall. "Until the last Ukrainian" isn't an outdated phrase to use.
Putting the US aside here, its European vassals, to me at least, seem really interested in prolonging this conflict - moreso than their masters in Washington. What comes to mind is Europe's own military industrial complex which has become an even bigger topic of debate after Trump was elected (noo big daddy America don't you remember the Marshall Plan?!), and this is just a personal take but I guess Ukraine can serve as a testing ground for Europe's militarization project - it'll drive massive profits, serve to manufacture consent for further welfare austerity against the still highly liberal European working class, and allow Europe to develop repressive tools and intelligence which it could hypothetically turn inwards once the contradictions of capitalism in the EU become so dire that its ruling class needs to resort to fascism to prevent mass left-wing working class uprisings as the multipolar world order rises year after year, burying Western hegemony and hacking away at their beloved imperialist superprofits.
The best answer I can provide is that this ugly proxy war will continue for at least a few more years, until NATO will be forced into admitting defeat and signing a peace treaty with Russia ("forced" how exactly? Time will tell). De jure Russian annexation of the eastern territories will certainly happen, and what will be left of Ukraine is a debt-riddled rump statelet under short-term NATO occupation, reduced in size possibly even only to the Ukrainian speaking regions of the west(?) surviving on EU grants with a Zelensky-like figurehead in power if not a pseudo-neutral comprador figure, as we have to consider that Russia would only accept a neutral state, rightfully so. Azov and its ilk might see a fate similar to other extremist proxies that were once useful to the US empire, such as al-Qaeda, Taliban and ISIS. They might even seize the rump state within no time, or be dealt with by Russia. But this is all only the tip of the ice berg, there's no knowing what further developments could take place.
Just needs that ghoulish EU commission dictator Ursula Fond Of Lying and it'd even better. DEFENDING CAPITALISM IN DECAY WITH ALL GENDERS!
"historymemes. Guess some liberals learned their first ever genuine fact about an event in geopolitical history, impressive. I totally bet they'll add 2+2 together and begin to see recurring patterns in US-led anti-communist covert action globally, and figure out why they're told that gommunism bad no food no freedumb, and adopt a materialist understanding of history /s
Never used it myself that much really (thank god), but I like this much more as an alternative. Reddit is a cesspool US deep state cut-out propaganda and censorship platform like all of these US-based platforms are, they answer to the state dept and empire and we all know it. Doesn't matter if it's META, X or Reddit (and fuck, Google and YouTube obviously) - they all follow the same line. They'll crack down on leftist subs, even r/russia due to the official US position, yet keep racist Western subs around (like r/europe) and other liberal shitholes of all kinds I don't give a shit to even name or remember, even fascist subs and of course the genocide apologists on r/"israel".
Mutual dialogue! Two-state solution! Every opinion matters and is equal! Social Darwinism is a valid philosophy! We all need to work together as a nation! Freedom, democracy, civil society and human rights! We're helping all these poor people around the world! Unemployed people are just lazy and don't want to work and contribute to society! Capitalism offers wages as a rewards system, how motivating! We're spoiled rotten! Poverty is a personal responsibility that the individual must take action to combat!