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Lefty Memes
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
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,
as well as 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.
7. Absolutely no posts or comments meant to relativize(/apologize for), advocate, promote or defend:
- Racism
- Sexism
- Queerphobia
- Ableism
- Classism
- Rape or assault
- Genocide/ethnic cleansing or (mass) deportations
- Fascism
- (National) chauvinism
- Orientalism
- Colonialism or Imperialism (and their neo- counterparts)
- Zionism
- Religious fundamentalism of any kind
(This is not a definitive list, the spirit of the other rules still counts! Eventual duplicates with other rules are for emphasis.)
It's almost like one must examine and consider each conflict individually.
I oppose war. I don't oppose defending oneself. I don't oppose helping somebody defend themselves.
if china puts nuclear bombs in Mexico and Canada, what will be the reaction of US ?
People have been completely brainwashed to believe that the war in Ukraine occurred just because of Putin's imperial ambitions, which is obviously a factor. it was always known that nato expansion will trigger a war. US pushed for it because it wanted a war.
That logic would make sense except for the fact that the war just caused more countries to join NATO. Surely Putin could see that coming by invading Ukraine again. He is evil not stupid.
The truth of the matter is Putin didn't care what the cost was, he just wanted Ukraine back as part of Russia because it would cement his legacy to the Russian populace.
And most importantly for Russia, it creates a buffer state between them and NATO and gives access to the Mediterranean via the black sea.
Putin is evil not stupid.
Stupid Putin invades Ukraine.
Also your logic about nuclear bombs in Mexico and Canada makes no sense when hyperballistic ICBMs are a thing. It doesn't matter where the nukes are.
If you're gonna make a point about strategic positioning at least make a good one instead of the straw man scary nuclear bomb argument that is only used for emotional reasons.
Counterforce doctrine memes from people who think a nuclear war is winnable and that losing tens of millions of people to the nukes that sneak through are just acceptable losses
I'm not going to bother to link, you could easily Google it, but the West know Ukraine is a red-line going as far back as the 2000's, when the British government under Tony Blair even questioned Ukraine's place in the world. One adviser thought Ukrainians are not European enough and that the country is in the realm of Russia. Ukraine at the time also told the West not to trust Putin and that they had "too rosy view" of the Russian president, when at the time the West was on friendlier terms with the Putin. Ukraine did not trust Russia from the very beginning. So, even before 2014, the foundations have been already been set for a geopolitical powder keg.
Also, why the heck do people act as though the Ukrainians do not have their own autonomy to decide for themselves? Do armchair political analysts, living outside of conflict zones, typing comfortably on their computer while sipping a glass of wine, ever asked the Ukrainians what they want? They revolted in 2013 against then Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych when he reneged on a deal with the EU, only to sign a deal with the Russians at the last minute. It is very improbable that Ukrainians were somehow brainwashed to align with the West and "coup" their own government, unlike what Russian propaganda often repeats like a mantra. It is though as if Ukrainians cannot decide for themselves! After all, Ukraine is usually pejoratively referred to as "little Russia", as though Ukrainians are little siblings who can't take care of themselves.
I’ll never get people who utilize absolutes in their political views. Politics requires nuance to navigate. Losing yourself to nuance is to become a mindless centrist or conspiracy theorist. Losing yourself to absolutism is to become an ideologue and devoid of skepticism.