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Average anti-tankie
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this post was submitted on 19 Aug 2023
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chapotraphouse
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I wish anyone who throws around the word tankie could define it in real politik terms instead of "it means facist, to me" or "muh authoritarianism and imperialism." What are the "tankie" political theories that they disagree with? Anti-colonialism? Anti-capitalism? Peace before war when in power? Closed door approaches to capital infiltration as state defense tactics? Planned economy?
I guess this is just a normal response to the existential horror that you've been poisoned by capital and told it was medicine and now have to look the demons of capital in the face and try to deal with it.
The only common thread I've noticed is that it always refers to an imperial core person admiring something foreign. You're somehow not a tankie if you're actually from China and you're a Marxist-Leninist. In that case you're just an authoritarian. But if you're from Canada and you say nice things about China? Then you're a tankie.
There's some kind of nationalist brainworm built into the term. There's some kind of conception that foreigners just do socialism incorrectly, but white people can do it properly through...I don't know, voting every 4 years, or begging for it nicely or making a utopian settlement in the woods. But if you're a white person who wants revolutionary socialism, you've allowed scary foreign devils to pollute your mind and you're a tankie now. Telling liberals that being a "tankie" is the overwhelmingly most normal position for communists worldwide shortcircuits their brains. They can only conceive of three types of communists: Idiot white teenagers from imperialist countries, cynical dictators, and brainwashed foreigners who can't think properly because they're foreign.
Way too many times I've been talking with someone who called me a tankie, and I ask them why it seems like China and Vietnam have such high approval for their respective states. That's when it starts coming out. They'll say communism is just a better fit for their culture, or that the people there are more easily brainwashed, or that the approval ratings are all lies. It's so racist and disgusting.
Yeah, I can see that. Just inherent nationalism and racism but it's acceptable because gommunism bad
I get it. We're in our third financial crisis "of a lifetime." You can't afford a groceries, restaurants, cars, healthcare, or a house. Rights are stripped away from us daily. Neo-nazis are even more mainstream than Nazis in West Germany. We are told things are looking up, but we all know things are worse than ever. What can we do if all we know is vote blue (or UK labour)? Scream at the void. Blame someone, anyone. An amorphous blob with no more meaning than a comic book villain becomes the outlet for capitalism's torture, and it is not questioned until it is confronted by Lemmy users, in what you thought was a shitposting meme about le china.