askchapo

The boomers running it are so bad they may as well be actively sabotaging themselves and I can't take it any more

Any advice?

Nitter

We know they like to stick flags on everything. We've maybe all seen the Kelly cartoon where some guy complains that their neighbors only put up their flags for the fourth of July. But do they really notice if you don't have a flag on your house or your car? Also, what's the deal with reactionaries randomly removing their flags? A guy I know whose father or grandfather was probably in the klan took his flag down a month or two ago and I have no idea why. "Hunter Biden has tarnished our glorious nation's reputation" or something is probably the reason. I have another neighbor whose shitty wooden flagpole has lacked a flag since Biden won the election.

I've heard they put Blue Lives Matter stickers on their cars to get the police to leave them alone. But if you put a gun sticker on your car, will the police actually leave you alone, or think twice about pulling you over, or just blow you away because you were driving 5 MPH over the speed limit?

Bonus: I have a neighbor who has been flying a full-sized Ukrainian flag upside-down since February 2022.

I also once saw someone with a tiny house like sort of tucked behind everyone else's, but he managed to put a flagpole in his yard and get like, an American flag, an Israeli flag, and a Blue Lives Matter flag all on that pole. Very impressive

Note - I couldn’t find anything on the “United Federation of Workers of Venezuela” (maybe because it’s a wrong translation?) but here’s some background I’ve managed on find on the author. Pedro Eusse, per this article is a member of the PCV (Communist Part of Venezuela). At the bottom of the OG article, it says the original (untranslated) was in Tribuna Popular, which is the press of the PCV. So that’s additional proof. The PCV supported Chavez throughout and Maduro originally, but stopped in 2020 because of difference in economic policies. Since then it seems the rift has widened.

Per the article (no idea what’s true and what’s not, I’ve edited it to make the points more organized for me and remove the more charged/emotional language) -

In 2023, the government consolidated the policy of labour deregulation initiated in 2018.

It has “destroyed” the minimum wage. November 2023’s annualized inflation was 359%, double that of November 2022. But the national minimum wage has been frozen for 18 months at 130 Bs, less than $4/month, making “the Venezuelan labour force the most devalued in the world.”

93% of the minimum income is based on bonuses rather than actual wages. The majority of workers and families have to survive on these bonuses and food bags. The majority are forced to perform numerous formal and informal jobs to subsist. The result is deteriorating health, and more time away from family care and the fulfillment of social, cultural and organizational activities.

The government has worked to prevent the eventual workers’ and popular protests in the face of the social catastrophe due to its neoliberal policies, by violating - freedom of association, the right to strike, workplace health and safety regulations which cause fatal work accidents.

The National Budget Law of 2024 prioritises capital and the current government with an unequal distribution of national income. There are no budgetary provisions to establish decent salaries and pensions, but only to continue granting bonuses – obviously with no impact on social benefits, vacations, profits, Christmas bonuses and other legal and contractual indemnities.

The government has dismantled of collective bargaining agreements, via the criminalization of workers’ struggles, open layoffs and sham dismissals. All of it occurs with official acceptance (especially against militant union leaders and safety representatives), employer and government coercion to subdue the individual and collective will of the workers, and the use of judicial power to legitimize abusive and anti-democratic political decisions.

2023 began with months of massive protests by teachers and other primary and basic education workers – demanding, unsuccessfully, the signing of the teachers’ collective bargaining agreement – and is concluding with some scattered labour protests demanding the full payment of year-end bonuses from public employers.

2024 will also see labour protests, considering the serious deterioration of the subsistence-level material conditions of those who depend on a salary or a pension.

We have to broaden struggle of the working class and put aside everything that dismantles unions, the retirees and pensioners associations. In 2024, the efforts of the government and the right-wing opposition to manipulate working people and their organizations will be intensified. Thus we must strengthen the independence and autonomy of the labour forces that fight to recover our human, social and labour rights and to defeat policies that only serve capital and that debase the working class.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Liberty_incident

I’m open to the possibility that there’s still something being kept secret here, but the fact that internet Nazis like to bring this up in their redpill memes so frequently is disconcerting.

Dear people on this website, I'm strongly considering going on a trip to Cuba soon alone. I'm a decent Spanish speaker and an American, wondering if anyone has any good tips or advice for the trip. I know I want to see that ice cream shop that fidel was obsessed with.

Thanks in advance!

Heya folks. I want to attend protests, but they are going to happen fairly far from where I live: to the point where it might be harder for me to navigate without access to my phone. I saw a post today that there are Faraday bags you can get to stick your phone in, which will prevent cops from picking up my cell data. Do you all have any recs or experience with these?

Edit: Thank you all for the recommendations!

cross-posted from: https://lemmygrad.ml/post/3264448

Lenin in Imperialism talks about the emergence of finance capital as the major driver of imperial conquests. These days we have seen trends of "financialisation" of western economies coupled with deindustrialisation.

I guess what confuses me is why this trend towards financialisation a thing where you cede real material industrial power in favour of large banks.

If you know any books or blogs/websites that cover this, please recommend them.

I'm asking so that I have ammo against Zionists when they say things like "Palestine never existed" and "Palestinian identity/culture didn't exist until after Israel was founded".

I've tried doing some basic internet searches for things like "Palestinian art", "Palestinian art history", and "Ottoman Palestine artwork" but unfortunately the results are largely focused on Palestinian art from 1948 to present. Some of the results go back a bit further to like 1850, but I'd be interested to see some examples of Palestinian cultural production from the 1500s, 1600s & 1700s. Can anyone help me out?

There's a bunch of different sites claiming to be Hirwabi. Does anyone know what the authentic one is? I got an e-mail saying it's www.hirwabi.ps

Does that check out? Anyone know?

I had gen 1 bionicles, 90s transformers toys that actually mother fukin transformed PROPERLY was the absolute GOAT and when I'd transform them I'd go eee e oo ee a ooo ee. And a manta force spaceship.

The spaceship was on another level. It had MINI SHIPS AND VEHICLES INSIDE. And little people to sit in the seats and man the systems. And it was so rugged you could pass it down generations.

My ex (good riddance) from a situationship I was in remotely factory reset my phones and now I have no way to 2 step verify my email since I don't have any other devices with that email available and my phone number attached to it is old. I've given up trying to get in. Just a bummer since I had a lot of important stuff on it. But since I'm working out rn, any pointers I could get as a semi experienced (lots when I was in HS but that's been 12 yrs give or take) but yet beginner lifter? Otherwise how my chapos doin?

My partner and I have about 60k in student loans and haven’t been paying even though they started back in October. I’m waiting to see if maybe we just shouldn’t. I remember there being chatter about how Nelnet and other loan holders had like laid off a bunch of people during the pause and hadn’t hired them back, and the system is overloaded and fucked, and how are people suddenly going to pay a big monthly expense anyway, etc etc. But if people were to not pay them, I feel like the media would not want to perpetuate that narrative and build it into something real by spreading the word so to speak. So I don’t know if there’s a way to gauge is people are actually paying them? Does anyone know?

Mine would be RELAXING COZY CORGI CUDDLE OVERDRIVE!

I don’t have any myself, but thought you all might know some.

Has the US actually achieved oil independence or is MBS and the Emirates spineless cowards? What's up with that.

As per the title. Something reasonably recent. Last I’ve watched in full was Bo Burnham’s Inside.

I've tried all of the URLs I know and I can't find a way to reach library Genesis. Is there a known problem?

Hello! I can feel a new hyperfixation coming on, does anyone have any recommendations for books about ww2 written by Marxists, preferably MLs?

I move like I don't have a physical body. As a result, I bump into things a lot and trip. I try to go through objects like a ghost, sometimes fully expecting it'll work. Like a bee trying to leave a closed window. It happens most when I'm doing chores.

I grew up rushing to take care of my abusive family every second of my childhood, and was made to feel my self care had no significance. Even if the care is as small as taking a moment to see if something is in the way, so I don't bump into it. Like a corner while I'm rounding a corner. And even if I notice something's in my way, I will try to crash through it repeatedly before the throbbing of resulting pain reminds me to move it out my way first. The throbbing has to grow intense enough too. I might accidentally hit my head on an object 10 times in less than an hour before I watch my head. (TW: domestic violence) This is probably because my family beat me daily and I dissociate from physical pain.

Examples of things I've been told that help me understand my physical presence:

• This might sound weird, but "pretend" you have a body. This way you act like you have one.

• What are some things in your room? How big are they? What's the biggest thing in your room? How big is it? All those things thake up physical space. Just like those things, you take up physical space.

I know DSA gets dunked on here pretty hard, so hoping we can have a constructive conversation about how to make things better.

I'm a DSA member. Plz don't Ban me...

It's a smaller chapter in the deep south. There's a mix of people including MLS, Anarchists, and some baby-leftists. No and we make fun of Democrats all the time.

What we're doing:

New member education

BDS, in particular handing out flyers with a list of companies to boycott

Attending Palestinian rallies and supporting the Palestinian rights orgs in our area

Tabling at Pride

Brake light clinics

...and we're starting a public transit campaign to improve service

What are we missing? What could we do better?