this post was submitted on 10 Oct 2024
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Lefty Memes
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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
That means 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.
- 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
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In my opinion, using terms like 'capitalism' or 'socialism' or 'fascism' is a losing game for anyone except the Right.
The second you use those terms you get forced into a fight about the definitions and get sidetracked from the actual issues at hand.
Substitute other terms instead. Don't say "Why can't we have Socialist healthcare like Sweden?" say "why can't we have the kind of health care Eisenhower offered in 1956?"
I agree with this approach, most people hate politics. They either have an aversion to words like these or, use them incorrectly.
I think a very large part of educating, agitating and organizing is meeting people where they are. Once they get over their aversion, one would hope they will become class conscious.
Exactly. Trying to force people to use your terminology only makes them resent you.
Put your argument in terms they understand.
I am going to disagree with you on this. Here’s why:
No one forces anyone to fight about anything. It’s a choice you make. If you find yourself in a conversation with someone who is unwilling to hear reason, then you can choose to continue or you can walk away.
I also disagree with avoiding certain words simply because you’re concerned how other people will react to them (of course exceptions apply). Now if you can find a simpler, less controversial, way to express yourself, by all means keep it simple. Using “$5 words” in an attempt to make yourself sound smart or better than somebody else is counterproductive. And, in most cases whether you talk about “Socialist healthcare in Sweden” or “health care Eisenhower offered” is moot, because a bad actor is going to twist your words regardless.
Finally, in the context of this thread, we are specifically talking about Capitalism, so it makes little sense to skirt around the term. Some might as well embrace it and explore it as far as we can.
There's a giant difference between a discussion between two people and a political campaign.
And you're right, anyone can twist words, but it's harder for them to twist "Eisenhower's 1956 plan" than it is to scream about Socialism.