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.)
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Sad day that you can't use "But Trump" as an excuse to prevent Genocide since Biden is already doing the Genocide.
I mean, the choice is between "guy who supports the current genocide" and "guy who will actively accelerate the current genocide". I guess you could protest by not voting/voting third party, but that's functionally indistinguishable from just not giving a shit.
If Biden's polling numbers drop hard enough then there won't be any need to choose between "Genocide 1 and Genocide 2" because he will stop doing Genocide.
So you agree that neither of the two options will have any effect on making things better in Palestine, good. Since that's cleared up, the choice is simple, as Trump is objectively the worst option, so voting Biden is the only reasonable move in November.
Biden will not get votes if he does not stop his Genocide.
You supported his Genocide it's your responsibility if Trump wins.
Nope, Biden and Trump are the only options. Neither of them will do shit for the Palestinians in terms of making things better. The only option is to vote strategically to keep the worst guy out, and that's Trump.
Anyone who does anything in the general besides voting for Biden bears responsibility if Trump wins. That's just a fact of the two party system we have.
You make me want to give up entirely.
Doing that also lets Trump in. Actively standing in the way of a fascist takeover by Trump requires showing up for Biden at the polls.
And voting for someone actively funding a genocide. It's not worth it.
I'm sure all the LGBTQ+ folks, Muslims, and racial minorities of America who will be immeasurably harmed by another Trump presidency would disagree.
What an unconscionably privileged position to consider voting for Biden to stop Trump to be not with it.
People are dying right now. That's not a hypothetical like you're doing with a potential Trump presidency. Queer people, muslims, and minorities are dying because of Biden. That's not even addressing how Biden has done nothing to secure voting rights in the U.S.
You people keep using minorities to avoid criticism, but you aren't even listening to them right now when they vote uncommitted in Michigan.
And people will be dying regardless of whether Biden stays in office or Trump takes over. It is an absolute fact that Trump will be immeasurably worse than Biden if he wins, and refusing to vote for Biden to keep him out of office because you're too proud to vote strategically is absolutely a privileged stance to take.
If I just kill myself right now, is that also a vote for Trump?
You should seek the help of a mental healthcare professional if you're having thoughts of suicide.
Anyone who defends the madness of pledging support to Biden while he commits Genocide actively endorses Genocide.
Neither Biden nor Trump will do anything about making Israel stop in Palestine, and Biden will be better than Trump overall as president. Refusing to vote for him is a privileged position which essentially throws gays, trans, Muslims, minorities, and the entire American democracy under the bus to satisfy your pride. It's time to grow up.
Biden will do something when he starts feeling the heat of losing enough votes.
You can try to downplay and ignore the issue. Tell the kids that they "need to support Genocide like real grown ups". But that's not going to work.
Acting like a grown-up means voting strategically, especially when the other option is a fascist. Staying home to pout, or voting third party which amounts to the same thing, is an infantile position which reeks of "I got mine, fuck everyone else" privilege.
You might weather a second Trump term okay due to your privilege. Plenty of folks won't be so lucky, and if you refuse to vote for Biden in November, you're just as guilty as the MAGA conservatives who voted for Trump if he wins.