Lefty Memes
An international (English speaking) socialist Lemmy community free of "ML" (read: Dengist) influence. 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, discussion and agitprop/stuff that's better fit for a poster than a meme 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. Please post agitprop here)
0.5 [Provisional Rule] Use alt text or image descriptions to allow greater accessibility
(Please take a look at our wiki page for the guidelines on how to actually write alternative text!)
We require alternative text (from now referred to as "alt text") to be added to all posts/comments containing media, such as images, animated GIFs, videos, audio files, and custom emojis.
EDIT: For files you share in the comments, a simple summary should be enough if they’re too complex.
We are committed to social equity and to reducing barriers of entry, including (digital) communication and culture. It takes each of us only a few moments to make a whole world of content (more) accessible to a bunch of folks.
When alt text is absent, a reminder will be issued. If you don't add the missing alt text within 48 hours, the post will be removed. No hard feelings.
0.5.1 Style tip about abbreviations and short forms
When writing stuff like "lol" and "iirc", it's a good idea to try and replace those with their all caps counterpart
- ofc => OFC
- af = AF
- ok => OK
- lol => LOL
- bc => BC
- bs => BS
- iirc => IIRC
- cia => CIA
- nato => Nato (you don't spell it when talking, right?)
- usa => USA
- prc => PRC
- etc.
Why? Because otherwise (AFAIK), screen readers will try to read them out as actually words instead of spelling them
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" (read: Dengists) (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 irrationally 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
- Sexual assault
- Genocide/ethnic cleansing or (mass) deportations
- Fascism
- (National) chauvinism
- Orientalism
- Colonialism or Imperialism (and their neo- counterparts)
- Zionism
- Religious fundamentalism of any kind
view the rest of the comments
Correct!
And what do we call this war then?
It's.... ?
A proxy war!
Between which parties? Between Russia and the North Atlantic countries led by the US.
And who is the proxy for the North Atlantic? Ukraine. And who is the proxy for Russia? There is none.
So Russia invaded a North Atlantic proxy with it's own citizens. Why would it do this?
Correct. So when Russia says that they attacked Ukraine because the North Atlantic countries, led by the US, was using Ukraine as a proxy against Russia, do you acknowledge this to be true or do you believe that no such thing was happening and it's just a cover story for 1 man to act out his megomaniacal fantasies against no real threat?
As if he were the first fascist to fabricate false claims in order to invade another country.
And in any case, whatever Putin’s claims may have been, nothing justifies an armed incursion into another country without a UN mandate, nor war crimes, nor the continued targeting of civilian infrastructure and the population.
Again, on the one hand, this thread correctly states "you can't go and directly attack Russia, because it's a nuclear power. You need a proxy". And on the other hand when Putin says Ukraine was acting as the North Atlantic proxy and was a material threat to Russian national security you say "he's just making shit up because he's a fascist".
Never does it occur to you that a fascist dictator motivated by fascism would not actually spend 3 years making zero progress when they have the 3rd largest military in the world. Never does it occur to you that Russia might have legitimate national security interests. Never does it occur to you that there is absolutely zero evidence in the intelligence analysis of all of the 5 Eyes that indicate Russia has been planning or intending or preparing to actually attack Europe and expand into an empire.
No. You just think that whoever fires the first shot is the bad guy and that's the end of your ability and willingness to think.
Bull fucking shit.
Ukraine was no more a threat to Russian national security than Iran was a threat to US national security. Not at all.
So, again, we have on the one hand people saying "you can't attack Russia directly because it's got nukes, you have to use a proxy" and then when Russia says "Ukraine is the North Atlantic proxy" suddenly there's no memory of the previous understanding and it's actually a war solely between Russia and Ukraine and Ukraine couldn't possibly be a threat.
Keep working the two points together. In order to attack Russia, the West needs a proxy. Russia said Ukraine was a threat. Ukraine wasn't a threat, it's just Russia being crazy. We have to stop Russia, but we can't attack it directly, we need a proxy.
Around and around we go until, hopefully, you realize what it means for Ukraine to be a proxy. It would mean that the US was building logistics in the country. It would mean that the US was preparing to US Ukrainian soldiers to fight Russia. It would mean establishing lethal force under the guidance of the West within Ukrainian territory.
And what do we see? Joint Ukraine/NATO exercises beginning in the late fall of 2013. Increasing support for NATO among the right wing of Ukraine. An ascendant right wing in Ukraine spurred on by right wingers in the US. More joint NATO/Ukraine exercises, increasing in frequency, in scope, in lethality. Exercises simulating the invasion of Kaliningrad. Exercises for the interoperability of long-range missiles that would be used to attack deep into Russian territory.
Ukraine was never a threat to Russia, I agree. Ukraine was always a proxy of the West and the West was the threat to Russia. The West, using Ukraine as a proxy, was the threat, and Russia could not field a proxy in this situation, like they had when they were part of the USSR, partly because they are nowhere near as strong as the USSR and partly because this proxy is on their border and not 2 or 3 borders away. Russia had to fight this proxy war itself, directly, with its own people.
But you'll keep turning round to "but Russia is the aggressor, they invaded, Ukraine wasn't a threat" and I'll bringing you to the top of the cycle: you can't attack Russia directly because it has nukes, you have to use a proxy. Ukraine is that proxy. Russia claimed Ukraine is a proxy of the West and that this was dangerous for its national security, so it invaded. And you want to stop Russia, but you can't attack them directly, because they have nukes, so you need a proxy. Ukraine is that proxy. And Russia said Ukraine is a proxy and therefore its a threat.
Ad nauseam. I'm so tired of this thought termination, this cognitive dissonance riding on Russophobia disguised as holy righteousness disguised as a moral high ground.
Because of Euro Maidan. Ukraine used to be Russia's puppet, but, and I say as someone who's actually been there, unlike most people who spew bullshit on Lemmy, they were tired of being poor and victim to corruption, and as such they wanted to move towards the ideal of prosperity and legality they saw in the EU. Was there some manipulation from western (CIA) intelligence? Probably, but that shit doesn't take where the soil isn't fertile, and that is the fault of Russia, they should have taken better care of their ally.
Russia couldn't stand losing what they saw as their vassal, so they first took Crimea for the port there, and then started messing in Donbas. Then they thought "what the hell, these guys' armed forces are nothing compared to ours, let's just go for it!" and made the same stupid mistake most imperialists make, the same mistake the US seems poised to commit with Iran.