Venceremos!

  • 7 Posts
  • 19 Comments
Joined 3 years ago
Cake day: March 23rd, 2022
  • redshiftedbrazilian@lemmygrad.mltoGenZedong@lemmygrad.ml•Thoughts on this article?
    1·
    2 years ago

    The Black Panthers never expresse any sympathy towards american patriotism, quite the opposite. They became staunch internationalists and linked the struggle in the third world to their own againt american government.

    And about the Trotskyst problem in america they have denounced, I dont think this is good reasons to give them any kind of space anywhere, even a broken clock is right twice a day and based on the texts on his substack, it seems this is the case. Appealing to american nationalism is dangerous because it is an idea founded on the genocide and exploitation that is a product of the american bourgeoisie. Nothing will change that, if Haz is really interested in fighting againt his country bourgeoisie, maybe he shouldnt be upholding their symbols of oppression

  • redshiftedbrazilian@lemmygrad.mltoGenZedong@lemmygrad.ml•Thoughts on this article?
    0·
    2 years ago

    I think his criticism towards Hakim and Luna are wrong, specially that horrible and ahistorical comparision between modern Russia and North Vietnam.

    He does have some valid points but the amount of bad takes in this text is astonishing. Every good think he says has been said better by other texts that do not have reactionary worldview regarding minorities rights or uncritical support for Putin. I think I never read or interacted with PatSocs in a meaningful way before reading this and I honestly wish I never did.

  • redshiftedbrazilian@lemmygrad.mltoGenZedong@lemmygrad.ml•Thoughts on this article?
    1·
    2 years ago

    Sorry but I think this text is horrible.

    Its a reactionary mess with a few good points that other better texts have already addressed without attacking other ML comrades like Luna Oi.

    Haz missrepresents Hakims statements and essentially “refutes” an strawman version of what he calls the “Marxist-Leninist” position.

    First and foremost, he directly ties the idea of “wokeness”, “identity politics” and “political correctness” to “social engeneering” and the US mainstream media views. This is a pathetic and reactionary position to take. Not only that but he claims this is the “mainstream consensus”. If so, then why the fuck the US is still so damn racist? why is LGBTphobia so prevalent? Why are minorities still being murdered? This take is so horrendous that it also directly contradicts the single greatest revolutionary movement in the US: The Black Panther Party. They were before anything else, worried about black people in the US, but they understood their struggle is connected to a bigger one. They have shown us what is partially the way to radicalize the american working class, and it holds up to this day. The biggest mass mobilizations against the american goverment in the last few years were a direct consequence of George Floyd death and the black movement repsonse to it. Denouncing “wokeness” and “identity politics” is a stupid mistake and I don’t think we should listen to people who insist on pushing this reactionary idea.

    Anyway, let’s talk about what he is actually concerned with in this text: the Russia-Ukraine war

    I know most people here in Lemmygrad support Russia in this invasion. I too used to support Russia but my positioning has changed in the months I stopped browsing here and now, after knowing better and interacting more with my country (Brazil) ML organizations, I believe that simply supporting Russia is a mistake and one of the reasons for that is exactly why this text by Haz is so problematic.

    One thing he mentions is that Hakims idea of not supporting the war is “idealistic”. It is not. The proof of that is that most of the third world did not support or condemned it. Most of them were “Neutral”. Brazil for example condemned the invasion but refused to apply sanctions against Russia and refused to send Ukraine armaments. Instead, they insist on a diplomatic solution where Russias very valid security concerns regarding NATO are addressed. This is a positions that is held by every single ML that I talked with. Hell, this is the position that China defended. None of them have the slightiest illusion about Putin, a well know anti-communistand reactionary of the worst kind. But Haz and his infrared ilk do. (More on this later)

    This position also doesnt mean supporting the US/NATO, quite the opposite. Back when the war broke out, the Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL) released a perfect statement the condemned the war but did not support Russia. Its last paragraphs summon it pretty well:

    "Recognizing that Russia has legitimate security concerns does not require an endorsement of all its military actions, nor Putin’s suggestion that Ukraine has no basis to exist as an independent county, nor his larger geopolitical strategies. The role of the U.S. antiwar movement is not to follow the line of countries in conflict with U.S. imperialism, but to present an independent program of peace and solidarity and anti-imperialism.

    The menace of war can only be defeated by international solidarity among the peoples of the world and a resolute struggle against U.S. imperialism, which must demand the abolition of NATO. No war on Russia!"

    Source

    The US wanted this war to happen for a series of reasons: First, because it would give them reasons for crippling Russia with insane sanctions, and they did so. Second, the military-industrial complex could flood Ukraine with wepaons in order to profit, and they did so. Third, they wanted to weaken Russia, and have openly stated that. The continuation of this war favors no one but american imperialism, and Haz position of unconditional and uncritical support to Russia shows that he is not paying attention to the US intentions.

    Since the beggining of this war, the US has destroyed the Nordstream and is making Germany - the strongest and most influential european state - act against their own interests in detriment of american ones.

    Honestly if you want to read an amazing text about US imperialism and the ukrianian war I highly recommend these two studies by the Tricontinental:

    About Putin:

    Putin is an anti-communist. Haz is right when he mentions that the URSS achievments are still present in modern Russia in some degree. That doesnt make Putin an ally. He had Ieltsin blessings as his successor and has tried to join the west multiple times. He even tried to join fucking NATO. His opposition to western order is nothing more but a consequence of years of western agressions. Don’t think for a second he is an ally, he is not. Although it is interesting for us a strong Russia that opposes the west creating a multipolar world, we must hold no illusions towards modern Russia. I feel like some of us forget the “critical” in “critical support”. Haz is definitelly one of these.

    Also, last thing, but extremelly important: Comparing Modern Russia and Vietnam is an ahistorical, antimaterialist and pathetic take. The Russia-Ukraine war is not similar to the Vietnam war in anything. Russia is not socialist in any way. And Ukraine is not simply part of Russia. It is an independemt country that had this independence given to it by Lenin, opposing Russiam chauvinism back then. Does that mean supporting Banderites and other Ukraine nacionalists nowadyas? Hell no, but also it doesnt mean supporting fucking Russian chauvinism that Putin represents.

    Haz is a dishonest reactionary and both Hakim and Luna are 100% correct in their assesments.

  • redshiftedbrazilian@lemmygrad.mltoGenZedong@lemmygrad.ml•yooo now were famous in wikipedia boys 😳. inb4 lemmygrad next on the list
    1·
    2 years ago

    Not really, I was joking (mostly)

    They are a decentralized group of hackertivists that go way back to the early 2000’s, and if I’m not mistaken, they claimed they are socialists, but I’m not sure.

    The thing is, there is no way for us to know who are they or when are they acting and when is another group impersonatingthem, bc they want to protect their privacy while they act against goverments and other institutions.

    I’ve seen many “Anonymous” twitter and facebook pages talking about recent topics while spreading western propaganda.Obviously, these are fake, but libs believe it anyway. And it is not something recent either, I remenber back in 2013/2014 during the huge protests in Brazil that there were a LOT of posts about them and claiming they did a series of attacks. I was really young and didnt really care but I remember thinking it was “cool”. You can see many people from these protests using the guy fawkes mask.

    The point is: It’s very easy for the departament of state/CIA/NSA to “infiltrate” the movement and use it for propaganda. Since they are seen as the good guystm fighting against ebil authoritarianism 1984 and they have that good old decentrilization idea that libs and anarchists love so much.

    Although the initial idea of the group seems cool and they have even collaborated with wikileaks, the movement could be - and I believe it has been for a while - co opted by the NSA in order to spread propaganda

    I mean look at what they have done w reddit and other social media, I don’t think it’s too far fetched to claim this

    EDIT: Just as a side note, to add a bit more context, we had big protests here in Brasil back in 2013/2014 that actually started as LEFT WING protests. The rulling class ignored it as long as they could but they grew stronger and stronger and then they attempted to infiltrate it and it worked. After some time there were all kinds of reactionaries even asking for the return of the fucking military dictatorship and it would eventually lead to the fall of the workers party and the rise of Bolsonaro and his neoliberal policies. I believe 100% the US played a key role in this process and that it was no different from color revolutions like the Euromaidan in Ukraine or the arab spring in africa. But I’ll make a post about Brazil soon discussing all this with kore context, but it’s getting too big and I’m trying to write it in a decent way and as succint as possible so it will take some days.