#and 2 fascist parties won

[tsuna-sora]

We're all fucked.

Boa noite

Perdemos. ... TODOS!

[collectorcookie]

Mmmmmm i love knowing my life hinges on the fact how much some random white guys in a fancy room can paint me as disgusting, inhuman, immoral, stealing resources etc. towards some other white people who will then use me as a black sheep for anything they suffered ever. And then we can call that democracy ❤️

[mesetacadre]

The Soviet Revolution of October 1934

The Second Spanish Republic is a figure in history which tends to be overly glorified by the contemporary Spanish left, including some excessively folklorist communists, as a desire to look through history for any instance when opposition to the monarchy and reactionaries was the hegemonic position. After 40 years of a fascist dictatorship, and 46 years of a liberal democracy that has exposed social-democracy's bankruptcy, the Second Republic is a time when the PCE (Communist Party of Spain) was a force to be reckoned with, at least compared to today, with a few hundred thousands along its lines. Despite the Second Republic lasting from 1931 to 1936, the aspects that tend to be glorified are the times of the Popular Front, the electoral alliance from the PSOE to the PCE that won the February 1936 elections, and ruled until the coup d'etat of July 1936. Perhaps unconsciously, perhaps consciously, the years of 1932-1935 tend to be not forgotten, but minimized.

This is because the Second Republic was not a "popular" state, it wasn't even nominally progressive for half its history. And again, in an exercise of willful ignorance, when its repressive episodes are discussed, most tend to focus on the Black Biennium, as historiography knows it, the two years (1933-1935) when the right governed under the CEDA coalition, which included falangists, monarchists, even Carlists. But the history of repression in the Second Republic begins not even a month after its constitution was ratified. The Castiblanco incidents of December 1931 saw a few day workers killed by the police during a peaceful demonstration asking for work, afterwards it turned violent and 4 policemen were lynched by the workers. That same week, in the Arnedo incidents, the 5th of January 1932, the police shot into a crowd of striking workers in the town's square, renamed recently to Republic Square. 11 people were killed, two of them a mother and his 4 year old son, another a 70 year old woman. 5 others were permanently left unable to work. Just a year later, in January of 1933, 19 men, 2 women and a child were massacred in the Casas Viejas Incident, after an attempted uprising and occupation of the police quarters.

The Second Republic was always an anti-worker state, from its very beginnings. Regardless of what its constitution said, the social advances of the republic were lubricated with worker's blood.

Let's set some context for the subject of this post: The PCE, section of the Third International, found itself at risk of dissappearence at the end of the 1923-1930 dictatorship. It only really began to recover after José Diaz was elected General Secretary in 1932, it had about 1.000 members at this time, and by 1934 it had risen to 15.000 members, without counting the members of its youth wing. Internationally, the meteoric rise of fascism was unignorable. Nazi-fascism and fascism had seized power in Germany and Italy, and similar tendencies in Portugal and Austria were also in power, in the form of Salazar's Estado Novo in the former and Dollfuß' austrofascism in the latter, himself killed by outright nazi-fascists. Spain had its supposedly progressive Republic, of course, but it did not prevent the JONS to be founded in 1931 and the Falange in 1932, which during the civil war would merge into the infamous FE de las JONS, the Spanish Falange of the National-Syndicalist Offensive Juntas (The Falange is still a legal party now!). The leader of the CEDA, which would later govern during that Black Biennium I mentioned earlier, attended the Nürnberg Congess of 1932, where the pictures of those massive nazi-fascist rallies come from.

The 4th of October, 1934, 3 CEDA ministers had been chosen to enter the government, and in response, a strike, called the Revolutionary General Strike, was called for the following day, the 5th of October, 90 years ago today. The organization of this strike was done between the PCE, CNT (national confederation of workers, an anarcho-syndicalist union) and PSOE. The will to call the strike was not equal, however. The meeting minutes of the evening and night of the 4th show that the CNT was not very convinced of the strike and flip-flopped a lot, while the PSOE only decided to support the strike once it became impossible for them not to. The PCE, on the other hand, had already spent a few months warning of this, and preparing.

Barely a month before October, the police found a shipment of weapons going from the port of Gijón to Mieres, the future epicenter of the revolution. There were three armed shipments, and while the other two reached their destination, the third one being found almost lead to Indalecio Prieto, of the PSOE, being arrested. As a result, the weapon stashes in various places in Madrid (Casa del Pueblo, Ciudad Universitaria, Cuatro Caminos). These weapon stashes were supposed to supply the revolutionary strike in Madrid, and since they were found, the nascent revolutionary center was stillborn, since it was unable to arm itself. These same weapon stashes would later be replenished and used by the first militias of Madrid in the July 1936 coup d'etat

Nevertheless, the call for a strike was distributed at 6:00 of the 5th, but it was only heeded in Asturias, Madrid, Vizcaya, Cataluña, plus a few weak points (Cantabria, Aragón, Alicante, León, Palencia, Málaga). The reason the call was not heeded in broader parts of the country was because the agricultural day workers, predominant throughout the central meseta and south had already carried out their own strike that same year. They were recovering, they feared the repression that was still fresh in their minds, and it did not help that the predominant political organization among them, the CNT, took too long to support the strike, they simply were not prepared. It is impossible to understate how crucial this point is. The greatest worker strata in Spain were unable to be reached by the call to a revolutionary strike, for reasons related to the situation, but because of the inability of the PCE of this time to truly penetrate the social majority.

At any rate, the Revolutionary General Strike was not ignored everywhere, from these days comes this picture of Madrid's very center devoid of people, withholding their work, but impotent to do anything more:

The Second Republic did not hesitate to stifle this strike, using planes and naval and land artillery. Once again, Spanish capital required trails of this country's reddest blood to line the streets, not shying away from employing the help of fascists such as the up-and-coming General Franco, sent to repress the workers of Asturias, where the strike was incandescent with revolutionary impetus. Before talking about Asturias, I won't ignore the other places where the strike was also popular. In Guipúzcoa and Vizcaya, The Basque Country, repression was just as bloody, executed by the Guardias de Asalto (Assault Guards), killing 40 workers in Vizcaya. There, the "Revolutionary Committee of Vizcaya", led by the UGT, was quickly dissolved. In Cataluña, a Catalan state was quickly declared, lead by the bourgeois Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya (Catalonian Republican Left), but was just as quickly put down with another 40 dead.

Asturias is another story, one that lasted for two weeks. It isn't much, but in those two weeks, the Spanish proletariat came the closest to holding political power, closer than any other time in its history. There, the strike did have a pre-existing entity capable of organizing the strike: the Worker and Peasant Alliance formed the 1st of April of that year, an armed force influenced by UGT, CNT (only present in the Asturias alliance), the Asturian Socialist Federation, and the PCE, whose militants often represented the most advanced elements of these alliances, but simultaneously relatively few. These alliances were heavily inspired by the Soviets, and often talked about the Sovietization of industry and of opposing colonialism. While this is evidence that it really was an attempted revolution, and that they were inspired by the Bolshevik revolution, their attempt to imitate the USSR's Soviets instead of learning from them was one of the many factors that provoked its defeat. Despite the name, the Worker and Peasant alliances were never as strong among peasants, not a lot of effort was put into it.

Another organization that was relevant during the October Revolutionary Strike were the Workers and Peasant's Antifascist Militias (MAOC in Spanish), a paramilitary militia, founded by Antonio Modesto, a member of the PCE educated in the USSR, he'd later become famous within the republican side of the Civil war. These militias were few but competent, they counted 150 members in Madrid and Asturias each, and while the Asturias militias participated in the revolution, the ones in Madrid sabotaged the roads and railways leading north, to avoid reinforcements getting to Asturias. These militias would later be the base from which the Fifth Regiment was created, in July 1936, to commence the defense of Madrid from the coup d'etat and fascist assault.

In Asturias itself, the proletariat lunged forwards as fast as it could, growing from the town of Mieres and the Nalón basin, to every other mining basin, taking the cities of Oviedo and Gijón by force. The National Guard's many stations were occupied and raided for arms and ammunition, they already had access to explosives from mining equipment. At one point, they felt strong enough to consider a march on Madrid, and even proclaimed the Asturian Socialist Republic. In what sometimes was called the Asturian Commune, a reference to the Paris Commune of 1871, production was controlled by workers, protected by a combatant force of up to 30.000 strong. Production in the metallurgical and mining industry was organized through attempts at imitation of the Soviets, as I mentioned. The Asturias branch of the Central Bank of Spain was expropriated as well, substituting money for a system based on coupon-like vouchers. However, the Revolutionary Committee leading the revolution was dissolved and reformed 2 times in those weeks, without counting the third dissolution that came with capitulation, although that committee did begin to plan the region's economy, the short span of time not really being enough to judge its efficiency.

The revolutionaries' retreat only began once the Republican government, as anti-worker as ever, followed the advice of generals Franco and Godet to deploy the Tercios de Regulares and the African Legion, two battle-hardened groups of the military not afraid to be brutal against the workers. While they advanced, for instance, they executed every wounded solider or civilian found in captured hospitals. In Asturias, more than a thousand workers were killed in combat or executed, and in total throughout Spain, the strike concluded with 2.000 dead, 7.000 wounded, and 40.000 imprisoned, for the crime and sin of daring to govern oneself and to end the exploitation of man by man. One of these dead workers stands out among the rest in popular culture nowadays, a member of the PCE's youth wing: Aida de la Fuente. She was only 19 when she joined the revolution in motion, the daughter of the PCE's founder in Oviedo, and she was known to be an exceptionally brave and dedicated communist. The 13th of October, a few hours after being seen distributing leaflets to civilians urging them to join the revolution, she found herself almost alone in Oviedo, trying to hold off the Legion's advance by manning a machine gun, and she managed to do so for a few hours. She was reached nevertheless and when a Legion commander asked her to surrender, she only responded by shooting back. Seconds later she was killed, and later found in a common grave. The counter-revolutionary press attempted to paint her murder as one committed by her own comrades, even claiming rape, but this was disproved by a journalist who risked his own life, and the testimony of the very legionary who executed Asturias' reddest rose.

The Asturias revolution was, for all its merits and promise, a stillborn revolution. The Communist Party did not have effective direction over the mass of proletarians involved in the revolution, let alone the even greater mass who, for one reason or another, did not meet the conditions necessary for attempting to seize power. The strike's organization was insufficient and thwarted in part, and militarily, the objective Indalecio Prieto was tasked with of securing support among the military officials, along with the general inferiority of the Asturian revolutionaries compared with the elite bodies of the military, meant there was no realistic chance of success. The strike was not even fully effective within Asturias, for instance, the livestock peasants known as vaqueiros, of the southwest, did not ever really have their influence. The PSOE militants who did exist in the region got into trucks and left for Oviedo, while a column of revolutionaries from León, the other side of the mountain range, tried to take Cangas del Narcea, the main town of the region, but they were routed by the National Guard.

After the defeat, 121 revolutionaries exiled themselves to the USSR, mostly communists but also accompanied by a handful of anarchists. There, they received education as cadres, who later returned to Spain before and during the civil war, providing invaluable expertise. Others chose to exile in Portugal or France, but both those countries repatriated them to be imprisoned in Spain.

During the negotiations between the Popular Front and the PCE for the 1936 elections, the main requisite they demanded in order to join was the amnisty of these tens of thousands of imprisoned workers, from the October Revolution and from the myriad of episodes of repression during the Black Biennium. To achieve this amnisty, they were also helped by International Red Aid, a political Red Cross founded by the International in 1922. They, along with the PCE, also provided a pension for the families of the many imprisoned. During the civil war, the Red Aid played an important role in the republican side's medical centers.

This episode is often forgotten when talking about the civil war, but it was one of the many reasons fascists were allowed to take power. Spain's risk of sovietization was an internationally recognized risk, so when the opportunity came, Spanish, English, French, and US capital very gladly did everything they could to hamper the Republic

The lesson from the October Revolution of 1934 is clear. Without country-wide preparation, without a proper analysis of your own conditions, and without achieving social alliances, any revolutionary struggle is bound to fail. The lack of support in the much greater agricultural areas, the rushed planning and failed planning everywhere but Asturias, partially, the PCE's still weak influence in most organizations or regions, all of this meant that, whatever the Spanish proletariat learnt in that Revolutionary General Strike, was bound to be written in sweat and blood. The point of commemorating this bittersweet memory is not to dwell on what could have been, nor to recreate the MAOCs. It's to remember that a revolution is always a couple of bad decades away, and that not building consciousness and preparing structures for it will only mean more unnecessarily murdered workers. It's to ensure that, next time red October is around the corner, it will not be premature. The strength of the working class, our class, the social majority, lies not in the number of victories and defeats, but in the very fact of our fight, explicit and implicit. It lies in the fact that, for as long as classes based on exploitation exist, class conflict is unavoidable.

Many political forces nowadays, which one might call opportunist, will try to draw parallels between that autumn of 1934 and today, exhorting "unity of the left". The only unity that's truly revolutionary, the only unity that will not cause the subordination of our class interests to electoral or immediatist growth objectives, is the unity of the entire working class under a single Communist Party. The PSOE, even with its very involved marxist wing, characterized by the likes of Largo Caballero or Indalecio Prieto, only ever concieved of the Revolutionary General Strike as a means to the end of preventing those CEDA ministers from being appointed and in turn, gain more electoral and institutional strength. They also happened to be a relevant force because of their sheer number of members.

[qqueenofhades]

Man, the Russia/Ukraine war has led to a lot of terrible takes from far leftists. I have a mutual from Brazil, a self identified socialist, who is convinced that Ukraine is full of nazis. While they don't support Russia, they questioned why they have to be "pro-Ukraine" or "pro-Russia". They call Ukraine a "nazi hole" but call Russia merely "fascist". Am I wrong in thinking that they've been influenced by Russian propaganda? I know Ukraine does have a nazi/far right problem, but so does the US? And most European countries? idk they strongly hate the US/US government too, and it seems to create some kind of brainrot. at least they don't blindly support China or Russia like tankies do (nor identify with them), but it's still frustrating to take a neutral position on a pretty black and white situation.

I don't want to confront them 1) cause I'm not the type to argue over serious things like this and this may break our long friendship and 2) I'm not super educated on the nazi situation in Ukraine.

Anyway thank you for letting me rant in your inbox.

Yes, Russia has specifically focused its propaganda efforts on Latin America, Africa, and other regions that HAVE suffered from Western/European/American imperialism and are thus predisposed to take the worst view of them/believe that this situation is their fault somehow. This is similar to what the USSR did in newly postcolonial Africa in the 1960s and 1970s, positing themselves as offering the shared hand of communist brotherhood from Western oppressors. Because of more recent events like the invasion of Iraq, which was fully as unjustified as the invasion of Ukraine, Russian propagandists and their eager tankie/leftist foot soldiers have also got a lot of mileage out of "whataboutism." This is likewise an old Soviet propaganda technique designed to deflect any criticism of the actual situation by disingenuously asking "what about this other one!!!"

Likewise, the idea that Ukraine has a "Nazi problem" is itself propaganda. In the last election, far-right/Nazi-identified parties won barely 2% of the vote and AFAIK, no seats at all in the Verkhovna Rada (Ukrainian parliament). This is far lower than the nearly half of the USA voting for the far-right/Nazi-sympathetic Republican Party, and as noted, the far right elements in the UK and Europe. The idea that Ukraine is "full of Nazis" (with a Jewish president who just celebrated iftar with the Ukrainian Muslims/Crimean Tatars during Ramadan and instituted observance of Muslim holidays nationwide, very Nazi of him) is a line used by Russian propagandists to "justify" their attack and appeal to national memories of the Great Patriotic War (World War II) and the struggle against the Nazis, which is the central cultural grievance/memory in modern Russia. The Putin regime has referred to anyone they don't like, but especially the Ukrainians, as "Nazis" for a long time now, so it's supposedly their holy duty to kill them/commit ethnic cleansing/forcibly reunite the "fraternal" people of "Little Russia," as Ukraine has been called since the 17th century, with "Great Russia." And yeah, no.

Because the West and Europe has been pretty solidly on Ukraine's side, Russia has therefore cultivated countries like China, India, Brazil, etc, who have all suffered from Western interference and are looking to move into the first rank of global superpowers. This is, as noted, similar to the competing systems of influence built during the Cold War, but it also relies on much deeper Russian grievances that go back to the medieval era. Anybody who knows a thing about actual Russian history would therefore know that every single word it says about the Ukraine situation is a lie, but because that lie is useful for many other countries and fits into their own understanding of themselves, it is easy to repeat and act like it's a so-called superior moral position. This is also why US/American tankies so eagerly lap up Russian propaganda, because it plays into their moral sense of themselves as far better than the rest of the West and "righteously" discovering that the West is responsible for all the evil in the world etc etc. While non-Westerners are just helpless misunderstood puppets with no real agency or ability to make complex choices. This totally makes sense!!!

[loki-erlking]

I understand where you're coming from with that post and obviously battleground states matter the most of all. But the truth is that any state could flip depending on how many people choose to vote. There have been historic red or blue states that flip and can change the outcome of an election. And truth be told, I'm in a deep red state where a lot of Republicans have told me they didn't vote because it was going to be red anyway so there was no point standing out in the cold when it wouldn't matter. Imagine how many of those people are on either party, and what could happen if enough of them sat out and enough of the opposing side stepped up then any state could flip. It's not likely but it's not impossible. And with the extremely low democratic voter turn out in comparison to 2020, it was absolutely up to people to vote blue to swing the election and because they didn't. We once again have Donald Trump as president. Especially people who did not show up to vote (because they chose not to obviously, not because they were unable to for legitimate reasons) it's absolutely their fault we're in this situation because the Republicans were going to vote for the fascist, and people didn't do what they could to stop that fascist from winning

Aye, I see your point, I do. And on a certain level I agree with it. But I also know what I physically see in my home state of MN.

When I say that it was completely red outside of the 2 main metro areas, that is not a joke. I've lived in the metro for the past 5 years now, and the people here are much more diverse and socially aware of the problems that plague this country. But I also grew up in the sticks up north before that. For the 2016 and 2020 elections all I saw where Trump signs. All I heard customers talking about while I served them food was how much they love Trump and he is gonna save America. And most of these people where older folks, farmers, etc... and it still didn't matter. MN was always gonna be blue. As it has been for the past 52 years. So in my home state, knowing people, even relatives who voted for Trump, 3rd party, or not at all. I don't feel angry with them, because even though Trump won, they personally didn't make it happen. Our 10 electoral votes went to Kamala.

For the states that went red though like Texas, and down in the Bible belt. (A place that I honestly can't view without biased due to northern pride) I'm sure that tons of educated and caring people went out and voted Blue. But in those places, racism, bigotry, misogyny, homophobia and transphobia run rampant. I personally never expected them to be anything other than red.

No it's the swing states that are to blame in my opinion. They could have changed things and they didn't.

So in conclusion (for me) I feel no anger towards the red voters in my state as their votes didn't matter. And I feel sorrow and pitty for the blue voters in the Red states for the same reason, and I pray to the old gods that yall most at risk are able to take measures to protect yourselves and your loved ones.

[funnypages]

Lessons of Resistance from WWII: The Rosenstrasse Protest and Evacuation of the Danish Jews

So a long history rant I think people should know about and keep in mind for the future. I want to talk to people about a little talked about story in the history of WWII, the Rosenstrasse protest: the one time, during the height of the Holocaust, when the German public protested against the deportation of Jews; and they won.

1942-early 1943 was arguably the height of Nazi Germany; with most of the continent occupied, allied, or neutral to them. It was also 2 years into the Final Solution phase of the Holocaust, the planned mass killing of Jews. In February 1943, the government began the final round-up of the 20,000 remaining Jews in Berlin. This included a category of Jews that the government had previously avoided deporting: Jews married to gentile Germans. While the Nazis had cracked down on these relationships since they came to power, there were at this time 1,800 mixed couples remaining in Berlin; almost all Jewish men married to gentile women (After the consolidation of power under Hitler, more German men had divorced their Jewish partners than women).

When these Jewish men were arrested, hundreds of their non-Jewish spouses descended upon the building they were held in, bringing with them friends and families, screaming for their husbands to be released. The protests were so large, that the Nazis could not suppress news of it spreading through Germany and internationally; and they were also genuinely afraid that arresting or shooting these women could cause the situation to spiral even further into an outright uprising. As a result, the men were released, and most of them survived the war.

Now there are a lot of critiques and analyses that can be done of the protest, about privilege and gender, and noting that nothing was said about releasing the 18,000 other Berlin Jews set to be deported to camps. Still, the reaction that the public had to these deportations, combined with the shockingly hopeful story of Denmark in the Holocaust, gives some valuable lessons in how fascists can be thwarted.

Demark was invaded by Germany in 1939 and was given a degree of autonomy, being treated as the "model protectorate." While the Danish government did acquiesce to demands to ban Communist and Socialist political parties, they refused to enact racial laws targeting Danish Jews. While not to say anti-semitism didn't exist in Denmark, for reasons debated by historians and sociologists, Denmark did not have a strong history of "othering" its Jewish community, and it was largely seen as an accepted part of Danish society.

In September 1943, German plans to deport the Danish Jewish community to concentration camps leaked to the Danish government, which then alerted leaders of the Jewish community. Over 3 weeks churches, civil servants (notably mostly working independently of the government), political parties, the Danish resistance (mostly at this point made up of the before mentioned Communists and Socialists), and private individuals helped evacuate 7,220 Jews, plus 686 non-Jewish spouses, by sea to nearby neutral Sweden. For context, the Jewish population of Denmark before the invasion was around 7,800. Of the 580 Danish Jews who failed to escape to Sweden, 464 were arrested; however, work by Swedish and Danish groups saw 425 of them released. Further, when the war ended, it was discovered that 116 Danish Jews had been hidden by their neighbors. In all, a shocking 99% of Denmark's Jewish population survived the Holocaust; the most of any occupied nation in Europe.

I tell both of these stories because they show what fascists and authoritarians are aware of: the limits of their power. They are aware of the simple fact so much of their power comes from average people just accepting what they do with no pushback. These groups thrive on atomization, demonization, and otherization. Because when people refuse to let their neighbors be attacked, that's when issues pop up. There were other individuals and groups in Germany who spoke out against the Nazis (the White Rose and the Edelweiss Pirates to name a few), but they were small and disorganized, they could be arrested or exiled or killed without much effort. But large groups of resistance? How do you arrest or kill those without stopping their families and friends from protesting? And the foot soldiers enacting their agenda tend to get antsy if there is large-scale pushback to them. The big guys in charge might be safe, but them? They are vulnerable to being fired, sued, arrested, or ostracised if they are seen enacting unpopular policies. Such actions put authorities on the defensive, stall them, and make them reconsider their tactics; which in the long run, can save lives.

This is what people mean, whether they know it or not, over the last few days when they have been saying "Help those close to you, keep your friends close." They want you to think they are all-powerful. They want you to think they are unstoppable. They want you to think there is no hope in openly denying them. Because they know that if those few people openly defying them become large groups openly defying them, then things spiral out of control.

[outrosword]

i dont speak portugese, do you mind explaining whats happened?

yeah ofc no problem

today was election day in portugal

it's 2am and i think all votes have been counted and the 2 major parties are neck to neck, with ad (center right? right?) winning by literally 2 seats over ps (center left?) in the parliament, 79 vs 77 seats

comparing with the last election, ps had won absolute majority with 117 seats

and some people apparently voted in the wrong party because they can't read and can't differentiate the parties initials ( ad vs adn). it just so happens that the other party is far right. this might have cost ad some seats. this country is a joke

but also, and this is the worrying point, the 3rd political party is a fascist far right party, they went from 12 to 48 seats in the parliament. this in the year that we celebrate 50 years since the overthrow of the dictatorship. make it make sense

hope i explained this well

tugas, correct me if I'm wrong or if there's something else to add

[describe-things]

genuine question abt your don’t vote blue post, I’m asking in good faith:

the USA is a 2 party system. most people will vote republican or democrat bc that’s just how it works there. so if Biden doesn’t win then Trump definitely will and he is a Real, Actual Fascist. the Textbook Definition of one. and he’s got the entire republican party to back him up. like, just as examples, look up project 2025 and its policies. if Trump & the republicans win, what happens then?

again, I’m purely asking this out of confusion, I’m still forming my opinion on this and trying to understand your side, please do feel free to ignore this ask if you want /genuine

Assumedly in reference to this post. (Archived link)

Let's start here:

then Trump definitely will and he is a Real, Actual Fascist. the Textbook Definition of one.

Joe Biden is literally committing genocide right now as you read this response. Think about why you have decided Trump is a "Real Fascist" but the man literally, at this moment, comitting genocide, isn't.

Genocide Joe is literally comitting genocide as we speak. Do you think comitting genocide is only a fascist action when it's happening to privileged white Americans?

If so, how about...the Covid19 crisis? Which Joe Biden has actively allowed to worsen? Lots of Americans, both privileged, white, and not, have died as a direct result of Biden's refusal to protect the public from Covid19 by brushing it all under the rug as soon as he could to pretend it was all Trump's fault.

Genuinely sit and ask yourself why you consider Trump a fascist, but not Biden, even though Biden has been openly and happily comitting genocide against Palestinians for over a year now. Ask yourself why you only think Trump qualifies as a fascist.

if Trump & the republicans win, what happens then?

What's happening right now to everyone who's not a privileged white American?

Biden is committing genocide. He has poured billions into arming Israel. He has purposefully allowed eugenics practices to become normalized and has done nothing to slow or prevent the spread of Covid19, instead choosing the exact same tactic Trump did -- deny, deny, deny. Just like he denies the genocide that Israel is comitting against Palestinians.

Nothing good will be accomplished by voting for Genocide Joe Biden. The only thing that will be accomplished by voting for him is telling every single politician, both current and future, that you are okay with genocide.

You will be telling them all loud and clear that they can do anything they want, kill as many people as they want, commit as many war crimes as they want and be as blatantly fascist as they want, as long as they have a scapegoat on the other team to claim is "worse".

Palestinians are begging people not to reward the man comitting genocide against them. Indigenous people everywhere are begging people not to reward the man comitting genocide against Palestinians. Queer people, disabled people, poor people, every minority you can imagine in both the US and outside of it, is begging you not to reward Genocide Joe for comitting genocide.

Instead of asking what would happen if Trump won, ask yourself what would happen if Biden won.

What do you think will happen if the American public loudly declares for all the world to hear that genocide is perfectly normal and acceptable?

Do you think this'll convince politicians not to commit genocide? Do you think this'll convince politicians to be less fascist? Do you think this'll convince politicians to treat minorities like people with fundamental rights?

Telling politicians that you're going to support them unquestionignly even when they literally commit genocide for all the world to see is not going to do anything to protect you or anyone you care about. The only thing it will accomplish is encouraging politicians to keep playing this game of "well at least I'm not the other guy!" even harder.

You will protect no one by voting for Genocide Joe. Not even the privileged white Americans. The only thing supporting genocide accomplishes is ensuring that the world becomes a worse place for everyone.

Do not vote for the Leopards Eating People's Faces Party and then be surprised when they turn on you.

Just because the Democrats and Republicans scream from the rooftops that it's impossible for any other party to win does not mean you need to believe them. Insisting that it's impossible for a third party to win is exactly what prevents third parties from winning. You'll never move forward if you refuse to even try taking a single step.

Trump is going to keep running for President until he dies. And when he dies, there will be another boogeyman in a red hat to take his place. This game of "vote blue no matter who, because the other guy is worse" will go on until this empire falls unless people refuse to keep playing.

You can vote third party. You can protest vote. You do not have to vote for the fascist in the red hat or in the blue hat just because they tell you they're your only options.

You have to choose whether or not you're going to support genocide. Any vote for Joe Biden is explicitly a vote for genocide, and it will go down in history as such. Everyone's actions now will be remembered. You will either be one of the people who voted to continue genocide, or you will be one of the people who did the right thing.

If you consider yourself antifascist, if you consider yourself a good person, if you consider yourself anti-colonialist and anti-racist, then you cannot vote for Genocide Joe. Voting to explicitly endorse genocide, which is what voting for Genocide Joe is, is completely and utterly incompatible with being antifascist.

Trump does not have some mystical quality innate to his soul that makes him "A Real Fascist" while Joe Biden somehow doesn't.

Joe Biden is committing literal genocide right now. He is fascist. And so is everyone who votes for him.

Do the right thing, and do not vote for genocide. Do literally anything else. Do not let this system keep you trapped in a loop of "but the other guy is worse, we promise" forever. Because it will never end.

You have to break the system, because it's fucked beyond repair. It was designed that way from the start.

Anything you're afraid of Trump doing, Biden is already doing and has been since day 1. Ask anyone who's not a privileged white person.

[originalleftist]

On Joe Biden's Withdrawal From the Race:

1. Biden has not resigned the Presidency.

2. I'm surprised at his withdrawal. Yesterday it looked like he was committed to staying in.

3. I wonder if his Covid case was more severe than we knew. Of course this is just speculation. But if he made this decision for personal or health reasons, I respect it.

If, however, he did it because donors blackmailed the party or because primary delegates turned on him, then this is a coup by the 1%.

4. Biden has endorsed his Vice President Kamala Harris. As the other half of the ticket that won the Democratic primary, I consider her the ONLY legitimate replacement as nominee.

We must all rally quickly behind her, as there WILL be an attempt to push her aside in favour of a "safe" white male corporatist approved by party insiders/donors.

4. Historical precedent and analyses suggests replacing the incumbent this close to the election will lead to a Trump victory. But everyone "knew" the fascists would win in France too. Nothing is set in stone. All that matters is that we, the voters turn out. Our mission has not changed: Stop Trump, no matter what.

5. Biden deserved better. He is one of the best Presidents we've ever had, certainly the best of my life time, and now his legacy will end like this. He deserves the utmost respect.

6. We still have to vote blue across the board, because again, if MAGA wins, America ends and the world burns. We CANNOT have a MAGA House or Senate, especially as they are sworn in first, and the new House/Senate would refuse to certify a Democratic win, meaning Trump would win.

Yes, this means voting for the toxic traitors who stabbed Biden in the back and overturned our primary. There will be a time for retribution, and its next primary season. But for there to BE a next primary season, we must win now.

7. Don't let them make Harris the fall guy. I have no doubt that if Harris becomes the nominee, it will be, in part, because many Democrats expect to lose. They will set her up to take the fall, saying that she lost because a Black woman was unelectable. Don't let that be the narrative. Vote Blue. Vote Harris.

8. I am not an expert on fundraising rules, but what I have been told is that donations made to the Biden/Harris campaign will now go to Kamala Harris. Another reason to keep her as the nominee.

Kamala Harris 2024!

[useless-catalanfacts]

1st of March, 1936.

People on the streets of Barcelona (capital city of Catalonia) welcoming the president of Catalonia Lluís Companys and other members of the democratically-elected government of Catalonia, who had been arrested and jailed after the October Events (Fets d’Octubre) of 1934.

Context: As the Spanish government became more and more conservative, leaving important decision-making positions to fascists and reactionary monarchists, Catalonia was leaning every time more towards the left and republicanism (anti-monarchy). The Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC) party had won the elections in Catalonia and the anarchist union CNT kept growing in members. The difference was absolute. And it got even worse when the Spanish Government cancelled the newly approved law of the Catalan Government that protected landless agricultural workers against the abuses of landowners (the Spanish Government claimed that important decisions like this were exceeding the power of a regional government, even when Catalonia’s inhabitant massively claimed in favour of this law).

To put an end to this situation, the government of Catalonia organized a Revolutionary Committee (Comitè Revolucionari) with people from many different Catalanist organizations to prepare a response. Most trade unions declared a general strike against the Spanish government and, on October 6th, Lluís Companys went on the balcony of the Government of Catalonia (the balcony overlooks a big square where a huge crowd had gathered) and declared the Catalan state inside the Spanish federation.

As a response, the Spanish government declared the state of war in Catalonia and sent the army to arrest all the Catalan government. The Spanish army shot against the population who was defending the institutions, killing 74 people and injuring 252, including members of the Catalan Proletarian Party, the Communist Party of Catalonia, Catalan State, the Workers’ and Peasants’ Block, the CNT, and other civilians. On the other side, the revolutionaries who defended themselves from the army killed 12 soldiers and 2 military policemen (guardia civil), and 10 civilians who died as part of crossed fire.

The Catalan State only lasted 10 hours. The Spanish army, on top of killing and injuring all those people, also arrested more than 3,500 people, including all members of the democratically-elected Government of Catalonia, many mayors and MPs, and leaders of other Catalan leftist parties and unions. The members of the Government of Catalonia were judged and sentenced to 30 years of prison, the Government of Catalonia was abolished and Catalonia became direct subject of a Spanish military governor chosen by the Spanish government. 129 city councils around Catalonia, where the election winner had been ERC, were also abolished and given to conservative parties. The Spanish government also used the opportunity to once again impose Spanish as the only language to be used in official documents in Catalonia (during the Republic, Catalan had been legalized); ban many of the most popular Catalan newspapers, including La Publicitat, L’Opinió, La Humanitat, El Diluvio, Solidaridad Obrera (this one is the CNT’s newspaper) and La Rambla; turned the Parliament of Catalonia into a military barrack; prohibited the activities held by pro-Catalan/leftist parties, unions and associations and closed their headquarters. Of course, they also made sure that the law that protected the agricultural workers remained illegal, and did 1,400 trials against landless agricultural workers affected by this law to evict them from the fields.

The Spanish Government didn’t lift the state of war in Catalonia until April 1935. The Government of Catalonia was restored but with little power, it wouldn’t get back the power that it had before the October Events (which, as you saw, already wasn’t that much) and restore democracy in Catalonia until the general elections of February 16th 1936. The leftists won the elections and the people in prison for the October Events were given an amnesty, this is where the pictures you saw above are from.

However, this reinstalled (partial) democracy did not last for long. The fascist Spanish nationalists are sore losers and couldn’t accept that the right-wing had lost the elections in Spain, so they did a coup, starting the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939). The war would be won by the fascists, starting a fascist dictatorship that lasted until 1978, based on the concepts of national-Catholicism, anti-labour, hatred of national minorities like Catalans, and strict patriarchal gender behaviour codes.

Knowing that they would be killed if found by the fascists, Lluís Companys and the rest of members of the Government of Catalonia left Barcelona at the last moment, when the fascist troops were entering the city. They escaped to France, but the Spanish fascist government asked the Gestapo (secret police of Nazi Germany) to search for them and sent them to Spain. In August 13th 1940, the Gestapo found Lluís Companys in Paris, arrested him and sent him to Madrid (Spain’s capital city). He was judged by a military court-martial and sentenced to death, and the next day he was executed. He was 58 years old. His last words, right before getting shot, were “for Catalonia!”.

Lluís Companys is the only democratically-elected president to have been executed by a fascist government in Europe’s history. Between the entrance of fascist troops in Barcelona (January 26th 1939) and Lluís Company’s execution (October 15th 1940), the Spanish fascist government had already officially executed 2,760 people in Catalonia, and more would follow.

In the centre of the photo, Lluís Companys (the one wearing a beret) receiving a flower bouquet upon his return to Catalonia after the amnesty.

(Photos: Arxiu Fotogràfic de Barcelona)

[reflections-in-a-critical-eye]

Hi M, how are you? Coming after the high of Shogun's yesterday's win at the Emmy's made me wonder if you have a favourite historical movie or tv show that is underrated or in the category more-people-should-watch-this? Hopefully you indulge in this type of movie. 😊

For example, for me, one such movie is "Master and Commander: The Far side of the World" :brilliant ensemble cast all across the board, good chemistry between the main leads, engaging story, very good soundtrack, fx that still hold, 99% hystorically accurate 😂 but despite this not many have heard or watched this movie.

Have a nice day!

P.S. can't believe that tomorrow the last episode of AYS will air 😭.

Hi @shimako! Sorry for answering your question late, but I postponed it because I kept trying to think of a list. And honestly, I saw the words historical drama and forgot the underrated part so this is a bit of a disaster, but I'll make it work. Let's just say this is an incomplete list of tv shows that had an impact on me at the time and ages that I had when I watched them. And you'll see that I barely remember the plot, but I sort of know how I felt.

1. Rome

Is this underrated? Hell no! But perhaps in today's age of tv, a lot of people have forgotten about that show. Only two seasons, but it was among the first batch of prestige tv in the middle of the 2000s. I liked it so much that it made go to the bookstore and buy a book about Caesar. If I went through my Egypt phase in middle school, then my Ancient Rome period came in high school.

2. The Borgias

At the time of its runtime, I think it was pretty big. Although I don't think it won many awards. I also remember it being used as an example on scholarly papers about Hollywood using Eastern and Central European studios because of cheap labor and good locations. Budapest and Prague can replace Florence, lol.

The Borgias was naughty. And it had Jeremy Irons who is a fantastic actor in my opinion. Eventually they actually leaned heavily into the siblings relationship which I thought was daring. They went there 👀. And the costumes were so beautiful!.

3. The Tudors

I remember this show through the eyes of a 13-14 year old that developed a massive crush on the actor portraying Henry the VIII. This was like the rock'n'roll version of the story. And it was sexy. A bit over the top. A stepping stone for some actors that would become a lot more famous in the years to come. I think it was on HBO so probably not underrated at the time, but mostly forgotten nowadays.

4. Versailles

I can't remember if it's French or they talk in English. But it was lots of fun. And really gay. They didn't stay away from that. That's all I remember, but give it a try.

5. Taboo

This is that show with a really brooding Tom Hardy who remains like that throughout the story. But if you're interested in 1800s London and England's imperialist plan and its effects on colonized territories, this might be it.

6. Babylon Berlin

I don't know if this fits into the list, but it is a great portrayal of 1920s Berlin. A period in which artistic freedom and experimentation was at its height, but also juxtaposed with political unrest, creating this environment that would lay the ground for the rise of the fascist party. It's a german show, an HBO production and I like that it's not glamourized. You can see it in their clothes, their hygiene habits, their visible sweat and run down outfits they wear in clubs. It feels real.

7. Black Sails

I first heard of this when I wanted to watch more Toby Stephens movies/series but I almost stayed away because it was a Michael Bay production. Black Sails is so smart. At first, it might lure in the wrong audience, even based on the first trailer. It looks like a pirate show full of action sequences and machismo. And then you actually watch it and it flips that exact narrative. It is a direct critique of imperialism. It is also such a good case for any film and gender & queer studies analysis. But more than that, what really sealed the deal for me in what is considered a grade B series with grade B actors, is the meta-textual discourse on storytelling. It's about creating those pirate legends, of creating narratives to protect themselves against the empire. And all that is unfolded through brilliant lines of dialogue. It still remains a 10/10 tv show for me and the actual underrated one.

[thoughtlessarse]

Facing an uphill battle, French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday extended talks with party leaders for a third day to try and pin down a new government. But Macron angered many when on Monday evening he ruled out appointing a left-wing prime minister from the New Popular Front (NFP) alliance, which gained the most seats in parliament after July’s snap legislative elections. France’s Socialists and Greens will not participate in further talks with President Emmanuel Macron to find a way out of the country’s political deadlock, their leaders said on Tuesday, calling on their supporters to hold peaceful protests instead. Macron slammed the door on a potential leftist government on Monday, saying it would be immediately removed from power by a majority of lawmakers from other camps, and called another round of marathon talks with party leaders for Tuesday. But facing a hung parliament in which each of the three almost equal groupings – the left, Macron’s centrist bloc and the far right – have ruled out forming a coalition, the president appeared to be back to square one. “This election is being stolen from us,” Green party chief Marine Tondelier told local radio. “We’re not going to continue these sham consultations with a president who doesn’t listen anyway ... and is obsessed with keeping control. He’s not looking for a solution, he’s trying to obstruct it,” Tondelier said. Socialist party president Olivier Faure told France 2 television he would not engage in what he called a “parody of democracy” now the prospect of a leftist-led government was off the table. The New Popular Front (NFP), an alliance of parties ranging from the moderate Socialists and Greens to the eurosceptic France Unbowed (LFI) won more votes than any other party in snap parliamentary elections this summer. That led its leaders to assert their claim to form the next government.

continue reading

The three parties, the far-right RN, Macron's right-wing "Centrist Alliance", and the left-wing NFP are more or less of equal size in the assembly. Macron believes the two parties on the right would collapse any government formed by the left. That may be, but he should at least let the NFP try. If it fails, it fails. Democratically, the NFP should have the premiership.

Macron only has himself to blame for the predicament. He called the elections early and now has a hung parliament. If he calls another election he risks letting the fascists win.

[evilelitest2]

Was Sander's Robbed in 2020?

Ok so lets walk to the past for a bit. Its 2020, the Democratic primary is getting heated. Biden keeps leading in all the polls, but after three primary elections, he has been coming off short. Moderates are panicking and it looks like Bernie Sanders might be able to get the nomination after all. He was counted out after the heart attack, and yet he kept on going.

So Sanders going in 2020 had two options for how to run his campaign. About 30% of the party loved him, about 20% of the party absolutely hated him, and 55% were mixed more ambivalent about him. He could either

Try to win over the parts of the party that aren't already supporting him, in particular the black community (Sanders does this a bit with the Latino democrats, his latino outreach very impressive and very underreported in the Democratic party

Try to hold unto your 25-30% of the party and hope rest of the vote is split between all the different moderates, so he can win with a plurality of the vote. due to the weirdness of the Democratic primary rules he can still win the nomination even without the majority, the winner only needs a plurality. if the moderate votes are split between Biden, Mayor Pete, Bloomberg, and Klobuchar, then Sanders could squeak in a victory with less than a third of the party.

Biden is the frontrunner, is polling ahead of everybody else, particular among the all important African-American segment of the democratic electorate. However he isn't beloved and there are a ton of Moderates running against him, and all of them are focused on attacking Biden in the hopes that they could take his place.

Sanders too option 2, which was risky. Winning with a plurality rather than a majority always leaves a lot of sore feelings, and had Sanders won the 2020 primary he would have to have dealt with the 70% of the electorate who didn't vote for him feeling sore, but maybe he could have handled it, we will never know. The advantage of his plan is that he just needed to hold unto his base, who already loved him. The danger is that if the moderates ever managed to rally around a single candidate, suddenly he is very outnumbered. Risky play but he did it. This is the same plan that trump use to win the Republican primary in 2016 (to be clear, that isn't a moral judgement on sanders, Trump isn't bad because he won with a plurality, he is bad because he is a fascist). There is one key difference though the Republican primary uses a winner takes all approach, so who ever wins the state gets all of the points, which allowed Trump to expand his lead. This is because Republicans don't believe in democracy.

Those are some great mittens

So far this plan has been working well for Sanders. The moderates have split the vote, Sanders won Nevada, New Hampshire and either won Iowa or it was so close that he basically won Iowa. Biden has yet to do well in any of the first three states.

But Then, South Carolina, the first state with a large black electorate. Biden secures a key endorsement from US Representative and Civil Rights activist Jim Clyburn. The results were a pretty stunning turnaround for Biden, who won 49% of the votes and got 39 of the delegates. Sanders came in second, with 20% of the vote and 15 of the delegates. Buttigieg, Warren, Steyer, and Klobuchar didn't get a high enough percentage of the vote to get any delegates.

Biden almost won more than the rest combined.

So lets take a moment to talk about the US primary system, because it is both illogical and needlessly complicated. Rather than have all the states vote at once like a normal fucking country, each individual state plus the territories plus DC hold there own primary, most of which are not in order. So for example, the great state of NY, fourth largest state in the country and the center of the global economy, has its primary at the literal end of the process. So yeah, I've never in my lifetime gotten to have any effect on a presidential primary, because the race is already over by the time it gets to NY. So who wins a primary is not necessarily the most popular person with the party, its who ever can stay in the race longest, its a marathon. A super popular candidate could still drop out if they aren't popular in the first few state. Maybe Elizabeth warren was super popular in New York and if she had been able to hold unto those state she would have won, but we will never know. this system sucks, and I hate it.

So the way the primary goes down is that you have 4 elections from individual states. Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada, South Carolina. Then you have something called Super Tuesday, where Virginia, North Carolina, Maine, Massachusetts, Vermont, California, Oklahoma, Texas, Minnesota, Colorado, Alabama, Arkansas, and Utah all go at once. So basically you go from 4 individual states to a fuck tone of state (including the two largest) all at once).

So another critical thing about the democratic party is demographics. While the republican party is a white Christianity identity party, the democratic party is a diverse coalition. The most important part of that is the African American vote, who have steadily become the deciding vote in the Democratic party since the 60s. About 90% of African American voters are democratic, and African Americans make up just over a quarter of the Democratic party. They are also by far the most organized and proactive voters, due to years of having to fight against voter suppression (especially in the South). The black electorate in the democratic party is one of the parties greatest advantages, and it also why the party has become steadily less racist every year (Obama really accelerated this process). To be clear this is a good thing, the Democratic party is better for it.

For a series of very complicated reasons I could get into another time, Sanders had never done particularly well with African American voters and Biden has. This isn't universal, the African American community is not a monolith and has a diversity of views but that is how the demographics played out generally in the primary. Most importantly, apart from Biden was the only candidate, moderate or progressive, who seemed to excite the African American voting bloc.

The reason why this matters is that Iowa, New Hampshire, and Nevada don't have very large black populations, Iowa and new Hampshire are lily white, and Nevada is less than 10% African American. Despite being more than a fourth of the party, the first three states are not representative of the African American vote (maybe we should have one nation wide election eh?)

So once biden won South Carolina, it became obvious that A) Biden's defeats in the first three states were not affecting his popularity in the larger states B) none of the other moderates had any real African American support. This is what leads to the supposed "betrayal"

The Day before Super Tuesday, Obama called up the remaining moderates, and convinced most of them to drop out and endorse Biden. They did so, and it basically shattered Sander's chance of winning. With most of the moderates unified, Biden won 10 states to Sander's 4, wracking up 726 delegates to sanders 505. Biden got 286065 votes to sanders 74,755. Not only was this a great victory for Biden, after super Tuesday all of the other moderates withdrew, allowing him to crush Sanders going forward. Biden had 2709 Delegates to Sanders 1,113, but more importantly Biden won 51% of the votes, with sanders getting 26%. Some Sanders fans have blamed Elizabeth Warren for not dropping out, but even if Warren had and every one of her votes had gone to standers (and there is a lot of evidence to suggest a third of her votes would have gone to Biden), that would only make Sanders at 33% to 51%.

To put this in raw numbers, Biden won 19 million votes. Sanders had just under 9.7 million. Biden won 10 million more votes than Sanders (Elizabeth warren got 2.8 million)

So I see a lot of leftist types claim that this was an example of democratic treachery, that the DNC party robbed sanders of his chance of winning, this was Nixon style Ratfuckery that destroyed Sander's populist campaign to put Biden, who nobody likes anyway, in charge. And as a progressive who didn't want Biden to win, I have to say it sucked...but that wasn't a cheat.

Biden won the popular vote, love him or hate him, he did win more than half of the democratic votes, that makes him the candidate, that is how democracy works, sometimes you lose. Some have claimed that Obama calling up the other moderates and getting them to drop out was a cheat but....how? The moderates knew they couldn't win after South Carolina, and they were ideologically closer to Biden, so they dropped out and endorsed the person they agreed with more. Most Sanders fans wanted Warren to drop out, so I knew you guys understand that importance of consolidating behind a winning candidate. Thats just good politics, the fact that Sanders didn't bother to try to court other candidates to drop out is actually a major weakness of him as a candidate. If the situation had been reversed, and the moderates were trying to win with only 30%, wouldn't you guys want the other progressives to drop out behind sanders

Because Sanders is a populist, and his rhetoric is so tied to the idea of "The people rising up against the elites" that idea that he lost demographically is sort of a trauma his more radical followers can't really deal with, so they retreat to conspiracy theories. Remember, a conspiracy theory is something people turn to to avoid facing a difficult truth. If you identify yourself as populist, and you lose demographically, you have to face some difficult questions. Maybe sanders was the wrong candidate? Maybe he made mistakes? Maybe his fanbase sabotaged his chance of winning, maybe his hardcore fans make a mistake in there understanding of the political situation. Maybe he didn't do anything wrong, it just wasn't the year for a progressive? Or maybe Sleepy Joe Biden actually was a more cunning political operator than they gave him credit for and they were duped.

Or most difficult of them all. Maybe most Americans just don't agree with Sander's position?

Those are hard questions, but you kinda of have to answer them if you want to be a progressive who accomplishes things. I might do later posts that address them if people are interested.

There is a segment of the left who are moving into purple

However, for those who can't face difficult choices, they retreat to conspiracy, and they claim that Sanders was robbed

Hey you know who hasn't been saying that Sanders was robbed by the DNC? Bernie Sanders, because he is an adult who understands how democracy works. He lost, he took it gracefully and then he endorsed and campaigned for the winner, cause sanders actually cares about the cause and not faux revolutionary nonsense.

(Fun fact, Biden and Sanders are friends Irl. Like no joke, those two get along personally)

I didn't vote for Biden in the primary and I was not happy when he won the Primary. However I never thought Biden was senile, or a fool, or a hack, I think that he is a very cunning politician who has a public persona that encourages people to underestimate him And become people can't stand the idea that they could lose to Biden, they retreat into fantasy. This is why MAGA denies the election, they can't face the reality that most of the country doesn't like them, and they can't admit that they lost to a man who doesn't fit there mental image of an impression leader

Yeah...that ends well.

[apatheticintrovert]

A rant for the void.

I'm definitely too apathetic because whoever wins, does it actually matter?? We never actually have any control when it comes to our government. No president cares about us even though they're "elected" to serve us, the people. No matter what happens, the world will keep on spinning. Palestinians will continue to be bombed. The world will continue to be unjust and unfair.

In Texas ted cruz has already won to stay senator until 2031. Everything feels hopeless all the time. Norhing about this election feels any difference from the last 2, except that I can't find it in me to care. I've been saying this but the only good politician is a dead one and no matter who our president is, our country is (and has been, since its conception really) an active participant in genocide, war, voter interference in other countries, etc. Etc.) We are more informed and aware of the propaganda than ever and our government still gets away with whatever it wants with little to no repercussions.

There are still so many people that can't be bothered to care about the state of the world they live in and that's by design, we are largely struggling to make it to each new day in this capitalist hellscape we live in, in the middle of a recession, with education, resources, literal human rights being not only on the chopping block every election cycle but actively being taken away.

Which I get it... I know why Kopmala is "better" but I'm so sick of the "lesser of two evils" being our only options every fucking election. (I voted 3rd party and socialist for the first time ever this year because I didn't have another "lesser of two very obviously bad and genocidal evils" left in me) Even Obama who was so well liked and praised had record breaking levels of deportation, and there was the drone strikes...

Every election cycles feels like a slap in the face. We need a fucking revolution, that's genuinely our only hope imo. And Americans will never organize well enough to execute it. Too many people are satisfied with the status quo and not bothered by things like the ongoing genocide in Palestine and Congo and Sudan because it's not directly impacting them (to their knowledge) A large amount of the average Americans will not be bothered to care until it's too late and policy is actually directly impacting them. Idk. I'm just word vomiting at this point and it's just to vent for my own benefit.

It's weird to me how little I truly care tonight, especially compared to other people in my life and others I see online. Looking back at memories of innocent little 19 year old me voting in my first presidential election in 2016, I was so confident the country wouldn't vote for that man (who is arguably worse now and looking like he might win again) I was so much more uninformed about Hillary and politics and the us government.... I was up all night anxious and watching live coverage and checking my phone constantly. Now 8 years later, it's just like ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ everything is awful and it will stay that way no matter who wins. We saw that well enough during this biden presidency. Not to mention how many people only vote during the presidential election cycle. As if all the others that impact is locally don't matter when they are oftentimes the most important and impactful, setting up city mayors, us representatives, etc.

Even with so many people out here organizing and doing the work all the time, outside of just election season, being community driven and helping out community with volunteer work and mutual aid ... It still feels so cyclical and unending.

And even though I didn't vote for her I do still understand why kopmala would be a better winner than the fascist cheeto (I live in Texas which is always solidly red anyways it's not like it made a difference other than I had the privilege to vote with my conscious and hopefully do whatever small part possible to push and uplift 3rd party candidates)... It's still just so frustrating that in this "democracy" we are saddled with the illusion of choice with our "two party system" (two sides of the same coin).

"heavy sigh*

All this to say.... ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ a bunch of nothing really. Just voicing my apathy and discouragement to the VOID.

[qqueenofhades]

While I generally agree with your writings, I find myself confused by the term "Online Leftist". As a 75-year-old who has had a Social Democratic bent (and because of that has seen more of his votes lose than he ever wished in these United States), I have voted in every county-through-federal level election in my life since age 21. I also use social media sparingly, but I feel I certainly could be considered to be a leftist who is online, but I don't share the viewpoint of those you call "Online Leftist". Please clarify the meaning of that phrase in your writings.

I have to add that I've voted third party only once. I voted for John Anderson in 1980 and instantly regretted that action when Ronald Reagan won. (At that time, Jimmy Carter wasn't perceived as the great humanitarian and climate visionary he truly was, and the economy and the hostage crisis ruled the election arguments.) It was a lesson that was hard-earned. Thus in 2016, even though I supported Bernie Sanders's ideas and philosophy, I voted for Hillary because 1) she had unimpeachable (no pun intended) qualifications, and 2) not to vote for her would ensure that a really nasty and incompetent clown would be leading our country.

Thank you for all of your Tumblr postings. I find myself reblogging them hoping to reach the idealistic voter who tends to want to vote "purist" rather than "pragmatist."

The term "Online Leftists," as myself and others use it, refers to the specific group of often-young, often-white, often-western terminally online social media users, usually on Twitter, who post frothing manifestos about how corrupt the world is (specifically, how corrupt and fascist the Democratic Party of America is) and how the only way to fix it is to have some mythical leftist Revolution that will destroy late-stage capitalism and the current world order and somehow have no bad effects whatever and then a magical "progressive" utopia will spring into existence and everything will be fixed. Even the ones who don't go that far are heavily influenced by the ideology that the establishment/country is corrupt beyond repair, voting (especially voting for Democrats) is morally evil and indefensible, that there is no difference between the political parties of America, and that America/the West is the cause of all evil in the world. It has become especially visible with the Russia/Ukraine and Israel/Hamas wars, when they enthusiastically or at least tacitly support Russia and Hamas simply because those states/groups are "anti-western."

It also has to do with the whopping western leftist levels of virulent antisemitism and eagerness to call Israel a "white western colonialist settler state," as discussed in previous posts. Even while they decry Israel's genocide of Gaza, they will twist themselves into knots to excuse Russia's genocide of Ukraine or any legitimacy to a Jewish state or need for Israel to defend its own civilians, because you see, those genocides are committed by people they like in support of something something, Advancing the Great Revolution Cause. This is partly influenced by the belief that modern far-right fascist Russia is somehow a standard-bearer for old-school USSR socialism (which itself was horrifying enough) and should be defended and cheerled as a principled enemy of the West. This is the same group of people who unironically spend all their time posting fulminations that Biden is a genocidal fascist and America is a dictatorship, because they know that literally nothing will happen to them and they will face no real-world consequences, because none of those things are actually true. But as long as they can claim it for the rhetorical martyrdom, that does not matter.

By political beliefs and presence on Tumblr, I too am definable as a leftist who is online, but the Online Leftists (used together and with capital letters) are a distinct group whose ideology is marked by righteous nihilism, rejection of voting, support for a mythical "Revolution" in place of ever trying to work within the flawed political system, support for violent genocidal states or groups as long as they are "anti-western" or "anti-Israeli" (witness how they flocked to quiveringly defend the Houthis) while simultaneously yelling at everyone else for supporting genocide, making no attempt to incorporate actual politics, history, or reality into their all-consuming ideology, and shaming everyone else who doesn't agree with them. As you say, they are focused on some "pure" level of political engagement, which is of course impossible and therefore means the only thing they do is spend their time on Twitter rampantly spreading misinformation as long as it fits their beliefs. Pragmatism, harm reduction, nuance, or making a flawed choice that puts any kind of "moral burden" on them does not exist to them and is a dirty word, because it might conflict with bringing about La Revolution. So yeah.

[dollarbin]

Dollar Bin #45:

Woody Guthrie's Lindbergh

I clearly don't aim to do anything too serious around here but I have periodically ensured that Trump supporters feel thoroughly uninvited to the Dollar Bin.

After all, Donald Trump does not understand the Dollar Bin. Our very own Neil Young is one of dozens of dollar bin artists whose music has been featured at Trump rallies against their explicit wishes and whose sentiments about that fact are well summarized by one of the guys behind Panic at the Disco: "Dear Trump Campaign, F--- you... Stop playing my song."

Plus, Trump wouldn't even know there was such a thing as the dollar bin. To him, there's no such thing as art, let alone art - or anything - that can be purchased for a buck. The shoes with his name on them cost a few hundred bucks; same with his bibles. Sure, he'd pretend to thumb through some old records if those records were in a swing state and there were a few dozen television cameras around recording his pithy and racist nonsense while a wave of nutjobs surged about outside, hoping to see him at it. But, thankfully, that photo op is one of the few he's passed by.

The truth is that my own life won't change too much if he gets reelected. I'm white, male, American by birth and heterosexual so I probably won't lose too many of my rights. But I'd rush home and burn every one my records; hell, I'd even root for the Yankees, Giants, Padres and everyone else to forever trounce my Dodgers - I'm that earnest about this - if I thought any of that would help keep Trump out of the White House for good. I just hate everything he stands for. For my daughters, my students, my neighbors, for everyone. He is evil. And we are better than him.

Why am I telling you all this instead of recommending a Randy Newman record or something? Well, it's my worry that too many of us will leave stones unturned in the next two weeks when it comes to stopping Trump's return to power. I don't want to look back and think "I shoulda..." And so, for this moment only, I'm turning this blog into a political plea.

So, let's listen to some Woody Guthrie!

If you don't teach high school history or haven't read The Plot Against America, here's some context for Guthrie's attack on an American legend:

Throughout the 1920's and 30's Charles Lindbergh was our country's Tom Hanks meets Michael Jordan: he was our biggest celebrity and our most celebrated retired athlete all wrapped up in one handsome package.

The basis for that fame was his record breaking flight across the Atlantic, but he wasn't just a pilot. Get this: the guy also invented some of the foundational technology behind modern surgery and artificial hearts.

What's more, he was a famously tragic figure: his infant daughter was kidnapped and died in what white media at the time described as the "Crime of the Century."

Meanwhile he was a racist, anti-Semitic fascist. There's no hyperbole in that statement.

And in 1940, the Republican party begged him to run for president. Lindbergh, who was shy and paranoid, ultimately declined to run but he made his views clear all the same: the best thing for our country to do was to side with Hitler in the coming war. After all, he reasoned, Jews ran the world and they needed to be stopped.

And here's the crazy part: if Lindbergh had accepted that nomination and appeared on the 1940 ballot he almost certainly would have won and been our President. Really. And then where the hell would we all be?

I see a lot of exasperated headlines at this point: why, given Trump's blatant criminal behavior, his increasing senility and his rampant megalomania, is this year's election so close? Why isn't Kamala "running away with this thing?"

The answer seems fairly obvious to me: 1/2 of our country is either too apathetic or disadvantaged to vote, and just a 1/4 of us plan to vote against Trump because we are neither disadvantaged nor apathetic and we have a healthy moral compass. But that means a full quarter of our country's ethical compass directs them to sexism, xenophobia and a preference for "I alone can fix it" fascism over democracy. And that means Trump may very well win.

It somehow doesn't matter that even Trump's longest serving Chief of Staff calls him a fascist. Our election will be a toss up.

Which brings us back to good old Woody. His song about Lindbergh, the Donald Trump of his day, is tons of fun, I think, plus you gotta dig that hook: in Washington; in Wash-ing-ton.

But Guthrie, though a genius, didn't record Lindbergh until 1944 - a full four years after the American people needed to hear the song and act on it. And Shakey, also a genius, didn't record Ohio until after those bodies were lying dead on the ground.

There are just two weeks to go folks. I'm no Woody Guthrie nor Neil Young, that's for sure. But this post is me singing my own paltry version of Ohio and Lindbergh. My song may suck but I'm earnest about it: I'm trying to sing while there's still time to correct our course.

I should be doing way, way more than this - I know it. But thanks for reading this all the same, and thanks for considering. I think our country, like the dollar bin, is full of wonder and beauty.

So let's save it.