#state socialism

[probablyasocialecologist]

A system prioritising the overcoming of low levels of material wellbeing and productivity levels, and usually coming out of peasant patriarchal societies and often also colonial oppression (among other major disadvantages), all the while being militarily invaded and/or besieged, creates conditions not exactly conducive to the development of egalitarian social structures and environmentally constructive impacts. In these historical conditions it is a marvel that there were any successes in improving standards of living, raising environmental standards, engaging in reforestation, reducing or preventing waste, pre-empting consumerism, developing recycling programmes and attaining high volumes of recycling, improving access to education, providing free and universal health care, guaranteeing full employment and job security and even setting up lasting conservation areas, among other major feats. Add to this the development of cutting-edge social practices and policies like gender parity efforts in Burkina Faso, reconciliation and pacification methods (even if fraught with violence) in Mozambique, revolutionary applications of agronomy in Guinea Bissau and the Cabo Verde Islands and world-renowned successes in space, biomedical, health, conservation, engineering, ecology and biotechnology research and applications in the USSR, Cuba and the PRC, and the record is even more impressive.

Salvatore Engel-Di Mauro, Socialist States and the Environment: Lessons for Eco-Socialist Futures

[pumpacti0n]

"However, it is not just the U.S. imperialists who are the enemy of the people of the world (even if they are at present the strongest and most vicious enemy); all imperialist countries are the enemy of the people, and all of them must be opposed. The entire imperialist system must be opposed and overthrown! And opposing imperialism should never come to mean supporting local tyrants and local enemies of the people, who, after all, were usually set up as imperialist lackeys and agents in the first place!"

Is China An Imperialist Country? | 3. Is the U.S. the “only” imperialist country or is there an imperialist system? - N.B. Turner

[bluepecanpie]

as a retrospective, occupy wall street was the endpoint of the kind of ‘horizontalist’ politics that was popularized with the anti-globalization movement. the involvement of adbusters in establishing the initial ows is more than enough to show us how direct this influence is. underpinning the anti-globalization movement in the global north was a reliance on the framework consecrated by liberalism, and idealist notions that democracy had been distorted from its optimal function by the presence of trans-national corporations bypassing the power of the state. the idea that in the first instance, the state is an instrument of class power - specifically the power of the bourgeoisie, in the capitalist epoch.

occupy’s failure, is the shared failure of that anti-globalization movement, and in between - that of the arab spring, which had seemingly exhausted imagination for another kind of social modality other than one informed by neoliberalism - islamist or not. even the anti-globalization movement came to fore as a sort of post-cold war rebuke of state socialism and the vanguardist politics used to set it up, only to fumble once confronted with the hard power of the state and especially great power conflicts - in a way that ‘actual existing socialist’ states could not do. the occupy movement also forgoed the kind of deep organising that could actually build class consciousness and galvanise the working class into making demands.

i’m not saying that the occupy movement was bad, or counterproductive: it politicized a generation of people, and broke out of this anhedonic, apathetic morose typical of atomised subjects under neoliberalism. I’m just saying that it was no threat to the ruling class, to any corporations, to anyone wearing the robes of institutional power. pro-ows assessment would rather we think how well ows spread and that was the real victory, like there wasn’t a demand for the neoliberal epoch - whether it was explicity stated or otherwise.

[geezerwench]

State Socialism

80% of states receive more in federal funding than they contribute.

Of the states which receive more than they contribute, 70% are Republican.

Of the states which contribute more than they receive, 80% are Democrat.

[biggest-gaudiest-patronuses]

Glinda really had an entire musical number expounding on the theme of "success in life is not about being highly qualified or even competent, but manipulating people's superficial perception of you." and then she went into POLITICS. truly the #girlboss representation the world has earned

[troythecatfish]

Using "Legalize" as a term to cover up the theft of people's homes and livelihoods is expected at this point from the NYT. The "free" press is complicit in the manufacturing of consent to not only destroy Gaza, but to also annex the West Bank. Free Palestine.

X: Assalrad

[fresh-snow]

[muffinlevelchicanery]

[genuinelyshallow]

We will not forget those who supported Palestine. You are in our prayers❤️

[totallynotcensorship]

GREAT NEWS

turkey halted trade with israel.

for context: trade between the two was worth 6.8 Billion dollars in 2023

KEEP SPEAKING, KEEP PROTESTING. push for your government to also cut ties with israel. this is what we need

[enjymemink]

Thank you Yemen 🇾🇪

Despite being one of the poorest countries in the world, they showed more empathy than those so-called civilized developed countries.

[probablyasocialecologist]

All state-socialist countries faced externally imposed challenges, while tackling internal strife and attempting to bring about major social change towards equality in often oppressive patriarchal peasant or pastoralist systems. The horrific tragedies and, in some cases (especially the USSR under Stalin), mass killings and grinding political repression are unjustifiable, but the larger context must also be understood to see what needs to be done to avoid those horrors in future. Some state-socialist systems emerged through the establishment of political independence after protracted war but were then trapped in neocolonial dependence and interventionist pressures from former colonial powers, such that building self-sufficiency was stymied, and even more any chances for industrialisation (e.g. Burkina Faso, Congo, Ethiopia, Madagascar). Some extricated themselves from a neocolonial or colonial dictatorship and started substantive independence under terrible social conditions (e.g. Cuba, Mongolia), if not absolutely devastated environmental circumstances (e.g. Kampuchea, Laos, North Korea, Vietnam). There were thus intense pressures to parry from capitalist countries. Rapid industrialisation or the promotion of self-sufficiency was eminently reasonable, given the experience of military invasions from liberal democracies and other capitalist powers, along with military encirclement and constant threats after repelling those invasions. In some cases, foreign powers and internal enemies waged all-out war from independence onwards, such that any effective implementation of socialist policies was altogether precluded (e.g. Angola, Mozambique). Briefly put, socialist states existed under a state of siege from their inception.

Salvatore Engel-Di Mauro, Socialist States and the Environment: Lessons for Eco-Socialist Futures

[pumpacti0n]

"(Anarchist) Economic policy, like all policy, is crafted by the entire community in face-to-face relationships working towards the common good. This turns the economy into an aspect of public affairs, which means it cannot become the self-serving enterprise that it is under capitalism and even under communism as state control of the economy inevitably tends toward its working for the State itself rather than for the people."

"Jesus And The Abolitionists", Terry J. Stokes

[read-marx-and-lenin]

[Link to tweet]

[gentil-minou]

I am still alive, Gaza is no longer Gaza

Read this. Read it slowly.

Read it again.

And then again.

Don't you ever forget it.

Link without paywall

[artistotel]

hey! for todays protest, i made this little zine about palestine (holding just simple and basic information).

you can download the zine here, fold it yourself, and distribute it around.

no credit is needed. feel free to leave it around bars, protests, or wherever. simply print it (borderless) and fold it. here is a tutorial on how to do it.

dont stay silent. there is a genocide of horrendous, atrocious proportions going on. also if you are a zionist here to argue with me, i dont plan to entertain you at all, not on my art blog. fuck off, you'll be swiftly blocked. i see enough of you clowns on my main and i have no energy for you. you can skip the death threats too bc i dont give a shit.

(i'm off to get ready for a surgery now, i just wanted to post it before this. if you need anything, i might take a bit to reply)