#state socialism

[probablyasocialecologist]

While state socialism had its downsides, the sudden change of East European women’s fortunes after 1989 amply demonstrates how free markets quickly erode women’s potential for economic autonomy. In Central Europe, for instance, post-1989 governments pursued conscious policies of “refamilization” to support the transition from state socialism to neoliberal capitalism. As state enterprises closed or were sold to private investors, unemployment rates skyrocketed. Too many workers competed for too few jobs. At the same time, the new democratic states reduced their public expenditures by defunding crèches and kindergartens. Public child care establishments closed, and new private facilities required substantial fees. Some governments made up for closing kindergartens by extending parental leaves for up to four years, but at far lower rates of wage compensation and without job protections.

These policies conspired to force women back into the home. Without state-funded child care or well-paid maternity leave, and in a new economic climate where employers had a large army of the unemployed from which to choose, many women were pushed out of the labor markets. From a macroeconomic perspective, this proved a boon to transitioning states. Unemployment rates dropped (and this the need for social benefits), and women now performed for free the care work the state had once subsidized in order to promote gender equality. Later, when deeper budget cuts hit pensioners and the health care system, women already at home looking after children could now care for the sick and the old —at great savings to the state budget.

Kristen Ghodsee, Why Women Have Better Sex Under Socialism

[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.

[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]

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]

"(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

[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

[chaithetics]

EDIT: I've now made a post that you can read here with more information about the ICJ rulings, their powers and what we can do with this ruling here. I had to this morning and will continue to delete, report, and block all comments/asks that are anti-Arab, zionist, Islamophobic, racist, and/or antisemitic.

We already knew this but the ICJ has now ruled that Israel's continued occupation of Palestine is illegal and needs to end ASAP.

They found that Israel's occupation does not give it the right of sovereignty over the West Bank and Gaza and that it is not a temporary occupation but is an illegal, permanent and discriminatory annexation. The ICJ also found violence against Palestinians, Israeli exploitation of Palestinian natural resources, transfer of civilian population (settlers and companies/organisations), extension of Israeli laws to replace local Palestinian laws, forced displacement of Palestinians, confiscation of Palestinian land, annexation. That Israel's 'security concerns' are not valid justifications for any of these measures.

The ICJ has ordered Israel to end its presence in the West Bank and Gaza immediately and to cease all new settlement activity, return all lands and assets to Palestinians that they've ceased since 1967 and that includes archives and items of cultural significance, evacuate all of their settlers from the settlements, pay compensation, and repeal all laws that maintain this occupation and discrimination. The ICJ is not legally-binding but does carry significant political weight and this ruling is important for continuing to advocate for Palestine and to put pressure on our government's to do the right thing and for them to put pressure on Israel. Keep contacting your representatives!

[troythecatfish]

This measure, if passed in Senate, would make it illegal for the US State Department to cite genocide statistics.

In other words, illegal to do its job.

[fresh-snow]

Full video

The sadness and despair in those eyes...

There are no innocent soldiers in iof, including the women. I've seen female soldiers laughing and dancing at the misery of Palestinian people and doing heinous acts just like their male counterparts.