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Discussion Socialism Discussion Thread
- Thread starter Oheao
- Start date
Yeah, it saves everyone a lot of time lol
D
Deleted member 2349
Guest
lmao I apologize if this isn't appropriate but did someone come into the socialism thread, mention that they used to be a landlord, and then brag about how the market was good to them? what kind of response did you expect here, buddy?
JazzPotatoes
Koopa
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That same user also made clear that they're no longer a landlord, that they actively campaigned for AoC, that they donated to the Sanders campaign, and that they actively support socialist policies.
You may not agree with everything they say, but that is the nature of a discussion forum.
This thread literally just got locked due to this area of discussion bring focused on one specific user. Do you guys really want to do it again?
You may not agree with everything they say, but that is the nature of a discussion forum.
This thread literally just got locked due to this area of discussion bring focused on one specific user. Do you guys really want to do it again?
D
Deleted member 2349
Guest
sorry dad! I'll stop posting
these kind of posts don't really help anyone. let's move on from this.
Darth_Ghandi
Rattata
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I’ve been think a lot about worker cooperatives and in Sweden we have schools that aren’t run by the state and municipalities.
I’ve been thinking how awesome it would be to take that and make a school coop that is run by the teachers and staff.
The amount of bylaws would be nuts but it would still have great potential.
I’ve been thinking how awesome it would be to take that and make a school coop that is run by the teachers and staff.
The amount of bylaws would be nuts but it would still have great potential.
crepuscule
Bob-omb
It is missing, yeah. Mods can (and do) remove it on a thread-by-thead basis.
Fercho
Touch Fuzzy get dizzy
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Yeah!
merp
Darknut
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Mekanos
YOU は SHOCK
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Vijay Prashad has a lot of extremely valuable insight. One of the most important living Marxists, in my opinion.
I'm a member of DSA, my chapter unfortunately though got set back by COVID in terms of membership/productivity and I don't think it ever fully recovered. I've wanted to look into more local options but health problems have made that difficult as of late.
I'm on PSL's e-mailing list but I have some reservations about the org itself... that really applies to any American socialist org though, sadly.
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D
Deleted member 1108
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The first of many, hopefully. Trade unionism is more of a thing here in the UK (though I'm not sure the movement has ever totally recovered from what Thatcher did to it), but seeing workers in the US - a country generally hostile to trade unions - take steps to unionise is genuinely great to see.
merp
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It's incredibly hostile, but the movement picked up steam in the 2010s and now it's really hitting critical mass since 2020.
I was in Bolivia once; glad they beat back the counter-revolutionaries.
R
Ray00101
Guest
Work wise International Union of Operating Engineers.
I do work with On the Streets Committee, a local tenets’ rights org and Appalachian People’s Front, a mutual aid network. Member of the local chapter of John Brown Gun Club.
When I vote, it’s usually for West Virginia Mountain Party candidates.
merp
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My org has a lot of members in the Appalachian part of my state, but I'm afraid of doxing myself so I'll say no more.
JazzPotatoes
Koopa
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Unite member here.
Largest general workers union in the UK, and until their recent nonsense, the biggest financial supporter of the Labour party. Keir Starmer seems to be under the opinion that he can replace union funding with backing from big businesses. We'll see how that goes for him...
merp
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I'm afraid to mention the org that I'm in.
I am hoping to join another org though, specifically an AFL-CIO labor union. I was thinking of joining some other friends in the IWW but ultimately I just feel that the atmosphere in the labor unions near me are better and they could use some building up, whatever the AFL-CIO's history during the Meany era.
(AFL-CIO is the largest trade union federation in the USA.)
Anton Sugar
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Relevant:
lmao, using serpentza as a source, holy fucking shit
Member of DSA. They have a shit ton of problems at the national level and their growth as the result of the Trump presidency/crisis (and stalled growth since) is worrying, but I like my chapter and the work they do. Lots of focus on working with local labor unions and building coalitions, in a state not friendly to unions (TX).
I work in film/video production but am not in a union, like IATSE. Frankly, I have some old injuries that prevent me from being able to work 12+ hour days regularly. I'd love to be in a union but from what I hear, IATSE is very much a "top down" union without much militancy and not much rank and file engagement. I'm talking with some IATSE members who want to build this and possibly influence the upcoming elections to get some change happening.
Been thinking about joining SRA.
Ostia
Octorok
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tetragrammaton
Rattata
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just landlords being parasites as usual. nothing new here.
merp
Darknut
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My org is currently organizing around the issue of tenants' rights.
@Ostia There are a few tenants' unions that have popped up where I'm at.
Also, currently reading this article from Monthly Review:
Monthly Review | A counter to denialist Marxism (“Value Chains” lauded by The Review of Radical Political Economics)
“Value Chains” should be read by anyone with an interest in the practicalities of offshoring, outsourcing, and supply chain management. It should also be required reading for those who fail to…
monthlyreview.org
Haha, I forgot why I don't like David Harvey.
Anton Sugar
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Figured this is a decent spot to post this:
My buddy is one of the writers on this show and helped write this video, which examines Elden Ring via Deleuze/Fisher.
I'm not very familiar with Deleuze, admittedly, but have read Fisher's Capitalist Realism. What do y'all think?
My buddy is one of the writers on this show and helped write this video, which examines Elden Ring via Deleuze/Fisher.
I'm not very familiar with Deleuze, admittedly, but have read Fisher's Capitalist Realism. What do y'all think?
Ostia
Octorok
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That’s good, we need more tenants rights groups and parallel power to the hold real estate interests have over local politicsMy org is currently organizing around the issue of tenants' rights.
@Ostia There are a few tenants' unions that have popped up where I'm at.
Also, currently reading this article from Monthly Review:
Monthly Review | A counter to denialist Marxism (“Value Chains” lauded by The Review of Radical Political Economics)
“Value Chains” should be read by anyone with an interest in the practicalities of offshoring, outsourcing, and supply chain management. It should also be required reading for those who fail to…
Haha, I forgot why I don't like David Harvey.
D
Deleted member 2349
Guest
I've been working with the tenant union in my city for a while now and the situation is fucking dire
folks are fighting tooth and nail to keep as many pandemic-era protections in place for as long as possible, but once that dam breaks we're going to see eviction rates higher than we've seen in decades, and a lot of people are going to lose their homes
folks are fighting tooth and nail to keep as many pandemic-era protections in place for as long as possible, but once that dam breaks we're going to see eviction rates higher than we've seen in decades, and a lot of people are going to lose their homes
Crusters
Koopa
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Look into the programs from your states department of economic security before that damn breaks.
merp
Darknut
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Of course!
Some initial attempt at dual power is necessary. And it's good that the labor movement in general is reasserting itself (labor action was going up over the past decade, but it does seem to be hitting "critical mass" in the past year or so). I honestly feel that the labor movement can help compliment tenants' unions and other such organizations.
On another note, I'm listening to this current discussion right now:
(There's a PSL organizer here named Kym Smith, for those that are PSL members here, and I think Ben Stahnke is a CPUSA and IWW member.)
Anyways, interesting discussion. Almost at the end of it. I may read Lev Vygotsky's work next since I'm on the topic of Marxist pedagogy (though Vygotsky is more specifically Marxist psychology).
Crusters
Koopa
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Redefining the very ideas of genres. In science fiction. It is a large task, best to take it in manageable chunks I suppose. I have never heard of this but the concept is interesting.
I have grown rather comfortable with the genres as they are. But so too have the suits. Everything seemed to be better when they had no idea what the fuck was going on with us. Wonder if there is a correlation beyond nostalgia. Wonder if that is even remotely what this is about. Guess I should listen.
JazzPotatoes
Koopa
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As a fan of progressive rock, one of the biggest things I've picked up on over the years is how most of the great progressive rock bands never considered themselves specifically as prog rock bands: they were simply trying to do new things without any particular thought to genre. The prog rock label came after as a catch all umbrella to categorize their work, and most bands hate the genre label.
I think most classic "genre" works are this way to an extent: Tolkien wasn't writing away knowing he was setting up the tropes of Western Fantasy, he was just writing a load of stories to go with his fancy languages he made up. Star Trek wasn't written within any specific notion of what is or isn't science fiction, it was meant to be a cross between Hornblower and Wagon Train but set in space and with utopian politics.
Because most popular media is now produced by corporate conglomerates, you see a lot more stuff that fits neatly into genre lines: corporations love demographics, and having stuff broken down into genres and labels makes it easier to specifically target things at different demographics.
The MCU is possibly the most popular example of this now: even though the films are different flavours of people beating each other up against CGI sets, they made a concerted effort to try and sell each different character/film by genre, to appeal to a wider base.
Iron Man was the traditional modern superhero film.
Thor was the fantasy film.
Captain America was the war film.
Guardians was the sci Fi film.
Personally I think this is all a bit of a shame, as it's meant more money for big corporations at the cost of more diverse, fluid and imaginative media, but it is what it is.
Crusters
Koopa
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This is exactly what genres are. They are the filing folders of social discourse. Completely arbitrary and at the behest of the beholder.... Majority. The beholder majority.
sanstea
Like Like
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It's rather off-topic and I only occasionally lurked in the socialism thread in the old place and now lurk occasionally here too, but lots of mainstays that were instrumental for actual discourse have been banned there which is extremely sad to see. Just saw that Chikor was permanently banned for nonsensical as well as made-up reasons, went to the socialism thread and saw lots of other good posters I remember banned with very poor reasoning. It's kind of defeating to see how leftism is suffocating on ERA after only 4 years of its existence.
This is not supposed to evoke off-site drama, it's essentially a kind reminder to this site that we really need to watch how to handle moderation especially in topics revolving around politics. Let's try to always remember why this site was created.
This is not supposed to evoke off-site drama, it's essentially a kind reminder to this site that we really need to watch how to handle moderation especially in topics revolving around politics. Let's try to always remember why this site was created.
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That's sad to see (if unsurprising). I didn't interact much with the socialism/leftist communities on Era, but Chikor's posts were always worth reading.
Edit: Waded into that hellsite to see why exactly he was banned. Totally spurious, and the staff response there was predictably embarrassing.
Edit: Waded into that hellsite to see why exactly he was banned. Totally spurious, and the staff response there was predictably embarrassing.
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Fercho
Touch Fuzzy get dizzy
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Which i believe the mods here are doing a great job here in steering conversations without being daft, obtuse, malicious, dishonest or outright idiotic like in that hellhole, hopefully it can continue that way.
I'm not sure why good people and communities are still posting in that fake ass, performative place run by egotistic idiots, i would not trust a potato gun to most of the staff members there, let alone trust in their criteria and judgment to moderate hundreds of people and very difficult conversations.
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Crusters
Koopa
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I don't know why either, but I feel it's best for all here if we don't watch and comment on the goings on over there, in here.
Fiye
Hear us out oh sire; please grant our desires
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This is not a dig at the last website but it sucks to see moderation in other spaces give more fucks about decorum and civility than recognize that there's an aspect of grief that's constantly hitting a certain ideology and its suffocating any enthuiasm.
Legitimately I'm probably at an all time low in terms of consuming political content and it sucks. I see people who once upon a time made themselves big names in leftist spaces like Glenn Greenwald just sell their fucking soul to right wing billionaires. Or how centrist dems will always without fail support democrats or are literally republicans that have a D next to them rather than a challenger who wants to ensure healthcare. (See: Nina Turner).
And this isn't a US only take. Labour literally ate itself because a faction couldn't tolerate being seen with Jeremy Corbyn as a head of state after they made gains in 2017 and just absolutely ate shit in 2019.
It sucks and now I'm here watching as the US continues to slowly erode. People who were elected to office refusing to do anything that they promised to do.
I wish there was something to look forward to in the next few years politically but as far as national and state wide politics go things look absolutely fucked in the short term.
Fercho
Touch Fuzzy get dizzy
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True.
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I gotta say, it’s a bit of whiplash for me to follow up watching the goings on in politics in the Philippines to watching the goings on in Australian politics. It’s kinda night and day, in a sense.
For those unaware, Australians seem to have strongly beat back against media/propaganda narratives that enforce the 2-party system in spite of having preferential voting and opted to give neither of the 2 main parties normally in power a majority government, with a huge swath of Green and independent MPs set to be elected and ousting safe-seat Liberal/National MPs in the process.
Speaking of UK Labour, AUS Labor is basically their future, a right-to-work party captured by the corporate lobbies (in Australia’s case, the fossil fuel lobby in particular). UK Labour was always kinda there, but imagine it worse.
While I know that electoralism isn’t something people put their faith in within these circles, I think the resounding “fuck you” to the established political narrative with a double-digit crossbench most importantly demonstrates a huge rise in dissent within Australia against its status quo. And rightly so, they’ve been hammered super-hard by the climate crisis, particularly the floods and the Black Summer bushfires in the past 3 years that killed billions of wild animals (and worsened extinction levels for many, some might already be rendered extinct either by burning, drowning due to seeking refuge in water or through massive habitat loss) and left 65,000 people homeless, no small amount of which never recovered from their homelessness.
It’s also a clear sign that some standing cynical narratives are falling apart, particularly “we’ll care about the climate crisis when it directly effects middle-class white people”… too late, mate, already has, people in power are still doing next to nothing. And people are warming up to the fact that the tools typically at their disposal have limited means to get things done to save them from the worst.
For those unaware, Australians seem to have strongly beat back against media/propaganda narratives that enforce the 2-party system in spite of having preferential voting and opted to give neither of the 2 main parties normally in power a majority government, with a huge swath of Green and independent MPs set to be elected and ousting safe-seat Liberal/National MPs in the process.
Speaking of UK Labour, AUS Labor is basically their future, a right-to-work party captured by the corporate lobbies (in Australia’s case, the fossil fuel lobby in particular). UK Labour was always kinda there, but imagine it worse.
While I know that electoralism isn’t something people put their faith in within these circles, I think the resounding “fuck you” to the established political narrative with a double-digit crossbench most importantly demonstrates a huge rise in dissent within Australia against its status quo. And rightly so, they’ve been hammered super-hard by the climate crisis, particularly the floods and the Black Summer bushfires in the past 3 years that killed billions of wild animals (and worsened extinction levels for many, some might already be rendered extinct either by burning, drowning due to seeking refuge in water or through massive habitat loss) and left 65,000 people homeless, no small amount of which never recovered from their homelessness.
It’s also a clear sign that some standing cynical narratives are falling apart, particularly “we’ll care about the climate crisis when it directly effects middle-class white people”… too late, mate, already has, people in power are still doing next to nothing. And people are warming up to the fact that the tools typically at their disposal have limited means to get things done to save them from the worst.
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Oh yeah, thinking climate change will be addressed once it effects middle class white people is way too optimistic. People caring about climate change doesn't matter when the people who are polluting the planet don't have to listen.
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I think the logic was that the white middle-class was the large majority of voters and they would punish at the ballot box if the climate emergency demonstrated a direct (instead of indirect) threat to their lifestyle/status quo and no one was doing something about it.
The main flaw in that thought process is that electoralism has given the white middle-class the incorrect assumption that they wield great power through it, an idea that has filtered down through them into the greater public consciousness. And while it’s true that the middle-class is important (if not necessary) for the maintenance of capitalism, both for their consumption and for their ability to widely champion it above all other options, when it comes to who holds and wields power in society, the white middle-class are a barely-tolerated convenience to obtaining desired outcomes that could be easily discarded if it becomes less than useful. They genuinely have no clue how disposable they’re considered to be, even as an entire cohort rather than just individually.
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Correct. I would call it's a naively optimistic thought, that there's a line that can be crossed to easily change things before huge consequences have happened.
