cfgaussian

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They treat the sanctions as an unavoidable natural phenomenon. Like it wasn't something they chose but something that automatically had to happen and it is unthinkable to even discuss the idea of not having them.

cfgaussian @lemmygrad.ml 2d ago

It's not that communists can't or shouldn't employ deception. Historically, when operating under conditions of repression, communists have had to use deception to evade the authorities in order to be able to continue party building activities, organizing the working class and disseminating propaganda despite all of this being outlawed.

It's about who you deceive. There is nothing wrong with deceiving the bourgeois state and its agents, but you should not deceive the working class. You should not build your base of support on lies. Because sooner or later the truth has to be revealed and then you will no longer be seen as trustworthy by the masses. And nothing can be achieved without the participation of the people.

In the Communist Manifesto Marx famously wrote:

The Communists disdain to conceal their views and aims. They openly declare that their ends can be attained only by the forcible overthrow of all existing social conditions. Let the ruling classes tremble at a Communistic revolution. The proletarians have nothing to lose but their chains. They have a world to win.

Communists don't have to pretend to be something we are not, because the things we fight for are objectively in the best interests of the working class. We don't need to deceive the people. We just need to fight against the deceptions of the liberals and reactionaries.

(Of course if, as was the case with China's Opening Up and Reform, the imperialists deceive themselves into thinking that you have abandoned the socialist road (despite the fact that you continue to openly state that you have not), there is no need to correct them.)

cfgaussian @lemmygrad.ml 3d ago

I'm not sure why you were downvoted. Unfortunately everything you said is true.

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cfgaussian @lemmygrad.ml 4d ago

Good response. It seems to me that both parties here don't really have fully coherent arguments. There is indeed a tech-libertarian bent to the arguments made by Cory Doctorow, which is not always compatible with a how a Marxist analysis would approach this topic. On the other hand, the critique also seems to stray too far into moralism and the idea of expressing your ethics through consumption, which, again, is not the dialectical-materialist outlook. In fact it has somewhat of a superstitious feel to it, like you are incurring "bad karma" by using certain products.

For example: In the piece they mention using What's App being problematic because Meta is problematic. That is a moralistic argument. A more practical reason why you shouldn't use What's App is security and data privacy - backdoors for intelligence agencies, and the fact that companies like Google, Meta or Apple are embedded with the security state. And it depends on what you use it for. Context matters. Using it discuss revolutionary organizing - maybe not a great idea; using it for a parent discussion group about your kid's school - probably fine. It's not so much what you use but how you use it.

cfgaussian @lemmygrad.ml 4d ago

Great article. Their explanation of the transatlantic epistemic ideological bubble was very good.

Highly recommend reading this.

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cfgaussian @lemmygrad.ml 4d ago

am I missing something here

I guess it's a controversial topic.

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cfgaussian @lemmygrad.ml 4d ago

Another winner of the Fell For It Again award. How many times are Russians going to allow themselves to be fooled by western liberal propaganda?

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cfgaussian @lemmygrad.ml 4d ago

Great news! Also, be aware that "Moscow Times" is an anti-Russian propaganda outlet run from the Netherlands. Hence the negative tone of this article.

cfgaussian @lemmygrad.ml 1w ago

Don't believe everything you hear.

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cfgaussian @lemmygrad.ml 1w ago

Still not convinced it ever even existed in the first place. The whole story had propaganda op vibes from the start. Either way a nothing-burger, battlefield-wise. But that's par for the course. The morale and PR boost they get from spreading the story in the first place is the point.

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cfgaussian @lemmygrad.ml 1w ago

Him just being there is whatever, ultimately it's also just more content for him, which he will make money from. I want to see him use a substantial part of his fortune to provide actual material help. Until that happens i will reserve judgement on whether this is based or not.