Happy Birthday comrade!
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- 5 yr. ago
Definitely some so bad its good things to it. The director was a notorious Hollywood reactionary who was competent at making films at least. It's not a great film, it's clearly a propaganda screed and kind of laughable these days.
If you're looking for other bad reactionary anti-communist films I'd suggest "If Footmen Tire You, What Will Horses Do?" if you can find a copy which was a kind of church/preacher-made fearmongering film about the threat of communism and a hypothetical scenario of what if they won in the US. It has this delightful scene where a communist commissar supposedly trying to indoctrinate a bunch of children prays to Fidel and "glorious Fidel" brings the children "all the candy they can eat" which consists of a guy walking in through a door and bringing a sack of candy the guy proceeds to throw at the children, telling them it is a miracle, not of "your Jesus Christ" but of Fidel Castro. This is a truly bad film unlike Red Dawn, Red Dawn tries and has correct communist iconography whereas the hammer and sickles in Footmen are badly done and everything is cheap.
DS9 IMO is where the revisionism started.
This is directly connectable to two historical events:
- Death of Gene Roddenberry and control being ceded to other executives who were more liberal.
- It was the very first Trek show made following the victory of the US in the cold war, the end of history rhetoric and feeling reaching its height. (While most of TNG was filmed after the fall of the USSR, the first 3-ish seasons were written and shot before that, thus setting a tone among the writers, additionally the impact of the fall of the USSR wasn't really fully felt until the coup in 1994 which was most of the way through the show's run) Additionally I believe Patrick Stewart held some sympathies as the time that might have pushed back against any attempts to revise the universe, even if they'd wanted to and I don't think they wanted to make any major changes during the run of the show.
This can be laid at the feet of Rick Berman really more than anything. Gene Roddenberry was weird, he was leering, but he undoubtedly had some much better politics than Berman and those who followed. In the glow of the victory of capitalism and end of history the whole IP took a very dark turn necessarily on the belief that this was it, this was how things would continue and Star Trek would have to exist in some related context with less utopianism.
Voyager continued or at least didn't revert these problems though given it's situation being stranded far outside of the communist controlled space their actions and activities can be more or less justified as frontier and war communism tough stuff. What can't be as easily bushed aside is the black ops section whatever introduced in DS9, the heavy use of fiat currency among the crew in ordinary situations including gambling, and a lot of other shifts in how the federation is defined and run.
So I agree but I disagree in its inclusion in ST "golden age" canon which is basically just TNG. Hence why I think the IP is not worth fighting over, the liberals won long ago and it's only ever gotten worse since then. By itself in a vacuum or with TOS TNG is a great if somewhat utopian socialist show. Everything that followed has been decay if not outright plundering in a mirror version of what Russia went through in the 90s of shock therapy and terror.
Mini-rant: I dislike Star Trek so it's not surprising to me to see this. I used to like it when it was only ToS/TNG (mainly TNG) in my mind with Voyager kind of off in the distance with DS9 further off but as a franchise most of it by sheer volume and weight is now so liberal, so anti-communist, so just bad, so grim-dark and anti-bloomer that ST originally was that I can't say I like it as a property or universe. I enjoy the TOS films, I enjoy TNG and the TNG films, I like a decent chunk of Voyager and some of DS9 but after that... I fell out of love once Enterprise came out and after seeing the J.J. Abrams reboot of grim-dark trek I just walked away entirely and what I hear only encourages me that I made the right choice. I don't care what they're doing now. I did enjoy Lower Decks but that was a fan tribute to ToS/TNG/Voy/DS9 that isn't even really canon so that's probably why they could get away with some of what they did.
No, only implicitly. Afaik Gene meant for it to be like the Nordic model.
I've never seen or been given any sources that really clarify what he was after. I saw several times on left reddit subs over the years people repeat the claim that his wife said on a radio show that "what the Chinese believe in, that's what Gene saw for Star Trek" or something to the effect. But I've never seen a source on this.
It certainly seems at times in places much more than just nordic social democracy extended. The in-universe hand-waving is that it was basically just a nuclear war and not violent revolution that brought about humanity coming together under this (cough communism cough) system. By DS9 the liberals are fully in control, they do things like "oh the wealthy can be shamed by riot leaders being exceptionally decent and not murdering their cops when they take power in an area, and oh being non-violent will get real change" (with regard to Bell Riots).
For one thing the model of ToS seems very militarized but also has people who seem to me like stand-ins even if ones not always portrayed super favorably for Soviet commissars, for planning individuals within a kind of strictly run hierarchy. By TNG that seems to have been dropped.
Thank you.
The great fear we should all have is Trump somehow manages a rapprochement with Russia, a team-up in as you say a new imperialist order, bringing Russia into the club while shoving Europe out to arm's length. Putin may not wish to allow this but he's old and if he doesn't die in the coming years anyways he could be pushed aside.
Should that happen and a few more things along with it that see to China's encirclement and isolation, it is one of those big things that could lead to the defeat of socialism and locking in of barbarism in a post-climate-change world.
And one of the reasons I am not willing to say the US is cooked or fucked just yet. This is an ace they could yet pull out and the Russian bourgeoisie might let them have it for a mere equal partnership and dividing or profits.
Securing Russia's cooperation would be enough to enable totally isolating China from the world economy and turning the screws on them. They'd have the island chains, first and second to contain them via sea. They'd have hostile India to the west, instability carefully engineered for decades in west Asia/middle east to disrupt the belt and road with a big assist from their colonial outpost "isn'treal" which despite all our hopes is riding pretty high on success lately with Iran meaningfully weakened, more weak in regional power, friends, influence than they have been in decades. If they lock down Russia as well China has no real routes to ship and receive goods to and from Africa, to and from Europe, etc.
IF the capitalists have them in that position they can fuck their proletariat and their consumer economies by hard decoupling because it won't matter, because they'll just exploit their workers at home harder, they'll 'friendshore' to India and some back to the US and perhaps a more desperate and weakened EU that's gutted all its social welfare. Things won't be as good, quality will be down, there will be various problems, increased costs but a lot of this can be passed onto consumers and there may yet be no serious falling rate of profit consequences worse than those they were already bearing.
China has a very dangerous path ahead. I really hope Russia doesn't join with the west. I hope honestly at this point that deranged anti-Russia democrats get back into power in 4 years and ruin any and all progress but given how the bourgeoisie are lining up behind Trump and this shift I have my doubts that they're not all in on this.
This will also be a moment to test whether theories of imperialism can apply to China depending on their complicity with any such alliance.
This is however absurd. China is not imperialist, they will not willingly be imperialist. They are trying their hardest to free the world of imperialism and they will not be invited to any speculative US-Russia imperialism club or offered a seat there as there are no extra profits to be shared by the western capitalists who are desperate at this point because of the falling rates of profit and collapsing neo-colonialism.
I have to agree. There will come a point where the US navy will do something like throw up a blockade and just steal any Chinese ships that attempt to approach Africa to buy raw minerals and China can either try and construct the most elaborate smuggling scheme in the world or they have to confront NATO with force, maybe sink some ships, maybe just escort their own and start providing military assistance to friendly African or other states who risk being couped or attacked by western forces. It'll likely be very low confrontation and framed as defensive and limited in nature to start as I don't see China wanting to war with the west even if the west takes off both gauntlets and slaps them repeatedly across the face. It then becomes a question of whether Chinese assistance can overcome centuries of western expertise and experience couping, dividing and conquering, creating proxy forces, sectarian strife fostering, blackmail, and destabilizing regions for profit and imperialism. It tends to be easier to destroy than to build so it's going to be rough.
Why are you spamming this as a reply to everyone in the thread?
Encouraging dating and misogynistic slurs for women in one? Oh baby, it's a wonder the DSA is so male. Everyone knows ladies all love both creeps and misogyny. /s
- 跳过
Is using an Matrix account from matrix.org private and secure enough to talk with my family members and people in general?
It’s all about threat profile. Unless your relatives are discussing with you or each other organizing a socialist group or something Signal is probably fine if you’re not inclined to self host a matrix.
Following up some comments given it's been said I'm pessimistic.
I tend to see it as realism checking run-away revolutionary optimism which I think is necessary as if you keep telling yourself you'll get a pony year after year and year after year it doesn't happen you risk losing any hope at all and just checking out of that idea entirely which is something that does happen. I live in the imperial core. I'd love to see the revolution, I'd love to see it next year but I have to be realistic and hope I can temper the expectations and thinking of comrades to see the world not as they wish it to be steadily rushing towards revolution but a more complex situation. The hope burns eternal in us but we have a duty to our comrades to while being rosy also be pragmatic and honest about the world in our analysis and not get too far ahead of ourselves in rosy predictions, to temper them with not so rosy possibilities and keep an open mind about how things are unfolding and what it means.
Also in getting back to the original post there is media through the years that's less fascist and openly reactionary. Take Star Trek up through The Next Generation (I'd start there in fact, 60s show is weird about women and a few other things) at least which can be read as a hopeful post scarcity communist civilization. Even things like DS9 and Voyager aren't totally bad though they started the shows decline into capitalist realism with the gambling and fiat currency being commonly used. Lower Decks (despite having some love letters to stuff I consider capitalist degeneration series after the 90s) is fairly upbeat and watchable. They even had an episode fighting some capitalists on a new post-scarcity planet (though it was of course liberal coded with the resolution). Things like Andor despite being on the surface Star Wars slop have a solid story of resistance against a strong, reactionary empire. There are many movies that can be read positively as well even if many of them are engaging in recouperation.
I think the point is not to consume it uncritically. To avoid the worst of it that’s just pure cop apologia or fascist love letters type of thing.
And to not of course become too enamored with it to the point of not understanding it’s function as propaganda and the need to enjoy more than just that in life.
Fact is there is not going to be a cultural revolution in the west anytime soon. Acting like this person acts is a prescription for despair and being seen as weird by the masses for most people. Part of me of course says good on her and people like her might be of great use in an eventual revolutionary situation and might be leadership material. But right now there is a need to engage with the masses where they are and being able to shoot the shit about a few popular shows isn’t a bad thing.
It’s IMO much more useful to be able to talk to your average person about specific problems that are big propaganda in a given show than just go around screaming how it’s all bourgeois propaganda. One presents an in for class awareness education. The other makes people roll their eyes.
The revolutionary moment is I’m sorry to say probably decades away in the imperial core. Most people would burn out after years or decades of this.
It doesn't matter.
It is a FACT that Iran has murdered many communists, especially in the aftermath of the successful Islamic revolution when they were solidifying power but also afterwards I'm sure.
It is a fact that Iran is run by reactionary socially backwards forces.
And it is a fact that it is never-the-less an important part of the international anti-imperialist bloc.
It is a fact that there is no near term hopes for a communist revolution in Iran, that if the current regime were to be overthrown that it would be by pro-US, pro-west compradors who'd sell out the people, sell out the region, and do their utmost to help the west destroy BRICS and the new emerging multipolarity. Thus that the best we can hope for is continued weakening of the US, of the zionist settler outpost occupying Palestine, and continuing growth of the power of China and Russia and that as that progresses there might be space for weakening of the grip reactionaries have on Iran over time.
There's no particular reason to mourn the dead president of Iran. He was no progressive force and from what I've read was from the more conservative elements of the government. Neither is there reason to celebrate his death, which has not materially changed anything important. It won't lead to better women's rights or gay rights or tolerance of communists in Iran. He was but one part of a larger and entrenched state.
Deprogramming people from milquetoast liberalism to program them into equally empire-friendly (and ultimately more dangerous) ultra-lefti-ism. Very cool.
Let me join the circle of shame. Having people to latch onto leaving Evangelical Christianity was important to me when I was younger and he was one of those I unfortunately latched onto. Funnily enough all I ever did with him, Hitchens, etc was read their books. Never did the whole parasocial thing of clinging to their every statement and youtube video like so many people do which seems contrary to the nature of atheism as a thing without prophets to follow.
A lot to say without much actual proof. Those things COULD be used to persecute the LGBTQ+ community but that doesn't mean they are. As could many things, a country could selectively enforce all kinds of much more neutral sounding laws exclusively on gay people as a means of persecution.
I'm sorry but without any proof I'm not ready to go throwing them out and cede to liberals and reactionary anti-communist rainbow-washing forces that they are actually indeed so. There's so much misinformation about the DPRK it's not even funny.
If being gay is considered a decadent act by the government
That one IF is doing a huge amount of lifting, your argument falls apart when you take it out.
which it likely is,
Proof, we need proof, not "I feel like it is". And yes all countries have persons in them, including those attached to the party who hold backwards views on a variety of things.
In particular I'll note Eastern notions of frowning on something are not the same as western active persecution. There are also issues of things lost in translation. China doesn't criminalize being gay but they very much crack down on LGBTQ-CIA organizations (we need a Buttigieg rat emoji) that advance a western, liberal slant.
I make no claims they are some bastion of rights for queer people as they're likely not given their history and material circumstances but I think this whole post is making a mountain out of a molehill of evidence. You can't just leap from one conclusion to another more severe one.
At the end of the day cfgaussian's take is mine but I think OP jumped the shark with a sweeping and unsupported by evidence alarmist proclamation.
It gets a bit tiresome going over this so many times so excuse the short answer.
https://en.prolewiki.org/wiki/Russia https://en.prolewiki.org/wiki/Imperialism
https://mronline.org/2019/01/02/is-russia-imperialist/
The short of it is, no. Russia is NOT imperialist. It does not fit Lenin's criteria.
It tried to join the imperialist bloc of western NATO nations after the fall of the USSR several times but was rebuffed and rejected bluntly. It then tried coexistence, integration and as we can see that has all fallen apart.
Throughout the post-soviet period Russia has maintained friendship with nations of the global south including China, Cuba, Venezuela, and other members of the group of resisting nations to western hegemony and imperialism including Iran.
Russia acts as a counter-weight to western imperialism. It is by action anti-imperialist. This was not its choice but the consequence of historical realities and choices made by the west as well as its own choices.
Russia is in fact a victim of the ruling imperialist bloc's violence and attempts to destroy it and subjugate it's peoples.
Russian capitalists have no choice but to be part of this alliance against imperialism. It's either that or be destroyed and made either very junior partners with a tiny share of the plunder or liquidated entirely as a class by the western bourgeoisie in favor of their nation being split up and ruled by various comprador types.
A thread from Genzhou (archived) on this: https://lemmygrad.ml/post/232591
We love our authoritarian admins folks. The best admins. o7
Happy Birthday comrade!