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itsoctober

@ itsoctober @lemmy.ml

Posts
9
Comments
6
Joined
1 yr. ago

  • Today is 43rd anniver of Sabra and Shatila

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  • Here's recent US secretary of state Antony Blinken's thoughts on it in the 80s:

    the horrors of Shatila and Sabra obscure what we must hope will be the Jewish state's eventual salvation: a working, vibrant democracy ... Israel is not, has never been, nor will ever be the irreproachable, perfectly moral state some of its supporters would like to see. Israelis are, after all, only human. Still, one pedestal the Jewish state can stand on--and stand on alone in the Middle East--is that of a democracy. Yes, there are tragic excesses in the occupied territories. True, the invasion of Lebanon claimed many innocent lives. The fact remains, though, that Israelis question themselves and their government openly and honestly. Eventually, as in other democracies, those responsible for wrongdoing are held accountable. ("Israel's Saving Grace," 1982)

    There is much to be dismayed-even horrified-about. Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of innocent civilians killed, and thousands more made homeless. ... As grievance piles upon grievance, the anti-Israeli rhetoric becomes venomous, hateful. ... The terrible waste of life and destruction notwithstanding, justification for the fight undertaken by Israel can be easily found ... the history of the Middle East since 1948 shows Israel constantly striving for peace, only to be rebuffed time and again by the Arabs ... Israel is the victim of a perverse double standard. When the Jews assert their right to a secure homeland, the world calls them "war-mongers" and "Nazis." When the PLO tries to destroy Israel through terrorism, other nations sympathize with a people who "just wants a place to call home." ("Lebanon and the Facts," 1982)

    The summer of 1982 may be remembered in history as the time Israel passed from adolescence to adulthood. The illusions of a child are left behind. But the Jewish state remains special, an oasis in a desert. Its citizens have built a working democracy from scratch in a region that has no others. Israelis must treasure that democracy, protect it with all their will. ("The Danger Within," 1983)

  • Curious about socialism

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  • What I am interested in learning is how society would operate and function under socialism / communism.

    Keep in mind that any hypothetical or actual example of a socialist project or society must account for the fact that it will be built in essentially wartime conditions in direct confrontation with capitalism/imperialism from its very beginnings. Therefore, much of how it functions will inevitably be intertwined with the question of how to defend itself from covert sabotage and overt violent destruction from capitalist/imperialist reaction. We should look at history and at ongoing modern attempts at constructing socialist societies and projects, as well as all projects/societies which confront imperialism, in order to have a more comprehensive view of the actual outcomes and possibilities under various conditions. For these reasons, someone new to socialism generally should also be studying history along with learning theoretical concepts.

    I second the recommendations of the Blowback podcast as a way to learn some history about the worldwide confrontation with imperialism. You may also be interested in the videos and articles of Geopolitical Economy Report, he mainly covers current events but he does cover historical events as well. I also recommend ProleWiki, which will give you a fairly standard Marxist-Leninist view on a variety of topics and you can also look at the various cited sources for jumping off points of your own research. You may be interested in the book Socialism With Chinese Characteristics: A Guide for Foreigners by Roland Boer.

  • Pyongyang Metro (2024) - New train + station tourists don't usually visit (Kaeson)

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  • It wasn't, but now it is, thanks for putting me on to the song lol

  • traingang @hexbear.net
    itsoctober @lemmy.ml

    Pyongyang Metro (2024) - New train + station tourists don't usually visit (Kaeson)

  • World reactions as Donald Trump wins US presidential election

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  • the one who might have been able to be reasoned with

    You misunderstand the Democrats' foreign policy if you think this.

    Read a few books on international relations by members of the Biden-Harris administration and their mentors, friends, and predecessors. They are ideologically committed to US supremacy and hegemony internationally, at whatever cost. Broadly, this ideological tendency is called liberal (as in capitalist) internationalism and it is about preserving the "rules based" international order in which the U.S. is explicitly to remain indefinitely as the world's sole hegemonic power. In this world view, the US is in the unique position of being able to be the arbiter of world affairs, due to its post-WII economic and military might and advantageous geographical position (easy access to both the Atlantic and Pacific oceans and lack of powerful neighbors) providing the US an unprecedented ability to govern worldwide. This supposedly makes the US the "only" world power capable of preserving international "peace" so long as no rival power is allowed to rise, particularly in Eurasia. The rise of a rival power to US hegemony is seen as a disastrous outcome because it will (supposedly) plunge the world back into WWI-style chaos. Overall, in their view, "order" (unipolarity) is superior to "chaos" (multipolarity), and "US-led order" is superior to all other forms of order, as in their view the US-led order is the only order capable of enforcing world peace, which they absurdly claim is what the US has been doing all this time since WWII.

    One of the reasons they hate Trump so much is that he's not from this ideological school; he's an opportunist first and foremost and therefore has a chaotic effect on this US-dominated international order's strategic imperatives. Trump can only be reasoned with on the basis of his opportunism, which will basically follow the whims of himself and his cronies, whatever those whims may be. The liberal internationalists can only be reasoned with in the framework of the long-term viability of US global hegemony, and their behaviors and goals are relatively more predictable as they have their own body of theory explaining all of that, which we can read (for example in the works of Brzezinski of the Carter administration, or Blinken of the current administration). To them, Trump is like a drunk driver who grabbed the wheel of the empire, because of his "America First" policies which they regard as short-sighted in that they play on various populist demands while ignoring and in some regards rejecting international "responsibility" of managing world affairs and suppressing rivals, (potentially) endangering the empire's long-term stability. He messes up their timetables, finances, and commitments, that's really the only thing about him they truly can't abide. The fascist society he wants at home is the one they already created for others abroad, and which already has long existed for many at home regardless. Their "fear" is that the system of global US dominance they created will crash before they can get it back on track. They really do not care about the fascism part, which will not really affect them like it affects normal citizens.

    This is all to say that "reasoning" with Democrats over Gaza would always have been impossible. Throughout the decades, they have dragged their feet on the issue, shedding a crocodile tear or two when the situation looks too bloody in the international spotlight, making tactical concessions occasionally, but all ultimately with a long-term strategy of allowing Palestine to be gradually whittled down, in which their ideal is that Palestinians stop resisting and Israel is ultimately triumphant in its suppression of Palestinian sovereignty and the issue conveniently "goes away" forever, a past tragedy they can pretend to be sad about while enjoying some newfound financial flexibility when it comes to the costs of maintaining and upgrading their unsinkable aircraft carrier Israel. Blinken didn't give a damn about Palestinians in 1982, he essentially wrote that even though Israel was aiding a bit of massacres here and there it was still just a baby democracy that needs our support, and surely "someday" would be held accountable for its excesses. And now? Blinken is Secretary of State, giving Netanyahu a hug and requesting more funds for genocide and dressing his kid up as Zelensky for a Halloween party the next day. With people like this peppering every Dem administration's top leadership for decades, whose careers all began long ago and whose records of views and behaviors are there for all of us to see, and likewise with their neocon friends, cousins, and business partners in every Republican administration salivating over war with Iran, the prospects of "reasoning" with any of them over Palestine are pretty much zero.

  • What's an aspect of life that's currently done privately that you think should be communalized?

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  • Removed

    China cracks down on Communist party officials for reading banned books

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  • neoliberalism and "liberal internationalism", also known as austerity, IMF debt, coups d'etat, getting bombed by NATO and signing Status of Forces Agreements