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Are we really surprised?

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get their ass

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I'm sorry to the nationalists of color running defense for the white supremacist nation of the USA, but the USA is the source of white supremacism in current world order. Trying to deflect from this and using Standpoint Epistemology to do it is ignoring the actual, like, real historical, material, reality that we live in. Like, this is not a defense of Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, or any other place that yankee Nationalists of Color might bright up, as I see them use those specific countries all the time.¹ Those settlements (and/or the states' wealth) are also built upon racism, but you have to be fucking joking to see, for instance, the USA as the foremost support for Israel's ongoing genocide in Gaza and go, "well, in the current moment, who knows which country materially upholds white supremacy the most?" The same people who eschew Marx as being "white" and remain satisfied in ignoring learning about a man whose thoughts have been embraced by billions of people of color outside of the USA are digging their heels in to do what, demand that their rotting colonial empire get the second place rather than first place trophy in the white supremacy peagant because they have no other means of imagining a path to liberation? Deeply, deeply myopic and reactionary way of thinking from these yanks that're wrapped up in enough progressive language for other happily uneducated yanks to lap up and be self-satisfied in having had internalized another way to Defend their Empire's Honor. For a supposed protestant nation, these people sure love their indulgences. Anything to ameliorate the guilt of being an imperialized subject with all the comparable benefits that entails! Does the guilt and the sin get washed away with these negations of their empire's cruelty? Maybe it does, but I'm only here to work, so I'll pray that I'll never be in a position to find out!

¹These are all in British commonwealth, by the way! I wonder if these people speak any language that isn't English, to know the conditions elsewhere.

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The rate of extraction from the global south is truly enormous

Bananas grow by the millions of pounds, farmed by people paid cents on the hour, transported on trucks whose drivers are paid the same, loaded onto boats whose crews are paid in dollars per day, unloaded at an american port and driven by a rent-to-own trucker to a distribution center where a minimum wage worker labels and ships them to a store where another minimum wage worker stocks them for a dollar a pound. This is imperialism at work on a scale you can visibly see at every produce section at every grocery store in the usa

If you add up all the costs, the highest is first world labor. The labor of the toiling masses which happen before reaching american shores are nearly imperceptible compared to the wages paid to the american warehouse worker or grocery store worker. And yet, even those wages are nothing compared to the total profit extracted from this trade.

This same pattern repeats itself over and over again in every industry. These commodities end up in the first world to prop up their highly constructed and built by genocide and blood political-economy.

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Today is the 26th of July, 2024, exactly 71 years since the failed assault on the Moncada barracks in Santiago de Cuba. This failure would later be commemorated by Fidel Castro and his vanguard revolutionary movement as their very name, the name with which they won independence for Cuba from its dictator, Fulgencio Batista, and it's imperial overlord, the United States.

Cuba is still not free, however; crippling US sanctions have hindered its development, stressed their society, and needlessly taken lives. This embargo, now in its 65th year, must end. If you live in the United States, you bear a special responsibility to use every means of pressure, collectively, to pressure your government and your ruling class to end this embargo and finally free Cuba.

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Great study from Piketty

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antisemitism was not the main element of nazism, anti-communism was. you can take the antisemitism out of nazism entirely and still have nazism. but you can't take the anti-communism out of it.

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Kind of painful to admit that at the heart of the lack of revolutionary struggle in the US is the fact that conditions haven't deteriorated enough. Like when people talk about declining standards of the quality of life they're talking about "fries used to automatically come with a burger now you have to pay extra if you want a side".

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If you, speaking now to those citizens of the imperial core, can only remember one thing about automation, it must be this: automation does not reduce the amount of labour required for a given process (in truth it greatly increases it), rather it relocates the labour, and changes its form.

Installation and operation automated grocery store checkout involves more labour-hours of concerted effort than the hiring of a checkout worker. However, more of these labour-hours are realised inside the computer factory (rather than the store) and are carried out through the acts of manufacturing, transport, and maintenance than the complex and multifaceted task of a human worker.

It is more efficient, not cheaper. In the context of global imperialism, it produces a greater profit by shifting production to global south countries, where the cost of labour has been maintained (through military and political action both overt and covert). It is essential for the imperial core citizen to recognise this fact; the job is not gone, in fact, there are more jobs required to do the work, but they are happening elsewhere, to people in worse conditions.

If you can remember this, you will be able to very quickly understand which direction the correct position on a given instance of automation is. Many arguments fall apart when faced with this simple fact; that automation only relocates labour, rather than creating or destroying it.

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Please publish an explainer on the process of renouncing American citizenship.

(Apparently there is a $2,350 fee!)

I know nothing about that process. If there's anyone out there that can help, please do so in the reblogs.

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oh my g-d i cannot believe im seeing people on my dash genuinely call it antisemitic and/or genocide apologia to defend the molotov-ribbentrop pact like okay

the USSR requested that league of nations sanction germany when it began to remilitarize (breaking the treaty of versailles) and was told by every other LoN member to go pound sand

the USSR was the first country to propose to other european powers, to form a united front against nazi germany. this is because socialism and fascism are diametrically fucking opposed, and also because racial discrimination was extremely illegal in the USSR

they were denied this by other leaders, most notably the UK and France, because capitalist leaders were hoping that hitler would go east and get rid of the ussr for them

this is the #1 reason why they pressured their ally czechoslovakia into ceding part of their territory to the nazis as "appeasement," because in the case the nazis continued to be aggressive, wesetern europe wanted them to keep going east. chamberlain called the UK and Nazi Germany, "the two pillars of European peace and buttresses against communism."

they knew full well that they were leaving the remainder of czechoslovakia weak against further incursion and subjecting >800k czechoslovak citizens, many of whom were jewish, to suddenly living in nazi territory

this ALSO constituted a non-aggression pact with the Nazis that ACTUALLY IS as monstrous as people act like the m-r pact was

this move was supported by both churchill and by FDR in the USA

having been shown that the rest of europe + the USA would not care if the USSR was invaded by the nazis, and knowing that it was a matter of time before the nazis invaded the USSR, the molotov-ribbentrop pact was made in order to a) buy time for the USSR to prepare for invasion, and b) give the western european countries motivation to actually fight the nazis and not just hope the ussr would do it for them

the only country which suffered as a result of this pact was NOT poland, but finland, which was officially neutral but very much pro-nazi. the USSR requested finland lend them some land along their border so they could increase the defensible distance between the nazis and moscow, and finland refused. which is why the USSR invaded finland in "the winter war" and took a bunch of land from them

which sounds like a dick move and kinda was, but turned out to be completely necessary because the nazis did end up coming ridiculously close to moscow and would absolutely have gotten to moscow if it weren't for that land

this extra time also allowed the ussr to prepare for war (on two fronts, because they also fought japan) by training troops, amping up production for war-related industries, placing spies, etc

(in fact, a lot of Soviet spies from Western Europe, like the cambridge five etc. joined not because they were necessarily communists but because they were anti-Nazi and disappointed in their own govts' not taking hitler seriously)

the USSR did overwhelmingly more damage to the nazis than any other allied country, despite being less than 30yrs old, fighting on 2 fronts, and barely past their industrial revolution. they also took massive casualties

the USSR was also the only country in Europe & one of the only large countries in the world, to not put a cap on how many Jewish refugees could enter (& also accepted all other refugees, many countries denied entry to romani ppl and to communists)

(most of the rest of europe didn't even allow jews who had fled to return to their homes and instead encouraged them to go to israel)

the USSR actually persecuted nazis in all the areas they had control of after ww2 but the other allied countries esp the USA mostly did not, and in fact the USA (and Canada) both recruited Nazi scientists into cushy jobs working on nukes etc to use against the USSR

listen the USSR was not perfect. there's a lot of shit that did go down in eastern europe after ww2 that couldve been a lot better. but there is absolutely no basis for comparing the USSR to nazi germany, or calling it antisemitic, or nazi collaborationist, etc. like there literally is no basis at all. the molotov-ribbentrop pact, the only time the countries shook hands, was a short-lived tactical maneuver done in order to boost their chances of defeating the nazis later on, and it was only done after every other country involved did the literal exact same thing

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If you’re a yanqui like me, you’re going to be surrounded by “patriotic” spectacles today. Understand this for what it is: a vulgar celebration of genocide, slavery and racial subjugation, and imperial plunder. Many will try to reclaim these celebrations in the name of reform, but in doing so, they continue to bolster and hide behind love for a government actively and continuously enabling genocide, fomenting global war, maintaining concentration camps, and enriching its ruling class on the backs of billions of workers worldwide.

The United States of America and its symbols cannot be rehabilitated — they can and must be destroyed. You do not have any “freedoms” that depend on the continued existence of the US government. We must stand unambiguously against the US government and ruling class or else remain complicit in its ceaseless campaign of terror, expansion, and exploitation. I believe the United States can and will fall within our lifetimes, but you have to help make it happen. Remember the counsel of comrade Fidel:

The duty of every revolutionary is to make the revolution. It is known that the revolution will triumph in America and throughout the world, but it is not for revolutionaries to sit in the doorways of their houses waiting for the corpse of imperialism to pass by.

There is work to be done, comrades. Do not turn away from it. Do not be fooled into celebrating “independence.” Commit yourself to the struggle of liberation.

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For no reason at all, here's a list of American Universities with inexplicable ties to slavery. Among the 100 something list, plenty are from here up north.

The article from the Guardian that prompted this link was from yesterday, about Jordan Lloyd. A descendant of two slaves of a Harvard founding member. I'll share the article and headline. Read the whole thing.

Get even angrier with me.

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Thinking about how when the Oceangate sub imploded, the coastguard picked it up on their radar and knew from the moment it happened that everyone on board was already gone, and yet there was still a five day manhunt.

And how like a week before that, a refugee ship sank off the coast of Greece, whose officials knew this was happening and had ships within reach, but intentionally did nothing.

And how there was like the most expansive manhunt in recent history to find a suspect in the UHC shooting. In a city known for its unsolved crimes. How Briana Boston was arrested for a vaguely perceived threat to a CEO she wasn't even speaking to nor mentioned, while internet stalkers are never addressed unless they hurt someone, and then it's a maybe

And just how there is always money to perform for the rich, even when they can't actually be helped. And there is never money to help the poor, no matter how easy they would be to save.

And for some reason it's considered "dangerous and extreme" to want a world where our lives aren't just fodder at the whims of the rich.