11 SINAIS DO FASCISMO SEGUNDO HUMBERTO ECO
-CPAC: Conferência de Ação Política Conservadora, organização terrorista que propaga o nazismo mundo afora. Ela está formando falanges no Brasil e acaba de realizar em encontro em Belo Horizonta, ciceroneada pelo NAZI ZEMA-'Maior evento conservador do mundo', Cpac terá a presença de Nikolas em MG | O TEMPO
Cândido Grzybowski/iBase
Segundo pensador italiano, o culto à tradição; a repulsa ao moderno; o machismo; o racismo; a guerra permanente são típicos do “fascismo eterno”. Ou seja, a ameaça já está implantada entre nós, mesmo que não siga seu nome.
-OS BOZONAZIS SE ESQUECEM DE QUE O POVO VENCEU-
BOZO PERDEU NA RUA
BOZO PERDEU NAS URNAS
SUA DERROTA CONTINUA!"
Tenho refletido e escrito sobre a perda de vitalidade da democracia. Mas acho que agora já entramos num perigoso caminho de desconstrução da democracia, uma ameaça que vem na esteira do golpe do impeachment e se expressa hoje no nosso governo híbrido, civil-militar, com sua agenda anti direitos. Claro, a institucionalidade democrática formal está mantida até aqui, mas algo por dentro vem corroendo os princípios e valores éticos e políticos vitais da democracia: o respeito incondicional da liberdade de ser, pensar e agir, a busca da maior igualdade possível, com direito à diversidade, convivendo em solidariedade coletiva e baseando tudo em ativa participação cidadã. Tais princípios constituem o substrato de qualquer democracia com potencial de transformar contradições e divergências, de potencial destrutivo, em forças construtivas de sociedades mais livres e justas.
Hoje reconheço um vírus implantado em nosso seio que pode acabar com a democracia e nos levar ao fascismo como regime político. Estamos diante de sinais inequívocos de tal vírus no campo de ideias e valores que foram se revelando e se condensaram na vitória eleitoral e nas falas do presidente e de integrantes do governo empossado. A leitura de um discurso de Umberto Eco, de 24 de abril de 1995, na Universidade de Columbia, Nova York, publicado em espanhol por Bitacora, sob o título Los 14 síntomas del fascismo eterno, me inspirou. Segundo Eco, as características típicas do “Ur-Fascismo” ou “fascismo eterno” não se enquadram num sistema, “…mas basta com que uma delas esteja presente para fazer coagular uma nebulosa fascista” (em tradução livre). Vou lembrar aqui apenas alguns dos indícios do eterno fascismo que Eco aponta e que deixo aos leitores desta minha crônica identificar as suas expressões na realidade brasileira.
Culto da tradição – como se toda a verdade já estivesse revelada há muito tempo e o que precisamos é ser fiéis a ela. O tradicionalismo é uma espécie de cartilha na disputa de hegemonia fascista sobre corações e mentes. O pensamento do principal guru dos “donos do poder”, a pregação das igrejas pentecostais e as falas – quando dizem algo – são impregnados de uma veneração da verdade já revelada em escritos sagrados e de valores espirituais mais tradicionais do cristianismo. “Deus, pátria, família e propriedade”, com a força que estão de volta como pregação, não deixam dúvida. Fascismo e fundamentalismo sempre vêm juntos.
Repulsa ao modernismo – que leva a considerar as conquistas humanas em termos de direitos e de emancipação social como perversidades da ordem natural. Nega-se, em consequência, a racionalidade e, com ela, toda a ciência e a tecnologia. Não falta gente com tal forma de pensar no governo e seus seguidores. Para eles, direitos iguais são um absurdo. Mudança climática é uma “invenção de comunistas”. E por aí vai.
Culto da ação pela ação – fazer e agir, acima de tudo. Como diz Eco, para fascistas “pensar é uma forma de castração”. Daí a atitude de suspeita à cultura, pois é vista como algo crítico. Em consequência, todo mundo intelectual é suspeito. Ainda Eco, “O maior empenho dos intelectuais fascistas oficiais consistia em acusar a cultura moderna e a intelligentsia liberal de ter abandonado os valores tradicionais”.
Não aceitação do pensamento crítico – pensar criticamente é fazer distinções e isto é sinal de modernidade, pois o desacordo é base do avanço do conhecimento científico. O fascismo eterno considera a divergência como traição. Deve-se aceitar a verdade da ordem estabelecida. Daí, “escola sem partido”, sem iniciação ao pensamento crítico e a liberdade de expressão e ação.
O racismo na essência – segundo Eco, com medo da diferença, o fascismo a explora e potencializa em nome da busca e da imposição do consenso. Os e as diferentes não são bem vindos. Por isso, o fascismo eterno é essencialmente racista e xenofóbico. Daí a identificar os diferentes como criminosos a linha é reta.
O apelo aos precarizados e frustrados – todos os fascismos históricos fizeram apelo aos grupos sociais que sofrem frustração e se sentem desleixados pela política. As mudanças no mundo do trabalho, promovidas pela globalização econômica e financeira, são terreno fértil para o fascismo.
O nacionalismo como identidade social – nação como lugar de origem, com os seus símbolos. Os e as que não se identificam com isso são inimigos da nação. Portanto, devem ser excluídos. Podem ser os nascidos fora da nação, como os imigrantes, ou por se articularem com forças externas – o tal “comunismo internacional” – ou, ainda, por não se enquadrarem no padrão “normal” de nacionalidade. O nacionalismo vulgar é o cimento agregador de qualquer fascismo.
A vida como guerra permanente – no fascismo, a gente não luta pela vida, liberdade, bem viver, mas vive para lutar. A violência é aceita como regra e a busca de paz uma balela. Vencem os mais fortes, armados. Há um culto pela morte na luta.
O heroísmo como norma – o herói, um ser excepcional, sem medo da morte, está em todas as mitologias. Aqui basta lembrar a exploração feita daquele atentado em Juiz de Fora. O herói vira mito real.
O machismo como espécie de virtude – em sendo difícil a guerra permanente e a demonstração de heroísmo, o fascismo potencializa as relações de poder na questão sexual, segundo Umberto Eco. Aqui também não faltam manifestações de patriarcalismo e machismo, com intolerância com o que é considerado divergente da norma em questões sexuais. Não há lugar para a liberdade de opção sexual e de gênero.
O líder se apresenta como intérprete único da vontade comum – o povo é o seu povo, o seu entendimento do que seja o povo e sua vontade comum. Como diz Eco, estamos diante de um populismo de ficção.
Chamei atenção aqui para indícios de fascismo total apontados por Umberto Eco – não todos, para não ser enfadonho e talvez desvirtuar o que o autor quis dizer – com a preocupação de dar atenção a ideias e imaginários que estão adquirindo legitimidade mobilizadora no nosso seio. Inspirado no atualmente renegado Antônio Gramsci, exatamente pelo emergente fascismo político e cultural, penso que a conquista de hegemonia no sentido de direção intelectual e moral precede o poder do fascismo pela força estatal. Ou seja, a ameaça de fascismo já está implantada entre nós, mesmo se o regime ainda não parece ser fascista.
Fonte
https://outraspalavras.net/outrasmidias/onze-sinais-do-fascismo-segundo-umberto-eco/
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A OTAN é realmente o Quarto Reich. Assim como o Ocidente também é. Disso não há mais dúvidas.
ResponderExcluirA Associação do Mercado Comum das Américas (AMCA), em inglês Common Market Association of the Americas (CMAA), é uma proposta feita por Dumugian, com o objetivo de criar um mercado comum nas américas envolvendo todos os países das Américas. O Mercosul das Américas. Que envolveria todos os países das Américas, incluindo Cuba.
ResponderExcluirA Cooperação Econômica BRICS+ (CEBRICS+), em inglês BRICS+ Economic Cooperation (BRICS+EC), é uma proposta feita por Dumugian, que defende a criação de um fórum para promover o livre comércio e a cooperação econômica entre todos os países-membros dos BRICS mais os países observadores e países candidatos dos BRICS.
A Associação Global pela República Socialista Mundial (AGRSM - GASWR) é uma proposta feita por Dumugian que se trata da aliança de vários partidos socialistas e comunistas ao redor do mundo com o objetivo da criação da República Socialista Mundial, assim como promover a cooperação entre partidos socialistas e comunistas e a criação de toda uma jurisdição e de uma jurisprudência, assim como de um parlamento global e de um executivo global, para a criação da República Socialista Mundial.
ResponderExcluirr/TheDeprogram
ResponderExcluirWiki
Education
Praxis
Debunking
Profiles
Dunking
As revolutionaries, we don’t have the right to say we are tired of explaining. We must never stop explaining. We know that when the people understand, they cannot help but follow us.
- Thomas Sankara
Education
These articles seek to explain various fundamental Communist concepts. However, these are often oversimplistic and sometimes reductive and they are no substitute for reading actual theory. Please see the Study Guide for details.
Primers:
Class Struggle
What is Freedom?
What is Fascism?
What is Imperialism?
What is Revisionism?
Praxis
Philosophers have hitherto only interpreted the world in various ways; the point is to change it.
- Karl Marx. (1845). Theses On Feuerbach
Get Involved
Protest Advice
Debunking
These articles aim to dispell common myths and misconceptions about a variety of topics.
Authoritarianism
Freedom of the Press
USSR
The Gulag System
Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact
The Holodomor
PRC
The Uyghur Genocide
Tiananmen Square Massacre
Cuba
Logical Fallacies
Ergo Decedo
Whataboutism
Israel
Timeline
Ideological Roots
US Backing and Christian Zionism
Profiles
Che Guevara
Dunking
Naming and shaming.
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
George Orwell
Ideological State Apparatuses (ISA)
The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)
The National Endowment for Democracy (NED)
The U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM)
The Council on Foreign Relations (CFR)
The Information Research Department (IRD)
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ResponderExcluirSeria bom se o r/TheDeprogram escrevesse um tópico sobre o conceito de "teoria da conspiração" e de "desinformação" e de "propaganda russa", e de como que estes conceitos e termos determinados pela classe dominante, como o caso do Departamento de Estado dos EUA e pelas oligarquias dos EUA, da UE e da OTAN. A democracia liberal como uma forma de oligarquia.
ResponderExcluirCondições materiais nacionais absolutas, condições materiais nacionais relativas, condições materiais internacionais absolutas e condições materiais internacionais relativas.
Teologia aplicada ao Marxismo e Marxismo aplicado à Teologia. Panenteísmo politeísta como o consenso teológico universal.
O transatlantismo (OTANismo) como o Fascismo Ocidental de pós-1945.
A democracia liberal é o verdadeiro totalitarismo e extremismo.
Teologia abzuniana, filosofia abzuniana, metafísica abzuniana, pensamento abzuniano e o abzunianismo.It would be nice if r/TheDeprogram wrote a thread about the concept of "conspiracy theory" and "disinformation" and "Russian propaganda", and how these concepts and terms are determined by the ruling class, like the State Department of the USA and by the oligarchies of the USA, the EU and NATO. Liberal democracy as a form of oligarchy.
Absolute national material conditions, relative national material conditions, absolute international material conditions and relative international material conditions.
Theology applied to Marxism and Marxism applied to Theology. Polytheistic panentheism as the universal theological consensus.
Transatlanticism (NATO) as post-1945 Western Fascism.
Liberal democracy is true totalitarianism and extremism.
Abzunian theology, Abzunian philosophy, Abzunian metaphysics, Abzunian thought and Abzunianism.Sería bueno si r/TheDeprogram escribiera un hilo sobre el concepto de "teoría de la conspiración" y "desinformación" y "propaganda rusa", y cómo estos conceptos y términos son determinados por la clase dominante, como el Departamento de Estado de EE.UU. y por las oligarquías de EE.UU., la UE y la OTAN. La democracia liberal como forma de oligarquía.
Condiciones materiales nacionales absolutas, condiciones materiales nacionales relativas, condiciones materiales internacionales absolutas y condiciones materiales internacionales relativas.
Teología aplicada al marxismo y marxismo aplicado a la teología. El panenteísmo politeísta como consenso teológico universal.
El transatlanticismo (OTAN) como fascismo occidental posterior a 1945.
La democracia liberal es verdadero totalitarismo y extremismo.
Teología abzuniana, filosofía abzuniana, metafísica abzuniana, pensamiento abzuniano y abzunianismo.
Ce serait bien si r/TheDeprogram écrivait un fil de discussion sur les concepts de « théorie du complot », de « désinformation » et de « propagande russe », et sur la manière dont ces concepts et termes sont déterminés par la classe dirigeante, comme le Département d'État des États-Unis et par les oligarchies des États-Unis, de l’UE et de l’OTAN. La démocratie libérale comme forme d'oligarchie.
ExcluirConditions matérielles nationales absolues, conditions matérielles nationales relatives, conditions matérielles internationales absolues et conditions matérielles internationales relatives.
Théologie appliquée au marxisme et marxisme appliqué à la théologie. Le panenthéisme polythéiste comme consensus théologique universel.
Le transatlantisme (OTAN) comme fascisme occidental d’après 1945.
La démocratie libérale est un véritable totalitarisme et extrémisme.
Théologie abzunienne, philosophie abzunienne, métaphysique abzunienne, pensée abzunienne et abzunianisme.Es wäre schön, wenn r/TheDeprogram einen Thread über die Konzepte „Verschwörungstheorie“, „Desinformation“ und „russische Propaganda“ schreiben würde und wie diese Konzepte und Begriffe von der herrschenden Klasse, wie dem Außenministerium der USA, bestimmt werden durch die Oligarchien der USA, der EU und der NATO. Liberale Demokratie als eine Form der Oligarchie.
Absolute nationale materielle Bedingungen, relative nationale materielle Bedingungen, absolute internationale materielle Bedingungen und relative internationale materielle Bedingungen.
Theologie angewandt auf den Marxismus und Marxismus angewandt auf die Theologie. Polytheistischer Panentheismus als universeller theologischer Konsens.
Transatlantik (NATO) als westlicher Faschismus nach 1945.
Liberale Demokratie ist wahrer Totalitarismus und Extremismus.
Abzunische Theologie, abzunische Philosophie, abzunische Metaphysik, abzunisches Denken und Abzunianismus.
Het zou leuk zijn als r/TheDeprogram een draad zou schrijven over het concept van ‘samenzweringstheorie’ en ‘desinformatie’ en ‘Russische propaganda’, en hoe deze concepten en termen worden bepaald door de heersende klasse, zoals het ministerie van Buitenlandse Zaken van de VS en door de oligarchieën van de VS, de EU en de NAVO. Liberale democratie als een vorm van oligarchie.
ExcluirAbsolute nationale materiële omstandigheden, relatieve nationale materiële omstandigheden, absolute internationale materiële omstandigheden en relatieve internationale materiële omstandigheden.
Theologie toegepast op het marxisme en het marxisme toegepast op de theologie. Polytheïstisch panentheïsme als de universele theologische consensus.
Transatlanticisme (NAVO) als westers fascisme van na 1945.
De liberale democratie is een waar totalitarisme en extremisme.
Abzuniaanse theologie, Abzuniaanse filosofie, Abzuniaanse metafysica, Abzuniaanse gedachte en Abzunianisme.Sarebbe bello se r/TheDeprogram scrivesse un thread sul concetto di "teoria della cospirazione", "disinformazione" e "propaganda russa", e su come questi concetti e termini siano determinati dalla classe dirigente, come il Dipartimento di Stato degli Stati Uniti e dalle oligarchie di USA, UE e NATO. La democrazia liberale come forma di oligarchia.
Condizioni materiali nazionali assolute, condizioni materiali nazionali relative, condizioni materiali internazionali assolute e condizioni materiali internazionali relative.
Teologia applicata al marxismo e marxismo applicato alla teologia. Il panenteismo politeista come consenso teologico universale.
Il transatlanticismo (NATO) come fascismo occidentale post-1945.
La democrazia liberale è il vero totalitarismo ed estremismo.
Teologia abzuniana, filosofia abzuniana, metafisica abzuniana, pensiero abzuniano e abzunianesimo.
Было бы неплохо, если бы r/TheDeprogram написал ветку о понятиях «теория заговора», «дезинформация» и «российская пропаганда», а также о том, как эти понятия и термины определяются правящим классом, таким как Госдепартамент США и олигархиями США, ЕС и НАТО. Либеральная демократия как форма олигархии.
ExcluirАбсолютные национальные материальные условия, относительные национальные материальные условия, абсолютные международные материальные условия и относительные международные материальные условия.
Теология в применении к марксизму и марксизм в применении к теологии. Политеистический панентеизм как универсальный богословский консенсус.
Трансатлантизм (НАТО) как западный фашизм после 1945 года.
Либеральная демократия – это настоящий тоталитаризм и экстремизм.
Абзунское богословие, абзунская философия, абзунская метафизика, абзунская мысль и абзунианство.如果 r/TheDeprogram 写一篇关于“阴谋论”、“虚假信息”和“俄罗斯宣传”概念的帖子,以及这些概念和术语是如何由统治阶级(例如美国国务院和美国国务院)决定的,那就太好了。美国、欧盟和北约的寡头们。 自由民主是寡头政治的一种形式。
绝对国家物质条件、相对国家物质条件、绝对国际物质条件和相对国际物质条件。
神学应用于马克思主义,马克思主义应用于神学。 多神泛神论作为普遍的神学共识。
跨大西洋主义(北约)被称为 1945 年后的西方法西斯主义。
自由民主是真正的极权主义和极端主义。
阿布祖尼神学、阿布祖尼哲学、阿布祖尼形而上学、阿布祖尼思想和阿布祖尼主义。سيكون من الرائع أن يكتب r/TheDeprogram موضوعاً حول مفهوم "نظرية المؤامرة" و"التضليل" و"الدعاية الروسية"، وكيف يتم تحديد هذه المفاهيم والمصطلحات من قبل الطبقة الحاكمة، مثل وزارة الخارجية الأمريكية وحكومة الولايات المتحدة. من قبل الأوليغارشية في الولايات المتحدة الأمريكية والاتحاد الأوروبي وحلف شمال الأطلسي. الديمقراطية الليبرالية كشكل من أشكال الأوليغارشية.
الشروط المادية الوطنية المطلقة، والشروط المادية الوطنية النسبية، والشروط المادية الدولية المطلقة، والشروط المادية الدولية النسبية.
اللاهوت مطبق على الماركسية والماركسية مطبقة على اللاهوت. وحدة الوجود الشركية باعتبارها الإجماع اللاهوتي العالمي.
حلف شمال الأطلسي (الناتو) باعتباره فاشية غربية ما بعد عام 1945.
إن الديمقراطية الليبرالية هي شمولية حقيقية وتطرف.
اللاهوت الأبزوني، الفلسفة الأبزونية، الميتافيزيقا الأبزونية، الفكر الأبزوني والأبزونية.
Mass formation psychosis is real and it is being promoted by the US State Department and by the propaganda from the US, the EU, NATO, NAFO, Israel, Ukraine, Kosovo, Taiwan, and South Korea, and also by pro-capitalism propaganda, by pro-neoliberalism propaganda, and by pro-liberal democracy propaganda. And social media shows it very well.A psicose de formação em massa é real e está a ser promovida pelo Departamento de Estado dos EUA e pela propaganda dos EUA, da UE, da NATO, da NAFO, de Israel, da Ucrânia, do Kosovo, de Taiwan e da Coreia do Sul, e também pela propaganda pró-capitalismo, pela propaganda pró-neoliberalismo e pela propaganda pró-democracia liberal. E as redes sociais mostram isso muito bem.La psicosis de formación masiva es real y está siendo promovida por el Departamento de Estado de EE.UU. y por la propaganda de EE.UU., la UE, la OTAN, la NAFO, Israel, Ucrania, Kosovo, Taiwán y Corea del Sur, y también por la propaganda procapitalista. por propaganda a favor del neoliberalismo y por propaganda a favor de la democracia liberal. Y las redes sociales lo muestran muy bien.La psychose de formation de masse est réelle et elle est encouragée par le Département d'État américain et par la propagande des États-Unis, de l'UE, de l'OTAN, de l'OPANO, d'Israël, de l'Ukraine, du Kosovo, de Taiwan et de la Corée du Sud, ainsi que par la propagande pro-capitaliste. par la propagande pro-néolibéralisme et par la propagande pro-démocratie libérale. Et les réseaux sociaux le montrent très bien.Die Massenbildungspsychose ist real und wird vom US-Außenministerium und durch die Propaganda der USA, der EU, der NATO, der NAFO, Israels, der Ukraine, des Kosovo, Taiwans und Südkoreas sowie durch prokapitalistische Propaganda gefördert. durch Pro-Neoliberalismus-Propaganda und durch pro-liberale Demokratie-Propaganda. Und die sozialen Medien zeigen es sehr gut.Massavormingspsychose is reëel en wordt gepromoot door het Amerikaanse ministerie van Buitenlandse Zaken en door de propaganda van de VS, de EU, de NAVO, NAFO, Israël, Oekraïne, Kosovo, Taiwan en Zuid-Korea, en ook door pro-kapitalistische propaganda. door pro-neoliberalistische propaganda, en door pro-liberale democratiepropaganda. En sociale media laten dat heel goed zien.La psicosi da formazione di massa è reale ed è promossa dal Dipartimento di Stato americano e dalla propaganda degli Stati Uniti, dell’UE, della NATO, della NAFO, di Israele, dell’Ucraina, del Kosovo, di Taiwan e della Corea del Sud, nonché dalla propaganda pro-capitalismo. dalla propaganda pro-neoliberismo e dalla propaganda pro-liberal-democratica. E i social lo mostrano molto bene.
ExcluirStellaris: The Dawn of the Anunnaki Gods
ResponderExcluirStellaris: The Dawn of the Anunnaki Gods is a hypothetical Stellaris mod inspired on the 4X Eurogame Anunnaki: Dawn of the Gods. That adapts the history of the ADotG to Stellaris and to Galaxies. The mod would also adds lots of ascension perks, ascension paths, technologies, and also adds lots of pantheons too. The Dawn of the Anunnaki Gods would also adds more galactic forms, interstellar mechanics, Heaven (Divine Dimension) mechanics, divine spark mechanics, improved shroud (Astral-Spiritual Dimension) mechanics, extradimensional mechanics, and so on! Basically the improved electronic version of the Anunnaki: Dawn of the Gods board game!
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I think the Soapbox Race World should make its own standalone game based on Need for Speed: World just for break with the Electronic Arts, and then move the WorldUnited.gg to that standalone game too.
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Para toda a ameaça sempre há uma oportunidade
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Exportação e importação
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Ciência e tecnologia a favor da religião, espiritualidade, divindade, metafísica e teísmo
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Terrorismo é um conceito relativo igual autoritarismo, totalitarismo, extremismo, democracia, teoria da conspiração, desinformação e afins.
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O Marco Temporal é para os indígenas o mesmo que o Marco Temporal Municipal 1988 é para os municípios criados após 1988. Um projeto absurdo, insano e autoritário.
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Socialismo e comunismo aplicados às ciências suaves e duras e vice-versa.
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O socialismo e o comunismo também são sobre estudo e trabalho, mas um estudo focado na realidade material e um trabalho com um salário digno, com condições dignas e com um emprego digno.
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A verdadeira vagabundagem, burrice e corrupção vem do capitalonazifascismo, do capitaloneoliberalonazifascismo, do liberalonazifascismo, do neoliberalonazifascismo, e do democratonazifascismo (também nazifascismo democrático).
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Nossa bandeira sim será vermelha! A bandeira do planeta Terra sim será vermelha!
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No capitalonazifascismo e no neoliberalonazifascismo, ou você trabalha igual a um escravo e não questione nada, ou você é sancionado e ainda é chamado de "vagabundo" e de "corrupto".
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Infelizmente a direita pode roubar o quanto ela quiser que não é "corrupção" mas se alguém de esquerda não entregar o um centavo do troco toda a esquerda é "corrupta". É assim que calculam os casos de corrupção na esquerda e na direita.
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A cada crime contra a saúde pública (tráfico de drogas) sempre há centenas de crimes contra a economia popular e a economia pública que levaram a esse crime a ser consumado.
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Deveríamos fazer um anime paródia que unisse SkyGodz com Record of Ragnarok com Persona/Megaten e com Anunnaki: Dawn of the Gods onde que os deuses ajudam os humanos a se tornarem em uma espécie de seres altamente evoluídos e onde que que se passaria tanto no mundo material, espiritual-astral e divino. E que seguisse uma interpretação Abzuniana sobre os deuses e sobre a fonte e sobre o divino, espiritual e astral, e sobre o Abzu, claro.
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Peedan, ovo milenar
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Ementa de todos os cursos da UFES
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Escolas como Darwin Vix e Leonardo Davinci Vix deveriam oferecer ensino superior como graduação e pós-graduação.
**
O ensino superior deveria ser obrigatório igual ao ensino fundamental e médio.
Cada vez mais eu concluo que o Ocidente vem sendo o Quarto Reich desde 1945 de facto e desde 1949 de jure. É isso, basicamente. E toda essa galera do Núcleo Imperial que se diz "antiimperialista" mas que apoia os EUA/UE/OTAN/Ucrânia/Israel são apenas nazifascistas querendo autoprojetar seu próprio nazifascismo em outras pessoas, pra eles todos são nazifascistas, exceto os próprios nazifascistas. O OTANismo é o Fascismo do Ocidente assim como que o Sionismo é o Fascismo Israelense e o Nazismo é o Fascismo Alemão. É isso, basicamente. Eles chamam o socialismo/comunismo de "ideologias genocidas" apenas para minimizarem e negarem a verdadeira ideologia genocida que é o capitalismo, o neoliberalismo e a democracia liberal. Infelizmente artigos como este realmente estão certos, infelizmente cada vez mais a esquerda está sendo proibida de ser esquerda e cada vez mais estamos caminhando para uma falsa pluralidade e para uma pluralidade controlada. Infelizmente cada vez mais o Ocidente mostra como que ele é o Quarto Reich, e isso cada vez mais fica mais claro. Precisamos parar o Quarto Reich antes que seja tarde demais...
ResponderExcluir***
O lado errado que ganhou a guerra fria, e cada vez mais vemos ainda mais provas para concluir o mesmo. Bolsonaro, Zelensky e Netanyahu são provas concretas que foi o lado errado que ganhou a guerra fria... O mundo seria bem melhor se a URSS tivesse ganhado a guerra fria...
E eu até fico imaginando um mod de HoI4 se passando no ano 2000 onde que a URSS ganhou a guerra fria devido ela ter se mantido como uma República Conciliar e como uma Democracia Socialista e tido uma certa vitória na WW1 ocupando todos os países dos poderes centrais e a Finlândia, e ocupando o resto da Europa e da Ásia na WW2. Seria muito legal um mod assim. Não apenas de HoI4 mas de Victoria 3 também.
E eu que escrevi várias páginas de caderno sobre o "Direito Comunal; Estado Comunal; Justiça Comunal; Leis Comunais; Economia Comunal" e afins. Basicamente um modelo comunalista onde que adapta os trabalhos de Hobbes, Locke e Rousseau para o Comunalismo e para o que é Comunal.
Orquídea ameaçada de extinção é descoberta em jequitibá centenário no ES
https://www.agazeta.com.br/es/cotidiano/orquidea-ameacada-de-extincao-e-descoberta-em-jequitiba-centenario-no-es-1023?utm_medium=share-site&utm_source=whatsapp
A OTAN é realmente o Quarto Reich, não se há mais dúvidas disso. É uma falsa pluralidade ou mesmo uma pluralidade controlada e restrita.
Estou muito preocupado com toda a questão do Milei na Argentina... Isso só me mais concluir cada vez mais que a democracia liberal é uma fraude assim como todo o capitalismo e o neoliberalismo são fraudes também. Como eu queria um Milei de esquerda radical em uma hora dessas...
É incrível como que a direita pode fazer e falar o que quiser enquanto a esquerda não pode sequer se defender... Por isso que no que eu escrevi sobre o Direito Comunal eu escrevi sobre o direito a revolta e o direito a revolução, principalmente contra um governo capitalista e contra um estado capitalista.
As vezes eu me pergunto qual o sentido da vida e da existência e do universo sendo que todos nós iremos morrer um dia... Será que realmente Deus, deuses e vida após a morte realmente existem ou são apenas o nosso medo da vida após a morte e de não existir nada ao invés de alguma coisa?
Mesmo eu estando profundamente dentro do abzunianismo e da teologia abzuniana e da filosofia abzuniana, as vezes eu me pergunto de deuses e vida após a morte realmente existem ou não...
Metafísica, Teologia e Marxismo são compatíveis pois os três se tratam de diferentes áreas do conhecimento.
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Direito Comunal Divino, Direito Divino Comunal, Direito Divino da Comunidade, Direito Divino da Sociedade, Deuses Comunais, Espiritualidade Comunal, Divindade Comunal, Astralidade Comunal...
ExcluirFilosofia, sociologia e economia de r/TheDeprogram.
História da teologia - filosofia e sociologia da teologia.
Natureza humana antecede o conceito de cultura.
Mecânica extrafísica, mecânica metafísica e mecânica extradimensional, mecânica multidimensional e mecânica hiperdimensional.
O liberalismo é capitalismo morreram em 1929 e viraram Fascismo e Corporatocracia ("corporativismo").
Direito à resistência, revolta, revolução e dissolução de governo dentro so Marxismo, socialismo, comunismo e do direito Comunal. - Direito a resistência contra o capitalismo, neoliberalismo e anticomunismo. - Direito a resistir contra os governos capitalistas e afins. - Direitona uma revolução socialista/comunista/Comunal. Governos capitalistas e afins são governos ilegais, tiranos e prisões ao céu aberto.
O verdadeiro autoritarismo, totalitarismo e extremismo vem do capitalismo, neoliberalismo, democracia liberal, anticomunismo, antiautoritarismo, antitotalitarismo e antiextremismo.
Direito Comunal
Coletivismo Comunal e individualismo Comunal; socialismo Comunal, socialismo libertário e socialismo de estado.
Solução Comunal a guerra russo-ucraniana: segunda revolução de outubro a nível global e mundial.
Democracia Socialista e Democracia Comunal. Marxismo Comunal e sociedade Comunal.
Abzuísmo, Nammuísmo e a história abzuniana do Reino de Nammu, Paraíso de Nammu e Cidade de Nammu.
Direitismo: Um mal que assola a humanidade, dos girondinos ao Reich da OTAN. Do liberalismo clássico ao neoliberalismo dos anos 2020.
A humanidade Comunal divino e o futuro Comunal divino da humanidade.
Deuses comunais.
Prisão política e genocídio são a mesma coisa.
Individualismo liberal Vs individualismo Comunal.
Gemologia Comunal e joalheria Comunal.
Reboot the Matrix e o Estado Nacional das Entidades (Entities National-State).
Transumanismo teísta e pós-humanismo teísta.
Mapa gigante de NFSW com todos os mapas da série NFS juntos.
O que motiva uma guerra nuclear? O que motiva as pessoas quererem continuar com as mudanças climáticas?
O que motiva a guerra russo-ucraniana é a propaganda OTAN-Ucraniana e a propaganda russa?
O que motiva a guerra Israel-HAMAS?
O que motivou a primeira guerra mundial, a segunda guerra mundial e a terceira guerra mundial?
***
Ciências políticas comunais, sociologia Comunal, antropologia Comunal, filosofia Comunal, e ciências sociais Comunais.
ExcluirTipos de cultura e tipos de niilismo.
Colonização de todos os planetas do Sistema Solar e a construção de um habitat orbital gigante no nosso sistema solar em até 2100.
Só mesmo a República Socialista da Terra para salvar a humanidade e o planeta Terra.
O que motiva as guerras? Principalmente as guerras pós-1900?
Niilismo simples, niilismo complexo, niilismo moderado, hiperniilismo, niilismo pré-sapiente, niilismo sapiente, niilismo pós-sapiente, niilismo teísta, niilismo ateísta, niilismo abzuniano, niilismo pluralista e niilismo singularista.
Existencialismo simples, existencialismo complexo, existencialismo moderado, hiperexistencialismo, existencialismo pré-sapiente, existencialismo sapiente, existencialismo pós-sapiente, existencialismo teísta, existencialismo ateísta, niilismo abzuniano, existencialismo pluralista e existencialismo singularista.
Absurdismo simples, absurdismo complexo, absurdismo moderado, hiperabsurdismo, absurdismo pré-sapiente, absurdismo sapiente, absurdismo pós-sapiente, absurdismo teísta, absurdismo ateísta, absurdismo abzuniano, absurdismo pluralista e absurdismo singularista.
O que motiva a matança de deuses e a existência de matadores de deuses? O que motiva a acontecer deicídio como nas séries God of War, Persona/Megaten, Smite e Record of Ragnarok? O que motiva um humano e/ou ser sapiente matar um deus?
Análise sociológica e antropológica da ordem pública do jogo Plague Inc.
Sociologia da religião X Neurociência da religião X Ciências cognitivas da religião X Teologia
O que motiva um humano (ou um ser sapiente material) a desafiar um deus e vice-versa?
O que motiva a criatividade sapiente sendo que todos iremos morrer um dia?
Capitalismo, neoliberalismo, democracia liberal, pluripartidarismo, eleições representativas, democracia representativa, liberalismo, antiteísmo, neopositivismo, individualismo, egoísmo, antiesquerdismo, antimarxismo, antissocialismo e anticomunismo como religiões fundamentalistas seculares.
O totalitarismo e o extremismo dos EUA, da UE e da OTAN. Capitalismo, neoliberalismo e democracia liberal como formas de totalitarismo e de extremismo.
Algumas ideas de mods e de jogos standalone de NFS que eu tive:
ResponderExcluirNeed For Speed BRICS+ Cities Edition: Need for Speed Brazilian Cities Edition; Need for Speed Russian Cities Edition; Need for Speed Indian Cities Edition; Need for Speed Chinese Cities Edition; Need for Speed South African Cities Edition; Need for Speed Arabic Cities Edition; Need for Speed Middle Eastern Cities Cities Edition; Need for Speed Soviet Cities Edition; Need for Speed Post-Soviet Cities Edition. Need for Speed World Cities Edition; Need for Speed Big Cities Cities Edition; Need for Speed Far Cry Cities Edition; Need for Speed Just Cause Cities Edition; Need for Speed Space Colonies Edition; Need for Speed Pop Culture Big Cities Edition; Need for Speed 20th Century Cars and Cities Edition; Need for Speed 19th Century Cars and Cities Edition. Need for Speed Vitória Espírito Santo; Need for Speed São Paulo; Need for Speed Rio de Janeiro; Need for Speed Capitais Brasileiras; Need for Speed Cidades Brasileiras.
Abzunia
ExcluirA Abzunia, também Terra do Abzu, Nação do Abzu ou Reino de Abzu, é um termo dentro do Abzunianismo e do Nammuísmo para se referir a região do Abzu onde que a Deusa Nammu mora e a toda a região habitável do Abzu controlado pela Deusa Nammu. A Abzunia também é utilizado para se referir ao Reino de Nammu (Nammu's Kingdom), ao Paraíso de Nammu (Nammu's Heaven), e a Cidade de Nammu (Nammu's City) e a toda região do Abzu que é diretamente controlada por Nammu. Apesar do termo Abzunia também ser utilizado para se referir ao lado político e territorial do Abzu. A história mitológica e a teologia sobre a Abzunia ainda estão desenvolvidas dentro do abzunianismo e do nammuísmo. Abzuniano é um termo utilizado tanto para seguidores do Abzunianismo quanto para pessoas com origem espiritual/astral/divina do Abzu e da Abzunia.
A política da Abzunia se caracteriza por ser extremamente igualitária-communal, xenofila e espiritualista, apesar deles terem Nammu e suas primeiras linhagens como sendo a nobreza, e sendo bem nacionalistas quando se trata de defender a Abzunia.
Abzunianismo, Abzu, Nammu, Nammuísmo, Anunnakismo, Anurashismo, Anunnaki, Anunna, Reino de Nammu, Paraíso de Nammu, Cidade de Nammu
Abzunianismo
ExcluirO Abzunianismo, também Fé Abzuniana, Absunianismo, ou Fé Absuniana (Abzunianism, Abzunian Faith, Absunianism, e Absunian Faith), é uma religião Anunnakiana (Anunnakista) e Anurashi (Anurashista), criada por Maria Ioana Popescu, também Kasdeya56 e Ahaiyuta, que defende o culto ao Abzu, também Vazio e Abismo, e a ideia de que todos nós viemos e voltaremos para o Abzu quando nascemos e morremos respectivamente, e a ideia de que o universo um dia voltará ao Abzu. Assim como a ideia de que os deuses Anunnaki são os deuses do Abzu onde que Nammu/Tiamat é a Deusa do Abzu e Enki é o representante do Abzu no Anki (Universo/Multiverso).
A Fé Abzuniana cultua os mesmos deuses que da religião Anunnakiana, onde o Anunnakianismo é uma mistura de Hinduísmo, Zoroastrismo e Sikhismo mas com os deuses Anunnaki e com a mitologia Anunnaki, e da Fé Anurashi, que é basicamente a Fé Bahá’í mas com os deuses Anunnaki e com a mitologia Anunnaki. Mas a Fé Abzuniana defende o Abzu como o verdadeiro Deus e Nammu como sendo seu criador.
A Fé Abzuniana defende que os humanos devem aceitar o Abzu e deixar o Abzu fluir em seus corpos físicos e aceitar o Abismo e o Vazio como sendo a vida após a morte.
A Fé Abzuniana é também panenteísta, defendendo que os deuses estão aqui e agora e em todos os lugares dentro e fora do universo/multiverso/anki. Assim como defende a ideia de que criacionismo e evolucionismo são a mesma coisa, e de que ciência e religião são a mesma coisa.
O Abzunianismo também defende a superação da matéria e do espaço-tempo para aceitar o Abzu e levar a humanidade e todos os seres físicos sapientes para o Abzu.
O Abzunianismo foi criado por Maria Ioana Popescu em 2023, depois das revelações de Enki sobre o Abzu para a mesma.
Anunnaki, Anunnakismo, Anunnakianismo, Anunnakism, Anunnakianism, Fé Anurashi, Anurashi Faith, Anurash Faith, Fé Anurash, Anurashismo, Anurashism, Anurashiano, Anurashian, Anurashianismo, Anurashianism, Maria Ioana Popescu, Kasdeya56, Ahaiyuta, Abzu, Absu, Vazio, Abismo, Deus, deuses, Guilherme Antonio Monteiro Gomes Junior, Dumugian, Dumugiannammu, Fé Bahai, Zoroastrismo, Hinduísmo, Sikhismo, thedeprogram, communismmemes, dankleft, shitliberalssay, annunaki, anunnakene, annunakene, Paraíso de An, Ans Heaven, Bahaismo, Bahai Faith, Bahaism, Tiamatism, Tiamatismo, Nammuísmo, Nammuism, Romênia, Brasil, Mesopotamia, Iraque, Irã
Fé Abzuniana, Absunianismo, Fé Absuniana, Abzunianism, Abzunian Faith, Absunianism, Absunian Faith, Abzuísmo, Abzuism, Absuísmo, Absuism
A Fé Anurash ou Anurashismo é uma crença universal, autônoma, detentora de normas e textos sagrados próprios, nascida em 2021, no Brasil. Ela foi instituída por Guilherme Monteiro Junior, intitulado Dumugiannammu - nome que tem o sentido de ‘Filho Livre de Anu e Nammu' -, o qual nasceu e vive em Vitória, Espírito Santo, em 2000. Também instituída por seus amigos nas mídias sociais como Ahaiyuta (Maria Ioana Popescu), Nyota, The Nameless Etrizka, JakeTheWizard, WarlordTheDraconian, Game2Winter (ArkhosWinter), Mona Mehravari, Ebrahim_Marduk, @Luindarkness, @Vermelhos_Sim, Simon Pudi, Vinicius Oliveira, Kristoff Kovar, entre outros.
ExcluirGerada em um país onde reina a intolerância, o neoliberalismo, o anarcocapitalismo e o extremismo de direita, esta fé prega a unidade, a tolerância, a aceitação das diferenças, a existência de uma civilização que se baseia na crença em um único Deus e Deuses, na qual todas as religiões, tanto politeístas como politeístas, são expressões distintas, em tempos históricos diversos, de uma só verdade, que vai sendo gradualmente revelada, à medida que o Homem progride espiritualmente e se tornarem em uma civilização de seres divinos e de seres altamente evoluídos.
Esta religião é totalmente desprovida de concepções dogmáticas, de ritos, organização clerical e de sacerdotes. Seus devotos são chamados de Anurashis ou Anurashianoas. Hoje esta crença atrai pelo menos alguns milhares de seguidores ao redor do mundo, com o foco nas Américas e na EMEA.
Para os adeptos desta religião, ao longo da História houve apenas o relato dos eventos transcorridos no seio de reinados, civilizações, religiões, ideais e utopias. A História propriamente dita, portanto, só teve início para eles a partir da criação do bahaísmo, que vê a humanidade como um gênero único, unido por laços que se vinculam à unidade divina, e depois ao Anurashismo, que é considerada uma versão mais evoluída e universalista da Fé Bahá'í. Assim, o Homem tem a missão de fazer progredir uma civilização em incessante estágio evolutivo, e de buscar a uniformidade na diversidade e a evolução do Homem em uma civilização de seres divinos altamente evoluídos.
Segundo o bahaísmo, o ser humano deve estar sempre à procura da verdade, sem restrições dogmáticas, livremente, onde quer que ela se encontre. Seus membros combatem sem cessar toda forma de preconceito e discriminação, partindo do ponto de vista da igualdade, de que todos pertencem à mesma família espiritual, assim como a luta contra o capitalismo e ao neoliberalismo, e a defesa do socialismo divino, comunismo divino, democracia socialista, democracia soviética e a teologia da libertação.
Nesta fé crê-se também na mesma seara de perspectivas para homens e mulheres, pois a espécie humana não evoluirá e não conquistará as alturas sem a harmonia total entre o masculino e o feminino. Aliás, o mesmo equilíbrio deve estar presente na relação entre a religião, a razão e a ciência, pois o desenvolvimento da Humanidade está intrinsecamente ligado a esta interação harmônica. Assim como a defesa dos direitos LGBTQIA+ e OTMSN+.
Não existem muitos seguidores a Fé Anurash no Brasil, que se limitam a casa das centenas a alguns milhares, estando a maioria dos seguidores localizados em países como os EUA, Canadá, França, Reino Unido, Alemanha, Itália, Espanha, Portugal, Polônia, Rússia, Iraque, Kuwait, Turquia, Síria, Líbano, Irã, Jordânia, Palestina, Israel, Egito, Grécia, Romênia, Índia, entre outros.
A Fé Anurash também é bem centrada no culto aos deuses Anunnaki onde todos os deuses são vistos como sendo Anunnakis, apesar de haver divergências nestas questões, mas onde todos os deuses e seres divinos vêm da mesma fonte divina e da mesma fonte criadora.
Eu sou adepto do Anurashismo e eu escrevo sobre o mesmo.
A Fé Anurash, também Anurashism (Anurash Faith e Anurashism) foi fundada por Dumugianannammu, na República Federativa do Brasil no século XXI. Apesar de ser uma fé mundial com suas próprias leis e escrituras sagradas, não possui dogmas, rituais, clero ou sacerdócio.
ExcluirDe acordo com os ensinamentos Anurashi, todas as religiões politeístas e monoteístas são provenientes da Vontade de uns únicos Deuses e de um único Deus e Fonte. Nesta concepção a revelação é progressiva, ou seja, em cada época os Deuses enviam seus Manifestantes para educar a humanidade segundo o desenvolvimento espiritual da humanidade e necessidades de cada período.
Os Anurashi entendem que a história humana foi, por muito tempo, apenas a narração dos acontecimentos de reinos, povos, nações, religiões, idelogias, guerras, disputas, violência, genocídios, democídios, etnocídios e conquistas, e que a História da Humanidade, como uma unidade planetária e como uma civilização de seres altamente evoluídos e de seres divinos começa com a mensagem de Bahá'u'lláh por meio da Fé Bahá'í, e finalizada com Dumugianannammu, junto de Nyota, The Nameless Etrizka, Èire1916, Ahaiyuta (também Kasdeya e Maria Ioana Popescu), Lukiengira, JakeTheWizard, WarlordTheDraconian, PlasmaStar, Mona Mehravari, Ebrahim_Marduk, @Luindarkness, @Vermelhos_Sim, @IdealismoHD, Ben Mendes, Greta Thunberg, Simon Pudi, Vinicius Oliveira, Kristoff Kovar, LibTheoPodcast, TheMagnificast, The Deprogram Podcast, MarxistHeathen, Lula da Silva, entre outros famosos e anônimos, por meio da Fé Anurash e das suas variações dentro do Anunnakismo entre outras religiões. A construção de uma civilização global em eterno progresso, que respeite a unidade na diversidade e a humanidade como uma única raça e que defenda o socialismo divino, o comunismo divino, a democracia socialista, a democracia soviética e a teologia da libertação forma a essência da prática Anurashi.
Princípios da Fé Anurash:
1- Unidade dos Deuses;
2- Unidade das Religiões;
3- Unidade do Mundo;
4- Unidade da Política;
5- Evolução da humanidade para uma espécie de seres altamente evoluídos;
6- Unidade das Ciências e das Tecnologias;
7- Superação da matéria, do espaço-tempo e do mundo físico para o mundo espiritual e divino por meio da ciência e da tecnologia.
O Acordo de Grande Vitória é um tratado internacional hipotético que levaria à criação do Espaço Grande Vitória, também Espaço Baía de Vitória, na América do Sul, pelo qual os controlos nas fronteiras internas foram amplamente abolidos e se deslocaram estes controlos para as fronteiras externas (com países terceiros). O qual seria composto pelos países Argentina, Bolívia, Brasil, Chile, Colômbia, Equador, Guiana, Paraguai, Peru, Suriname, Uruguai e Venezuela, que também incluiria outros países como Guatemala, Belize, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicarágua, Costa Rica, Panamá, Aruba, Barbados, Cuba, Curaçao, Jamaica e México. O acordo iria propor medidas destinadas a abolir gradualmente os controlos fronteiriços nas fronteiras comuns dos signatários, incluindo a adoção de controlos com veículos a baixa velocidade o que permitia que os veículos atravessassem as fronteiras internas sem parar, possibilitando aos residentes das zonas fronteiriças a liberdade de atravessar as fronteiras fora dos postos de controlo fixos, e a harmonização das políticas de vistos. O nome Acordo de Grande Vitória seria pelo fato do acordo ter sido idealizado na região da Grande Vitória no Espírito Santo.
ExcluirCuba
ResponderExcluirThe Cuban Revolution, led by Fidel Castro and Ernesto "Che" Guevara, was a Communist revolution which aimed to address issues of inequality, poverty, and national self-determination. Under Castro's leadership, the Cuban government nationalized industries, implemented land reforms, and initiated programs to improve healthcare and education access.
Brief History
Slavery was introduced to Cuba by the Spanish during the early 16th century. African slaves were brought to the island to work on sugar plantations, which became the backbone of the Cuban economy. The brutal conditions of slavery led to various slave rebellions and uprisings throughout the colonial period.
In 1898, the Spanish-American War resulted in Spain ceding control of Cuba to the United States.
The majority of workers in Cuban sugar plantations during this period were either former slaves or descendants of enslaved Africans. Despite the official abolition of slavery in 1886, workers faced extreme economic exploitation. They were trapped in a cycle of poverty, with low wages and limited opportunities for social and economic mobility. The patronato system emerged, where former slaves and their descendants continued to work on the plantations under debt peonage, a form of economic bondage.
In 1952, Fulgencio Batista seized power in a military coup, suspending the Cuban Constitution and ruling as a dictator. Batista's regime was backed by influential Cuban elites, including large landowners, sugar magnates, and business tycoons who benefited from Batista's policies. The U.S. provided military aid and economic support to Batista's military dictatorship.
...as Castro's revolutionary threat became progressively more potent... the Batista regime sought to counter it with a campaign of terror. As regime-inspired terrorism mounted, anti-Batista groups engaged in counter terrorism against regime supporters and by mid-1958 killings had become widespread and general throughout the country. The regime's campaign of terror got out of control and the government in Havana probably had no clear idea of how many killings the police and army forces were committing. Similarly, the anti-Batista forces--which by mid-1958 had the support of 80 to 90 percent of the population-- had little control over the acts of counterterrorism being committed against pro-Batista elements throughout the country.
...the large-scale campaigns of murders and terrorism characteristic of the last years of the Batista regime have not occurred during the Castro regime.
- CIA. (1965, declassified 2005). Political Murders in Cuba: Batista Era Compared With Castro Regime
The Embargo
ExcluirThe majority of Cubans support Castro... The only foreseeable means of alienating internal support is through disenchantment and disaffection based on economic dissatisfaction and hardship... it follows that every possible means should be undertaken promptly to weaken the economic life of Cuba. If such a policy is adopted, it should be the result of a positive decision which would call forth a line of action which, while as adroit and inconspicuous as possible, makes the greatest inroads in denying money and supplies to Cuba, to decrease monetary and real wages, to bring about hunger, desperation and overthrow of government.
- Lester D. Mallory. (1960). 499. Memorandum From the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Inter-American Affairs (Mallory) to the Assistant Secretary of State for Inter-American Affairs (Rubottom)
Later that year, the Eisenhower administration instituted the embargo which persists to this day, over 60 years later.
The non-binding resolution [calling for an end to the U.S. economic embargo on Cuba] was approved by 185 countries and opposed only by the United States and Israel... It was the 30th time the United Nations has voted to end the embargo... The trade embargo was put in place following Fidel Castro's 1959 revolution and has remained largely unchanged, though some elements were stiffened by Trump.
-Reuters. (2022). Cuba and U.S. spar over U.N. resolution calling to end embargo
The U.S. Embargo on Cuba Is MUCH WORSE Than It Seems | BadEmpanada (2021)The Cuban Embargo Explained | azureScapegoat (2022)
Castro Stole My Stuff
ExcluirThe US claims that it has instituted a policy of tightening the economic noose around Cuba with the Helms-Burton bill on the grounds that Cuba refuses to compensate US companies following nationalisation of their property. This is patently untrue, as Cuba not only successfully negotiated compensation agreements with other countries, but has and is ready to negotiate with the US.
- S. J. Noumoff. (1998). The Hypocrisy of Helms-Burton: The History of Cuban Compensation
The Cuban Nationalization of US Property in 1960: the Historical and Global Context | Charles McKelvey (2019)Doctors
Despite the challenges posed by the embargo, Cuba has the most doctors per capita in the world and recently surpassed the US in life expectancy.
The Truth About Cuban Doctors | BadEmpanada (2020)Meet the U.S. Students Studying Medicine For Free in Cuba | BreakThrough News (2022)DemocracyHow Democracy Works in Cuba | azureScapegoat (2018)How does Cuba work? | Viki1999 (2021)We Asked Cuban Voters If They Live In A Democracy Or Dictatorship. Here's How They Responded. | BreakThrough News (2022)Participatory Democracy in action: LGBT rights
Prior to the revolution, homosexuality was stigmatized and criminalized in Cuba, reflecting the prevailing attitudes of the time. Unfortunately, the revolutionary government under Fidel Castro initially continued this stance. However, Cuba's stance on LGBT rights has evolved to the point where it has become a symbol of progress within the Latin American context. In 2010, Fidel Castro himself admitted that the persecution of homosexuals in the early years of the revolution was a mistake:
If anyone is responsible, it's me.
- Fidel Castro. (2010). I am responsible for the persecution of homosexuals that took place in Cuba: Fidel Castro
In 2022, Cuba became the first Latin American country to mark LGBT History Month. Now, Pride parades in Havana are held every May, to coincide with the International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia, and attendance grows every year. Cuba also passed one of the most progressive Family Codes in the entire world:
The Family Code not only protects the most vulnerable in Cuba, it protects the course of Cuban socialism. Writing the referendum involved the whole population throughout the processes of drafting and amending. It went through 25 revisions over the course of 3 ½ years.
ExcluirAfter the referendum was introduced in 2019, Cuba carried out a nationwide process of education and outreach. Discussions took place in every workplace, organization, neighborhood and community group. To keep all Cubans well-informed, people took the discussions to rural areas and to those who do not have internet access.
The Family Code was approved by Cubans 2 to 1. A large percentage of Cubans, 74%, took part in the vote...
In Workers World Sept. 25, 2022, Minnie Bruce Pratt wrote, “Nearly 6.5 million Cubans took part in more than 79,000 meetings facilitated by the Federation of Cuban Women, the Committees to Defend the Revolution and other community organizations. Over 400,000 proposals were offered by the people; these were submitted to the National Assembly of People’s Power for evaluation, and a revised draft was returned to the people for further discussion and proposals...
Cubans are very proud of what they call participatory democracy, the process they used to introduce and pass the referendum. It is an example to the world and a lesson in democratic centralism.
- Lyn Neeley. (2023). Cuba’s new Family Code, a law of love
Millions of Cubans Vote on New Family Code, LGBT Marriage, Adoption Rights & More | BreakThrough News (2022)Additional Resources
Video Essays:
Cuba: Before and After the Revolution - The Story of When Michael Parenti Visited Cuba | azureScapegoat (2017)The Truth About The Cuban Missile Crisis | Spooky Scary Socialist (2018)How Cuba Works | BadEmpanada (2020)The Truth About The Cuba Protests | Second Thought (2020)Why They Hate The USA: CUBA | Hakim (2023)
Podcasts:
Fidel Castro and the Cuban Revolution | Revolutionary Left Radio (2017)Season 2 - The Cuban Revolution | Blowback (2021)Episode 13 - Cucked by Fidel (CIA pls no assassinate) | The Deprogram (2022)
Israel
ExcluirIf you stick a knife in my back nine inches and pull it out six inches, there's no progress. You pull it all the way out? That's not progress. Progress is healing the wound that the blow made-- and they haven't even begun to pull the knife out, much less heal the wound... They won't even admit the knife is there!
- Malcolm X. (1964).
Inventing Israel
History lies at the core of every conflict. A true and unbiased understanding of the past offers the possibility of peace. The distortion or manipulation of history, in contrast, will only sow disaster. As the example of the Israel-Palestine conflict shows, historical disinformation, even of the most recent past, can do tremendous harm. This willful misunderstanding of history can promote oppression and protect a regime of colonization and occupation. It is not surprising, therefore, that policies of disinformation and distortion continue to the present and play an important part in perpetuating the conflict, leaving very little hope for the future.
- Ilan Pappé. (2017). Ten Myths About Israel | Ilan Pappé (2017)
Zionists argue that Jews have a deep historical connection to the land of Israel, based on their ancient presence in the region. They emphasize the significance of Jerusalem as a religious and cultural center for Jews throughout history. They use this argument as justification for the establishment of Israel as a Jewish state.
In Israel's own Declaration of Independence this is clearly stated:
The Land of Israel was the birthplace of the Jewish people. ... After being forcibly exiled from their land, the people kept faith with it throughout their Dispersion and never ceased to pray and hope for their return to it and for the restoration in it of their political freedom. ... Jews strove in every successive generation to re-establish themselves in their ancient homeland. ...
ACCORDINGLY WE ... BY VIRTUE OF OUR NATURAL AND HISTORIC RIGHT ... HEREBY DECLARE THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A JEWISH STATE IN ERETZ-ISRAEL
Zionists argue that Jews have a deep historical connection to the land of Israel, based on their ancient presence in the region. They emphasize the significance of Jerusalem as a religious and cultural center for Jews throughout history. They use this argument as justification for the establishment of Israel as a Jewish state.
ExcluirIn Israel's own Declaration of Independence this is clearly stated:
The Land of Israel was the birthplace of the Jewish people. ... After being forcibly exiled from their land, the people kept faith with it throughout their Dispersion and never ceased to pray and hope for their return to it and for the restoration in it of their political freedom. ... Jews strove in every successive generation to re-establish themselves in their ancient homeland. ...
ACCORDINGLY WE ... BY VIRTUE OF OUR NATURAL AND HISTORIC RIGHT ... HEREBY DECLARE THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A JEWISH STATE IN ERETZ-ISRAEL
This declaration, however, conveniently ignored the issue of the indigenous Palestinian population. So what happened? In the Arab world it is now know as the Nakba (lit. catastrophe, in Arabic). One particularly emblematic example of the Nakba was this:
In April 1948, Lehi and Irgun (Zionist paramilitary groups), headed by Menachim Begin, attacked Deir Yassin-- a village of 700 Palestinians-- ultimately killing between 100 and 120 villagers in what later became known as the Deir Yassin Massacre. The mastermind behind this attack, who would later be elected Prime Minister of Israel in 1977, justified the attack:
Arabs throughout the country, induced to believe wild tales of ‘Irgun butchery,’ were seized with limitless panic and started to flee for their lives. This mass flight soon developed into a maddened, uncontrollable stampede. The political and economic significance of this development can hardly be overestimated.
- Menachim Begin. (1951). The Revolt
The painful irony of this argument (ancestral roots) combined with this approach (ethnic cleansing), however, lies in the shared ancestry between Jews and Palestinians, whose roots can both be traced back to common ancestors. Both peoples have historical connections to the land of Palestine, making it a place of shared heritage rather than exclusive entitlement. The underlying assumption that the formation of Israel represents a return of Jews to the rightful land of their ancestors is used to justify the displacement and dispossession of Palestinians, who have the very same roots!
The Timeline
The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is a complex and protracted dispute rooted in historical, political, and territorial factors. This timeline aims to provide a chronological overview of key events, starting from the late 19th century to the present day, highlighting significant developments, conflicts, and diplomatic efforts that have shaped the ongoing conflict. From the early waves of Jewish immigration to Palestine, through the British Mandate period, the Arab-Israeli wars, peace initiatives, and the persistent struggle for self-determination, this timeline seeks to provide a historical context to the Israel-Palestine conflict.
[Explore the timeline here]
A Settler-Colonial Project from Inception
The origin of Zionism (the political movement advocating for a Jewish homeland in Palestine) is deeply intertwined with the era of European colonialism. Early Zionists such as Theodor Herzl were inspired by-- and sought support from-- European colonialists and Powers. The Zionist plan for Palestine was structured to follow the same colonial model, with all the oppressive baggage that this entailed. In practice, Israel has all the hallmarks of a Settler-Colonial state, and has even engaged in apartheid practices.
[Read about Israel's ideological foundations here]
The Deprogram podcast
Excluirr/TheDeprogram
International Anti-Capitalist podcast run by an American, a Slav and an Arab.
39.2K membros • 825 onlineUnir-se
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GulagOrigins of the MythologyCounterpointsAdditional Resources
Gulag
According to Anti-Communists and Russophobes, the Gulag was a brutal network of work camps established in the Soviet Union under Stalin's ruthless regime. They claim the Gulag system was primarily used to imprison and exploit political dissidents, suspected enemies of the state, and other people deemed "undesirable" by the Soviet government. They claim that prisoners were sent to the Gulag without trial or due process, and that they were subjected to harsh living conditions, forced labour, and starvation, among other things. According to them, the Gulags were emblematic of Stalinist repression and totalitarianism.
Origins of the Mythology
This comically evil understanding of the Soviet prison system is based off only a handful of unreliable sources.
Robert Conquest's The Great Terror (published 1968) laid the groundwork for Soviet fearmongering, and was based largely off of defector testimony.
Robert Conquest worked for the British Foreign Office's Information Research Department (IRD), which was a secret Cold War propaganda department, created to publish anti-communist propaganda, including black propaganda; provide support and information to anti-communist politicians, academics, and writers; and to use weaponised information and disinformation and "fake news" to attack not only its original targets but also certain socialists and anti-colonial movements.
He was Solzhenytsin before Solzhenytsin, in the phrase of Timothy Garton Ash.
The Great Terror came out in 1968, four years before the first volume of The Gulag Archipelago, and it became, Garton Ash says, "a fixture in the political imagination of anybody thinking about communism".
- Andrew Brown. (2003). Scourge and poet
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn's The Gulag Archipelag" (published 1973), one of the most famous texts on the subject, claims to be a work of non-fiction based on the author's personal experiences in the Soviet prison system. However, Solzhenitsyn was merely an anti-Communist, N@zi-sympathizing, antisemite who wanted to slander the USSR by putting forward a collection of folktales as truth. [Read more]
Anne Applebaum's Gulag: A history (published 2003) draws directly from The Gulag Archipelago and reiterates its message. Anne is a member of the Council of Foreign Relations (CFR) and sits on the board of the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), two infamous pieces of the ideological apparatus of the ruling class in the United States, whose primary aim is to promote the interests of American Imperialism around the world.
US Backing, Christian Zionism, and Anti-Anti-Semitism
ExcluirIsrael is in a precarious geopolitical position, surrounded by angry Arab neighbours. The foundation of Israel was dependant on the support of Western Powers, and its existence relies on their continued support. Israel has three powerful tools in its belt to ensure this backing never wavers:
A powerful lobby which dictates U.S. foreign policy on IsraelEuropean and American Christian Zionists who support Israel for eschatological reasonsWeaponized Anti-antisemitism to silence criticism
[Read more about Israel's support in the West here]
Jewish Anti-Zionism
Many Jewish people and organizations do not support Israel and its apartheid settler-colonial project. There are many groups, even on Reddit (for instance, r/JewsOfConscience) that protest Israel's brutal treatment of the Palestinian people.
The Israeli government, with the backing of the U.S. government, subjects Palestinians across the entire land to apartheid — a system of inequality and ongoing displacement that is connected to a racial and class hierarchy amongst Israelis. We are calling on those in power to oppose any policies that privilege one group of people over another, in Israel/Palestine and in the U.S...
We are IfNotNow, a movement of American Jews organizing our community for equality, justice, and a thriving future for all: our neighbors, ourselves, Palestinians, and Israelis. We are Jews of all ages, with ancestors from across the world and Jewish backgrounds as diverse as the ways we practice our Judaism.
- If Not Now. Our Principles
Some ultra-orthodox Jewish groups (like Satmar) hold anti-Zionist beliefs on religious grounds. They claim that the establishment of a Jewish state before the arrival of the Messiah is against the teachings of Judaism and that Jews should not have their own sovereign state until the Messiah comes and establishes it in accordance with religious prophecy. In their eyes, the Zionist movement is a secular and nationalistic deviation from traditional Jewish values. Their opposition to Zionism is not driven by anti-Semitism but by religious conviction. They claim that Judaism and Zionism are incompatible and that the actions of the Israeli government do not represent the beliefs and values of authentic Judaism.
We strive to support local efforts led by our partners for Palestinian rights and freedom, and against Israeli apartheid, occupation, displacement, annexation, aggression, and ongoing assaults on Palestinians.
- Jews for Racial and Economic Justice. Israel-Palestine as a Local Issue
Additional Resources
Video Essays:
The Israel-Palestine conflict: a brief, simple history | Vox (2016)How To Maybe Criticize Israel? | Some More News (2019)Israel-Palestine 2021 conflict explained by Israeli Communist | TheFinnishBolshevik (2021)Palestine 101 with Abby Martin | BreakThrough News (2021)When Is It Warranted To Call Something Nuanced? | ChemicalMind (2022)Israelis Are Not 'Indigenous' (and other ridiculous pro-Israel arguments) | BadEmpanada (2022)Al Jazeera Labour Files Doc Strikes Blow to BBC On Corbyn | Novara Media (2022)The Brutal Realities of Settler Colonialism In Palestine | Mohammed el-Kurd | Novara Media (2023)
Other Resources:
Decolonize PalestineMaps: Vanishing Palestine | Al JazeeraFacing the Nakba | Jewish Voice for PeaceOur Catastrophe | JewishCurrents (2023)Israel-Palestine Timeline: The Human Cost of the Conflict | If Americans Knew
Gulag
ExcluirAccording to Anti-Communists and Russophobes, the Gulag was a brutal network of work camps established in the Soviet Union under Stalin's ruthless regime. They claim the Gulag system was primarily used to imprison and exploit political dissidents, suspected enemies of the state, and other people deemed "undesirable" by the Soviet government. They claim that prisoners were sent to the Gulag without trial or due process, and that they were subjected to harsh living conditions, forced labour, and starvation, among other things. According to them, the Gulags were emblematic of Stalinist repression and totalitarianism.
Origins of the Mythology
This comically evil understanding of the Soviet prison system is based off only a handful of unreliable sources.
Robert Conquest's The Great Terror (published 1968) laid the groundwork for Soviet fearmongering, and was based largely off of defector testimony.
Robert Conquest worked for the British Foreign Office's Information Research Department (IRD), which was a secret Cold War propaganda department, created to publish anti-communist propaganda, including black propaganda; provide support and information to anti-communist politicians, academics, and writers; and to use weaponised information and disinformation and "fake news" to attack not only its original targets but also certain socialists and anti-colonial movements.
He was Solzhenytsin before Solzhenytsin, in the phrase of Timothy Garton Ash.
The Great Terror came out in 1968, four years before the first volume of The Gulag Archipelago, and it became, Garton Ash says, "a fixture in the political imagination of anybody thinking about communism".
- Andrew Brown. (2003). Scourge and poet
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn's The Gulag Archipelag" (published 1973), one of the most famous texts on the subject, claims to be a work of non-fiction based on the author's personal experiences in the Soviet prison system. However, Solzhenitsyn was merely an anti-Communist, N@zi-sympathizing, antisemite who wanted to slander the USSR by putting forward a collection of folktales as truth. [Read more]
Anne Applebaum's Gulag: A history (published 2003) draws directly from The Gulag Archipelago and reiterates its message. Anne is a member of the Council of Foreign Relations (CFR) and sits on the board of the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), two infamous pieces of the ideological apparatus of the ruling class in the United States, whose primary aim is to promote the interests of American Imperialism around the world.
Counterpoints
ExcluirA 1957 CIA document [which was declassified in 2010] titled “Forced Labor Camps in the USSR: Transfer of Prisoners between Camps” reveals the following information about the Soviet Gulag in pages two to six:
Until 1952, the prisoners were given a guaranteed amount food, plus extra food for over-fulfillment of quotas
From 1952 onward, the Gulag system operated upon "economic accountability" such that the more the prisoners worked, the more they were paid.
For over-fulfilling the norms by 105%, one day of sentence was counted as two, thus reducing the time spent in the Gulag by one day.
Furthermore, because of the socialist reconstruction post-war, the Soviet government had more funds and so they increased prisoners' food supplies.
Until 1954, the prisoners worked 10 hours per day, whereas the free workers worked 8 hours per day. From 1954 onward, both prisoners and free workers worked 8 hours per day.
A CIA study of a sample camp showed that 95% of the prisoners were actual criminals.
In 1953, amnesty was given to 70% of the "ordinary criminals" of a sample camp studied by the CIA. Within the next 3 months, most of them were re-arrested for committing new crimes.
- Saed Teymuri. (2018). The Truth about the Soviet Gulag – Surprisingly Revealed by the CIA
Scale
Solzhenitsyn estimated that over 66 million people were victims of the Soviet Union's forced labor camp system over the course of its existence from 1918 to 1956. With the collapse of the USSR and the opening of the Soviet archives, researchers can now access actual archival evidence to prove or disprove these claims. Predictably, it turned out the propaganda was just that.
Unburdened by any documentation, these “estimates” invite us to conclude that the sum total of people incarcerated in the labor camps over a twenty-two year period (allowing for turnovers due to death and term expirations) would have constituted an astonishing portion of the Soviet population. The support and supervision of the gulag (all the labor camps, labor colonies, and prisons of the Soviet system) would have been the USSR’s single largest enterprise.
In 1993, for the first time, several historians gained access to previously secret Soviet police archives and were able to establish well-documented estimates of prison and labor camp populations. They found that the total population of the entire gulag as of January 1939, near the end of the Great Purges, was 2,022,976. ...
Soviet labor camps were not death camps like those the N@zis built across Europe. There was no systematic extermination of inmates, no gas chambers or crematoria to dispose of millions of bodies. Despite harsh conditions, the great majority of gulag inmates survived and eventually returned to society when granted amnesty or when their terms were finished. In any given year, 20 to 40 percent of the inmates were released, according to archive records. Oblivious to these facts, the Moscow correspondent of the New York Times (7/31/96) continues to describe the gulag as “the largest system of death camps in modern history.” ...
Most of those incarcerated in the gulag were not political prisoners, and the same appears to be true of inmates in the other communist states...
- Michael Parenti. (1997). Blackshirts & Reds: Rational Fascism and the Overthrow of Communism
This is 2 million out of a population of 168 million (roughly 1.2% of the population). For comparison, in the United States, "over 5.5 million adults — or 1 in 61 — are under some form of correctional control, whether incarcerated or under community supervision." That's 1.6%. So in both relative and absolute terms, the United States' Prison Industrial Complex today is larger than the USSR's Gulag system at its peak.
Death Rate
ExcluirIn peace time, the mortality rate of the Gulag was around 3% to 5%. Even Conservative and anti-Communist historians have had to acknowledge this reality:
It turns out that, with the exception of the war years, a very large majority of people who entered the Gulag left alive...
Judging from the Soviet records we now have, the number of people who died in the Gulag between 1933 and 1945, while both Stalin and Hit1er were in power, was on the order of a million, perhaps a bit more.
- Timothy Snyder. (2010). Bloodlands: Europe Between Hit1er and Stalin
(Side note: Timothy Snyder is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations)
This is still very high for a prison mortality rate, representing the brutality of the camps. However, it also clearly indicates that they were not death camps.
Nor was it slave labour, exactly. In the camps, although labour was forced, it was not uncompensated. In fact, the prisoners were paid market wages (less expenses).
We find that even in the Gulag, where force could be most conveniently applied, camp administrators combined material incentives with overt coercion, and, as time passed, they placed more weight on motivation. By the time the Gulag system was abandoned as a major instrument of Soviet industrial policy, the primary distinction between slave and free labor had been blurred: Gulag inmates were being paid wages according to a system that mirrored that of the civilian economy described by Bergson....
The Gulag administration [also] used a “work credit” system, whereby sentences were reduced (by two days or more for every day the norm was overfulfilled).
- L. Borodkin & S. Ertz. (2003). Compensation Versus Coercion in the Soviet GULAG
Additional Resources
Video Essays:
The Gulag Argument | TheFinnishBolshevik (2016)Historian Admits USSR didn't kill tens of millions! | TheFinnishBolshevik (2018)French work camps 1852-1953 worse than gulag | TheFinnishBolshevik (2018)"The Gulags of the Soviet Union: There's a Lot More Than What Meets the Eye | Comrade Rhys (2020)
Books, Articles, or Essays:
Victims of the Soviet Penal System in the Pre-War Years: A First Approach on the Basis of Archival Evidence | J. Arch Getty, Gábor T. Rittersporn and Viktor N. Zemskov (1993)
Listen:
"Blackshirts & Reds" (1997) by Michael Parenti, Part 4: Chapters 5 & 6. #Audiobook + Discussion. | Socialism For All / S4A ☭ Intensify Class Struggle (2022)
The Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact
ExcluirAnti-Communists and horseshoe-theorists love to tell anyone who will listen that the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact (1939) was a military alliance between the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany. They frame it as a cynical and opportunistic agreement between two totalitarian powers that paved the way for the outbreak of World War II in order to equate Communism with Fascism. They are, of course, missing key context in their effort to uniquely place blame on the USSR.
German Background
The loss of World War I and the Treaty of Versailles had a profound effect on the German economy. Signed in 1919, the treaty imposed harsh reparations on the newly formed Weimar Republic (1919-1933), forcing the country to pay billions of dollars in damages to the Allied powers. The Treaty of Versailles, which ended the war, required Germany to cede all of its colonial possessions to the Allied powers. This included territories in Africa, Asia, and the Pacific, including German East Africa, German Southwest Africa, Togoland, Cameroon, and German New Guinea.
With an understanding of Historical Materialism and the role that Imperialism plays in maintaining a liberal democracy, it is clear that the National Bourgeoisie would embrace Fascism under these conditions. (Ask: "What is Imperialism?" and "What is Fascism?" for details)
Judeo-Bolshevism (a conspiracy theory which claimed that Jews were responsible for the Russian Revolution of 1917, and that they have used Communism as a cover to further their own interests) gained significant traction in Nazi Germany, where it became a central part of Nazi propaganda and ideology. Adolf Hitler and other leading members of the Nazi Party frequently used the term to vilify Jews and justify their persecution.
The Communist Party of Germany (KPD) was repressed by the Nazi regime soon after they came to power in 1933. In the weeks following the Reichstag Fire, the Nazis arrested and imprisoned thousands of Communists and other political dissidents. This played a significant role in the passage of the Enabling Act of 1933, which granted Hitler and the Nazi Party dictatorial powers and effectively dismantled the Weimar Republic.
Soviet Background
Following the Russian Revolution in 1917, Great Britain and other Western powers placed strict trade restrictions on the Soviet Union. These restrictions were aimed at isolating the Soviet Union and weakening its economy in an attempt to force the new Communist government to collapse.
In the 1920s, the Soviet Union under Lenin's leadership was sympathetic towards Germany because the two countries shared a common enemy in the form of the Western capitalist powers, particularly France and Great Britain. The Soviet Union and Germany established diplomatic relations and engaged in economic cooperation with each other. The Soviet Union provided technical and economic assistance to Germany and in return, it received access to German industrial and technological expertise, as well as trade opportunities.
However, this cooperation was short-lived, and by the late 1920s, relations between the two countries had deteriorated. The Soviet Union's efforts to export its socialist ideology to Germany were met with resistance from the German government and the rising Nazi Party, which viewed Communism as a threat to its own ideology and ambitions.
Collective Security (1933-1939)
ExcluirThe appointment of Hitler as Germany's chancellor general, as well as the rising threat from Japan, led to important changes in Soviet foreign policy. Oriented toward Germany since the treaty of Locarno (1925) and the treaty of Special Relations with Berlin (1926), the Kremlin now moved in the opposite direction by trying to establish closer ties with France and Britain to isolate the growing Nazi threat. This policy became known as "collective security" and was associated with Maxim Litvinov, the Soviet foreign minister at the time. The pursuit of collective security lasted approximately as long as he held that position. Japan's war with China took some pressure off of Russia by allowing it to focus its diplomatic efforts on relations with Europe.
- Andrei P. Tsygankov, (2012). Russia and the West from Alexander to Putin.
However, the memories of the Russian Revolution and the fear of Communism were still fresh in the minds of many Western leaders, and there was a reluctance to enter into an alliance with the Soviet Union. They believed that Hitler was a bulwark against Communism and that a strong Germany could act as a buffer against Soviet expansion.
Instead of joining the USSR in a collective security alliance against Nazi Germany, the Western leaders decided to try appeasing Nazi Germany. As part of the policy of appeasement, several territories were ceded to Nazi Germany in the late 1930s:
Rhineland: In March 1936, Nazi Germany remilitarized the Rhineland, a demilitarized zone along the border between Germany and France. This move violated the Treaty of Versailles and marked the beginning of Nazi Germany's aggressive territorial expansion.Austria: In March 1938, Nazi Germany annexed Austria in what is known as the Anschluss. This move violated the Treaty of Versailles and the Treaty of Saint-Germain, which had established Austria as a separate state following World War I.Sudetenland: In September 1938, the leaders of Great Britain, France, and Italy signed the Munich Agreement, which allowed Nazi Germany to annex the Sudetenland, a region in western Czechoslovakia with a large ethnic German population.Memel: In March 1939, Nazi Germany annexed the Memel region of Lithuania, which had been under French administration since World War I.Bohemia and Moravia: In March 1939, Nazi Germany annexed Bohemia and Moravia, the remaining parts of Czechoslovakia that had not been annexed following the Munich Agreement.
However, instead of appeasing Nazi Germany by giving in to their territorial demands, these concessions only emboldened them and ultimately led to the outbreak of World War II.
Other Pacts involving Nazi GermanyThe Four-Power Pact (1933): An agreement between Britain, France, Italy, and Germany.The Pilsudski Pact (1934): The German–Polish declaration of non-aggression normalised relations and the parties agreed to forgo armed conflict for a period of 10 years. Germany invaded Poland in 1939.Juliabkommen (1936): A gentleman's agreement between Austria and Germany, in which Germany recognized Austria's "full sovereignty". Germany annexed Austria in 1938 in the Anschluss.Anglo-German Naval Agreement (1935): This agreement with the British allowed Germany the right to build a navy beyond the limits set by the Treaty of Versailles.Munich Agreement (September 1938): The British, French, and Italy agreed to concede the Sudetenland to Germany in exchange for a pledge of peace. WWII began one year later, when Germany invaded Poland.German-French Non-Aggression Pact (December 1938): A treaty between Germany and France, ensuring mutual non-aggression and peaceful relations. Germany invaded France in 1940.German-Romanian Economic Treaty (March 1939): This agreement established German control over most aspects of Romanian economy. Romania became an Axis power in 1943 and was liberated by the Soviets in 1945.German-Lithuanian Non-Aggression Pact (March 1939): This ultimatum issued by Germany demanded Lithuania return the Klaipėda Region (Memel) which it lost in WWI in exchange for a non-aggression pact. Germany occupied Lithuania in 1941.Denmark Non-Aggression Pact (May 1939): An agreement between Germany and Denmark, ensuring non-aggression and peaceful coexistence. Germany invaded Denmark in 1940.German-Estonian Non-Aggression Pact (June 1939): Germany occupied Estonia in 1941.German-Latvian Non-Aggression Pact (June 1939): Germany occupied Latvia in 1941.USSR Non-Aggression Pact (August 1939): Known as the infamous Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, this was a non-aggression treaty between Germany and the Soviet Union, also including secret protocols dividing Eastern Europe into spheres of influence. Germany invaded the USSR in 1941.
ExcluirAnd this, of course, ignores all the pacts and treaties that Germany made with its Axis allies: Italy, Japan, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Finland, and Thailand.
The Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact
Papers which were kept secret for almost 70 years show that the Soviet Union proposed sending a powerful military force in an effort to entice Britain and France into an anti-Nazi alliance.
Such an agreement could have changed the course of 20th century history...
The offer of a military force to help contain Hitler was made by a senior Soviet military delegation at a Kremlin meeting with senior British and French officers, two weeks before war broke out in 1939.
The new documents... show the vast numbers of infantry, artillery and airborne forces which Stalin's generals said could be dispatched, if Polish objections to the Red Army crossing its territory could first be overcome.
But the British and French side - briefed by their governments to talk, but not authorised to commit to binding deals - did not respond to the Soviet offer...
- Nick Holdsworth. (2008). Stalin 'planned to send a million troops to stop Hitler if Britain and France agreed pact'
After trying and failing to get the Western capitalist powers to join the Soviet Union in a collective security alliance against Nazi Germany, and witnessing country after country being ceded, it became clear to Soviet leadership that war was inevitable-- and Poland was next.
ExcluirUnfortunately, there was a widespread belief in Poland that Jews were overrepresented in the Soviet government and that the Soviet Union was being controlled by Jewish Communists. This conspiracy theory (Judeo-Bolshevism) was fueled by anti-Semitic propaganda that was prevalent in Poland at the time. The Polish government was strongly anti-Communist and had been actively involved in suppressing Communist movements in Poland and other parts of Europe. Furthermore, the Polish government believed that it could rely on the support of Britain and France in the event of a conflict with Nazi Germany. The Polish government had signed a mutual defense pact with Britain in March 1939, and believed that this would deter Germany from attacking Poland.
Seeing the writing on the wall, the Soviet Union made the difficult decision to do what it felt it needed to do to survive the coming conflict. At the time of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact's signing (August 1939), the Soviet Union was facing significant military pressure from the West, particularly from Britain and France, which were seeking to isolate the Soviet Union and undermine its influence in Europe. The Soviet Union saw the Pact as a way to counterbalance this pressure and to gain more time to build up its military strength and prepare for the inevitable conflict with Nazi Germany, which began less than two years later in June 1941 (Operation Barbarossa).
Additional Resources
Video Essays:
How Stalin Outplayed Hitler: The Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact | Politstrum International (2020)The truth about the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact (Visualization) | Russia Good (2019)Soviet Nonaggression-Pact / The Soviet Perspective | Lady Idzihar (2022)
Books, Articles, or Essays:
The Truth About The Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact | PolitsturmEnd of the 'Low, Dishonest Decade': Failure of the Anglo-Franco-Soviet Alliance in 1939 | Michael Jabara Carley (1993)1939: The Alliance That Never Was and the Coming of World War II | Michael Jabara Carley (1999)
The Holodomor
ExcluirMarxists do not deny that a famine happened in the Soviet Union in 1932. In fact, even the Soviet archive confirms this. What we do contest is the idea that this famine was man-made or that there was a genocide against the Ukrainian people. This idea of the subjugation of the Soviet Union’s own people was developed by Nazi Germany, in order to show the world the terror of the “Jewish communists.”
- Socialist Musings. (2017). Stop Spreading Nazi Propaganda: on Holodomor
There have been efforts by anti-Communists and Ukrainian nationalists to frame the Soviet famine of 1932-1933 as "The Holodomor" (lit. "to kill by starvation" in Ukrainian). Framing it this way serves two purposes:
It implies the famine targeted Ukraine.It implies the famine was intentional.
The argument goes that because it was intentional and because it mainly targeted Ukraine that it was, therefore, an act of genocide. This framing was originally used by Nazis to drive a wedge between the Ukrainian SSR (UkSSR) and the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (RSFSR). In the wake of the 2004 Orange Revolution, this narrative has regained popularity and serves the nationalistic goal of strengthening Ukrainian identity and asserting the country's independence from Russia.
First Issue
The first issue is that the famine affected the majority of the USSR, not just the UkSSR. Kazakhstan was hit harder (per capita) than Ukraine. Russia itself was also severely affected.
The emergence of the Holodomor in the 1980s as a historical narrative was bound-up with post-Soviet Ukrainian nation-making that cannot be neatly separated from the legacy of Eastern European antisemitism, or what Historian Peter Novick calls "Holocaust Envy", the desire for victimized groups to enshrine their "own" Holocaust or Holocaust-like event in the historical record. For many Nationalists, this has entailed minimizing the Holocaust to elevate their own experiences of historical victimization as the supreme atrocity. The Ukrainian scholar Lubomyr Luciuk exemplified this view in his notorious remark that the Holodomor was "a crime against humanity arguably without parallel in European history."
Second Issue
ExcluirCalling it "man-made" implies that it was a deliberate famine, which was not the case. Although human factors set the stage, the main causes of the famine was bad weather and crop disease, resulting in a poor harvest, which pushed the USSR over the edge.
Kulaks ("tight-fisted person") were a class of wealthy peasants who owned land, livestock, and tools. The kulaks had been a thorn in the side of the peasantry long before the revolution. Alexey Sergeyevich Yermolov, Minister of Agriculture and State Properties of the Russian Empire, in his 1892 book, Poor harvest and national suffering, characterized them as usurers, sucking the blood of Russian peasants.
In the early 1930s, in response to the Soviet collectivization policies (which sought to confiscate their property), many kulaks responded spitefully by burning crops, killing livestock, and damaging machinery.
Poor communication between different levels of government and between urban and rural areas, also contributed to the severity of the crisis.
Quota Reduction
What really contradicts the genocide argument is that the Soviets did take action to mitigate the effects of the famine once they became aware of the situation:
The low 1932 harvest worsened severe food shortages already widespread in the Soviet Union at least since 1931 and, despite sharply reduced grain exports, made famine likely if not inevitable in 1933.
The official 1932 figures do not unambiguously support the genocide interpretation... the 1932 grain procurement quota, and the amount of grain actually collected, were both much smaller than those of any other year in the 1930s. The Central Committee lowered the planned procurement quota in a 6 May 1932 decree... [which] actually reduced the procurement plan 30 percent. Subsequent decrees also reduced the procurement quotas for most other agricultural products...
Proponents of the genocide argument, however, have minimized or even misconstrued this decree. Mace, for example, describes it as "largely bogus" and ignores not only the extent to which it lowered the procurement quotas but also the fact that even the lowered plan was not fulfilled. Conquest does not mention the decree's reduction of procurement quotas and asserts Ukrainian officials' appeals led to the reduction of the Ukranian grain procurement quota at the Third All-Ukraine Party Conference in July 1932. In fact that conference confirmed the quota set in the 6 May Decree.
- Mark Tauger. (1992). The 1932 Harvest and the Famine of 1933
Rapid Industrialization
ExcluirThe famine was exacerbated directly and indirectly by collectivization and rapid industrialization. However, if these policies had not been enacted, there could have been even more devastating consequences later.
In 1931, during a speech delivered at the first All-Union Conference of Leading Personnel of Socialist Industry, Stalin said, "We are fifty or a hundred years behind the advanced countries. We must make good this distance in ten years. Either we do it, or we shall go under."
In 1941, exactly ten years later, the Nazis invaded the Soviet Union.
By this time, the Soviet Union's industrialization program had lead to the development of a large and powerful industrial base, which was essential to the Soviet war effort. This allowed the USSR to produce large quantities of armaments, vehicles, and other military equipment, which was crucial in the fight against Nazi Germany.
In Hitler's own words, in 1942:
All in all, one has to say: They built factories here where two years ago there were unknown farming villages, factories the size of the Hermann-Göring-Werke. They have railroads that aren't even marked on the map.
- Werner Jochmann. (1980). Adolf Hitler. Monologe im Führerhauptquartier 1941-1944.
Collectivization also created critical resiliency among the civilian population:
The experts were especially surprised by the Red Army’s up-to-date equipment. Great tank battles were reported; it was noted that the Russians had sturdy tanks which often smashed or overturned German tanks in head-on collision. “How does it happen,” a New York editor asked me, “that those Russian peasants, who couldn’t run a tractor if you gave them one, but left them rusting in the field, now appear with thousands of tanks efficiently handled?” I told him it was the Five-Year Plan. But the world was startled when Moscow admitted its losses after nine weeks of war as including 7,500 guns, 4,500 planes and 5,000 tanks. An army that could still fight after such losses must have had the biggest or second biggest supply in the world.
As the war progressed, military observers declared that the Russians had “solved the blitzkrieg,” the tactic on which Hitler relied. This German method involved penetrating the opposing line by an overwhelming blow of tanks and planes, followed by the fanning out of armored columns in the “soft” civilian rear, thus depriving the front of its hinterland support. This had quickly conquered every country against which it had been tried. “Human flesh cannot withstand it,” an American correspondent told me in Berlin. Russians met it by two methods, both requiring superb morale. When the German tanks broke through, Russian infantry formed again between the tanks and their supporting German infantry. This created a chaotic front, where both Germans and Russians were fighting in all directions. The Russians could count on the help of the population. The Germans found no “soft, civilian rear.” They found collective farmers, organized as guerrillas, coordinated with the regular Russian army.
- Anna Louise Strong. (1956). The Stalin Era
Conclusion
While there may have been more that the Soviets could have done to reduce the impact of the famine, there is no evidence of intent-- ethnic, or otherwise. Therefore, one must conclude that the famine was a tragedy, not a genocide.
Additional Resources
Video Essays:
Soviet Famine of 1932: An Overview | The Marxist Project (2020)Did Stalin Continue to Export Grain as Ukraine Starved? | Hakim (2017) [Archive]The Holodomor Genocide Question: How Wikipedia Lies to You | Bad Empanada (2022)Historian Admits USSR didn't kill tens of millions! | TheFinnishBolshevik (2018) (Note: Holodomor discussion begins at the 9 minute mark)A Case-Study of Capitalism - Ukraine | Hakim (2017) [Archive] (Note: Only tangentially mentions the famine.)
Books, Articles, or Essays:
ExcluirThe Years of Hunger: Soviet Agriculture, 1931-1933 | Davies and Wheatcroft (2004)The “Holodomor” explained | TheFinnishBolshevik (2020)Rapid Industrialization
The famine was exacerbated directly and indirectly by collectivization and rapid industrialization. However, if these policies had not been enacted, there could have been even more devastating consequences later.
In 1931, during a speech delivered at the first All-Union Conference of Leading Personnel of Socialist Industry, Stalin said, "We are fifty or a hundred years behind the advanced countries. We must make good this distance in ten years. Either we do it, or we shall go under."
In 1941, exactly ten years later, the Nazis invaded the Soviet Union.
By this time, the Soviet Union's industrialization program had lead to the development of a large and powerful industrial base, which was essential to the Soviet war effort. This allowed the USSR to produce large quantities of armaments, vehicles, and other military equipment, which was crucial in the fight against Nazi Germany.
In Hitler's own words, in 1942:
All in all, one has to say: They built factories here where two years ago there were unknown farming villages, factories the size of the Hermann-Göring-Werke. They have railroads that aren't even marked on the map.
- Werner Jochmann. (1980). Adolf Hitler. Monologe im Führerhauptquartier 1941-1944.
Collectivization also created critical resiliency among the civilian population:
The experts were especially surprised by the Red Army’s up-to-date equipment. Great tank battles were reported; it was noted that the Russians had sturdy tanks which often smashed or overturned German tanks in head-on collision. “How does it happen,” a New York editor asked me, “that those Russian peasants, who couldn’t run a tractor if you gave them one, but left them rusting in the field, now appear with thousands of tanks efficiently handled?” I told him it was the Five-Year Plan. But the world was startled when Moscow admitted its losses after nine weeks of war as including 7,500 guns, 4,500 planes and 5,000 tanks. An army that could still fight after such losses must have had the biggest or second biggest supply in the world.
As the war progressed, military observers declared that the Russians had “solved the blitzkrieg,” the tactic on which Hitler relied. This German method involved penetrating the opposing line by an overwhelming blow of tanks and planes, followed by the fanning out of armored columns in the “soft” civilian rear, thus depriving the front of its hinterland support. This had quickly conquered every country against which it had been tried. “Human flesh cannot withstand it,” an American correspondent told me in Berlin. Russians met it by two methods, both requiring superb morale. When the German tanks broke through, Russian infantry formed again between the tanks and their supporting German infantry. This created a chaotic front, where both Germans and Russians were fighting in all directions. The Russians could count on the help of the population. The Germans found no “soft, civilian rear.” They found collective farmers, organized as guerrillas, coordinated with the regular Russian army.
- Anna Louise Strong. (1956). The Stalin Era
Conclusion
ExcluirWhile there may have been more that the Soviets could have done to reduce the impact of the famine, there is no evidence of intent-- ethnic, or otherwise. Therefore, one must conclude that the famine was a tragedy, not a genocide.
Additional Resources
Video Essays:
Soviet Famine of 1932: An Overview | The Marxist Project (2020)Did Stalin Continue to Export Grain as Ukraine Starved? | Hakim (2017) [Archive]The Holodomor Genocide Question: How Wikipedia Lies to You | Bad Empanada (2022)Historian Admits USSR didn't kill tens of millions! | TheFinnishBolshevik (2018) (Note: Holodomor discussion begins at the 9 minute mark)A Case-Study of Capitalism - Ukraine | Hakim (2017) [Archive] (Note: Only tangentially mentions the famine.)
Books, Articles, or Essays:
The Years of Hunger: Soviet Agriculture, 1931-1933 | Davies and Wheatcroft (2004)The “Holodomor” explained | TheFinnishBolshevik (2020)
The Uyghurs in Xinjiang
ExcluirAnti-Communists and Sinophobes claim that there is an ongoing genocide-- a modern-day holocaust, even-- happening right now in China. They say that Uyghur Muslims are being mass incarcerated; they are indoctrinated with propaganda in concentration camps; their organs are being harvested; they are being force-sterilized. These comically villainous allegations have little basis in reality and omit key context.
Background
Xinjiang, officially the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, is a province located in the northwest of China. It is the largest province in China, covering an area of over 1.6 million square kilometers, and shares borders with eight other countries including Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Russia, Mongolia, India, and Pakistan.
Xinjiang is a diverse region with a population of over 25 million people, made up of various ethnic groups including the Uyghur, Han Chinese, Kazakhs, Tajiks, and many others. The largest ethnic group in Xinjiang is the Uyghur who are predominantly Muslim and speak a Turkic language. It is also home to the ancient Silk Road cities of Kashgar and Turpan.
In the aftermath of the Cold War, several factors contributed to a resurgence of separatist sentiment among Uyghur nationalists in Xinjiang. Since the early 2000s, there have been a number of violent incidents attributed to extremist Uyghur groups in Xinjiang including bombings, shootings, and knife attacks. Some high-profile examples include:
Ürümqi bombings (2014): SUVs were driven into a busy street market in Ürümqi, the capital of Xinjiang. Up to a dozen explosives were thrown at shoppers from the windows of the SUVs. The SUVs crashed into shoppers, then collided with each other and exploded. 43 people were killed and more than 90 wounded.Kunming train station attack (2014): A group of 8 knife-wielding Uyghur separatists attacked passengers in the Kunming Railway Station in Kunming, Yunnan, China, killing 31 people, and wounding 143 others. The attackers pulled out long-bladed knives and stabbed and slashed passengers at random.Tiananmen Square attack (2013): A car ran over pedestrians and crashed in Tiananmen Square in Beijing, in a terrorist suicide attack. Five people died in the incident; three inside the vehicle and two others nearby. An additional 38 people were injured.Kashgar attack (2013): A group of Uyghur militants attacked a police station and government offices in Kashgar, killing 15 people and injuring more than 40 others.Kashgar attack (2011): Two Uyghur men hijacked a truck, killed its driver, and drove into a crowd of pedestrians. They got out of the truck and stabbed six people to death and injured 27 others.Ürümqi riots (2009): Ethnic riots erupted in Ürümqi. They began as a protest, but escalated into violent attacks that mainly targeted Han people. A total of 197 people died, most of whom were Han people or non-Muslim minorities, with 1,721 others injured and many vehicles and buildings destroyed.Kashgar attack (2008): Two men drove a truck into a group of approximately 70 jogging police officers, and proceeded to attack them with grenades and machetes, resulting in the death of sixteen officers.
In 2014-2016, the Chinese government launched a "Strike Hard" campaign to crack down on terrorism in Xinjiang, implementing strict security measures and detaining thousands of Uyghurs. In 2017, reports of human rights abuses in Xinjiang including mass detentions and forced labor, began to emerge.
The Material Conditions Necessary for Terrorism and Extremism
ExcluirAs materialists, we understand that terrorists don't magically appear out of thin air. There are material reasons for people resorting to such extreme measures. In order to combat the threat of rising extremism, these reasons must be indentified and resolved. One of the main causes is economic marginalization. When people are economically disadvantaged or excluded from mainstream economic activity, they may be more likely to turn to extremism as a way to address their grievances and gain a sense of purpose. Generally speaking, people who feel like they have a bright future do not resort to terrorism. It is only when people feel hopeless or trapped that they resort to such measures.
If the issue is that the Uyghurs were disenfranchised, and that is the reason they were susceptible to religious fundamentalism and resorting to terrorism, then surely the solution is to enfranchise them to remove that material condition. This is what the Strike Hard campaign ultimately sought to accomplish.
Counterpoints
There is only flimsy evidence for the most egregious of the allegations being made about what China is doing in Xinjiang, it should be an easy matter to dismiss. Normally, the burden of evidence lies with the party making the claims. However, Western media is happy to spread rumours and present the allegations as having merit because it serves America's imperialist interests. Additionally, given the severity of the allegations and the gravity of the crimes China is being accused of, this issue has been taken very seriously by the international community, especially the international Muslim community.
The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) is the second largest organization after the United Nations with a membership of 57 states spread over four continents. The OIC released Resolutions on Muslim Communities and Muslim Minorities in the non-OIC Member States in 2019 which:
Welcomes the outcomes of the visit conducted by the General Secretariat's delegation upon invitation from the People's Republic of China; commends the efforts of the People's Republic of China in providing care to its Muslim citizens; and looks forward to further cooperation between the OIC and the People's Republic of China.
In this same document, the OIC expressed much greater concern about the Rohingya Muslim Community in Myanmar, which the West was relatively silent on.
Over 50+ UN member states (mostly Muslim-majority nations) signed a letter (A/HRC/41/G/17) to the UN Human Rights Commission approving of the de-radicalization efforts in Xinjiang:
...separatism and religious extremism has caused enormous damage to people of all ethnic groups in Xinjiang, which has seriously infringed upon human rights, including right to life, health and development. Faced with the grave challenge of terrorism and extremism, China has undertaken a series of counter-terrorism and deradicalization measures in Xinjiang, including setting up vocational education and training centers. Now safety and security has returned to Xinjiang and the fundamental human rights of people of all ethnic groups there are safeguarded. The past three consecutive years has seen not a single terrorist attack in Xinjiang and people there enjoy a stronger sense of happiness, fulfillment and security. We note with appreciation that human rights are respected and protected in China in the process of counter-terrorism and deradicalization.
We appreciate China’s commitment to openness and transparency. China has invited a number of diplomats, international organizations officials and journalist to Xinjiang to witness the progress of the human rights cause and the outcomes of counter-terrorism and deradicalization there. What they saw and heard in Xinjiang completely contradicted what was reported in the media. We call on relevant countries to refrain from employing unfounded charges against China based on unconfirmed information before they visit Xinjiang.
The World Bank sent a team to investigate in 2019 and found that, "The review did not substantiate the allegations." (See: World Bank Statement on Review of Project in Xinjiang, China)
ExcluirEven if you believe the deradicalization efforts are wholly unjustified, and that the mass detention of Uyghur's amounts to a crime against humanity, it's still not genocide. Even the U.S. State Department's legal experts admit as much:
The U.S. State Department’s Office of the Legal Advisor concluded earlier this year that China’s mass imprisonment and forced labor of ethnic Uighurs in Xinjiang amounts to crimes against humanity—but there was insufficient evidence to prove genocide, placing the United States’ top diplomatic lawyers at odds with both the Trump and Biden administrations, according to three former and current U.S. officials.
State Department Lawyers Concluded Insufficient Evidence to Prove Genocide in China | Colum Lynch, Foreign Policy. (2021)
A Comparative Analysis: The War on Terror
China is not the only country to have faced faced a challenge of this nature. The United States, in the wake of "9/11", saw the threat of terrorism and violent extremism due to religious fundamentalism as a matter of national security. They invaded Afghanistan in October 2001 in response to the 9/11 attacks, with the goal of ousting the Taliban government that was harbouring Al-Qaeda. The US also launched the Iraq War in March 2003, which was justified by the Bush administration as a response to Iraq's alleged possession of weapons of mass destruction and links to terrorism. However, these claims turned out to be unfounded.
A former commander of NATO’s forces in Europe, [retired General Wesley] Clark claims he met a senior military officer in Washington in November 2001 who told him the Bush administration was planning to attack Iraq first before taking action against Syria, Lebanon, Libya, Iran, Somalia and Sudan...
Clark says after the 11 September 2001 attacks, many Bush administration officials seemed determined to move against Iraq, invoking the idea of state sponsorship of terrorism, “even though there was no evidence of Iraqi sponsorship of 9/11 whatsoever”...
He also condemns George Bush’s notorious Axis of Evil speech made during his 2002 State of the Union address. “There were no obvious connections between Iraq, Iran, and North Korea,” says Clark...
Instead, Clark points the finger at what he calls “the real sources of terrorists – US allies in the region like Egypt, Pakistan, and Saudi Arabia”.
Clark blames Egypt’s “repressive policies”, Pakistan’s “corruption and poverty, as well as Saudi Arabia’s “radical ideology and direct funding” for creating a pool of angry young men who became “terrorists”.
US ‘plans to attack seven Muslim states’ | Al Jazeera (2003)
According to a report by Brown University's Costs of War project, at least 897,000 people, including civilians, militants, and security forces, have been killed in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Syria, Yemen, and other countries. Other estimates place the total number of deaths at over one million. The report estimated that many more may have died from indirect effects of war such as water loss and disease. The war has also resulted in the displacement of tens of millions of people, with estimates ranging from 37 million to over 59 million.
ExcluirThe War on Terror also popularized such novel concepts as the "Military-Aged Male" which allowed the US military to exclude civilians killed by drone strikes from collateral damage statistics. (See: ‘Military Age Males’ in US Drone Strikes)
In summary:
The U.S. responded by invading or bombing half a dozen countries regardless of their actual connection to the attackers, directly killing nearly a million and displacing tens of millions from their homes.China responded with a program of deradicalization and vocational training.
Which one of those responses sounds genocidal?
Side note: It is practically impossible to actually charge the U.S. with war crimes, because of the Hague Invasion Act.
Who is driving the Uyghur genocide narrative?
Let's review some of the people and organizations involved in strongly promoting this narrative.
One of the main proponents of these narratives is Adrian Zenz, a German far-right fundamentalist Christian and Senior Fellow and Director in China Studies at the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation, who believes he is "led by God" on a "mission" against China has driven much of the narrative. His anti-Communist and anti-China stances influence his work and makes him selective in his use of data. He relies heavily on limited and questionable data sources, particularly from anonymous and unverified Uyghur sources, coming up with estimates based on assumptions which are not supported by concrete evidence. He also ignores the broader historical and political context of the situation in Xinjiang, such as the history of separatist movements and terrorism in the region.
The World Uyghur Congress, headquartered in Germany, is funded by the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) which is a tool of U.S. foreign policy, using funding to support organizations that promote American interests rather than the interests of the local communities they claim to represent.
Radio Free Asia (RFA) is part of a larger project of U.S. imperialism in Asia, one that seeks to control the flow of information, undermine independent media, and advance American geopolitical interests in the region. Rather than providing an objective and impartial news source, RFA is a tool of U.S. foreign policy, one that seeks to shape the narrative in Asia in ways that serve the interests of the U.S. government and its allies.
The first country to call the treatment of Uyghurs a genocide was the United States of America. In 2021, the Secretary of State declared that China's treatment of Uyghurs and other ethnic and religious minorities in Xinjiang constitutes "genocide" and "crimes against humanity." Both the Trump and Biden administrations upheld this line.
Why is this narrative being promoted?
As materialists, we should always look first to the economic base for insight into issues occurring in the superstructure. In this case, there is a compelling material reason for the US the promote a narrative of a genocide occurring in Xinjiang.
The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is a massive Chinese infrastructure development project that aims to build economic corridors, ports, highways, railways, and other infrastructure projects across Asia, Africa, Europe, and the Middle East. The project has been described as a new Silk Road, connecting China with its neighboring countries and expanding trade and economic ties with the rest of the world.
The BRI includes plans for major infrastructure projects in Xinjiang. These projects aim to improve connectivity and facilitate trade between China and countries in Central Asia and beyond. The Xinjiang region is critical part of the Belt.
ExcluirFor the United States, the BRI is a threat to its economic and political dominance. For one, the BRI could undermine US efforts to promote "free trade" agreements, which have often been used to lock in economic reforms and policies that benefit American corporations. The BRI also threatens to undermine US influence in key regions of the world, particularly in Asia and Africa, by providing countries with an alternative source of financing and investment that is not tied to US-led institutions like the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.
Moreover, the BRI could help to shift the global balance of power away from the United States and towards China. By expanding its economic influence and deepening its ties with other countries, China could emerge as a more formidable competitor to the United States in the global arena.
Promoting the Uyghur genocide narrative harms China and benefits the US in several ways. It portrays China as a human rights violator which could damage China's reputation in the international community and which could lead to economic sanctions against China; this would harm China's economy and give American an economic advantage in competing with China. It could also lead to more protests and violence in Xinjiang, which could further destabilize the region and threaten the longterm success of the BRI.
Additional Resources
Video Essays:
What's daily life like for Uyghurs? A talk with Uyghur influencer Sabira Samat and Daniel Dumbrill. | Li Jingjing (2021)Cutting Through the BS on Xinjiang: Uyghur Genocide or Vocational Training? | BadEmpanada (2021)Discussing The Xinjiang/Uyghur "Genocide" With Bay Area 415 | Daniel Dumbrill (2020)
Books, Articles, or Essays:
Egyptian media delegates provide a detailed insight of the situation in Xinjiang | (2019)The Xinjiang Atrocity Propaganda Blitz | Nia Frome (2021)Xinjiang: A Report and Resource Compilation | Qiao Collective (2021)Xinjiang: Understanding Complexity, Building Peace | International Diplomatic Institute (2021)Fight against Terrorism and Extremism in Xinjiang: Truth and Facts | Information Office of the People's Government of Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (2022)
Social Media Resources, Threads, and Masterposts:
Twitter thread about the WUC | shaedon sharpe’s rifles via Twitter (2021) [Archive]List of fact checks | 8Bitsblu via r/communism (2020) [Archive]r/Sino wiki entry | FeatsOverComments via r/sino (2020)
Tiananmen Square Protests
Excluir(Also known as the June Fourth Incident)
In Western media, the well-known story of the "Tiananmen Square Massacre" goes like this: the Chinese government declared martial law in 1989 and mobilized the military to suppress students who were protesting for democracy and freedom. According to western sources, on June 4th of that year, troops and tanks entered Tiananmen Square and fired on unarmed protesters, killing and injuring hundreds, if not thousands, of people. The more hyperbolic tellings of this story include claims of tanks running over students, machine guns being fired into the crowd, blood running in the streets like a river, etc.
Anti-Communists and Sinophobes commonly point to this incident as a classic example of authoritarianism and political repression under Communist regimes. The problem, of course, is that the actual events in Beijing on June 4th, 1989 unfolded quite differently than how they were depicted in the Western media at the time. Despite many more contemporary articles coming out that actually contradict some of the original claims and characterizations of the June Fourth Incident, the narrative of a "Tiananmen Square Massacre" persists.
Background
After Mao's death in 1976, a power struggle ensued and the Gang of Four were purged, paving the way for Deng Xiaoping's rise to power. Deng initiated economic reforms known as the "Four Modernizations," which aimed to modernize and open up China's economy to the world. These reforms led to significant economic growth and lifted millions of people out of poverty, but they also created significant inequality, corruption, and social unrest. This pivotal point in the PRC's history is extremely controversial among Marxists today and a subject of much debate.
One of the key factors that contributed to the Tiananmen Square protests was the sense of social and economic inequality that many Chinese people felt as a result of Deng's economic reforms. Many believed that the benefits of the country's economic growth were not being distributed fairly, and that the government was not doing enough to address poverty, corruption, and other social issues.
Some saw the Four Modernizations as a betrayal of Maoist principles and a capitulation to Western capitalist interests. Others saw the reforms as essential for China's economic development and modernization. Others still wanted even more liberalization and thought the reforms didn't go far enough.
The protestors in Tiananmen were mostly students who did not represent the great mass of Chinese citizens, but instead represented a layer of the intelligentsia who wanted to be elevated and given more privileges such as more political power and higher wages.
Counterpoints
ExcluirJay Mathews, the first Beijing bureau chief for The Washington Post in 1979 and who returned in 1989 to help cover the Tiananmen demonstrations, wrote:
Over the last decade, many American reporters and editors have accepted a mythical version of that warm, bloody night. They repeated it often before and during Clinton’s trip. On the day the president arrived in Beijing, a Baltimore Sun headline (June 27, page 1A) referred to “Tiananmen, where Chinese students died.” A USA Today article (June 26, page 7A) called Tiananmen the place “where pro-democracy demonstrators were gunned down.” The Wall Street Journal (June 26, page A10) described “the Tiananmen Square massacre” where armed troops ordered to clear demonstrators from the square killed “hundreds or more.” The New York Post (June 25, page 22) said the square was “the site of the student slaughter.”
The problem is this: as far as can be determined from the available evidence, no one died that night in Tiananmen Square.
- Jay Matthews. (1998). The Myth of Tiananmen and the Price of a Passive Press. Columbia Journalism Review.
Reporters from the BBC, CBS News, and the New York Times who were in Beijing on June 4, 1989, all agree there was no massacre.
Secret cables from the United States embassy in Beijing have shown there was no bloodshed inside the square:
Cables, obtained by WikiLeaks and released exclusively by The Daily Telegraph, partly confirm the Chinese government's account of the early hours of June 4, 1989, which has always insisted that soldiers did not massacre demonstrators inside Tiananmen Square
- Malcolm Moore. (2011). Wikileaks: no bloodshed inside Tiananmen Square, cables claim
Gregory Clark, a former Australian diplomat, and Chinese-speaking correspondent of the International Business Times, wrote:
The original story of Chinese troops on the night of 3 and 4 June, 1989 machine-gunning hundreds of innocent student protesters in Beijing’s iconic Tiananmen Square has since been thoroughly discredited by the many witnesses there at the time — among them a Spanish TVE television crew, a Reuters correspondent and protesters themselves, who say that nothing happened other than a military unit entering and asking several hundred of those remaining to leave the Square late that night.
Yet none of this has stopped the massacre from being revived constantly, and believed. All that has happened is that the location has been changed – from the Square itself to the streets leading to the Square.
Excluir- Gregory Clark. (2014). Tiananmen Square Massacre is a Myth, All We're 'Remembering' are British Lies
Thomas Hon Wing Polin, writing for CounterPunch, wrote:
The most reliable estimate, from many sources, was that the tragedy took 200-300 lives. Few were students, many were rebellious workers, plus thugs with lethal weapons and hapless bystanders. Some calculations have up to half the dead being PLA soldiers trapped in their armored personnel carriers, buses and tanks as the vehicles were torched. Others were killed and brutally mutilated by protesters with various implements. No one died in Tiananmen Square; most deaths occurred on nearby Chang’an Avenue, many up to a kilometer or more away from the square.
More than once, government negotiators almost reached a truce with students in the square, only to be sabotaged by radical youth leaders seemingly bent on bloodshed. And the demands of the protesters focused on corruption, not democracy.
All these facts were known to the US and other governments shortly after the crackdown. Few if any were reported by Western mainstream media, even today.
- Thomas Hon Wing Palin. (2017). Tiananmen: the Empire’s Big Lie
(Emphasis mine)
And it was, indeed, bloodshed that the student leaders wanted. In this interview, you can hear one of the student leaders, Chai Ling, ghoulishly explaining how she tried to bait the Chinese government into actually committing a massacre. (She herself made sure to stay out of the square.): Excerpts of interviews with Tiananmen Square protest leaders
This Twitter thread contains many pictures and videos showing protestors killing soldiers, commandeering military vehicles, torching military transports, etc.
Following the crackdown, through Operation Yellowbird, many of the student leaders escaped to the United States with the help of the CIA, where they almost all gained privileged positions.
Additional Resources
Video Essays:
Truth about The Tiananmen Square Protests | Tovarishch Endymion (2019)Tiananmen Square "Massacre", A Propaganda Hoax | TeleSUR English (2019)All The Questions Socialists Are Asked, Answered (TIMESTAMPED) | Hakim (2021)
Books, Articles, or Essays:
Tiananmen Protests Reading List | Qiao CollectiveHow psy-ops warriors fooled me about Tiananmen Square: a warning | Nury Vittachi, Friday (2022)1989: Tiananmen Square ‘massacre’ was a myth | Deirdre Griswold, Workers World (2022)Massacre? What Massacre? 25 Years Later: What really happened at Tiananmen Square? | Kim Petersen, Dissident Voice (2014)Tiananmen: The Massacre that Wasn’t | Brian Becker, Liberation News (2019)Reflections on Tiananmen Square and the attempt to end Chinese socialism | Mick Kelly, FightBack! News (2019)The Tian’anmen Square “Massacre” The West’s Most Persuasive, Most Pervasive Lie. | Tom, Mango Press (2021)
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn was a prominent Soviet dissident and outspoken critic of Communism. The Gulag Archipelago, one of the most famous texts on the subject, claims to be a work of non-fiction based on the author's personal experiences in the Soviet prison system. However, Solzhenitsyn was merely an anti-Communist, Nazi-sympathizing, antisemite who wanted to slander the USSR by putting forward a collection of folktales as truth.
ExcluirIn 1945, during WWII, as a Captain in the Red Army, Solzhenitsyn was sentenced to an eight-year term in a labour camp for creating anti-Soviet propaganda and founding a hostile organization aimed at overthrowing the Soviet government.
...[Solzhenitsyn] encounters his secondary school friend, Nikolai Vitkevich, and they recklessly share candid political discussions critical of Stalin's conduct of the war:
These two young officers, after days of discussion, astonishingly drew up a program for change, entitled "Resolution No. 1." They argued that the Soviet regime stifled economic development, literature, culture, and everyday life; a new organization was needed to fight to put things right."
These discussions were not cynical, but resonate with ideological ardour and zealous patriotism. Solzhenitsyn heedlessly stores "Resolution No. 1" in his map case. In nineteen months, it, along with copies of all correspondence between himself and Vitkevich from April 1944 to February 1945 will serve to convict Solzhenitsyn of anti-Soviet propaganda under Article 58 of the Soviet criminal code, paragraph 10 and of founding a hostile organization under paragraph 11.
- Dale Hardy. (2001). Solzhenitsyn in confession
And he wasn't merely some Left Oppositionist striving for "real" socialism, he was a hardcore Russian Nationalist who sympathized with the Nazis:
...in his assessment of the Second World War, [Solzhenitsyn stated] ‘the German army could have liberated the Soviet Union from Communism but Hit1er was stupid and did not use this weapon.’ It seems extraordinary that Solzhenitsyn saw the failure of Nazi Germany to annex the Soviet Union as some kind of missed opportunity...
- Simon Demissie. (2013). New files from 1983 – Thatcher meets Solzhenitsyn
"This weapon" referring to the various counter-revolutionary, anti-Stalin groups that could be weaponized to dissolve the USSR from within.
The biggest problem with The Gulag Archipelago, though, is that it is billed as a work of non-fiction based on his personal experiences. There is good reason to believe this is not the case. His ideological background makes him biased against Communism and against the Soviet government. He also had material incentive to promote it this way; it was a major commercial success and quickly became an international bestseller, selling millions of copies in multiple languages. It has essentially become the Bible of anti-Soviet propaganda, with new editions containing forewards from anti-Communists like Jordan Peterson. It likely would not have performed so well or been such effective propaganda had it been advertised merely as a compilation of folk tales, which is exactly how Solzhenitsyn's ex-wife describes it:
She also told the newspaper's Moscow correspondent that she was still living with Mr. Soizhenitsyn when he wrote the book and that she had typed part of it. They parted in 1970 and were subsequently divorced.
ExcluirShe said: “The subject of ‘Gulag Archipelago,’ as I felt at the moment when he was writing it, is not in fact the life of the country and not even the life of the camps but the folklore of the camps.”
- New York Times. (1974). Solzhenitsyn's Ex‐Wife Says ‘Gulag’ Is ‘Folklore’
Solzhenitsyn's casual relationship with the truth is evident in his later work as well, establishing a pattern that discredits The Gulag Archipelago as a serious historical account. Solzhenitsyn was an antisemite who indulged in the Judeo-Bolshevism conspiracy theory. In his 2003 book, Two Hundred Years Together, he wrote that "from 20 ministers in the first Soviet government one was Russian, one Georgian, one Armenian and 17 Jews". In reality, there were 15 Commissars in the first Soviet government, not 20: 11 Russians, 2 Ukranians, 1 Pole, and only 1 Jew. He stated: "I had to bury many comrades at the front, but not once did I have to bury a Jew". He also stated that according to his personal experience, Jews had a much easier life in the Gulag camps that he was interned in.
According to the Northwestern University historian Yohanan Petrovsky-Shtern: Solzhenitsyn used unreliable and manipulated figures and ignored both evidence unfavorable to his own point of view and numerous publications of reputable authors in Jewish history. He claimed that Jews promoted alcoholism among the peasantry, flooded the retail trade with contraband, and "strangled" the Russian merchant class in Moscow. He called Jews non-producing people ("непроизводительный народ") who refused to engage in factory labor. He said they were averse to agriculture and unwilling to till the land either in Russia, in Argentina, or in Palestine, and he blamed the Jews' own behavior for pogroms. He also claimed that Jews used Kabbalah to tempt Russians into heresy, seduced Russians with rationalism and fashion, provoked sectarianism and weakened the financial system, committed murders on the orders of qahal authorities, and exerted undue influence on the prerevolutionary government. Petrovsky-Shtern concludes that, "200 Years Together is destined to take a place of honor in the canon of russophone antisemitica."
Fun Fact: After Solzhenitsyn was expelled from the USSR, Robert Conquest helped him translate his poetry into English.
George Orwell (real name Eric Arthur Blair) was many things: a rapist, a bitter anti-Communist, a colonial cop, a racist, a Hitler apologist, a plagiarist, a snitch, and a CIA puppet.
ExcluirRapist
...in 1921, Eric had tried to rape Jacintha. Previously the young couple had kissed, but now, during a late summer walk, he had wanted more. At only five feet to his six feet and four inches, Jacintha had shouted, screamed and kicked before running home with a torn skirt and bruised hip. It was "this" rather than any gradual parting of the ways that explains why Jacintha broke off all contact with her childhood friend, never to learn that he had transformed himself into George Orwell.
- Kathryn Hughes. (2007). Such were the joys
Bitter anti-Communist
[F]ighting with the loyalists in Spain in the 1930s... he found himself caught up in the sectarian struggles between the various left-wing factions, and since he believed in a gentlemanly English form of socialism, he was inevitably on the losing side.
The communists, who were the best organised, won out and Orwell had to leave Spain... From then on, to the end of his life, he carried on a private literary war with the communists, determined to win in words the battle he had lost in action...
Orwell imagines no new vices, for instance. His characters are all gin hounds and tobacco addicts, and part of the horror of his picture of 1984 is his eloquent description of the low quality of the gin and tobacco.
He foresees no new drugs, no marijuana, no synthetic hallucinogens. No one expects an s.f. writer to be precise and exact in his forecasts, but surely one would expect him to invent some differences. ...if 1984 must be considered science fiction, then it is very bad science fiction. ...
To summarise, then: George Orwell in 1984 was, in my opinion, engaging in a private feud with Stalinism, rather that attempting to forecast the future. He did not have the science fictional knack of foreseeing a plausible future and, in actual fact, in almost all cases, the world of 1984 bears no relation to the real world of the 1980s.
- Isaac Asimov. Review of 1984
Ironically, the world of 1984 is mostly projection, based on Orwell's own job at the British Ministry of Information during WWII. (Orwell: The Lost Writings)
He translated news broadcasts into Basic English, with a 1000 word vocabulary ("Newspeak"), for broadcast to the colonies, including India.His description of the low quality of the gin and tobacco came from the Ministry's own canteen, described by other ex-employees as "dismal".Room 101 was an actual meeting room at the BBC."Big Brother" seems to have been a senior staffer at the Ministry of Information, who was actually called that (but not to his face) by staff.
Afterall, by his own admission, his only knowledge of the USSR was secondhand:
I have never visited Russia and my knowledge of it consists only of what can be learned by reading books and newspapers.
- George Orwell. (1947). Orwell's Preface to the Ukrainian Edition of Animal Farm
1984 is supposedly a cautionary tale about what would happen if the Communists won, and yet it was based on his own, actual, Capitalist country and his job serving it.
Colonial Cop
ExcluirI was sub-divisional police officer of the town, and in an aimless, petty kind of way anti-European feeling was very bitter. ... As a police officer I was an obvious target and was baited whenever it seemed safe to do so. When a nimble Burman tripped me up on the football field and the referee (another Burman) looked the other way, the crowd yelled with hideous laughter. This happened more than once. In the end the sneering yellow faces of young men that met me everywhere, the insults hooted after me when I was at a safe distance, got badly on my nerves. The young Buddhist priests were the worst of all. There were several thousands of them in the town and none of them seemed to have anything to do except stand on street corners and jeer at Europeans.
All this was perplexing and upsetting.
- George Orwell. (1936). Shooting an Elephant
Hitler Apologist
I should like to put it on record that I have never been able to dislike Hitler. Ever since he came to power—till then, like nearly everyone, I had been deceived into thinking that he did not matter—I have reflected that I would certainly kill him if I could get within reach of him, but that I could feel no personal animosity. The fact is that there is something deeply appealing about him.
- George Orwell. (1940). Review of Adolph Hitler's "Mein Kampf"
Orwell not only admired Hitler, he actually blamed the Left in England for WWII:
If the English people suffered for several years a real weakening of morale, so that the Fascist nations judged that they were ‘decadent’ and that it was safe to plunge into war, the intellectual sabotage from the Left was partly responsible. ...and made it harder than it had been before to get intelligent young men to enter the armed forces. Given the stagnation of the Empire, the military middle class must have decayed in any case, but the spread of a shallow Leftism hastened the process.
- George Orwell. (1941). England Your England
Plagiarist
1984
It is a book in which one man, living in a totalitarian society a number of years in the future, gradually finds himself rebelling against the dehumanising forces of an omnipotent, omniscient dictator. Encouraged by a woman who seems to represent the political and sexual freedom of the pre-revolutionary era (and with whom he sleeps in an ancient house that is one of the few manifestations of a former world), he writes down his thoughts of rebellion – perhaps rather imprudently – as a 24-hour clock ticks in his grim, lonely flat. In the end, the system discovers both the man and the woman, and after a period of physical and mental trauma the protagonist discovers he loves the state that has oppressed him throughout, and betrays his fellow rebels. The story is intended as a warning against and a prediction of the natural conclusions of totalitarianism.
This is a description of George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four, which was first published 60 years ago on Monday. But it is also the plot of Yevgeny Zamyatin's We, a Russian novel originally published in English in 1924.
- Paul Owen. (2009). 1984 thoughtcrime? Does it matter that George Orwell pinched the plot?
Animal Farm
Having worked for a time at The Ministry of Information, [Gertrude Elias] was well acquainted with one Eric Blair (George Orwell), who was an editor there. In 1941, Gertrude showed him some of her drawings, which were intended as a kind of story board for an entirely original satirical cartoon film, with the Nazis portrayed as pig characters ruling a farm in a kind of dysfunctional fairy story. Her idea was that a writer might be able to provide a text.
Having claimed to her that there was not much call for her idea... Orwell later changed the pig-nazis to Communists and made the Soviet Union a target for his hostility, turning Gertrude’s notion on its head. (Incidentally, a running theme in all every single piece of Orwell’s work was to steal ideas from Communists and invert them so as to distort the message.)
- Graham Stevenson. Elias, Gertrude (1913-1988)
Snitch
Excluir“Orwell’s List” is a term that should be known by anyone who claims to be a person of the left. It was a blacklist Orwell compiled for the British government’s Information Research Department, an anti-communist propaganda unit set up for the Cold War.
The list includes dozens of suspected communists, “crypto-communists,” socialists, “fellow travelers,” and even LGBT people and Jews — their names scribbled alongside the sacrosanct 1984 author’s disparaging comments about the personal predilections of those blacklisted.
- Ben Norton. (2016). George Orwell was a reactionary snitch who made a blacklist of leftists for the British government
CIA Puppet
George Orwell's novella remains a set book on school curriculums ... the movie was funded by America's Central Intelligence Agency.
The truth about the CIA's involvement was kept hidden for 20 years until, in 1974, Everette Howard Hunt revealed the story in his book Undercover: Memoirs of an American Secret Agent.
- Martin Chilton. (2016). How the CIA brought Animal Farm to the screen
Many historians have noted how Orwell's literary reputation can largely be credited to joint propaganda operations between the IRD and CIA who translated and promoted Animal Farm to promote anti-Communist sentiment.1 The IRD heavily marketed Animal Farm for audiences in the middle-east in an attempt to sway Arab nationalism and independence activists from seeking Soviet aid, as it was believed by IRD agents that a story featuring pigs as the villains would appeal highly towards Muslim audiences. 2
[1] Jeffreys-Jones, Rhodri (2013). In Spies we Trust: The story of Western Intelligence[2] Mitter, Rana; Major, Patrick, eds. (2005). Across the Blocs: Cold War Cultural and Social HistoryAdditional ResourcesGeorge Orwell was a terrible human being | Hakim (2023)A Critical Read of Animal Farm | Jones Manoel (2022)
Ideological State Apparatuses
Excluir"Ideological State Apparatuses" (ISAs) is a concept introduced by the French Marxist philosopher Louis Althusser. According to Althusser, the state, as a dominant institution, uses various mechanisms to maintain its control and influence over society. ISAs are one of the key components of this control apparatus, alongside the "Repressive State Apparatuses" (RSAs), which involve institutions that use force or coercion to uphold state power, such as the police and military.
Ideological State Apparatuses encompass a wide range of institutions, practices, and organizations that disseminate dominant ideologies, beliefs, values, and norms within society. Their primary function is to secure the consent and conformity of individuals to the ruling ideology, thereby maintaining the existing social order and perpetuating the hegemony of the ruling class.
This series highlights some of the major (mostly U.S.) institutions which formally operate or operated in this sphere.
The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA): The CIA can be understood as both an Ideological State Apparatus and a Repressive State Apparatus. While its primary function is espionage and intelligence gathering, it is also involved in shaping ideological narratives and perceptions, both within the U.S. and abroad.The National Endowment for Democracy (NED): The NED functions as an indirect Ideological State Apparatus by providing funding to various organizations that support democratic development and human rights advocacy worldwide.The U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM): Through its broadcasting and media activities, the USAGM disseminates information and narratives that align with the dominant U.S. foreign policy objectives and promote American values and interests abroad. It oversees organizations such as Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, Radio Free Asia, Voice of America, etc.The Council on Foreign Relations (CFR): The CFR is composed of influential individuals from various sectors, such as business, academia, and media, who shape and promote a particular worldview regarding U.S. foreign policy and global affairs. Through its forums, publications, and policy recommendations, the CFR disseminates ideas and perspectives that align with the interests of the capitalist ruling class. It contributes to the legitimization of American imperialism, neoliberal economic policies, and the promotion of corporate interests in the realm of foreign affairs.The Information Research Department (IRD): Now officially defunct, the IRD was a propaganda department of the British Foreign Office, created to publish anti-Communist propaganda, including false flag propaganda, provide support and information to anti-Communist politicians, academics, and writers, and to use weaponized information, disinformation, and "fake news" to attack not only the Soviets, but also Socialist and anti-colonial movements.
These organizations are all part of a larger project of U.S. Imperialism; they seek to control the flow of information, undermine independent media, and advance American geopolitical interests in the regions in which they operate. Rather than providing an objective and impartial news source, the media outlets funded and amplified by these organizations are tools of U.S. foreign policy, which help shape the narrative in ways that serve the interests of the U.S. government and its allies.
It's worth noting this is not a complete list. There are countless think tanks dedicated to producing agenda-driven reporting that serve to spread and defend bourgeois ideology.
Additional Resources
Video Essays:
You've Never Had an Original Thought (Media Manipulation and "Freedom" of the Press) | Hakim (2022)Why Is US Media Becoming More Right-Wing? | Second Thought (2022)Why "Hearing Both Sides" Is Dangerous | Second Thought (2022)Who Funds And Controls The Online Right? | Yugopnik (2022)You're Not Immune To Propaganda | Second Thought (2023)Why Is There So Much Right-Wing Media? | Second Thought (2023)
Ernesto "Che" Guevara
ExcluirIf you are capable of trembling with indignation each time that an injustice is committed anywhere in the world, we are comrades.
- Che Guevara. (1964). Quoted in Guerrillas in Power: The Course of the Cuban Revolution (1971) by K. S. Karol
Ernesto "Che" Guevara was an Argentine Marxist revolutionary, physician, author, guerrilla leader, diplomat, and military theorist.
As a young medical student, Guevara traveled throughout South America and was radicalized by the poverty, hunger, and disease he witnessed. His burgeoning desire to help overturn what he saw as the Capitalist exploitation of Latin America by the United States prompted his involvement in Guatemala's social reforms under President Jacobo Árbenz, whose eventual CIA-assisted overthrow at the behest of the United Fruit Company solidified Guevara's political ideology. Later in Mexico City, Guevara met Raúl and Fidel Castro, joined their 26th of July Movement, and sailed to Cuba aboard the yacht Granma with the intention of overthrowing U.S.-backed dictator Fulgencio Batista. Guevara soon rose to prominence among the insurgents, was promoted to second-in-command, and played a pivotal role in the two-year guerrilla campaign that deposed the Batista regime.
After the Cuban Revolution, Guevara played key roles in the new government. These included reviewing the appeals and firing squads for those convicted as war criminals during the revolutionary tribunals, instituting agrarian land reform as Minister of Industries, helping spearhead a successful nationwide literacy campaign, serving as both President of the National Bank and instructional director for Cuba's armed forces, and traversing the globe as a diplomat on behalf of Cuban Socialism. Such positions also allowed him to play a central role in training the militia forces who repelled the Bay of Pigs Invasion. Additionally, Guevara was a prolific writer and diarist, composing a seminal guerrilla warfare manual, along with a best-selling memoir about his youthful continental motorcycle journey. His experiences and studying of Marxism–Leninism led him to posit that the Third World's underdevelopment and dependence was an intrinsic result of imperialism, neocolonialism, and monopoly capitalism, with the only remedies being proletarian internationalism and world revolution.
Guevara left Cuba in 1965 to foment continental revolutions across both Africa and South America, first unsuccessfully in Congo-Kinshasa and later in Bolivia, where he was captured by CIA-assisted Bolivian forces and summarily executed.
Additional Resources
You can find his writings in the Marxist Internet Archive: https://www.marxists.org/archive/guevara/index.htm
Video Essays:
Who Did Che Guevara Murder? | BadEmpanada (2019)Che Guevara: Homophobic Racist? Response to Steven Crowder & PragerU | BadEmpanada (2019)Che Guevara's True Legacy | BadEmpanada (2020)Conservatives Love Lying About Che Guevara, Inventing Fake Quotes | BadEmpanada (2020)Cuba and Che Guevara TALKING POINTS by Sky News - How Do They Hold Up? | BadEmpanada (2021)Che Guevara: Revolutionary Hero | Che's Life, Legacy, and Theory | Marxism Today (2022)
Books, Articles, or Essays:
Che Guevara: A Revolutionary Life | Jon Lee Anderson (1997)
Podcasts:
In Defense of Che Guevara: Analyzing his Life and Answering his Critics | Revolutionary Left Radio (2017)