this post was submitted on 03 Sep 2024
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Lefty Memes

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An international (English speaking) socialist Lemmy community free of the "ML" influence of instances like lemmy.ml and lemmygrad. This is a place for undogmatic shitposting and memes from a progressive, anti-capitalist and truly anti-imperialist perspective, regardless of specific ideology.

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If you are new to socialism, you can ask questions and find resources over on c/Socialism101.

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0. Only post socialist memes

That refers to funny image macros and means that generally videos and screenshots are not allowed. Exceptions include explicitly humorous and short videos, as well as (social media) screenshots depicting a funny situation, joke, or joke picture relating to socialist movements, theory, societal issues, or political opponents. Examples would be the classic case of humorous Tumblr or Twitter posts/threads. (and no, agitprop text does not count as a meme)

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as well as condemning (their) imperialism, even if it is of the "anti-USA" flavor.

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That includes so called: Social Democracy, Democratic Socialism, Dengism, Market Socialism, Patriotic Socialism, National Bolshevism, Anarcho-Capitalism etc. . Anti-Socialist people and content have no place here, as well as the variety of "Marxist"-"Leninists" seen on lemmygrad and more specifically GenZedong (actual ML's are welcome as long as they agree to the rules and don't just copy paste/larp about stuff from a hundred years ago).

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Notable achievements in all spheres of society were made by various socialist/people's/democratic republics around the world. Mistakes, however, were made as well: bureaucratic castes of parasitic elites - as well as reactionary cults of personality - were established, many things were mismanaged and prejudice and bigotry sometimes replaced internationalism and progressiveness.

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[โ€“] Evil_Shrubbery@lemm.ee 2 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

Just as with other systems, in anarchy, you control the lesser power (individual) with a bigger power (the "ourselves").

Its just less formalised. And having spontaneous mobs forming to upholds the customs requires everyone to have the same customs ... or there are disputes, that form sides which organise into wars. And well, social pressure doesn't really work well when an outside force attacks you (like another nation/kingdom/corporation/family/etc). It's not like humans didn't arise from more anarchist structures.

And no, I don't follow laws because in affair of the police (or other legal deterrent), but bcs Im pretty sure if someone attacks me/robs me I will be waiting a long time for townspeople to notice, form a mob, investigate, exert social pressure, get things back in order etc.
But I'm not really afraid to "cause a fuss", society doesn't give two shits about individual behaviour in general, and even seems to worship the ones that go counter social pressure and intentionally defy customs for their personal gain.

Also customs and social status is often dictated by the powerful. With economic systems without any administration (so no money) that means whoever owns the most stuff or is a better ~~"politician"~~ speaker/entertainer.

And I think you can have police that doesn't abuse their power as long as they are kept in check by a bigger power - and here I agree, social pressure is the power (I just called it 'more democratic', but same thing).

What does the government do that you couldn't do with free association and an empowered populus?

Imo: form specialised panels that need funding, write rules of commerce (not to disrupt the commune, which I'm all for, but for the intra-commune relationships to prevent at least some wars), plan projects via gathering data, even just keep up with regular basic administration such as stock supplies, writing minutes, etc).

[โ€“] Val@lemm.ee 2 points 2 months ago

you control the lesser power (individual) with a bigger power (the "ourselves").

to quote: https://anarchistfaq.org/afaq/sectionA.html#seca213

anarchists recognise that individuals are the basic unit of society and that only individuals have interests and feelings. This means they oppose "collectivism" and the glorification of the group. In anarchist theory the group exists only to aid and develop the individuals involved in them.

While groups cannot think, individuals cannot live or discuss by themselves. Groups and associations are an essential aspect of individual life

Anarchism rejects the abstract individualism of capitalism, with its ideas of "absolute" freedom of the individual which is constrained by others. This theory ignores the social context in which freedom exists and grows.

In practice, both individualism and collectivism lead to a denial of both individual liberty and group autonomy and dynamics.

The link goes into more detail.

It's not like humans didn't arise from more anarchist structures.

A Definition for a term I'm about to use:
Archy - Hierarchy, Rule, structure of command and subordination, opposite of anarchy.

How did humans "rise" from anarchist structures? I wouldn't call whats going on right now any better than the pre-archic societies. Those societies were destroyed because they didn't have the structures to protect themselves against archy anarchy isn't just no archy, it's conscious opposition to archy. Now that we understand archic structures and their influence we can start opposing it. Pre-archic societies couldn't

having spontaneous mobs forming to upholds the customs

Why would you need mobs? often times a single other person would be enough to stop/deter anti-social behavior.

as long as they are kept in check by a bigger power

Who controls that bigger power and what's stopping them from becoming corrupt? There is no bigger power than the state and police is the state. You can't have anything bigger. As soon as you have representative democracy the people will go from humans to a resource. They will be grown and molded to not care about their society and just root for their team. Governance isn't something you can delegate to others. It makes you lazy and means you will stop thinking about the actual problems and start fighting with anyone who disagrees with you.

Representational democracy does not work. The state is a living system that has interests of it's own and those will always be prioritized over the citizens. Sooner or later every state devolves into authoritarianism. All the while screwing over anyone who wants to live without it.