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cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/32730153
"The party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command. His heart sank as he thought of the enormous power arrayed against him, the ease with which any Party intellectual would overthrow him in debate, the subtle arguments which he would not be able to understand, much less answer. And yet he was in the right! They were wrong and he was right." — George Orwell, 1984
That is why it is called a duopoly; they both work against the working class while offering crumbs so as to keep us thinking that they fight for us.
We need an independent (from the duopoly, oligarchy) working-class movement to address the systematic issues that continue to increase the struggles we all face.
TIL
I didn’t only mean it in the context of party politics, I also meant it in the right-left spectrum as it is generally understood and how it manifests in discourse, but especially in online discourse. I find that the online left is as punishing of any disagreement with the agenda as MAGA is, if not even more.
I agree!
Yes, the right-left spectrum is always used as a divide-and-conquer strategy to keep the working class fighting each other instead of uniting and forcing politicians to push for populist policy like the two lists below:
We won't agree on 100% of our views, but we may agree on some of these points.
Eleven Demands for Real Democracy:
What We Stand For:
1. Fight the Rich! End the Billionaire Class & Their System
2. Workers Need a Real Raise — $25/Hour Minimum Wage [Living Wage]
3. Good Union Jobs for All
4. Stop the Climate Catastrophe — Take Big Energy Corporations into Workers’ Ownership
5. Fight Racism, Sexism & All Oppression
6. Stop Mass Deportations
7. Medicare for All & Quality Affordable Housing — Tax the Rich
8. End the Genocal War on Gaza — No Military Aid, No Occupation
9. Bring Down Trump, the Billionaires & Their Two Parties
10. No More Sellouts — We Need a New Mass Party^[[2] https://www.workersstrikeback.org/whatwestandfor]
I agree with the eleven demands except with the final one. I’m sorry but the more people are involved in decision making the worse a company runs. That’s also true of governments but in governments that’s kind of a feature not a bug.
I actually end up agreeing with most of this although I know we might disagree when discussing the particulars of the more subjective things in the list. The one thing I fully disagree with is rising the minimum wage. It really doesn’t make a difference in the end unless youre basically price controlling everything else (which is also not good), and it hurts small businesses the most. I think there are better solutions like pegging it to inflation and regional cost of living.
I’m also very suspicious of UBS and UBI type of arrangements. Contrary to popular belief some of these are not socialist policies but rather neoliberal policies. Not in all cases, like healthcare and education are good examples of stuff that should be funded publicly. But childcare for example is very iffy to me, I’d rather have the government pay a salary to one of the parents (or even both?) until the kids are of school age than have government funded child care so that the parents can spend all day working. Seems like enabling the worst parts of capitalism.
I think we are taught to believe that we need to be ruled by corporate hierarchy so as to function efficiently to maximize profits, but when profits and shareholders are not the primary goal, humans can work well together without falling apart.
Cooperatives are what they are explaining. Democracy at Work is a source I enjoy; I included information below.
I agree!
I agree as well!
Great points and explanations, thanks for taking the time to explain them to me in simple terms!
About Co-ops
"By democratizing workplaces, worker co-ops can give shape to a real, daily democracy on a society-wide basis." - Richard Wolff
We believe cooperatives (and specifically worker co-ops) are a critical component to realizing a more sustainable, equitable, and democratic future. Read more to learn why.
What is a cooperative?
A co-op is a business that is owned and self-managed by its members with the principle of “one person, one vote.” There is no boss, CEO, or Board of Directors who can make decisions by themselves and for their own personal benefit. Co-ops are people-centered, and are driven to create sustainable enterprises and long-term stability for all involved in them.
The values that form the base of any cooperative are self-help, self-responsibility, democracy, equality, equity, and solidarity. The management structures and day-to-day operations are designed according to the needs and desires of the co-op members and can vary greatly.
There are many types of cooperatives:
Cooperatives are not a new idea. Today, the International Cooperative Association’s research shows that “at least 12% of humanity is a cooperator of any of the 3 million cooperatives on earth.”^[[1] https://www.democracyatwork.info/about_co_ops]
Edit:
What a shock, you find people who you disagree with disagree with you more than people you agree with. Very interesting insight.
I don’t agree with MAGA on almost anything but it was not an anecdotal observation since I’m not really on board with the online progressive agenda either (which is disjointed and nonsensical). It was an observation of how left communities tend to ban almost immediately after some dissent is expressed right leaning communities allow dissent. Not universal though, there are communities like r/conservative (which I’m not even sure has real people anymore) who will ban if you even dare to contradict even blatantly wrong things.
It this is all based on observation, I go to both red and left communities to see how the conversation revolves around issues.