maysaloon

joined 2 years ago
[–] maysaloon@lemmygrad.ml 2 points 2 months ago

Syrian here. Unfortunately most Syrians are celebrating. There is an immense mountain of propaganda in Arabic, more so than English speaking ones.

[–] maysaloon@lemmygrad.ml 2 points 2 months ago

Rojava served their US-requested role of suffocating Syria and paving the way for the fall of Assad regime and victory of HTS. Rojava's role was to hold the longest frontline with the fallen regime's forces, be a host for US military bases and a launchpad for US attacks on Syrian gov forces, and most importantly hoard Syria's most viral resources such as oil, wheat and drinking water (which also yields electric power).

When HTS launched their offensive, Rojava attacked Syrian government forces in Deir Ezzor, only to retreat a week later and hand it over to HTS.

Watch my words, the US will abandon Rojava in 2025 now that their job is done, and you will see that they were nothing but useful idiots for the empire.

[–] maysaloon@lemmygrad.ml 1 points 2 months ago

He is very unlikely to return. There's immense propaganda against him, most of his supporters in Syria are already denouncing him. Russia has reportedly asked him to completely disappear from public eyes, as they want to normalize with new regime and maintain their naval base in Syria. He has no chance to defend himself politically or make a comeback if this is true.

[–] maysaloon@lemmygrad.ml 1 points 2 months ago

The propaganda has been extremely fierce and many people are falling for it. I unfortunately doubt this.

Plus, Russia is reportedly asking Assad to completely disappear from the eyes of the public, in hopes he can be forgotten and they can normalize with the new regime and keep their base in Syria. If this is true, Assad has no chance of a comeback.

[–] maysaloon@lemmygrad.ml 3 points 2 months ago

Iran is unfortunately not painting the right picture.

Most of Iran's military help withdrew from Syria months before this happened, especially after the large attacks by Israel against Iran in Syria, like the embassy attack.

Although I don't have confirmation or evidence, but I rly doubt Assad would refuse Iran help. I could believe that he maybe didn't request it though, but still unsure.

Pezeshkian has been aiming for normalizing and de-escalation with the West, and we're seeing the effects of that.

It is true that Assad was also seeking to normalize with Arab states such as UAE and Saudi in attempt to break the suffocating sanctions. This may have made Iran more weary of support, but ultimately they were doing the same thing.

[–] maysaloon@lemmygrad.ml 21 points 2 months ago

They're not lying. This is outdated info. Government already announced hama has fallen to HTS.

[–] maysaloon@lemmygrad.ml 14 points 4 months ago (4 children)

They chickened out and didn't carry through... For now

[–] maysaloon@lemmygrad.ml 2 points 4 months ago (1 children)

if a group of people were to head to a developing country

Although not essential to my point, I am not encouraging people to move anywhere. This is under the assumption that the people of that specific country gather to do this, not for people to immigrate for it.

a more concrete arrangement and place within the local economy, etc. would be more ideal (and probably necessary for survival/viability) IMO.

Can you please expand this point? I don't quite understand what this "more concrete arrangement and..." is exactly, and why it's needed.

when those with such resources to start such a thing could also genuinely create the foundations for something even more broadly-reaching and potentially, politically/etc. potent.

I don't necessarily agree with this. A capitalist state is much more likely to persecute someone doing this, but much less likely a commune. And when you're just starting out, you're quite vulnerable to the state, especially the mass surveillance and hyper militarized police states of today.

pursue a trade surplus with the wider world

I just don't see why that's needed. Capitalists trade to accumulate capital, whereas a commune is interested in growing its ability to produce in a self sufficient manner.

Why not try to create a mini-China?

That's... Actually kind of what I'm getting at. And maybe you phrased it better than I could have.

but I don't see why remaining a commune

Not intended to stay that way, which is why I called it a starting point!

[–] maysaloon@lemmygrad.ml 1 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Why shouldn't it compete with private industry

The goal is to produce what the members of the commune need. If that can be produced locally, I don't see a need to compete.

Why, especially in developing (ie. colonized) countries, should the focus be on a limited commune's development rather than promoting industrial and economic development in the broader region

If I understood you correctly (sorry English isn't my native), you're asking why only serve the limited number of members of the commune, and not other people in the same region not part of the commune.

If so, the commune would have a goal to expand. It would promote people to join it, participate, and then it can cover the needs of more and more. Growth is part of the plan.

[–] maysaloon@lemmygrad.ml 1 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Why is trade necessary? Is it because the commune would not be able to produce everything it needs and wants? What if it can cover all needs and good enough portion of the wants?

[–] maysaloon@lemmygrad.ml 1 points 4 months ago

From my extremely limited familiarity with the communes I've read about, including in the Americas, it seems like their goal is just an escape plan that has no aspiration for overthrowing global capitalism or growth. What I'm speaking about is the opposite. It is not meant to be insular. The commune's goal would be to grow, inspire other communes, and organize them together.

If and when the armed struggle initiates, it'll be in a much better position with the existence of communes that could be the manufacturing arm of the revolution.

[–] maysaloon@lemmygrad.ml 0 points 4 months ago (8 children)

It could be a stepping stone for better political change. You have to start somewhere, and right now the state is way too powerful. If a revolution does start, the commune can act as a safety net for revolutionaries, and possibly supply the revolutionaries with what they need.

I agree that it has to industrialize. Does it have to compete with private industry from the get-go? The commune's goal in the beginning is to build up its ability to satisfy the needs of its members, and the industry will build up slowly. No need to compete with private industry.

21
submitted 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) by maysaloon@lemmygrad.ml to c/asklemmygrad@lemmygrad.ml
 

I know this question will sound silly to some, but suppose a group of people in a low key third world country decide to make their own commune. They work together to build up farming and industry purely based on their own need, and slowly expand to accomodate their needs.

I understand Communes are viewed as ineffective, but a commune like this would be meant to grow, not just remain isolated. It would inspire communes in other areas, and it would aim to expand.

I see a couple of issues with this:

  • not all countries can do this. For example, Palestinians living in Palestine will suffer trying to do this. But most countries can, right?
  • it will only benefit the tiny group of people within proximity to the commune. But the commune can 1) expand and 2) inspire communes in other locations
  • some needs are hard for a small commune to make, such as computer chip manufacturing, and other things they will need to get from the non commune world

But still, I can't see this as less than a good step forward?

 

tl;dr I view lack of organization as one of the biggest weaknesses of boycotts of our time, and an app to help organize it may be beneficial.

Some thoughts

  • boycotts can work
  • many boycotts don't work
  • in my opinion, boycotts work best when they are: well organized, clear stated goal and demand, and have large participation
  • boycotts that are lifestyle oriented, indefinite, too general (encompassing too many products or companies) and do not have clear demands have low participation and do not work as well.
  • In general, people tend to follow trends, and participation drops when a boycott takes too long
  • in my opinion, boycotts are much more effective when they focus on a few targets at a time for maximum damage, to deliver their political message and bring attention to their movement. On the other hand, issuing a boycott against a large number of companies will have lower participation and will be harder for regular people to follow.

I think having an app can be helpful for organizing. Here is what the app can do:

  • show you the boycotts with the most participants (or let you indicate your participation). This will encourage the user to participate when there are other participants
  • shows you the rationale for the boycott, with sources and evidence.
  • shows you the boycott's most common demands and political message.
  • shows you progress on the demands or the political message.

The app can also serve as a database for all active boycotts, their rationale, demands, progress, timeline and participants.

What are your thoughts? do you have any recommendations for me if I make this app?

 

Is this recorded somewhere?

 

We should not let people take advantage of the situation to back stab strikers. We should discourage this behavior, and show anyone who does this that it will not be taken kindly.

If this happens to any sub reddit you know, comment it here so we can be aware of it.

2
submitted 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) by maysaloon@lemmygrad.ml to c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml
 

cross-posted from: https://lemmygrad.ml/post/731575

It seems there are a lot of propaganda arising on certain lemmy instances parroting propaganda that lemmygrad and Communists support human rights violations, and equating Communists to the alt right.

This is an extremely ridiculous assertion, given the historical context of the left being the main force fighting Nazism and fascism. But I write this post as there are probably many people misled by all the dishonest propaganda out there, who may be accepting of reason before seeking to silence us.

Please link this post in other instances if they are parroting propaganda about Communists to justify demonizing us. Reasonable people will understand and oppose these motions.

What is NOT Communism? in short, communism is NOT:

  • "when the government does stuff"
  • "capitalism but everyone gets paid the same"
  • an incursion on personal freedom, or forcing people to do what they don't want (unless the thing they don't want is not exploiting others and not wishing mass murder on ethnic groups, etc).

Then what is communism? in simple terms, it is the belief that the working class (i.e. the people, the masses) must own the means of production (factories, work places, etc) and control the direction of production in society, so that we produce for our own needs rather than to fulfill profits.

Why? we spend most of our lifetime working, so why should we cater it towards profits of a minority class of capitalists rather than our own and out community's needs and wants? Why shouldn't we be masters of our own destinies?

You may not agree with this, but this is not an excuse to silence us or lump us with genocidal ideologies

This thread is not meant to convince you with communism, but to demystify it and break the cold war era propaganda that some of you continue to parrot.

you support USSR? What about their human rights violations? (applies to Cuba, China, etc)

We do, but we do not support human rights violations as we believe there are tons of propaganda surrounding this. Equating this with Nazism is EXTREMELY DISINGENUOUS. The prevailing propaganda against the USSR is even acknowledged by NATO countries themselves. Nazism is an ideology founded on genocide, and this is easy to verify from Hitler's writing himself.

Maybe in the end, we are wrong and despite the propaganda, there are human rights violations. But our support for the USSR comes from their achievements to better the human condition, and we hope to build on it. There are no human rights violation that inspires our ideology like it does for fascism or Nazism.

Disclaimer: I am just a random Communist. I have no authority over lemmygrad or connections to the admins, just to make sure I don't upset the admins saying this.

 

Would I be compromising on the security of my local network and all the devices on it?

I have a ton of local-only self hosted services, some may have personal data that I would not be compromised of affected.

Now of course, I can work on securing those local services from each other, but still, the idea of opening up a port to the public seems incredibly insecure to me. Is there a way to host services publicly from a local network without compromising on security?

I know I could host on a cloud provider or VPS, but for certain things I'd prefer to keep it local (especially for things that may violate VPS providers' terms of service, like media apps)

 

It seems there are a lot of propaganda arising on certain lemmy instances parroting propaganda that lemmygrad and Communists support human rights violations, and equating Communists to the alt right.

This is an extremely ridiculous assertion, given the historical context of the left being the main force fighting Nazism and fascism. But I write this post as there are probably many people misled by all the dishonest propaganda out there, who may be accepting of reason before seeking to silence us.

Please link this post in other instances if they are parroting propaganda about Communists to justify demonizing us. Reasonable people will understand and oppose these motions.

What is NOT Communism? in short, communism is NOT:

  • "when the government does stuff"
  • "capitalism but everyone gets paid the same"
  • an incursion on personal freedom, or forcing people to do what they don't want (unless the thing they don't want is not exploiting others and not wishing mass murder on ethnic groups, etc).

Then what is communism? in simple terms, it is the belief that the working class (i.e. the people, the masses) must own the means of production (factories, work places, etc) and control the direction of production in society, so that we produce for our own needs rather than to fulfill profits.

Why? we spend most of our lifetime working, so why should we cater it towards profits of a minority class of capitalists rather than our own and out community's needs and wants? Why shouldn't we be masters of our own destinies?

You may not agree with this, but this is not an excuse to silence us or lump us with genocidal ideologies

This thread is not meant to convince you with communism, but to demystify it and break the cold war era propaganda that some of you continue to parrot.

you support USSR? What about their human rights violations? (applies to Cuba, China, etc)

We do, but we do not support human rights violations as we believe there are tons of propaganda surrounding this. Equating this with Nazism is EXTREMELY DISINGENUOUS. The prevailing propaganda against the USSR is even acknowledged by NATO countries themselves. Nazism is an ideology founded on genocide, and this is easy to verify from Hitler's writing himself.

Maybe in the end, we are wrong and despite the propaganda, there are human rights violations. But our support for the USSR comes from their achievements to better the human condition, and we hope to build on it. There are no human rights violation that inspires our ideology like it does for fascism or Nazism.

Disclaimer: I am just a random Communist. I have no authority over lemmygrad or connections to the admins, just to make sure I don't upset the admins saying this.

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