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.
Serious posts, news, and discussion go in c/Socialism.
If you are new to socialism, you can ask questions and find resources over on c/Socialism101.
Please don't forget to help keep this community clean by reporting rule violations, updooting good contributions and downdooting those of low-quality!
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)
0.5 [Provisional Rule] Use alt text or image descriptions to allow greater accessibility
We require alternative text (from now referred to as "alt text") to be added to all posts/comments containing media, such as images, animated GIFs, videos, audio files, and custom emojis.
EDIT: For files you share in the comments, a simple summary should be enough if they’re too complex.
We are committed to social equity and to reducing barriers of entry, including (digital) communication and culture. It takes each of us only a few moments to make a whole world of content (more) accessible to a bunch of folks.
When alt text is absent, a reminder will be issued. If you don't add the missing alt text within 48 hours, the post will be removed. No hard feelings.
1. Socialist Unity in the form of mutual respect and good faith interactions is enforced here
Try to keep an open mind, other schools of thought may offer points of view and analyses you haven't considered yet. Also: This is not a place for the Idealism vs. Materialism or rather Anarchism vs. Marxism debate(s), for that please visit c/AnarchismVsMarxism.
2. Anti-Imperialism means recognizing capitalist states like Russia and China as such
That means condemning (their) imperialism, even if it is of the "anti-USA" flavor.
3. No liberalism, (right-wing) revisionism or reactionaries.
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).
4. No Bigotry.
The only dangerous minority is the rich.
5. Don't demonize previous and current socialist experiments or (leading) individuals.
We must constructively learn from their mistakes, while acknowledging their achievements and recognizing when they have strayed away from socialist principles.
(if you are reading the rules to apply for modding this community, mention "Mantic Minotaur" when answering question 2)
6. Don't idolize/glorify previous and current socialist experiments or (leading) individuals.
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.
I feel like a lot of the comments are kind of proving the point. If we say we don't like Biden, then suddenly everyone assumes we aren't voting and therfore are helping Trump. In reality, the meme literally says nothing about voting. That's everyone else jumping to that conclusion.
"I'm just reminding everyone!"
Don't worry. We all know how elections work.
"I don't care if you don't like him! I care about votes!"
Cool. Then let me not like him.
I don't 'like' Biden but I am voting for him. I've never 'liked' any politicians I've voted for- they're just the closest thing available to the tool I want to represent my interests in government.
You don't have to tell me you're voting for Biden but your 'not liking' him is irrelevant to me, because I do too. So if that's all you're talking about I can't help but assume you're focusing on irrelevant issues and ignoring the most important one right now- voting in 2024.
If you want to talk about specific policy goals, executive actions, legislative initiatives- I'd be interested. But if your focus is just abstract sentiments about a single politician that you only have one other, existentially shitty option for- you should expect to be dismissed by pragmatists that are focused on election outcomes.
If you ever find yourself 'liking' a politician, take a big step back. They're like lawyers- you want the most effective one you can get to represent your interests- but don't pretend they're not professional snakes that will bite you the second your interests are no longer aligned. In politics the only means you have to keep those interests aligned is voting (unless you're in the donor class but I'm assuming no one on Lemmy is).
Also remember that we don't actually vote for the president. That's the job of the electoral college. They just want to see if we all guessed it right.
Hey guess who is the next person to be the president? C'mon tell us! I'm going to guess Biden....I'm going to guess Trump! You are both wrong! The next president is this Gala Apple 🍎 with a worm inside!
Thanks electoral college! Without you. How could we ever know who You want to rule over us all like a king?
From the government:
https://www.archives.gov/electoral-college/electors
If the electors vote for President, why should I vote in the general election?
During the general election your vote helps determine your State’s electors. When you vote for a Presidential candidate, you aren’t actually voting for President. You are telling your State which candidate you want your State to vote for at the meeting of electors. The States use these general election results (also known as the popular vote) to appoint their electors. The winning candidate’s State political party selects the individuals who will be electors.
So let me rephrase, you don't vote for president. You merely provide a suggestion like an 8ball. The government picks electors (not you). They get to vote. Again, not you. So if you forgot to vote, don't worry, it's going to happen anyway. Like if they were going to choose Edgar Allen Poe, it doesn't matter what you want, they will vote for a dead person before they care about your vote.