I read “Stasi State or Socialist Paradise” a book describing general life in the GDR and how it functioned and having this insightful yet critical view of the GDR really opened me up. From communal engagement, work-place democracy and education there are many things we can look up to not necessarily the GDR only but also other former and current socialist countries…and also learn from the failures and errors of these countries. That being said, if i had to run a socialist country, i would draw great inspiration from the GDR and the USSR in particular though it is important to remember that everys country material conditions are different and therefore we cannot copy socialist models of other countries, all we can do is merely take them as a base to develope, adapt and improve to our countries.
Promoting LGBT rights in AES states doesn’t count as anticommunism last I checked.
It does when imperialist states frame the narrative that the two are antithetical. It’s a bit of a self-fulfilling prophecy, the west transmits the social disease of [LGBT]phobia to the global south and periphery and then lambasts them for being [LGBT]phobic.
This must also be seen through the lens of the “LGBT movement” as it were, expressed in parades and riots and protests, being almost entirely uniquely Western, whereas for example trans women and gay men in Iran have considerably different struggles.
I support the creation and promulgation of national sexual and gender minority liberation movements worldwide. As a comrade here put it once, "we do not need western ‘LGBT rights’ in China, we need “LGBT rights with Chinese characteristics” – a reclamation of the GSM history of China rather than an imposition by neoliberal “LGBT rights” NGOs.
I have a really good article on this that I will track down and cite after work for anyone interested!
edit: link. I do not agree with all of fleawar’s writing, nor do I necessarily agree with everything written here, but the sources presented speak for themselves. Empire is weaponizing our existence, using us to ferment regime change and racial hatred.
https://fleawar.substack.com/p/lgbtq-rights-as-unconventional-warfare