Welcome again to everybody! Make yourself at home. Sit down in that chair over there. Take off your shoes. I’m not cleaning mud off the floor. In the time-honoured tradition of our group, here is our weekly discussion thread!

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  • DankZedong A
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    2 years ago

    Belgian government decided to allow companies to not raise wages above the index (yearly wage adjustment in line with inflation) for the next two years. There’s also a cheque for employees of 750 euro’s instead of a raise.

    The unions are showing balls and refuse to accept it. They are already announcing actions ✊🏼 they are on fire.

    • DankZedong A
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      2 years ago

      Like, I’m really impressed by the unions. There’s lukewarm measures to help the people and they go like: ‘nah, that’s not it mate. We’re going out again.’

      It really makes you feel valued as a worker.

      • ☭ Comrade Pup Ivy 🇨🇺M
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        2 years ago

        I wish our unions where more like that. My union in particular refuses to strike, and even the word is said in hushed tones.

        • DankZedong A
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          2 years ago

          An union that doesn’t want to strike lol. That’s so strange.

  • DankZedong A
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    2 years ago

    Yesterday’s match of Belgium - Morocco really brought out unhinged racist people. People are especially mad that Moroccons support Morocco and not the wholesome Belgian team and country ‘that has given them so much (like living in ghetto’s)’. When I point out that I am also an immigrant and that I would support my home country of I watched the WC, theu said it’s somehow different. Different how? They couldn’t come up with something other than that I’m white.

  • DankZedong A
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    2 years ago

    One of our party officials came out today saying Stalin is a mass murderer, but that he also did good thing for the proletarian movement. Which, between this, ‘Stalin is a bad guy and should be banned from our thought’, and ‘Stalin did nothing wrong’ has to be the dumbest take on the topic you can get. Because right now you are saying you have no problem with a genociding maniac. Like, what do you want to gain with this.

    Our national politics and statements are solid, but the party is weird on foreign topics sometimes. The same goes with Uyghurs, which the party just ignores when it comes up. They support China on this but will never outright say that. I get that it would make you an easy target but sometimes you’ve got to come out for your views.

    It caused some trouble within the party today.

  • frippa@lemmy.ml
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    2 years ago

    The cost of living increases in southern Europe will bring about a revolutionary situation, 5 years ago we (my family) weren’t rich but we owned our own home and had some (very limited) disposable income, but now? We are on the verge of losing out house and we can barely afford essential repairs like fixing broken windows etc, a looot of people here on south Europe are in situations way worse than us. And I think this will bring about a moment we could seize.

    • Shrike502
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      2 years ago

      The real question is - whose revolution will it be? Given who is pushing Europe into crisis, I don’t think it’s paranoia to think they’re ready to seize the opportunity to go mask-off fash

      • knfrmity
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        2 years ago

        The fascist groups are far better prepared to sieze (more) power once shit starts going down. The effects of generations of oppression against leftists and specifically communists are going to be made very clear very soon.

    • DankZedong A
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      2 years ago

      Western Europe as well. The situation is out of control with no improvement in sight. Something’s got to give soon. We’ve got families with both people working middle income jobs unable to afford things, and they have to go to food banks. Working is not enough anymore to live a comforatble life. That’s bound to bring massive unrest. It’s now up to our party to get these people in for our cause.

      • frippa@lemmy.ml
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        2 years ago

        The French, Russian and many other revolutions started because people didnr have stuff to eat, let’s hope for an European revolution

      • knfrmity
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        2 years ago

        It was, and still is, a great idea for the capitalists.

        In many ways the EU made the Nazi goal of a neocolonized/imperialized European continent come true, and they were able to do it by taking careful, quiet, peaceful steps.

        • thetablesareorange
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          2 years ago

          Like the whole thing just seems like a waste, it’s just a horrible idea to begin with, you should really try something else

          • Shrike502
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            2 years ago

            I have a feeling you’re being humourous, but it’s flying too far over my head

            • SovereignState
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              2 years ago

              I don’t mean to speak for them but I think they’re just making a joke that Europe being created generally was a bad idea, and it should cease existing. Kind of a layered joke, it could mean “Europe” as in the “EU” should not exist, it could mean that the continent should not exist, it could mean that we should go back in time and shoot Charlemagne in the head lol.

              Ahh, what a better world we would have:

              • Shrike502
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                2 years ago

                Sure, let’s joke about millions of people just never being born.

                • SovereignState
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                  2 years ago

                  I don’t think anyone is taking it that seriously, it’s just cathartic shitposting so as to cope with the millions of people never having been born, and millions murdered, by virtue of European history having played out as it did and continues to.

  • DankZedong A
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    2 years ago

    Had a medical today at work, for which they have to draw blood. My only fear in life so far is needles, and I can’t handle them (except for tattoos for some reason, my fear is unreasonable). When the doctor said she had to draw blood, I lost all the color in my face lmao. I almost fainted afterwards. But I survived. Now let’s hope everything is well.

      • DankZedong A
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        2 years ago

        Yeah that’s a reaction to fear, I have it as well. I’m scared of things of course, but needles just trigger a huge fear in me. I giggle, I talk a lot, I have nervous movements, I start sweating and my vision starts to go black. I have 0 reason for this, it’s like this for as long as I remember. People that don’t know this are always amazed when they see me like that, as I’m normally a calm and composed person. Needles throw all my control away.

          • Arsen6331 ☭
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            I only have a reaction when I can feel the substance under my skin after the needle is removed. This usually only happens when I have to get injected in my face because the skin there is extremely sensitive. The needle itself does nothing, and nothing happens if it’s injected anywhere else, but specifically when I get injected in my face, I get a vasovagal response within 1-2 minutes and go into bradycardia. I already know precisely when it’s about to happen because I’ve experienced it quite a few times now as it was triggered by pain caused by my genetic condition

            Anyway, I certainly don’t have good luck when it comes to genetics. At least I don’t have any allergies.

              • Arsen6331 ☭
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                I’ve gotten desensitized to it due to years of constant injections and blood draws. I used to be scared when I was younger (lasted until I was around 10 years old) to the point that I would literally physically fight the nurses and doctors, though I was too young to actually do any harm to them. Even when something has to be injected into my face, the vasovagal reaction is not due to fear, at least not consciously, it’s just kind of a response to the weird sensation of feeling a liquid under my skin.

    • Arsen6331 ☭
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      I am used to it at this point, I have a condition that can cause amyloidosis as well as a medication for it that I have to take daily that has the potential to cause severe liver issues in some cases, so I have to get my blood drawn at least twice a year. I also had one of the worst possible cases of acne (my dermatologist said he’s never seen a case that bad before), so I have to take a really powerful medication for that as well, and it has side effects such as highly increased cholesterol levels, more liver issues, depression, etc. Anyway, I have to get my blood drawn at least 4 times a year right now. I used to be really scared but I am used to it now because I have to do it so much. I think it helps that the sight of blood does nothing to me, so I don’t go unconscious from seeing it.

  • Comrade_Deku571
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    2 years ago

    A family member just got in a motobike accident last week. Situation was so much messed up, having to suture a lot of wounds on the head and cast a broken wrist. This is gonna be a huge blow to us financially since my family has no insurance.

    Those memes about US healthcare hits home because we dont have health insurance since dad quitted his old job years ago. I’ve practically been shafted since he got resigned a Japanese cement company after getting an unfavorable, insulting reassignment after faithfully serving for almost three decades, only to be rewarded like this. He had a burning hatred for Japanese work culture as a result, and little did he know, it planted the first seeds of radicalization towards being an actual communist from an immature who thinks the Soviet anthem is funny and coping with communist memes to cope with a toxic environment in a Christian school during junior high, with the developing of hatred toward foreign powers in general.

    Duterte then became president and the actual change began. I went from naive lib who expected him to fullfill some wehraboo-esque anti-China fantasies to understanding why Duterte wants to work with China. And I saw the memes about American war crimes and the rise of the alt-right fascists there, and seeing the news about how the US is tattered in pieces and discovering more atrocities they committed as I studied history. I was already a baby leftist at that point who got misguided in a leftypol server crawling with groypers and femboys.

    In short, I became a Marxist because I’m tierd of being fucked over in an illegally occupied puppet state. A lot of American kids think its edgy to be a Marxist, or became one because their gender identity got spat on by fascists. Find my bootstraps? You have to kill like its fucking Squid Game to get them bootstraps in US-occupied Philippines. Had I been born in China, I could have actually pursued my dreams there, I know I could get a job there to serve the Motherland rather than engaging in some Darwinian competition only to be sold like prostitutes to assholes for employers like fucking Qatar.

    I’m in my 20s, out of school in the meantime because uni practically rejected me, recommend any ML orgs in the Philippines not affiliated with the CPP-NPA, preferably favorable to Moscow and Beijing. Also I’m not in Manila, I’m in the bumfuck of nowhere,… really needed to get out of the screen and actually join actual civic activity for once.

  • Drstrange2love
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    2 years ago

    the PSTU party from Brazil is supporting China’s protests against the lockdown, so we can already have confirmation that these protests are being exaggerated by the western in yet another chapter of the hybrid war against china, and still repeating the same proposal when did the first lockdowns start in china For those who don’t know, this party is infamous for supporting extreme US policy coups and every time they always fall into American propaganda, the most famous case is when they support the coup in Ukraine in 2014

    • Eat_Yo_Vegetables69
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      The protests in Shanghai and Beijing were also within a 1km distance of the US embassies lol, they even resorted to paying people $100-200 USD to pick up signs and attend the protests in some cases.

      One protester even said “be careful, there are foreign elements trying to take advantage of this” and immediately was pushed away by said foreign elements lmao.

        • Eat_Yo_Vegetables69
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          From this guy lol (he previously also exposed certain immigration companies paying overseas diaspora channels to spread ‘China bad’ ideology to people within the mainland to entice them to immigrate), it’s all in Chinese though unfortunately.

      • knfrmity
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        2 years ago

        Even then they only stay militarily neutral in order to position themselves to collect as much money as possible from the belligerents. The primary orientation of Switzerland is greed.

        Unfortunately I don’t have any more academic resources to share at the moment on the topic.

  • Ayjan Ibrahimov @lemmy.ml
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    2 years ago

    Shalom Comrades I am new here please let me introduce me self if anyone has any questions please let me know about who am i feel free to message me back 😉☺️

  • 小莱卡
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    2 years ago

    why do every goddamn linux content creator turns out to be a fucking fascist

  • DankZedong A
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    2 years ago

    Send a company wide mail today asking for input for the Youth movement the party wants me to set up, considering there’s lots of young people at my place of work. Some Communications Manager replied that I can’t do this, putting the CEO in the CC 😭😭

    All the other replies were really positive with a few people even willing to volunteer, so his ass ain’t gonna stop me.