‘The political desperadoes and ignoramuses, who say they would “Rather be Dead than Red”, should be told that no one will stop them from committing suicide, but they have no right to provoke a third world war.’ — Morris Kominsky, 1970
lots of awful shit happens everywhere all the time for no fucking reason at all.
Sources used: https://lemmygrad.ml/comment/162367
I honestly suspect that the majority of Taiwan’s supporters have no clue about its history other than its founding by anticommunists. Either that, or they have a deeply cold and uncaring response to atrocities like these:
Economic and political conditions worsened for the people of Formosa after Chiang’s régime took over from the Japanese at the conclusion of the World War II. On February 27, 1947, a parade of Formosans was marching to present a petition to the Governor for a redress of grievances. Ambassador Stuart tells us what happened:
Without warning a machine gun mounted somewhere on the government building opened fire, swept and dispersed the crowd and killed at least four. (Page 926.)
Public resentment and anger mounted. So, Chiang’s Governor invoked martial law on the next day. And as Ambassador Stuart tells it: “Armed military patrols began to appear in the city, firing at random wherever they went.” (Page 927.)
A few days later a delegation of prominent citizens called on the Governor. Ambassador Stuart explains what happened:
They urged the Governor to lift martial law so that the dangers of clash between the unarmed civil population and the military would be averted. This the Governor agreed to do at midnight, March 1, meanwhile forbidding meetings and parades.
On that day busses and trucks, filled with squads of government troops armed with machine guns and rifles, began to sweep through the streets, firing indiscriminately. Machine guns were set up at important intersections. Shooting grew in volume during the afternoon.
At no time were Formosans observed to have arms and no instances of Formosan use of arms were reported in Taipei. Nevertheless, the military were evidently allowed free use in what appeared to be an attempt to frighten the people into obedience. (Page 927.)
(Emphasis added. Source.)
Italy, France, Great Britain and Germany signed a Four‐Power Pact, proposed by Mussolini, which would have allowed a gradual revision of the 1919 Peace Treaties. Worried about the effects this could have on their territorial claims, the countries of the Small Entente and Poland mobilised against this Pact. Although it was eventually not ratified, the negotiations around this Four‐Power Pact permanently damaged the Franco‐Polish relations.
Henri de Jouvenal, the French ambassador present at these negotiations, had accepted the idea of transferring the “Polish corridor” to Germany. Taking this as a signal that Poland could no longer rely on France’s protection, the Polish government sought to establish ties with Germany instead. This diplomatic turning point was concretised in the bilateral pact of non‐aggression, signed by representatives of Poland and the Third Reich on 26 January 1934.
Imagine for a moment that you are looking me in the eye, then answer me this:
Do you remember witnessing anybody in your country discussing this history?
Didn’t Hitler make it into the government democratically?
Not really. In fact, the NSDAP’s previously substantial support in the polls shrunk in 1932. The upper classes appointed him in January 1933 anyway; ‘liberal democracy’ had always been an illusion.
On the other hand, the Saar Basin was a microstate that voted overwhelmingly to join the Third Reich.
Communist memes trying not to meme about genocide
Apparently these dullards have never visited r/historymemes, because those anticommunists joke about famine in the people’s republics all the time. I’ve personally never seen any anticommunist object to the jokes on the grounds that they’re inappropriate (though I have seen a handful of them object to the jokes because of just how repetitive and tiresome they are).
To put things into perspective:
Joking about millions starving = comedy gold every time
Joking about an anticommunist conspiracy theory = WORSE THAN HOLOCAUST DENIAL
I’ve talked about it before, but now would be a good time to mention my most vivid memory of the show. I remember having the misfortune of catching an episode (one titled Goobacks, from 2004) and there was one particular moment that always struck me as incongruous.
This is a xenophobic redneck asking another xenophobic redneck how they could prevent immigrants—‘people from the future’—from obtaining employment:
‘All right! So, any ideas how we can stop the future from happening?’
‘How about we cause more global warming, so that in the future, the polar ice caps melt, and it ushers in a new ice age?’
‘How the hell is global warming gonna cause an ice age?!’
‘Well you know, the… global warming could bring on like a climate shift or somethin’?’
‘Chet, you are a fuckin’ [insert slur here], you know that?! Even if global warming were real—which all proven scientific data shows it isn’t—you think an ice age can just happen all of a sudden-like? It would take millions of years for a climate shift to happen!’
‘Well I was just tryin’ to be helpful.’
‘Well help yourself to a fuckin’ science book, ’cause you’re talkin’ like a fuckin’ [insert slur here]!’
It was possibly the most blatant case that I’ve seen of a writer ranting at his audience. Not only could the dialogue have easily been deleted without distorting the plot, it was so out‐of‐character for this guy that even I noticed (I was generally less observant back then). And, hopefully, it goes without saying that there is no need for anybody to get this irritated over one silly question.
Honestly… usually I just tune out these climate stories because they are nothing but the same shitty news over and over and over and over and over again, and (almost) nobody doing anything about the situation.
Yes, I get it: the earth keeps getting shittier. What do you want me to do about it, hang a bunch of fossil fuel executives and bulldoze their factories?
I tried to find a source for that Allende ‘quote’ and I found nothing of relevance on Google Books. Then I did a general search (through Sagasu) and it’s very telling how almost every single result there is a Reddit thread.
Speaking of which, here are some responses to the image.
Capitalist “antifascism” feels like watching a trainwreck in slow motion. (Keyword being ‘slow’.)
Originally I was simply going to ignore this topic as it was too depressing (and I was too tired). After I went to sleep I had a dream(!) partly about it, and my response to the thread was — if I may say so myself — surprisingly good.
true anti-imperialism must oppose every imperialism, not just that of the United States.
To paraphrase what I wrote in my dream:
The Western left needs to get over the fact that this isn’t the 2003 invasion of Iraq. The United States attacked Iraq with the goals of destabilizing its currency, eliminating its products from the market, and preventing a challenge to U.S. hegemony. The Russian Federation’s invasion of Ukraine was the inevitable consequence of the U.S.’s neoimperialist expansion in the East; economically Ukraine is of little importance to Russia. It is of strategic importance to the U.S.
These two are not the same thing.
Fucking hell, I was just listening to Amerika an hour ago and it inspired me to reflect on how the Fascists once tried to Germanize the world, failing where the U.S. succeeded.
I was a little reluctant to mention the inspiration because I was worried that that would have made others here berate me (I feel like I read somewhere that there were ties between Rammstein and neofascism, but I could be misremembering). Now that I know that Till Lindemann is basically a heavy metal Michael Jackson I’ll be careful to mention the inspiration critically.
I’ve never heard of this guy before so I can’t provide an informed opinion, but my impression from what you wrote here is that he’s a generic antisocialist, albeit an ‘edgier’ one whose grasp of history is maybe slightly better than the rest.
That cover nicely encapsulates what antisocialists really think of phenomena like populicide. Ideally, a statistic like, for example, one hundred million deaths should be a very serious matter and shocking to behold, but antisocialists make it seem so mundane.
I’m not exaggerating when I say that my right eye cried for a couple of seconds when I learned what the Axis did to Java. Never would I use that for a punchline or a cheesy cartoon. Antisocialists, on the other hand…
‘At present the proletariat has urgent need for self‐defense against fascism, and this self‐protection against fascist terror must not be neglected for a single moment. At stake is the proletarians’ personal safety and very existence; at stake is the survival of their organizations. Proletarian self‐defense is the need of the hour.
We must not combat fascism in the way of the reformists in Italy, who beseeched them to “leave me alone, and then I’ll leave you alone.” On the contrary! Meet violence with violence. But not violence in the form of individual terror—that will surely fail. But rather violence as the power of the revolutionary organized proletarian class struggle.’
— Clara Zetkin, 1923
This would fit better in /c/latestagecapitalism, surely.
There are two explanations for the crisis in Haiti. On the one hand, you have:
In 2004, the U.S. government under George W. Bush carried out the second coup (George H. W. Bush was responsible for the first in 1991), leading to the killing of close to ten thousand people by right-wing forces—the old Haitian military forces that President Aristide had disbanded, coupled with various mercenaries and killers from Haiti, including the death squad Front for the Advancement and Progress of Haiti, similar to the Tonton Macoutes, the henchmen of Papa Doc and Baby Doc Duvalier. They actually were not able to carry out the coup d’état, so the special forces of the United States, France, and Canada came in and overthrew and kidnapped President Aristide. But the Haitian people never accepted this coup d’état and resistance has continued to this day.
Haiti has been under occupation by the United States, France, and Canada, but using the United Nations as a cover to make it acceptable and palatable to the rest of the world. UN forces have really been carrying out U.S. foreign policy; they have massacred people in poor neighborhoods and various communities throughout Haiti, because they have kept up the demonstrations against the rotten system of exploitation, demanding their democratic rights and that the people they elected be returned to office. So they are being massacred.
And on the other hand, you have:
black people bad
Now the question is, which explanation sounds more accurate and more credible? Hmm… decisions, decisions.
Thank you for sharing this! It helps with my research on the Axis.
Unfortunately, I suspect that a great deal of Westerners are likely to dis
I bet that both of them were just thinking, ‘Thank God that I live in a neoliberal democracy based on two‐party rule and supply side economics right now and not somewhere with a centrally planned economy.’