Anti-colonial Marxism is as good as a country breakfast.

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Joined 3 years ago
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Cake day: March 23rd, 2022

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  • Yeah he is basically a debatebro pedant and policy nerd that is completely discourse poisoned. Now days his gang will call everyone privileged for disagreeing with Democrats. The few times I have had to see his take on something in the last few months I always think about how Blue Maga is truly going to ruin whatever future we have left. Idk maybe he would like Maga communists because at least he will get to keep his precious colonial empire with them.

    His hair is worse now too. I know that is a subjective and superficial observation, but I just know he did it to strengthen his brand and I find that to be embarrassing.




  • That isnt clear either. I wonder if some people are just routinely negative about major releases? I usually don’t have wide expectations and get into games for niche reasons, for settlement and ship building in this case. I’m not really invested in what the more negative gamers have to say because it doesn’t have much to do with why I want to play the game. Also I feel like too many are just outrage poisoned so their opinion is just guaranteed to be ridiculous.











  • they’re pretty flexible on the methods part just because it’s nice to do anything for a change

    Yes but it is not just new people it is also seasoned organizers. In my union, for example, which is full of anarchist types, I think it is problematic that when difficulties arise, we are effectively led into just blowing off anxiety and frustration instead of thinking through how our adversaries are challenging us. Action is prioritized over strategy and even though leadership always says they just follow what union members want, it is always the loudest (and most anxious) people calling the shots while everyone else just tries to maintain solidarity and goes along with it. Maybe I am just too cynical tho idk.


  • I think an example of what is being addressed is found in occupy wall street. The movement had presented itself as self-led, or leaderless, yet it had de facto leaders, particularly David Graeber. In name it was pure democracy but in form it was a shadow leadership choosing its direction. The vanguard approach may or may not be beyond reproach, but it attempts to admit the natural reality of a vanguard which seems to arise regardless. Some people are skilled, persuasive, knowledgeable, and have the time to perform tasks for an organization and these people will either be recognized and put in leadership roles, or will find themselves there haphazardly and further, they may be rejected due to anti-authoritarian dogmatism. The trick is, of course, maintaining a continuity with the people the group is serving, not necessarily determining how decisions are or aren’t made.

    In my own experience with self-proclaimed anarchists, for example in a small-time prisoner advocacy group, the same problem arises. No one can take responsibility for certain tasks because of a risk for creating a chain of command and thus my partner and I were blocked from taking on roles because roles were seen as problematic by the rest of the group. Of course, the group failed, and I left.

    I find that this is partially the result of anarchism as it is usually known and practiced in my community but also, and perhaps more importantly, it is a result of reaction to neoliberalism. Our age of neoliberalism has led to an increase of powerlessness and blatantly corrupt liberal “democracy.” People want to combat this by feeling as though everyone has a say and everyone has power. It is the ultimate legitimacy to claim as much. This is achieved, at times, by rejecting anything that even seems “top down.” In effect, the organization strategy is usurped by dogma for the purposes of what you might call “owning the authoritarians” in what might be a kind of ideological virtue signaling. I don’t usually like the term “populism” but when merely harnessing reactions to neoliberalism, “populism” is usually the result, not democracy, and not socialism.

    I will also add that IMO, the most interesting and effective “anarchist” or anti-authoritarian strategies are most effective for survival - expropriation attempts, food sovereignty, squatting on abandoned land etc., but not as effective at consequentially shifting power.

    We need to learn how to survive in the society of states that are dominated by capitalist relations and disciplined by markets controlled by colonial powers, but we must also figure out how to address these power structures. IMO ML actually steps up to the plate in this regard by seeking to usurp the state and rediscipline it towards the people. I don’t think it’s ideal because no solution can be perfect and certainly states (especially peripheral and semi peripheral states under the yoke of imperialism) are subjected to many pitfalls which can potentially erode continuity between the state and the people, or can fall into liberal fallacies, or outside meddling influences, but still, we must do more than reject authoritarianism ™ to address the problem of the society of states.




  • It is not nearly that simple. Some of the Yanomami are miners themselves but the paternal narative does not mention this just as there is no mention of free prior informed consent. This is how it plays out all over the world. Environmentalism and rights based approaches are used to destroy sovereignty and facilitate land grabs with paternalistic justifications. “Oops we destroyed your family and culture! How terrible! I guess you must submit to capitalist market relations, oh well, now get to mining gold for corporations for subsistence wages and enjoy having zero control over your life and watching the forest die. It’s your right!”