• claim_arguably@lemdro.id
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    4 days ago

    Not to mention that western countries are the ones going towards 1984 with thier fucking age verification

  • Mniot@programming.dev
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    4 days ago

    I donno anything about China, but whoever made this meme certainly doesn’t know anything about the USA. The idea that “liberals” or anyone else (??) are high-fiving themselves over a credit score. lol

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      The only ones celebrating credit scores as a concept are lenders, the true capitalists

    • technocrit@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      WOOOSH!

      They’re high-fiving themselves about being able to buy a house. DUR.

      Under capitalism basic human needs are allocated only to the most privileged.

      Many many libs celebrate their participation in this privilege, especially in terms of housing.

      State-enforced privilege is basically the entire goal of liberalism.

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      People like thay exist. In the same way that 40 year olds high five themselves for still fitting into the pants they wore in hs.

      • Mniot@programming.dev
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        3 days ago

        OK but I would hi-five those people. It’s harder to fight capitalism if you’re also fighting health problems!

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        Profoundly wrong statement.

        First because that’s not how Marxist-Leninists use the word ‘liberal’, that’s a definition you just made up while ignoring decades of literature. Second, because it implies that is not what the word actually means to literally everyone, not just Leninists or even just socialists, everywhere on the planet with the exception of the US liberal duopoly.

        Third, because it mistakenly assumes people are calling you a liberal because of your instance, and not because of your shit takes.

        • BiteSizedZeitGeist@lemmy.worldBanned from community
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          4 days ago

          The ML usage of the term liberal comes from Classical Liberalism, right? Please correct me.

          Also I hate how y’all think I’m personally evil because I haven’t Read Theory. Y’all are my first exposure to MLs and I don’t have any control over what my society has taught me. (I’m not defending what my society has taught me, I’ve been deconstructing for a long time and not stopping.)

          Is naivete a sin?

          • QinShiHuangsShlong@lemmy.ml
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            Is naivete a sin?

            No investigation no right to speak is a core part of MarxistLeninist thought as it has evolved. Naivete is not “a sin” but if you haven’t researched a topic you shouldn’t speak on it.

            As Chairman Mao put it:

            Unless you have investigated a problem, you will be deprived of the right to speak on it. Isn’t that too harsh? Not in the least. When you have not probed into a problem, into the present facts and its past history, and know nothing of its essentials, whatever you say about it will undoubtedly be nonsense. Talking nonsense solves no problems, as everyone knows, so why is it unjust to deprive you of the right to speak? Quite a few comrades always keep their eyes shut and talk nonsense, and for a Communist that is disgraceful. How can a Communist keep his eyes shut and talk nonsense?

            It won’t do!

            It won’t do!

            You must investigate!

            You must not talk nonsense!

      • Cowbee [he/they]@lemmy.ml
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        4 days ago

        No? I’m an ML and I live in a capitalist country. Further, liberals are absolutely worse than anarchists.

        • MerryJaneDoe@lemmy.world
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          Where are progressives on that scale? Oh, and do fascists, I definitely want to know how a fascist stacks up against a liberal!

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            “Progressive” doesn’t really mean anything beyond “left of establishment democrats.” They range from liberal to socialist. Fascists are a twin of liberalism, worse but fundamentally connected.

          • QinShiHuangsShlong@lemmy.ml
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            If you’re not anti capitalist and anti bourgeois democracy even if you’re “progressive” you’re just a flavour of liberal. Fascists are obviously worse than liberals although they tend to agree on a surprising amount of things when push comes to shove unfortunately. Scratch a liberal and a fascist bleeds is a widespread phrase for a reason.

        • BiteSizedZeitGeist@lemmy.worldBanned from community
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          I’ll stand corrected on the anarchist comment. But if one lives in a capitalist country, one inevitably supports capitalism, right? Even if it’s against their will.

          This sounds more and more like Original Sin.

          • Cowbee [he/they]@lemmy.ml
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            Existing within capitalism does not mean you cannot work to overthrow it and must ideologically support it by espousing liberal talking points.

      • QinShiHuangsShlong@lemmy.ml
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        “liberal” denotes adherence to bourgeois democracy and capitalist property relations, (pro bourgeois democracy and private property)

        The critique of certain “anarchists” is that they guise reactionary politics in radical language, which aids capitalism.

        • Cowbee [he/they]@lemmy.ml
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          This is nonsense. Communism has not been achieved, but socialism absolutely has. Communism has not been achieved not for lack of trying, but because it is a post-socialist system. There’s no psyop.

        • QinShiHuangsShlong@lemmy.ml
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          First, let’s be precise about terms: capitalism is defined by private ownership of the means of production, profit-driven accumulation, and wage labor; socialism is defined by social ownership (state, collective, or cooperative), planning mechanisms, and the subordination of remaining market forces to developmental and social goals. They are distinct modes of production, not a binary where anything short of stateless communism “counts” as capitalism.

          Second, “Western capitalism” isn’t a universal default, it specifically describes the Euro-Amerikan core and its integrated vassals (NATO, Five Eyes, dependent economies). That system is hegemonic, but it is not total. Russia, for instance, operates a distinct sovereign-capitalist model: not socialist, but explicitly de-linked from Western financial architecture and actively contesting unipolar dominance.

          Third, China, Cuba, Laos, and Vietnam are explicitly in the early stages of the socialist transitionary period. Their frameworks (especially China’s “primary stage of socialism”) theorize that underdeveloped socialist states must develop productive forces, utilize regulated markets, and engage globally while maintaining proletarian state power and public ownership of commanding heights. This isn’t “capitalism with red flags”; it’s a materialist strategy to build the basis for higher-stage socialism. Dismissing these distinctions because communism hasn’t been “achieved” yet misunderstands dialectics: transition is a process, not an event. You don’t call a bridge under construction meaningless because it has yet to reach the other side.

  • osanna@lemmy.vg
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    4 days ago

    Americans:

    “praise the supreme leader!” - wow, brainwashing much?

    “I pledge allegiance to the flag…” - Yup, this is fine.

    • mrgoosmoos@lemmy.ca
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      nowadays it’s more accurately the same statement for both

      people are praising the supreme leader in america

    • Omega@lemmy.world
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      Okay, but tbf, pledging allegiance to the flag/country is much better than to the self alleged dictator.

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          That’s because people confuse nationalism with patriotism. I love my country, which is why I want it to be better. Others love their country because it gives them permission to be worse.

          To be clear, it’s still not good. I support any kid that wants to sit out for the pledge or sit or kneel for the national anthem. It should always be non-obligatory. In fact, I don’t love the word “allegiance” to begin with.

          But it would be significantly worse if the pledge of allegiance was to Donal Trump. Ultimately, that’s what many people are following, but it’s not default in schools to pledge allegiance to him or anything.

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            I just cannot understand why somebody living in a colonial country can truly say they love their country unless they’re brainwashed or completely ignorant to its history.

            I’m from Canada and we are not better, there’s just not as much of an issue of rampant nationalism disguised as “patriotism”. Our countries were built on the graves of the native inhabitants, by the hands of slaves. At no point in the history did they stop abusing natives and the descendants of slaves, they just found new ways to hide it and new names to call it (how does a prison make a profit, anyway?).

            I love and am proud of my community, but that is the extent to which my pride reaches. I cannot feel proud of a country that was built on the blood of the innocent.

          • technocrit@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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            I love my country,

            Not even sure how to respond to this kind of vague emotional ideology. When people say this kinda stuff to me in person, I back away slowly.

            • Omega@lemmy.world
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              I want America to prosper and I want to protect American values from right-wing radicals that are in charge. I’m very passionate about it. In fact, I live in a red state and I want it to just be better and no longer radicalized by lies and hate.

              I very passionately want America to heal from this illness of hate and apathy.

              If that makes me a bad person, then fuck me I guess.

              • davel@lemmy.ml
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                Not necessarily bad, but definitely indoctrinated, as many of us once were. The truth is a series of bitter pills, and the government and media aren’t going to offer them to you; they’re going to distract you from them. Which is easy to do, given how bitter the pills are.

                • Jentu@lemmy.ml
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                  I’ve been in the process of making a powerpoint-esque presentation to show to my friends who haven’t read any theory and the thought of framing and organizing it as “bitter pills” is super exciting to me. Starting out the presentation with definitions and history would’ve made them fall asleep.

                • Absurdly Stupid @lemmy.world
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                  I don’t think it can be overthrown today; surveillance of means of communication is now total; their only restriction is the massive amount of data.

                  It CAN collapse in on itself, that is inevitable.

                  I would be delighted if I was proved wrong.

              • Dessalines@lemmy.ml
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                4 days ago

                American values

                The values of the US settler-colonial project, are native eviction, and genocide.

                The values of the indigenous peoples were not considered worthy to the european settlers, so they did their best to wipe out hundreds of peoples/tribes/cultures. You either don’t know that history, or worse, you are proud of it.

                I highly suggest reading both An indigenous people’s history of the US by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, or her Not a nation of immigrants.

              • ZeroHora@lemmy.ml
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                “American values” are freedom for a few selected individuals, this shit is ass.

                The values that you probably want is incompatible with capitalism and never truly existed in America, you love the idea of it not the reality.

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        Who knows one day you might get it and see they are the same motivators to for gullibles to go to war.
        It doesn’t matter if it’s for their leader or the country.
        It’s always for the owners of both.

  • HiddenLayer555@lemmy.ml
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    When will Westerners realize that the common characture of the brainwashed, thought controlled, information controlled, constantly surveiled citizen that we attribute to China/The USSR/etc… IS US?! You clutch your pearls at people in other countries potentially being treated like that but are inclined to do nothing about OUR OWN countries treating US like that.

    • kibiz0r@midwest.social
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      A Russian is on an airliner heading to the US, and the American in the seat next to him asks, “So what brings you to the US?” The Russian replies, “I’m studying the American approach to propaganda.” The American says, “What propaganda?” The Russian says, “That’s what I mean.”

          • QinShiHuangsShlong@lemmy.ml
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            4 days ago

            You didn’t make one you just stated something wildly incorrect so why should I take the time to give you a well thought out response trying to explain how truly idiotic is?

            • Yliaster@lemmy.worldBanned from community
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              I did make one, that you can oppose two things at the same time.

              I could explain, but wait, you already said that authoritarianism was meaningless to you. If it doesn’t matter to you, well, seems pointless to try to convince that it is actually fascist.

              • QinShiHuangsShlong@lemmy.ml
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                You have to be a troll.

                You can appose 2 things

                Sure not what I took issue with. I took issue with you calling China fascist which is just an untrue statement.

                Authoritarian is a pejorative. All countries and states in class society are “authoritarian” by necessity. Fascism is a specific thing arising from the tendency for the rate of profit to decline in capitalist society.

                • Yliaster@lemmy.worldBanned from community
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                  You can keep insisting I’m a troll if it helps you deal with not being able to engage with arguments.

                  China is authoritarian, but authoritarianism doesn’t matter to you, so that shouldn’t matter to you. Consistency, please.

                  And no, countries aren’t “authoritarian” by necessity. Even if some amount of policies etc that would be considered such exist everywhere, you have countries that are freer and countries that have more political suppression, censorship of media outlets, etc etc.

                  China does censor it’s media—political and entertainment— heavily. Just one small example.

                • Cowbee [he/they]@lemmy.ml
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                  I like it when the working classes in China wield the state against capitalists and fascists, and to ensure that social surplus is directed towards social ends above all else.

      • Cowbee [he/they]@lemmy.ml
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        In what way is China fascist? It’s a socialist country, public ownership is the principle aspect of the economy and the working classes control the state.

        • Akasazh@lemmy.world
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          Authoritarianism, violent oppression of minorites and dissenting movements, deeply ingrained surveillance state with state censorship.

          • Cowbee [he/they]@lemmy.ml
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            China does not violently oppress minorities, and wielding state authority, censorship, and surveilance against capitalists and fascists is necessary for a socialist state, and doesn’t make it fascist. Fascism is capitalism violently defending itself from decay and solidifying bourgeois control, not proletarian.

        • Yliaster@lemmy.worldBanned from community
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          Surveillance and political suppression for one. Media, journalism, etc.

          • Cowbee [he/they]@lemmy.ml
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            That’s not what fascism means, especially when these are used against capitalists most of all, and not against the working classes nearly as much. Fascism is capitalism violently entrenching itself when it finds itself in crisis, it isn’t when a socialist state uses state power to keep capitalists under control and expropriate their property.

            • LwL@lemmy.world
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              That’s not what fascism is either lol

              I wouldn’t call china fascist, though doubtlessly authoritarian. But I don’t have nearly as much info on china, it seems to me the persecution of minorities is less of a central political scapegoat and more some weird side thing. But without speaking chinese, I might be wrong. The US had plenty of fascist characteristics at this point and is rather open about the persecution.

              • Cowbee [he/they]@lemmy.ml
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                The US is fascist because it’s in crisis. Imperialism is decaying and austerity is being brought inward.

            • Yliaster@lemmy.worldBanned from community
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              I’m not trying to fuss over what to call something. My intended point stands.

              • Cowbee [he/they]@lemmy.ml
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                It doesn’t, though. Socialism is not fascism, and all socialist states need to exert authority against capitalists and fascists to continue to exist. Class harmony is a lie.

                • Yliaster@lemmy.worldBanned from community
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                  My point is that the forms of oppression that occur in China aren’t exclusive to the capitalist class, and remain something I oppose.

                  Which stands.

      • Schmoo@slrpnk.net
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        3 days ago

        Why don’t you correct me instead of marking my comment as bigotry and removing it? I said that China’s social credit system is just an ordinary credit system much like ours, and that is bigotry how, exactly? Explain it to me.

        It’s wild, you don’t even have to say anything bad about China to piss you off, you just have to talk about it neutrally without constantly praising it as a socialist utopia.

    • Wilco@lemmy.zip
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      That is pretty wild. I didn’t know any of this … I just thought “communist dystopia is dystopian”. The fact that you can take a hit to the credit score for engaging in protests and demonstrations is still scary … no one show this to Republicans.

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        The fact that you can take a hit to the credit score for engaging in protests and demonstrations is still scary

        I was saying that this sort of thing actually doesn’t really happen. The social credit score for the most part is just an ordinary credit score and is only meaningfully affected by finances. Some localities made an attempt at implementing the “social” aspects of the system and subtract small amounts for certain criminal offenses, but it barely makes a difference.

        Engaging in protests and demonstrations gets you the same thing it gets you here; tear gas, pepper balls, beatings, and possibly prison time & a criminal record. The hysteria around the social credit system is very silly when the actual dystopian shit is so glaringly obvious, and occurs in both China and the US.

    • quips@slrpnk.net
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      I cannot emphasize enough how much air would be sucked out of our propaganda overnight if china just fucking uncensored the internet and truly protected freedom of speech and information.

      • Dessalines@lemmy.ml
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        The PRC would be incredibly naive to let US tech companies in, and take over and hoover up their social media landscape, like so many other countries have done. For example India’s most popular communications platform, is facebook. The US effectively controls the social media of a country many times larger than itself, and can influence it whatever way it wants, as well as spy on every person who uses it.

        For those who want to view US-run tech sites in the PRC, they can of course via VPNs which are completely legal, but that friction is very worthwhile for encouraging home-run alternatives, and preventing mass surveillance by an evil empire.

      • RiverRock@lemmy.ml
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        I mean judging by how cooked the brains of so many western people are with internet conspiracies like qanon, I’m not sure that would be the result of deregulation

  • songwriterallnighter@lemmy.zip
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    I don’t care what other countries do to a degree where we need to intervene their governance with military or covert actions, I don’t understand their culture, their history, their people, their way of thinking to force democracy across the world. I only care about protecting our country, our people and leaving the world the fuck alone. I feel like that’s how most of the world works.

  • Broadfern@lemmy.world
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    Per Wikipedia:

    The program first emerged in the early 2000s, inspired by the credit scoring systems in other countries.

    It’s almost the same thing but a different name, and is nationalized to a state system instead of like 3 or 4 companies lmao

    Right wingers fear the word “social” for some reason ig

  • Ron@zegheteens.nl
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    The Chinese credit system is western propaganda there is nothing like it as described in western media.

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    5 days ago

    Some gringo in the comments: “Something something Uyghurs, something something mass surveillance, winnie poo”

    • Smackyroon@lemmy.mlOP
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      Liberals and real actual gaza genocide: 🥱

      Liberals and fake Uyghur genocide: Real shit

        • QinShiHuangsShlong@lemmy.ml
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          It is? Their is no evidence. It’s a fabrication invented by a German evangelical on a self proclaimed “mission from god” to destroy communism.

          • Yliaster@lemmy.worldBanned from community
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            No, it isnt. We have geographic evidence as well as countless testimonies of the Uyghur people.

            For some reason when it comes to China/Uyghur muslims, people have no issue dismissing their genocide and thinking it’s okay.

            • QinShiHuangsShlong@lemmy.ml
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              I was in Urumqi recently enough and I can tell you this they are some of the most pro government people I have ever talked with lmao they love that ETIM was kicked out.

              You have gusano testimony from the likes of Rushan Abbas (Guantanamo bay torturer) It’s not real.

              Also tell me about this geographic evidence? Pictures of prisons that you decided are camps because we’re evil scary Chinese people?

              • Yliaster@lemmy.worldBanned from community
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                I never said “you’re evil scary Chinese people”. The Chinese state however, is another story (authoritarian— but I know you’re apathetic towards authoritarianism). I realize now that this may be evoking some sort of nationalistic reaction out of you, though.

                I didn’t “decide”— like I said, independent journalists and satellite imaging. And no, it’s not reducible to “Western evil scary propaganda” like you’re making it out to be.

                • Resonosity@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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                  authoritarian— but I know you’re apathetic towards authoritarianism

                  All governments/states are authoritarian. That is their nature. No government is excluded from this.

                  The difference with some governments over others is who wields that authority: the majority of working class people, or the minority of capitalist class people.

                  I’d prefer to live in a state that advocates for my best interests as a working class individual rather than submit to capitalists that want to extract everything that I’m worth for themselves and hoard for no good reason.

                • QinShiHuangsShlong@lemmy.ml
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                  The Chinese state that has 95+% support from the population and is made up of a representative of Chinese people.

                  White people decided we’re evil and you just go along with it without any investigation because you’re racist and it confirms your biases

            • Cowbee [he/they]@lemmy.ml
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              There is no genocide of Uyghurs. Uyghur genocide atrocity propaganda akin to claiming that there’s “white genocide” in South Africa, Christian genocide in Nigeria, or that Hamas sexually assaulted babies in Operation Al-Aqsa Flood.

              In the case of Xinjiang, the area is crucial in the Belt and Road Initiative, so the west backed sepratist groups in order to destabilize the region. China responded with vocational programs and de-radicalization efforts, which the west then twisted into claims of “genocide.” Nevermind that the west responds to seperatism with mass violence, and thus re-education programs focused on rehabilitation are far more humane, the tool was used both for outright violence by the west into a useful narrative to feed its own citizens.

              The best and most comprehensive resource I have seen so far is Qiao Collective’s Xinjiang: A Resource and Report Compilation. Qiao Collective is explicitly pro-PRC, but this is an extremely comprehensive write-up of the entire background of the events, the timeline of reports, and real and fake claims.

              I also recommend reading the UN report and China’s response to it. These are the most relevant accusations and responses without delving into straight up fantasy like Adrian Zenz, professional propagandist for the Victims of Communism Foundation, does.

              Tourists do go to Xinjiang all the time as well. You can watch videos like this one on YouTube, though it obviously isn’t going to be a comprehensive view of a complex situation like this.

          • QinShiHuangsShlong@lemmy.ml
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            So not accepting exaggerated narratives means China is a utopia? Why do people rarely offer ordinary, policy-level criticism? There is plenty of it, but discussion often defaults to cartoonish claims instead of routine institutional analysis.

            Where is the discussion of the hukou household registration system and its trade-offs?

            Where is the discussion of local government reliance on land-use financing?

            Where is the discussion of provincial policy experimentation and uneven implementation?

            Where is the discussion of state-owned enterprises and their structural advantages and drawbacks?

            Where is the discussion of demographic policy after the one-child era?

            Where is the discussion of regional inequality between coastal and interior provinces?

            Where is the discussion of the property sector’s role in household wealth and local budgets?

            Where is the discussion of debt accumulation among provincial financing vehicles?

            Where is the discussion of administrative campaign-style governance and its policy side effects?

            Where is the discussion of bureaucratic incentives within the cadre evaluation system?

            Where is the discussion of industrial policy prioritization and capital allocation?

            Where is the discussion of urban planning constraints produced by internal migration controls?

            Where is the discussion of education access differences tied to household registration?

            Where is the discussion of long-term pension sustainability in an aging population?

            I know where they are, in China because none of you know enough about China to have a proper discussion on any of these. All you know is spouting ridiculous talking points.

          • Cowbee [he/they]@lemmy.ml
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            China isn’t a utopia, and does have problems. China’s problems are real, though, not invented, so discussion of China’s issues requires drawing a line between fact and fiction.

    • 0_o7@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      The only muslim people they suddenly “pretend” to care about because their media hides the fact that they are muslim.

      Muslims everywhere else are fair game.

  • Yliaster@lemmy.worldBanned from community
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    Not an American or a liberal, and yes, china is authoritarian. Is america better? No. The credit score system in the US is also bad.

      • Cyrus Draegur@lemmy.zip
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        You ain’t wrong about the social credit thing! There was only one municipality that tried to implement it in any way that even vaguely resembles how mainstream media hysterics portray, and that city’s administration was punished for it on the national stage.

        The only thing the “social credit” system was meant to do is make major public figures accountable for corruption. It was never aimed at REGULAR people!

        But yeah nah fuck anyone and anything that opposed democracy especially the two faced single political party of the United States of America. If they actually gave a shit about democracy for real instead of just consuming lives to pay for their pedophilia addictions, we’d have ranked choice voting by now.

        • QinShiHuangsShlong@lemmy.ml
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          Unfortunately I don’t think ranked choice voting will save you. You need to clear the board so to speak and get some options that actually represent people over corporate interests.

          • ILoveUnions@lemmy.world
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            You do realize that ranked choice voting is one of the simplest and least violent ways to push forward progressive candidates right? Because it makes people comfortable with voting options that with first past the post would be throw away votes

            • QinShiHuangsShlong@lemmy.ml
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              That makes sense, and then you look at Europe and realise the issues at hand are systemic, caused by material conditions and bourgeois democratic electoralism is never going to fix those issues.

              Much of Europe already uses ranked choice or proportional voting, yet remains austerity-ridden and sliding toward the far right because it is still under the dictatorship of capital. The voting mechanism is secondary to the concrete material conditions: capital’s imperative to accumulate, the commodification of labor, and the state’s role as an instrument of class rule. Until that dictatorship is overthrown, electoral reform is rearranging deck chairs on a sinking ship.

              The core contradictions at hand are:

              Socialized production versus private appropriation:workers collectively create value, but capitalists expropriate the surplus

              The tendency of the rate of profit to fall: as organic composition of capital rises, profitability declines, forcing capital to seek new fixes

              Overaccumulation and underconsumption: capital produces more than can be profitably sold, leading to crisis, layoffs, and austerity

              The contradiction between capital’s global mobility and labor’s relative immobility, which fuels a race to the bottom in wages and protections.

              As imperialism declines (neocolonial extraction becomes costlier, interimperialist rivalry intensifies, and the Global South resists outright plunder) capital can no longer rely on external superprofits to offset domestic falling rates of profit. The response is internal repression: austerity to slash social wages, union-busting to weaken labor power, surveillance to preempt dissent, and the normalization of authoritarian governance. This is capital’s logical reaction to crisis.

              This dynamic mirrors Weimar Germany: economic crisis, delegitimized liberal parties, and a bourgeoisie that ultimately backed fascism to crush the organized working class and restore “order” for capital. Today’s far-right surge is the same phenomenon: capital’s emergency management when consent can no longer be manufactured through bourgeois democracy alone.

              Voting under these conditions is not a path to liberation; it is a ritual that legitimizes the managers of decline. For voting to matter, you must overthrow the dictatorship of capital and reach the synthesis of these contradictions: a revolutionary transformation that socializes production, abolishes exploitation, and builds a state that serves human need, not profit. Only then does political power and thereby voting become meaningful.

              • ILoveUnions@lemmy.world
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                Ranked choice and proportional voting are 2 very different concepts. You are falsely pretending they’re similar when they’re wildly different concepts. Only Ireland presently uses it from the eu, because they as well have an establishment, and ranked choice voting is anti establishment at its core.

                Why are you trying to pretend they’re the same concept?

                How do you expect to have a revolution if 90% of people don’t agree with your viewpoint? And I say that as a socialist. Pushing forward the agena over the course of decades is more likely to be successful than a single revolution, in my opinion.

                • QinShiHuangsShlong@lemmy.ml
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                  Yes, they are different, but the point at the core of my argument is that it’s irrelevant as they serve the same purpose at their core.

                  Whether it’s s RCV or MMP, the outcome remains austerity, imperialist foreign policy, and rising far-right influence because the state remains an instrument of capital. Ballot mechanics don’t override class power. RCV isn’t “anti-establishment at its core”; it’s a procedural tweak that can just as easily stabilize bourgeois legitimacy.

                  How do you expect to have a revolution if 90% of people don’t agree with your viewpoint?

                  In my country the revolution has already happened. We now conduct class struggle through party debate and socialist democracy, not bourgeois elections.

                  Also revolutionary consciousness isn’t a precondition you wait for, it is forged through struggle. The 90% figure is wrong for a start, even in the US communist sympathys are quickly growing, you also assumes static opinions under static conditions, but material crises radicalize people faster than decades of electoral gradualism. Reformism doesn’t build toward socialism, it manages capitalism more palatably and demobilizes movements by channeling energy into cycles of hope and disappointment.

                  Pushing forward the agenda over the course of decades is more likely to be successful than a single revolution, in my opinion.

                  History suggests otherwise. Social democracy produced the welfare state only under the unique pressure of postwar reconstruction and Soviet competition, then dismantled it once those pressures faded (and even that was built off massive exploitation and imperialism in the periphery). Capital concedes reforms only when forced and retracts them the moment profitability demands it. Waiting for electoral consensus while the climate burns, fascism rises, and imperialism massacres isn’t a strategy. Bourgeois democracy won’t let you vote through its own abolition. The task for those still under bourgeois democracy is to build dual power: organs of working-class authority that can confront and replace the dictatorship of capital. That’s how you can make voting matter.

            • RiverRock@lemmy.ml
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              Haha, you think the epstein class will allow you to vote away their fascism

              • ILoveUnions@lemmy.world
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                It’s an important reform no matter what, even if we have to resort to other methods to take out the class first.

            • MerryJaneDoe@lemmy.world
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              Alas, I fear the US might be too far gone for ranked choice to have an effect.

              The problem is quality of candidates. Since Citizen’s United opened the door for unlimited corporate money in elections, literally 90% of candidates are on someone’s payroll. “Grassroots” is a thing of the past. Mass media and name recognition are everything.

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                It’s quite possible it’s too late for the usa, but I still do want other democracies to push for it. Only 4 odd countries have it worldwide.

                Worth saying, while grassroots is less common, it is not gone. Kat in il-9 is somewhat a good example of this though she failed community engagement and came from out of town so she’s unlikely to win. Though it is arguable how grassroots she is. Of course the top priority is revoking citizens united.

                It’s one of the simplest ways of helping push countries to the left, because it allows you to have people vote for the leftist politicians without worrying about boosting a right wing politician or party, as first past the post forces, and also not forcing people to vote for parties, which lock out leftist candidates from being able to gain traction as easily such as in proportional voting systems.

        • Kurroth@aussie.zone
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          As good as preferential/ranked voting is. Compulsory voting would have a much larger positive impact on US’ democracy

          Ideally both

          • Cowbee [he/they]@lemmy.ml
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            Neither can fix the systemic problems caused by capitalism though, democracy in capitalism is democracy for capitalists.

            • Kurroth@aussie.zone
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              Well then use that amendment that children keep dying for or stop complaining. So pathetic

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                  What good is complaining amongst a communist org, if your democracy and elections a rlcapitalist?

              • Absurdly Stupid @lemmy.world
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                Please stop financing and enabling the USA, also, and stop using the US dollar for international trade. So lame that you haven’t done that

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            Many far right countries (australia, japan, south korea) use ranked choice voting… it doesn’t make a bit of difference. If capitalists control the political system, then they will stack candidates and fund the campaigns that support their interests, and the “democracy” there is nothing but political theatre.

            Outside of Marxists, even the ancient greeks knew that representative government is just another name for plutocracy, because only wealthy / landed family have the money and prestige to fund campaigns to get themselves elected. Liberals still haven’t learned this simple lesson.

            • Kurroth@aussie.zone
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              In what world is Australia far right? Center right/neoliberal today maybe. But not far fight, especially compared to other countries

              Also I recommend compulsory voting.

          • Absurdly Stupid @lemmy.world
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            How will compulsive voting improve anything? Now you’re dragging even more uninformed dopes to vote, a lot of them will vote for spite. Far more than you realize, I think

            Trump was 100% the vote-for-spite-burn-it-down candidate. That’s how they get you, the old switcheroo

            • eldavi@lemmy.ml
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              Now you’re dragging even more uninformed dopes to vote, a lot of them will vote for spite.

              uninformed defines almost all american voters and the last election showed that 30 million people who voted in 2020, chose not to vote in 2024 instead of spite voting.

      • Yliaster@lemmy.worldBanned from community
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        4 days ago

        Re: authoritarianism— your opinion.

        Some of us aren’t in favour of oppressive regimes that aren’t transparent, surveil, and censor.

        • Cowbee [he/they]@lemmy.ml
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          “Authoritarianism” is meaningless because all it means is “uses state power.” It doesn’t acknowledge which class controls the state and who it uses state power against. In China, the working classes control the state, and use state power against bad actors and capitalists more than anything else. China is oppressive to capitalists and liberating to workers.

          • furry toaster@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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            I haven’t much evidence for the claim: “In China, the working classses control the state”

            sure you will say that is my western bias from living with china bad propaganda, but you could actually provide something to me read on topic if possible

            • QinShiHuangsShlong@lemmy.ml
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              You can debate whether the system works well, but it isn’t accurate to say there’s no evidence for the claim that the working classes play a central role in the Chinese state.

              China’s constitution explicitly defines the PRC as a socialist state “led by the working class and based on the alliance of workers and peasants,” with state power exercised through the National People’s Congress (NPC) system. The NPC is the highest organ of state power, with nearly 3,000 deputies drawn from provinces, the PLA, and different social sectors.

              The makeup of the NPC is not just party bureaucrats or business elites. In the 14th NPC there are hundreds of deputies from workers and farmers and large numbers of grassroots representatives, along with 442 ethnic minority deputies covering all 55 minority groups. Most deputies in China’s people’s congress system (about 95%) serve at the county and township level, which are directly elected and involve hundreds of millions of voters. Higher congresses are elected from these lower levels. This structure is what China calls “whole-process people’s democracy.” Sources explaining the system include CGTN’s Who runs the CPC and the State Council white paper China: Democracy That Works.

              You can also look at how the state treats capital. China has private capital, but it is clearly subordinated to state goals. When Jack Ma tried to push an aggressive fintech model through Ant Group that would massively expand lightly regulated consumer credit, regulators halted the IPO and forced restructuring under stricter oversight. That is a case of disciplining capital when it conflicts with social stability and the broader economy.

              Likewise, China has pursued policies like eliminating extreme poverty and building massive infrastructure networks (including projects that are not monetarily profitable) because they are treated as long-term public development goals. That kind of large-scale, socially oriented investment is difficult to sustain in systems where private capital dominates the state.

              So you can disagree with the Chinese model, but there is actually a large amount of Chinese material explaining how their system is supposed to function and why they claim it represents working-class political power.

            • Cowbee [he/they]@lemmy.ml
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              Sure!

              The Chinese political system is based on whole-process people’s democracy, a form of consultative democracy. The local government is directly elected, and then these governments elect people to higher rungs, meaning any candidate at the top level must have worked their way up from the bottom and directly proved themselves. Moreover, the economy in the PRC is socialist, with public ownership as the principle aspect of the economy. Combining this consultative, ground-up democracy with top-down economic planning is the key to China’s success.

              I highly recommend Roland Boer’s Socialism in Power: On the History and Theory of Socialist Governance. Socialist democracy has been imperfect, but has gone through a number of changes and adaptations over the years as we’ve learned more from testing theory to practice. Boer goes over the history behind socialist democracy in this textbook.

              The working classes in socialist countries are the ones dictating the state and its direction.

            • Cowbee [he/they]@lemmy.ml
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              There is no genocide of Uyghurs. Uyghur genocide atrocity propaganda akin to claiming that there’s “white genocide” in South Africa, Christian genocide in Nigeria, or that Hamas sexually assaulted babies in Operation Al-Aqsa Flood.

              In the case of Xinjiang, the area is crucial in the Belt and Road Initiative, so the west backed sepratist groups in order to destabilize the region. China responded with vocational programs and de-radicalization efforts, which the west then twisted into claims of “genocide.” Nevermind that the west responds to seperatism with mass violence, and thus re-education programs focused on rehabilitation are far more humane, the tool was used both for outright violence by the west into a useful narrative to feed its own citizens.

              The best and most comprehensive resource I have seen so far is Qiao Collective’s Xinjiang: A Resource and Report Compilation. Qiao Collective is explicitly pro-PRC, but this is an extremely comprehensive write-up of the entire background of the events, the timeline of reports, and real and fake claims.

              I also recommend reading the UN report and China’s response to it. These are the most relevant accusations and responses without delving into straight up fantasy like Adrian Zenz, professional propagandist for the Victims of Communism Foundation, does.

              Tourists do go to Xinjiang all the time as well. You can watch videos like this one on YouTube, though it obviously isn’t going to be a comprehensive view of a complex situation like this.

            • Cowbee [he/they]@lemmy.ml
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              China is a socialist country, public ownership is the principle aspect of the economy and the working classes control the state. Child labor is illegal in China, you may be thinking of the US.

          • Yliaster@lemmy.worldBanned from community
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            I’m using the term to refer to suppression of people (which isn’t restricted to workers) in politics, media, etc.

            • Cowbee [he/they]@lemmy.ml
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              Except by “the people” you seem to mean capitalists and fascists, not the broad majority of society that are uplifted and support the system.

        • QinShiHuangsShlong@lemmy.ml
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          I am a Chinese minority living in China. You really don’t know what you’re talking about when it comes to China. You very clearly have done 0 research beyond maybe reading RFA. You should be quiet until you have done some proper research.

          • davel@lemmy.ml
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            3 days ago

            You can’t possibly be a minority in China, what with all those intact organs.

          • Yliaster@lemmy.worldBanned from community
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            Ad hominem, ad hominem, and mmm, ad hominem. Yeah, nothing to see here.

            • Cowbee [he/they]@lemmy.ml
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              It isn’t an ad hominem fallacy to point out that doing little research on a topic and repeating easily disproven talking points isn’t a sound basis of argument.

              • Yliaster@lemmy.worldBanned from community
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                And I have, and my responses were given little in return from them.

                • Cowbee [he/they]@lemmy.ml
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                  You have not, considering everything you’ve said has been easily debunked, and when encountering hard numbers you reflect to dogmatism.

              • Yliaster@lemmy.worldBanned from community
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                Well in the comment I said that you didn’t explain why I was wrong and simply resorted to making a string of ad hominems.

                So I’ll reiterate: ad hominem, ad hominem, ad hominem.

  • kittenzrulz123@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    Im gonna say it, I’m sick and tired of hearing people talk about “evil Chinese authoritarian social credit system” when its inherently a good system that works. In the west when a corporation commits mass fraud and abuse they pay a minimal fine (sometimes they don’t even pay) and then they literally just get away with it. Chinas social credit system on the other hand actually holds businesses accountable.

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      I’m willing to say I’m not happy with either system. Corporations should pay and be held accountable but citizens should have a right to privacy and not have the sum of their actions turned into a number.

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        citizens should have a right to privacy and not have the sum of their actions turned into a number.

        That “number” isn’t real. China does not have a single nationwide “social credit score” that rates every citizen.

        What actually exists is a set of legal blacklists, the most famous being the court judgment defaulter list (失信被执行人). It applies to people who refuse to comply with a court decision, usually things like unpaid debts.

        If you ignore a court order, the court can place you under a high-consumption restriction (限制高消费). That means you can’t spend money on certain luxury services (first-class train tickets, flights, five-star hotels, or other high-end purchases) until you comply with the judgment.

        You can still travel normally, stay in regular hotels, work, shop, and live your life. The restriction is specifically designed to stop people who refuse to obey court rulings from enjoying luxury spending while ignoring their legal obligations.

        The popular idea in the west that everyone in China has a constantly changing personal “score” based on everyday behavior is simply western fantasy.

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          I’m impressed. The US legal system is incredibly anemic when it comes to punishing corporations for violating workers’ rights. I hope we really can achieve a multipolar world, one where a standard like this is upheld to emulate, and not the rotten neoliberal legal morass of the West.

          • QinShiHuangsShlong@lemmy.ml
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            That’s because the US like pretty much all the western world is a dictatorship of capital why would capital willingly discipline itself. China is a dictatorship of the proletariat hence the constant crackdowns on unruly capital and capitalists that is impossible in the west.

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              Of course. I wasn’t suggesting otherwise. I just hope CIA propaganda loses any appeal it may have outside of the imperial core. As for inside the core, it’s hard for me not to feel ‘doomer’ about the state of the working class. I think there would have to be a sudden, extreme change in material conditions before the working class would start to ‘wake up’ en masse here.

      • kittenzrulz123@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        You should be happy to know then that the social credit score only applies to corporations and individuals who do business with the government as contractors, it doesn’t apply to private life and doesn’t make anything illegal that wasn’t already legally punishable (even then minor crimes aren’t covered).

      • ThirdConsul@lemmy.zip
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        Corporations should pay and be held accountable

        No. The board and the directors should be personally responsible, and should be punished in addition to the corporation paying money at the minimum.

      • ZeroHora@lemmy.ml
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        Yeah the made up system that doesn’t exist in the real world is really fucking scary OMG.