#marxism
Issue 174 of Red Flag is out now
With 8 pages of analysis on the results of the US election, and the prospects for workers and the oppressed, both in the US and internationally, under Democratic Party rule. One thing we know: without resistance, nothing is going to change for the better.
Red Flag aims to play its role in fostering and giving voice to that resistance. Become a subscriber at subscribe.redflag.org.au, and help support a socialist voice in Australia’s right-wing media terrain.
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Many scientists today agree we are living through a new geological epoch—the Anthropocene. It is an age defined by human activity, characterised by a reduction in biodiversity, an increase in the concentration of atmospheric carbon dioxide, the use of nuclear weapons, the impact of industrial processes and changes to the Earth’s surface as a result of mining, construction and erosion. One of the most disastrous features of this activity is the massive and increasing production of plastic, a material once synonymous with progress and innovation but which is now threatening the viability of the planet on which we all depend.
A glimpse at the world’s oceans reveals the dimensions of the problem. A 2017 study from the Ellen MacArthur Foundation found that by 2050, Earth’s oceans will contain more plastic than fish. Already, there are huge, submerged, moving concentrations of waste in every one of the planet’s oceans, known as garbage patches. The Great Pacific Garbage Patch, which lies between Japan and California, for example, is twice the size of Texas and continually growing. It acts like a vortex, pulling ever more rubbish into its centre.
READ MORE: Plastic capitalism is killing the planet
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Red Flag isn’t afraid to call out politicians and CEOs who are letting our planet burn in the name of profit. We need radical action in the face of the climate emergency. Red Flag celebrates people fighting against climate destruction, tells the truth about what is happening in our oceans, and amplifies the voices of those bearing the brunt of climate change.
We were on the ground last year as protesters disrupted the International Mining and Resources Conference: a gathering of the top mining executives from around the world, backed by the Daniel Andrews Labor Government. We’re reporting now as people face court for daring to stand up to these climate vandals.
Subscribeto Red Flag to hear from environmental activists about the fight against climate destruction.
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Cultural Experience: Britain and Socialism
Something I noticed during my time here in London is the fact that unlike in the U.S., “socialist” isn’t a dirty word. While I haven’t spoken to any native Brits about their opinions on the matter (politics is a tricky subject to discuss with anyone, especially strangers) I’ve seen numerous adverts on the streets for things like Marxism 2019– “a festival of socialist ideas,” a Karl Marx walking tour, other socialist events being held by universities in Bloomsbury, and a socialist newspaper stand on the day we went to Westminster Abbey as we walked by the Trump protests.
I found this so interesting because while there are more progressive politicians now who are using the term in some way (typically as “Democratic-socialist” rather than full-blown “socialist”), it is still very much a word of controversy in the United States, one that brings back images of the Second Red Scare, of the Hollywood 10, of Russian spies, of extreme fear that our democracy in the states could somehow collapse if citizens were given rights to things like free healthcare. I had heard before that the United States was the only country in which the idea of socialism had immediately abhorrent connotations, but nonetheless, the sheer normalcy of socialism as a political ideology is very interesting to me and was not something I expected or intended to observe, but just kept seeing again and again on the streets of London. I likely won’t speak to anyone about their political ideologies while here as it was recommended we avoid doing so, but still, based on sheer observation, the political climate here differs quite a bit in this way from the United States.
“…The terms "Capitalism” and “Capitalistic Production” are political catchwords. They were invented by socialists, not to extend knowledge, but to carp, to criticize, to condemn. Today, they have only to be uttered to conjure up a picture of the relentless exploitation of wage-slaves by the pitiless rich. They are scarcely ever used save to imply a disease in the body-politic.
From a scientific point of view, they are so obscure and ambiguous that they have no value whatever. Their users agree only in this, that they indicate the characteristics of the modern economic system. But wherein these characteristics consist is always a matter of dispute.
Their use, therefore, is entirely pernicious, and the proposal to extrude them altogether from economic terminology, and to leave them to the matadors of popular agitation, deserves serious consideration…“
— Ludwig von Mises, Socialism
http://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,770539,00.html
While Trotskyism and permanent revolution are flawed ideologies that should be opposed by any rational Marxists, our comrade has a great analysis on the bread and circuses employed in a capitalist society to tranquilize the workers and masses in an industrialized society. This is in no way shape or form an advocacy of Trotskyism.
“Capital does not like the working man to think and is afraid….It has therefore adopted measures. … It has put up automats in each station and has filled them with disgusting candied gum. With an automatic movement of the hand the people extract from these automats pieces of sweetish gum, and they grind it with the automatic chewing of their jaws… . It looks like a religious rite, like some silent prayer to God-Capital.“
Haha leftist communist KFC man says bubble gum machine bad. Except, this same phenomenom can be seen within parasocial relationships practiced between the proletariat and figures such as instagram influencers, twitch streamers, youtubers, and aspects of pop culture. It is remarkable how coping mechanisms such as gaming and participation of social media can be seen as a modern kafkaesque religious ritual.
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Anti-communism is undeniably rooted in racism and colonialism. For what other reason would a reactionary oppose the liberation of the colonized proletariat and the natural progression of humanity? What funny logic do these bigoted white folks use to justify the forced captivity and migration of the African people to America, only to somehow act against the invisible hand of social progression of racial integration? A 21st century example of this photo are all the white republicans opposing the Asian and Chinese community in the United States as suspected agents of the Communist Party of China while happily accepting investments, commerce, and other economic benefits. At its core, the white anglo-saxon protestant is rotten, and must be reeducated in the upcoming proletarian revolution to build a successful multicultural society, similar to the USSR. Even the most exotic looking ethnic Mongolian was able to be treated as an equal to a Russian native in the glorious socialist republic.It is safe to say that the current ethnic relations in China are more progressive than the one of the stagnating American empire.
In the same exact year, fidel castro stated (as he always has throughout the entirety of his life and career) racism to be one of central and most important issues the new revolutionary government would tackle. even whilst he was in the partido ortodoxo (his political ideas were still pretty raw at that point), one of the key believes he held and campaigned for was racial equality.
“Castro’s government promised to get rid of racism in three years, despite Cuba’s violent history of colonialism. Though Cuba never had formal, state sanctioned segregation, privatization disenfranchised Cubans of color specifically.[12] Previously white only private pools, beaches, and schools were made public, free, and opened up to Cubans of all races and classes. Because much of the Afro-Cuban population on the island was impoverished before the revolution, they benefited widely from the policies for affordable housing, the literacy program, universal free education in general, and healthcare.[14] But above all, Castro insisted that the greatest obstacle for Cubans of color was access to employment. By the mid 1980s racial inequality on paper was virtually nonexistent. Cubans of color graduated at the same (or higher) rate as white Cubans. The races had an equal life expectancy and were equally represented in the professional arena.[12][15] Cuba, by 1980, had equal life expectancy rates of Black and white people, a stark contrast from the United States and Brazil who had large inequalities in terms of life expectancies. “
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This 1970s Black Panther news paper shows Kim Il Sung, Ho Chi Minh, and Mao Zedong, honored for their work against imperialism and showing respect towards african americans. When the liberal white Americans were indifferent to the oppression of the african americans, the comrades in Asia were willing to fund the black panther party to liberate the colonized proletariat.
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Anarkiddies and liberals do not understand the fact that the regulation of billionaire can not occur without the vanguard party
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COVID deaths can’t embarrass the White House if hospitals don’t report them
The Biden administration has failed its Covid test
“In assessing the health of the nation, the Democrats fetishize ‘the economy’ without specifying who benefits from it. Marcia Fudge, the secretary of Housing and Urban Development, recently bragged on Twitter that 'the United States is the only major economy in the world where the economy as a whole is stronger now than before the pandemic’.
"But whose economy?
"Google has provided its highest paid employees, who were already working remotely, with a $1,000 device so they can also perform rapid Covid tests at home. Meanwhile, shift workers must spend hours waiting to be tested for the virus they are much more likely to have been exposed to.
"As the ruling class has worked safely from home, having goods delivered by human shields, their wealth has increased because they are extracting value from the viral underclass, who are paying with their time on lines, their pathogenic work, and, sometimes, their very lives.”
US Supreme Court blocks Biden’s workplace vaccine mandate
The Supreme Court is a politicized cadre of unelected elites who do not care about law or precedent
“Much like the US and the western European nations, the standards of living in the Nordic countries are based not on having invented a wonderful system that can provide for everyone’s needs, but based on the exploitation of resources and labor of the global south. Lenin described one of the key tendencies of imperialism as ‘the exploitation of oppressed nations—which is inseparably connected with annexations—and especially the exploitation of colonies by a handful of 'Great’ Powers, increasingly transforms the 'civilised’ world into a parasite on the body of hundreds of millions in the uncivilised nations.’ While the large colonial empires of Lenin’s time have largely dispersed, the relationships have not so much disappeared as they have changed form. The global south is exploited, and the western powers profit.”
Federal student loan payments will resume in February after Biden lifts pause
Hey, Mr. Biden, whatcha gonna do? Whatcha gonna do? Make your student loan promises come true!
