Gotcha, I’ll keep those in mind, thanks!

Yea, all my pictures look a bit fuzzy due to being on my phone, a dedicated camera sounds great. I’m tight on cash now, though, so that’ll take a while.

I’ve been dabbling a bit, but I never thought to go out and intentionally do it, it’s always been incidental on my walks around where I live. I should try and expand it!

I always recommend Blowback, and I’ve recently been getting into Rev Left Radio. The former is an excellent anti-imperialist podcast going over the crimes of the US Empire, the latter is a solid podcast discussing Marxist-Leninist history, theory, and practice.

These are all good points, but I do think it’s important for those with the capacity to join an org and get organized. Capitalism is the problem, and we cannot just wait for it to fall. It gets easier to topple over time, but if we never kill it, it will stay on life support.

China’s working conditions are steadily improving, so that’s not really a big problem, plus a huge amount of commodities are either produced in the global south by imperialist companies from the global north outsourcing labor, or from imperialist countries using resources carved out of the global south. You can boycott the worst companies, but you are forced to interact with most under capitalism. Better to be made in a socialist country like China than directly support imperialism.

The best you can do is to boycott what you can, and join an org, so you can hopefully be a part of the solution. PSL is a good option if you live in the US, but do research on what orgs have local chapters for you.

I personally love reading articles on Red Sails and ProleWiki. There’s always more to learn about Marxism-Leninism, and these sites are treasure troves.

I also like meditation to clear my head.

Those who can work, should. Those who cannot should be taken care of by those who can. Comprehensive training programs and free education helps both, as well as subsized or free necessities.

Sure? Balkanization seems like a good way to speed up the process of the Empire collapsing.

Depends on the application. It’s a tool that has necessary use cases, but just like you don’t need a sledgehammer for a nail, you can certainly make things worse by using it, or slip into excess. I support the right of the oppressed to use violence to liberate themselves, and the right of those to use violence to free the oppressed.

The old one is also seen as as bad as the flag of Nazi Germany in East and Southeast Asia. Imperial Japan was extremely brutal, and the use of the rising sun flag in modern times is a symbol of fascism in Japan, like the swastika.

Lemmy has a much higher proportion of Marxists to other users than Reddit does, so the anti-Marxism is also pretty high in response.

Supporting Palestine is not “pointless.”

Supporting Palestine is not “pointless.”

Support for Palestine at a time when Israel is committing genocide against Palestinians and launched an unprovoked war on Iran is a good thing. Fascism will find excuses to target you anyways, the answer isn’t to play ball, but to seek safety in numbers and organizing. Rallying around correct messaging is the point of protest, not just saying “we are mildly upset but don’t want to actually do anythint!”

Marxists do not seek “domination” of others, nor do Socialist countries extract “rent.” Using a portion of the social fund to create infrastructure, social safety nets, advance productivity via new Capital, and more are not the same as a landlord extracting surplus value on the basis of owning a scarce resource like land. I think you’re confused on several areas, like what Marxists want, how Socialist states function, and what “rent” is. If you want, I have theory I can recommend for your personal political growth.

Again, I repeat, “tankie” is a pejorative just like “commie” and “pinko,” it’s for Marxists. The overwhelming majority of Marxists and Marxist organizations support the PRC, Cuba, former USSR, etc, which are likely what you are hinting at as the “authoritarian regimes” Marxists support. Check all of the major Marxist orgs of note around the world, and the overwhelming majority support “AES,” or Actually Existing Socialism.

“Tankie” is a pejorative for Marxist, just like “commie” and “pinko.”

I’m not sure how you would test it, outside of looking at states through history, in different contexts. Germany is a good example. Germany in the early 20th century, after World War I, was in serious debt and had rising contradictions that led to increased worker organization. The bourgeoisie was terrified of a Communist uprising, so they employed the Nazis to purge them. After the fall of the Nazis, the system didn’t radically change, but the need for the Nazis as a sort of alter-ego to stamp out Communism was done. They remained Capitalist throughout the entire time, but each change in policy was driven by changing conditions.

Marxists posit that the Mode of Production is the base, which creates the superstructure, which is the laws, ideology, and culture, which shapes the base. This cyclical relationship shows that biggest shaper of policy is the needs of the ruling class, and the conditions they are dealing with. I am not “inventing” this stance, of course, its been here for a long while.

I think everyone who sees Chomsky in a positive overall light should read On Chomsky.